“Listen to me all the sacred birth, great children with small Heimdal!.. The brothers will begin to fight with each other, relatives will die relatives in straightforwards; burdened in the world, the age of swords and ax, shields, a century of storms and wolves to the death of the world are cracking; He will not spare a person of a person ".

"Elder Edda", XIII century

More recently, the queen of the epic was Greek mythology – any citizen of our, and not only our country can calmly go to take an exam on the topic “Olympus and its inhabitants: customs, customs, habits”. The complex relations of Hercules with parents were occupied by minds and touched the hearts of more than one generation of lovers of the series of the same name and numerous films of the same content.

However, now the all kinds of “battles of the Titans”, “Persia Jacksons” and others like them are of interest, it is rather polite than enthusiastic. To replace Zeus, Aida and Perseus with harpies, centaurs and gorgon jellyfish, Loki and Ragnar with the seer, the world tree and the holy giants came. And although the Greeks pay themselves in old memory, the Scandinavians are slowly but methodically capturing the market.

In the game industry, the alignment of forces, however, is another. The ball is ruled by God of War, Rise of the Argonauts, Age of Mythology and Titan Quest with its clones, and the Scandinavian epic is more likely an exception than the rule. But if you look closely, you understand that in the games of the Vikings is also not the last knitting needle in a chariot. Today we will see what legends of the northern peoples inspired the developers, what it led to and whether it is worth preparing in the near future to the invasion of the eaters of fly agarics and bites of shields on the console and PC.

Three in space, not counting axes

The first sortie of the northerners on the gaming settlement occurred in 1992 through the efforts of the company Silicon & Synapse, subsequently turned into the famous Blizzard Entertainment. Peppy platformer The Lost Vikings In general, flesh from the flesh of all eminent parents: the publisher was notorious InterPlay Entertainment , And the second part has already been released by the "nearby".

According to the plot of the three Vikings – Eric, Olaf and Baleolog – the Evil Emperor of the alien race of the Krutonion Tomator kidnapped. This amateur collector reads the heroes to his menagerie for unique forms of life, but, of course, not at those ran into those. Friends run away from the menagerie, and where only difficult it does not bring them after that: in the list of locations, in addition to the tomato spacecraft, there are Egyptian pyramids, and the factory, and the circus, and the prehistoric village.

[[Bullet]] National Historical Park L’ans-o-Medouz is a member of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Against the background of other platformers, The Lost Vikings immediately stood out by an unusual gameplay – you need to control here more than one character, but at once in three, and each has its own weaknesses and strengths. Eric is the team’s brain and runs the fastest, Olaf holds the defense with a strong oak shield, and the ballet piles the aliens into cabbage with a sword or shoots from an end of arrow.

Real Vikings are considered one of the most formidable warriors who have ever shitting seas and even oceans. For the most part, these were free peasants who lived on the territory of modern Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and in pursuit of profit, devastating all the lands to which they could swim on their rooks. Together with the Scandinavians, the vendents were seen in this – the Slavs from the Baltic Peninsula, who alternately robbed the Swedish or Danish lands.

[[Bullet]] The good old set of Viking for Sega, now – a treasure for collectors.

The Vikings made their bloody raids from the VIII to the XI century, terrifying not only the Angles, Franks and Rusichs, but also on the inhabitants of Greenland and America. The question of whether the Vikings sailed to America, remained open for a long time until in 1960 scientists discovered in Canada the remnants of the L’ans-O-Medouz settlement.

Interestingly, the Vikings began and ended their conquests on the same island – Britain. The first attack-on the county of Dorset in 789-ended with a complete victory of pagans-models, and the last sortie dates back to 1066, when the remnants of the crushing Scandinavian army were defeated in the battle of Gastings Wilhelm the conqueror.

[[Bullet]] One of the most popular tactical techniques in The Lost Vikings – Olaf covers the balleologist while he understands the aliens.

But back to three Vikings, by the will of developing fantasy found in space. In addition to the joys of the strategy and tactics of The Lost Vikings, also a very funny game. Here is an example of a standard exchange of courtesies during adventures on a spaceship:

– If this tomato is so angry why he left all these useful things for us – bombs and so on? – Inquires Olaf.

– Listen, in other games no one asks such questions! – answers Eric.

“Yes, Olaf,” adds the ballet. – Stop getting boring!

The game liked the game so much that in 1997 he got a continuation – The Lost Vikings 2 , in which the restless tomato again teleports the trinity to his ship. Two new characters appear in the second part-the Dragon Skorch and the Transylvanian wolf Fang, although at the same time you can still control only three heroes out of five. The dragon, as he should be, flies and spits with fire, and for some reason the wolf climbs along the walls and, of course, scratches.

Blizzard Entertainment still stores a delicate memory about this game: in Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty In the cabin-company "Hyperion" is the slot machine "The Lost Viking".

Fjord man

The word "Viking" is literally translated as "a man from the fjord". Initially, these were small robbers that hid in secluded bays and robbed the court sailing past. Where the word itself came from, scientists are still arguing. Perhaps the fjords used to be indicated before, or the robbers were often hidden in the bays of the Norwegian region of the VIK, or the root of the word comes from the ancient Norwegian verb “Vike”, which means “to leave their lands, setting off to rob or trade”.

Valkyrie-san

Two years after The Lost Vikings 2 released, the Japanese turned to the Scandinavian theme … Company Tri-Ace With the support Enix (Now – Square Enix ) released a fairly successful role -playing game Valkyrie Profile for PlayStation 2, subsequently ported and on PC.

The Japanese and the Japanese, so that if we take up the Scandinavian epic, then with all seriousness and attention to the details. The main character here is Valkyrie Lenet, accompanying the souls of the dead soldiers in Valhalla, where they train in anticipation of Ragnarok. Along the way, Lenet is trying to remember his past.

[[Bullet]] Exclusive art Rune 2, kindly provided to us Human Head Studios.

Visually Valkyrie Profile – 2D and 3D mixture: on the world map we move to 3D, in cities and dungeons – in 2D. Although in the game you can assemble a small detachment, during the battles the player is subject only to Lenet: it jumps, fights on swords and freezes enemies with icy crystals. Flying over the world map, Valkyrie uses its main ability – a spiritualistic concentration, with which it opens the dungeon, reveals enemies and the souls suitable for teleportation.

Anyone who was not fond of northern mythology at his leisure, immediately stumbles in a game of unfamiliar or unfamiliar terms. What kind of Valkyrie are such, what other Einheria, Asas, Vanya, Asgard, Midgard, Valhalla, Ragnarok … Let's understand.

At the dawn of the time, one, the Supreme God and the Lord of the ASs (except for them there are also Vanas – also the gods, but much older and wiser; Vanas and Ases are gnawing or settling together), lifted the seer from the grave and ordered her to tell the fate of the world. Völva said that Ragnarok was coming – the death of the gods and all things, and he will happen immediately after the final battle between the gods and the monsters personifying the power of nature. Odin will kill the huge wolf Fenrir, and that, in turn, will be amazed by the son of Odin Vidar. Thor, the god of thunder and storm, will kill the snake of Yermungand, but he himself will fall from his poisonous bite.

[[Bullet]] British love to have fun of the annual reconstruction of the battle of Gastings.

Freer, the god of fertility and summer (here he is from Vanas, like his famous sister Freya), will die in battle with the fiery giant Surt; Heimdal, the guard of the gods and the world tree, will fight with Loki, the god of cunning and deception, but not one can prevail. Seeing that the forces of evil and good are approximately equal, the giant Surt will bring down all his fiery power to the ground, destroying both Midgard, the world of people, and Asgard, the monastery of the ASs (this is what it is, if not cheating?).

Scandinavian myths, although as usual cruel, do not put in the prophecy about Ragnarok neither a gloomy black point, nor a mysterious ellipsis. Völva told Odin that his revival would follow the death of the world: the surviving sons of Odin and Thor will settle in Asgard, and in the Midgard there are two people who survived the cataclysm from whom the human family will go again.

[[Bullet]] "Vikings" aboard "Hyperion".

So, the task of Lenet in Valkyrie Profile is to collect the souls of the most brave and noble warriors, Einheri, and deliver them to a feast in Valhalla, heavenly chambers in Asgard. There, Einherias not only eat up and drink, but also prepare for Ragnarok, and Lenet is responsible for their training. Each warrior has a scale of significance-it shows how ready he is for the last battle, in which, according to the Japanese, for some reason, Asas and Vanya will come down (and how is Fenrir, he should absorb the sun … Distinct!).

Valkyrie Profile was reprinted more than once, but in small circulations, and therefore the prices for the licensed disc jumped up to a hundred American dollars. And praised the Valkyrie primarily for a fantastic plot, gleaned by its creators from the northern myths. Although typically Japanese (read anime) elements in this game no less than Scandinavian.

The runes of Asgard

Prevention of Ragnarok and the battle with the snake of Ermungand – the basis of the plot in economic strategy Cultures 2: The Gates of Asgard 2002 release. According to developers from a German company Funatics , It will be possible to stop the Apocalypse in the Scandinavian only if representatives of the four peoples perform a united front in the fight against an impending misfortune.

History begins when Viking Bjarni, the son of Leaf Ericksson, sees a dream in which the side with three strangers tries to stop the end of the world. Bjarni decides that a dream is in the hand, and goes to England, Italy and Normandy to persuade these same strangers to join him. Fortunately, the visions pursue Bjarni not because of the abuse of magic mushrooms, so you still have to fight with a huge snake.

[[Bullet]] Valkyrie – daughter of Konung or the most brave warrior who selects fallen warriors and sends them straight to Valhalla.

By the way, Leaf Ericksson is a real person, son of Viking Eric Red, the discoverer of Greenland. It is assumed that it was Leaf who discovered America five centuries before Christopher Columbus. His exploits in the niva navigation are described in the "Saga about Eric Red" and "Saga about the Greenlanders", the historical reliability of which later confirmed archaeological excavations. With a team of only thirty -five people, he discovered Helluland, Marcland and Vinland, potentially Buffino Earth, Labrador Peninsula and Newfoundland coast, respectively. In addition to Cultures 2, it is mentioned in Corsair: Return of the Legend.

But Bjarni, the son of Leaf, is already a whole fictional character. Critics greeted his adventures coolly: Gates of Asgard received a solid three because of a monotonous gameplay, which has not changed since the first part, boring music and a viscous narrative. Funatics has a very Nordic game.

But about Rune (2000), a slasher with a third person developed Human Head Studios , You can’t say this. Who is this time for this difficult work – Ragnarok to stop?

The young warrior Ragnar learns from the elder that the rune stones standing on the central square of his native settlement is not a tourist attraction and not an element of exterior design, but the only remedy that can keep Loki in imprisonment underground.

[[Bullet]] According to the “District of the Valva”, during the ranger, the sun will blame, the stars will fall from the sky and the water will flood the earth.

As always, it does not do without traitors – Concrax, one of the tribesmen of Ragnar, chooses the side of Loki, but with the loneliness of the young man he is chosen from the depths of the Kingdom of the Dead Helheim and, after countless battles with superior enemy forces, saves the rune stones from destruction. Or he himself chooses the side of Loki, which has never ended with good – the god of deception, he is in Scandinavia a god of deception, because he lies as he breathes.

It would be a sin not to make a brief excursion here into the biography of Konung Lodbrok, he is the Danish king Ragnar. For the Danes, Ragnar is the same as King Arthur for the British: there are no documentary sources confirming that he lived in this world, but in the sagas of the mentions of him a dime a dozen.

If Ragnar really once ruled Denmark, then it was in the 9th century. Why Lodbrook? There are several versions. According to the most common and most funny, "Lodbrook" means "leather pants". Naturally – Ragnara leather pants sewn by his wife like a amulet. Which he bore all his life permanently. A more “hygienic” explanation – dense leather pants saved Ragnar's life in childhood when he fell into a hole with snakes. Well, the most beautiful version – “Lodbrok” means “banner of fate”, because the raven of Odin was embroidered on the cone of the banner, and the son of this particular god Ragnar himself considered himself.

Again, according to legend, Ragnar Lodbrok had eleven legitimate sons and a lot of bastards from numerous concubines. This little family army took revenge on the death of the father, which occurred in the second half of the 9th century. Although in the list of victories Ragnara is the seizure of Paris and a considerable piece of British lands, during one of the campaigns he was captured by the king of Northumbria Ella second, stuck in a chain and thrown into a hole with snakes. This time, leather pants, alas, did not save – either there were too many snakes, or they bit above.

Ragnar from Rune fate has developed more success. From the point of view of legends, the action here unequivocally outweighs the plot, but there are enough atmosphere to create the right atmosphere. They still love the game, not without reason the petition demanding to release Rune 2 By the time the material preparation was collected 6683 signatures. To find out what is with the exit of the continuation, and discuss the recent reprint of the original, we talked with Ted Halsted From Human Head Studios.

[[Bullet]] Ted Halsted

Hello, Ted! Last year, Human Head Studios re -released Rune as Rune Classic via Steam. What has changed for the company since the release of the original, and with what difficulties you are fighting now?

We returned to Rune with great pleasure and were very glad that the reprint took so warmly. Since the beginning of the two thousandths in the field of game development, a lot has changed, and we think that now is the time for a new trip to the world of Vikings and northern mythology. The developers have more freedom – both publishers and players are ready for experiments. You can calmly make the game on your conditions.

For Rune Classic still come out, it took a lot of work. What are the main differences between the original and the new version?

The creators of the first part gathered together to combine the original Rune under the name Rune Classic, Rune: Halls of Valhalla And Rune: Viking Warlord. In Halls of Valhalla, we strongly finalized the famous tooth -breeding multiplayer Rune. The addon includes a arena for deadly battles (with spectators), Hadball – so bloodthirsty, in the spirit of the Vikings, a variant of modern sports – new characters and ridicule.

For no less severe singlePlera, we took new monsters from Warlord and polished the levels. And to the heap, they turned on all the advanced versions of the music tracks from the game and the audio diode in OGG format.

And tell us about Halls of Valhalla in more detail – history, gameplay, features?

This is a multiplayer addition to Rune. Multiplayer is one of the most popular capabilities of the game, and we wanted to expand it by increasing the number of modes – for example, we added cooperative. By Halls of Valhalla, you can understand in which direction the Rune will develop, and its main concept will be immersed in chaos, where you only have time to wave the ax to the right and left. As for the story, then the player is the main thing – to show the best that he is capable of, that is, how cleverly he cuts off the enemies of the limbs with a large sharp weapon.

Rune faithful fans submitted a petition about the release of Rune 2. Do they have an occasion to hope for the release of the second part in the near future, or you have no such plans yet? If there is, what will happen in Rune 2, share conceptual ideas?

It is very pleasant that fans continue to support us, and their interest does not run out. We listen to them and are glad that people are still going to play Rune. In the future, she will definitely focus on a bloody close battle both when playing in the clan and solo.

The story of the second Rune will be devoted to one thing: what is it – to be a warrior. With an emphasis on battles, conquests, profit and honor, glory and, if the player wants it, the success of his clan. Ragnar will remain the key hero of the story, but a new main character will appear, the great Viking-converter, the meaning of the adventure of which will be in what way the player will lead his warrior-or a warrior-throughout his life or her life.

The new plot Rune will emphasize the wealth of Scandinavian mythology, but from a different point of view. The game will not be heavenly fantasy, but more oriented towards Midgard. Myths are real, they surround a warrior. Dream of success on the battlefield or at sea – please take into account what this or that God wants. It will be possible to make him victims or add up prey from the altar, or you can go to war on his followers, exhaust them with raids and skirmishes.

With the deadlines yet there is no clarity. Now we are talking with several potential partners about the next stage of development. The situation in the industry has changed dramatically, the best time to release unusual games and games oriented towards multiplayer, and you can’t imagine. The time has come for the next Rune.

It turns out that the second Rune is already being developed with might and main?

No, no, the sequel is not yet at the same stage of development, when we are already ready to share details or even make a full presentation. There is still a lot of work ahead.

Hero Rune is a well -known (especially after the fresh series "Vikings") Scandinavian warrior Ragnar. What can you tell us about the real Ragnar, whether you plunged into its history during the creation of the game and how deep?

We read a lot about the present Ragnar and his adventures, his story was a good arms to create a powerful character. And we also liked how his name sounds. In the future, Rune focuses on how a warrior can achieve success as a conqueror, so the confusing story of such a king as Ragnar Lodbrok will be directly related to the game.

And yes, we are big fans of the series.

Scandinavian themes are not very popular among developers, you were one of the first to pay attention to it. And why, in fact, you chose the northern legends for Rune, is there any personal interest?

Scandinavian mythology combined with history creates one of the richest and most saturated worlds for games. For us, the first Rune was just the beginning. Now we understand the northern legends much deeper than at times of working on the original, and look forward to when we can introduce the world to the next epic head in the history of the wiking conquests.

Personally, I always admired northern mythology and history, and now my six-year-old daughter is carried away by this and hurries to correct me if I give a swing somewhere: “Dad, this is Loki-the mother of the Slaipnir (eight-legged horse of Odin, the product of Loki. – approx. aut.) ".

And what are your favorite Scandinavian legends?

Is it possible to choose one or two here! I will learn new things all the time. Recently became interested in stories about the wolsung clan, Beowulf and everything connected with them. The more you find out, the more you are more upset due to how many were lost over the past centuries, and what remained, of course, changed later cultural stratums.

What about the gods – are there any favorites?

A difficult choice again, but I will probably stop at Odin and Torah. Many believe that one is such a “wise old man, the father of everything and everything”. In general, they think correctly. But he is a deity of not only knowledge, but also battles, if he is already fighting, then to the end, and in addition he makes sacrifices for the sake of knowledge and victories. And Torus, among other things, acts as a defender, which few know about. It is to him that they call for salvation in a storm or on the harvest in calm times.

And still Imir. Imagine the giant so huge that the whole world was created from his body.

And the last question-you believe that Ragnarok will someday come, or a myth, he is a myth, so as not to believe in him?

He is coming.

Once upon a time

What was the life of the Viking? Those who are richer, could afford a large rectangular house made of clay -missed wood or stone. In such a house, the whole numerous relatives of the wealthy owner were placed in such a house. The peasants lived in simple houses in one room, made of wood and with a peat roof. Most of the time was spent in the central room – they arranged a hearth, prepared food and slept. Sometimes, pillars were placed on the edges of the room as an additional roof support, and the resulting intervals were used as bedrooms.

Too viking

After the release of Cultures 2, they forgot about the Scandinavians for six years, until the Northern Breakthrough happened in 2008 – one after another, three games in the genre of an adventure action movie were released, studying this subject from different sides: Tomb Raider Underworld , Viking: Battle Forsgard And Too Human.

If many have heard about Underworld and Battle for Asgard, then the too Human was much more thorny. Canadians from Silicon Knights , Despite sixty with a liner of millions of dollars of the budget, they made one, but a fatal mistake: they made a game on Unreal Engine 3, “forgetting” to pay the rights to use the engine. After litigation with Epic Games They had to destroy all unrealized copies of the game and pay nine million dollars to the injured party.

[Bullet]] for construction in Gates of asgard a great many: here is wood, and stone, and tiles, and brick, and marble, and clay, and iron.

However, a certain number of copies reached the players, and the game did not stay “. The main character here is the Baldr, the god of spring and light, in terms of kindness of sincere helping humanity to fight the invasor-planets. Scandinavian mythology in TOO Human is intertwined with science fiction: the aliens for the most part are huge robots, and the gods of Asa, in order to strengthen their abilities, use … cybernetic implants.

The more traditional version of the northern legends was used by developers from The Creative Assembly , Responsible for Viking: Battle for ASGARD. The plot is as follows: the gods in Asgard quarreled to fluffs, and the goddess of the death of Hel, the daughter of Loki, for which she was expelled from the Kingdom of Heaven, was indignant at the most course of the party. Hel, naturally, indignant, decided to free the wolf Fenrir and arrange Ragnarok to everyone. To be more serious about her threats, Hel lifted the Vikings from the graves and went to Midgard with fire and sword.

This was already categorically arranged by Freya, the goddess of love and war. She turned to the young warrior Scarin for help, and he could not refuse the beauty-bogin. Although in vain she powder her brains – as soon as Scarin learned about the true reason for the Midgard troubles, like him … Fenrira himself freed, riding people from the everyday presence of the gods.

[[Bullet]] Surt – Vladyka Muskles, Fiery Giants.

By the way, Freya in the gaming industry is one of the most popular goddesses. It is mentioned in World of Warcraft , Lineage II , Ragnar?k online (about her below) and Final Fantasy IX , and indeed in almost all fantasy roles, it seems Neverwinter Nights or series The Elder Scrolls , There are regularly found objects enchanted by this goddess.

Freya is the daughter of the adoptive son of Ohe Nyer, whom Vans left in the Asgard as a hostage after a truce with the aces was concluded. After Frigg, the wives of Odin, Freya in Asgard occupies the most honorable place among the goddesses and controls the Valkyri. And in beauty she has no equal! Freya can turn into a falcon, and after the loss of her husband – either a person, or the incarnation of Odin in a death – she cries with golden tears. It was Freya who taught the aces of magic, so far known only to vans.

Like Cultures 2, Battle for Asgard stars from the sky is not enough: the game was scolded for a monotonous gameplay and an empty world, consisting of three almost identical islands that the hero can explore in search of allies – or opponents. Two pluses are interesting combo-techniques and a special atmosphere, although the plot itself is quite primitive.

And instead of a heart, a fiery ax

The Vikings fought most often with spears about one and a half meters long or swords. Swords also preferred long, with a small guard. Only the top of the blade was made by sharp, and the lower part was either not touched at all or honed weakly. The Scandinavian axes inspired real horror – thin axes with side checkers and a wide, symmetrically diverging blade.

Helheim's Tearn

Very carefully their plot was worked out Crystal Dynamics , "Parents" Lara Croft from the seventh to the ninth part. In Underworld, logical continuation Legend , Scandinavian mythology is investigated with encyclopedic meticulism. If you print all the relevant notes from Lara’s personal diary, you get a good selection “Everything you wanted to know about the legends of the North, but until now you have not bothering to read”.

[[Bullet]] what, in what, and in the bloodstream, Battle of Asgard does not experience a lack.

Already in the first chapter of Lady Croft, he sets off in search of Niflheim, the lands of eternal darkness and fog, where the mortal giants live. According to legend in the universe, there are nine worlds: in addition to the mentioned Asgard, Midgard and Helheim, Vanahim-the monastery of the Vanov gods, Yotunheim-the giants of the lines, Muspelheim-the world of fire, the entrance to which the giant Surt, the Variean, Varigalheim grow here. inhabited by gnomes-inverts, Leosalvheim, where Light Alves live, or elves, and, finally, Utgard, the world of demonic magic, where only the chosen one can get.

Unlike other worlds, Utgard exists outside of Jasen Iggdrasil, and it is not really known where he, in fact, is. He does not obey the world order, which the ASA brothers alone, Willy and Ve established when they placed the sky (Asgard), the Earth (Midgard) and the Substance, where the souls of the dead (Helheim) were placed in the cosmos created by their cosmos.

[[Bullet]] In rune classic, crumbling enemies with an ax on pieces is still fun.

Underworld scriptwriters not only retold the main content of the northern myths, but also offered their, and very logical, explanation of the prophecy about Ragnarok. Yermungand, a huge snake, whose awakening should provoke the final battle of the gods and monsters, in fact – a chain of tectonic faults Winner Casino encircling our planet. As in any chain, there is also its own weak link – and if it is broken using a special mechanism of Iggdrasil, an endless series of volcanic eruptions will begin, which will lead to the death of mankind. Lara will have to act as a Torah and with the help of a complete set of its weapons – gloves, belt, hammer – hit the snake, that is, to destroy the mechanism that can initiate Ragnarok.

However, not everyone belongs to Scandinavian mythology so seriously. Swedes from Arrowhead Game Studios In 2011, a humorous adventure militant was released in 2011 Magicka. The game gave great hopes and was even recognized by the game of the year on Swedish Game Awards in 2008, while still in development, but the final version, alas, could win the number of bugs and lack of balance.

[[Bullet]] Using rune stones, each weapon in Rune can activate additional capabilities – for example, suck out of enemies with vitality by the blow of a sword.

History revolves around four magicians from the ancient order, trying to prevent the sorcerer to destroy Midgard, although it later turns out that the real threat comes from the demon Assaturation. The Scandinavian legends here are nothing more than an occasion to grin over the whole galaxy of hits: they stretch and Warhammer , And The Legend of Zelda , And Dungeon Keeper , And Diablo , and even the films "Star Wars", "300" and "Monty Pyton". Choosing any of the four wizards, the player fights with opponents with the help of a magic staff and cold weapons. As the latter, a sword in a stone from legends about King Arthur can also act – in the literal sense of the word sword sticking out of stone and, accordingly, used as a hammer – and even a machine gun M60.

Swim

The Vikings were famous as skilled shipbuilders and could boast of a large fleet. The main part of the ships was Dracars – wooden combat ships with high -raised nose and stern, designed for one hundred and fifty warriors. Snecs were called smaller warships: up to sixty people were placed in them. Ships were built from ash, pine or oak, and sails were sewn from sheep's wool. Then the wool was covered with a lanolin – a fat layer that protected the sail from water. Built Vikings and merchant ships – Knorrah. Wide and spacious, Knorras were often used for distant reconnaissance campaigns.

Online artifacts

Although most of the Games dedicated to the Scandinavian theme is made in the genre of an adventure action movie, northern legends in honor and online role -playing open spaces. The most illustrious game here, no doubt, Ragnar?k online , The brainchild of the Korean company Gravity Co.

RO source-Korean comics-manchi of authorship Lee Mön-Jina, who also adapted for anime after the game. Most of the names and names are borrowed from the Scandinavian myths, but there are cities in the game, stylized, for example, under Arab or English fairy tales. A pleasant feature of Ragnar?K Online is that its universe is constantly developing: the game world is expanding regularly, new classes, skills, professions, monsters, quests, etc. appear.D. All key updates are called "episodes".

[[Bullet]] something like this looked like Leaf Ericksson.

Initially, there was only one nation in RO, and all the players began their adventures in the Kingdom of Midgard, but in the 10th and 11th episodes, the technocratic Republic of Schwartsvalt and the religious state of Arunafelts were added. Directly from Scandinavian mythology, Niflheim and Valhallah were migrated here, but to the heritage of the north that the first part, that that Ragnar?K Online 2: Legend of the Second They have little relation. You just take a look at the typically anime portraits of characters and mentally imagine how these pink -haired and lilac -eyed handsome men and beauties would look at group photography with real Vikings.

In addition to RO, there is not so well -known HAVEN & HeARTH, Free mmorpg from Fredrick Tolph and Björn Johanssen, two Swedish students-enthusiasts. The game was awarded at Saturn Game Awards, although it is still extremely unstable: the Haven & Hearth world has already experienced seven “wires”, that is, complete collapse with the redrawing of the map.

It is interesting that in H&H the murder of a character that has not been on the network is allowed if he did the theft or killed someone himself. At the same time, the deceased cannot resurrect, and the only option is to create a new hero who will go from 25 to 75% of the skills of the deceased. In addition, there is a specific crafting system: you need to go all the way to create an object, from preparing tools to the harvesting of materials. For example, to make a barrel, you need to cut down and cut a tree, but first you have to collect a saw, an ax or a hammer from stones and branches. The more pumped up the set of necessary skills and better resources used, the better and the resulting item – up to the level of artifact. Everything is like in life.

[[Bullet]] Vikings lit up in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The source game has a valhalla (although it is called differently, and we will even get there in the plot), and on the cover of the first official addition of Dawnguard a harsh northerner flaunts.

By the way, about artifacts. Without these unique, often endowed with the magical properties of things, German-Scandinavian mythology was not treated. They are also found in games – for example, the above set of Torah armor from Tomb Raider Underworld or too Human.

Millnir, which is translated from the ancient Snowcandine as a “destroyer” – perhaps the most widely advertised from all the divine artifacts and is present wherever there is a hint of Thor or his relatives. The almost weightless hammer is as beautiful as deadly. In addition to the Gromovets god, only the sons of the Torah-Magnes and Signy could raise him, and then with the help of iron gloves and belts whose rings double the owner of the owner.

Millnir has an entertaining manufacturing story: Once Loki argued with the zvergs Brock and Sindri, who is the best blacksmith in the gnome kingdom. Brock and Sindri poured a hammer recognized by Asami as the best gnome creation, and the Lovkach God, respectively, lost. However, one did not allow the Tsvers to chop off Loki's head, as agreed in the conditions of the dispute, and as a compromise to the god of deception, the mouth was sewn up. But because of the machinations of Loki and thousands of attempts to prevent the dwarves from winning a short hilt from the hammer.

[[Bullet]] Another exclusive art, sent to us by the authors of Rune 2,

In addition to Milnir, the Scandinavians have a dozen more unusual artifacts. For example, Gungnir, a spear of Odin, which always falls on the target and kills from one blow; Discounted bun, the world's largest ship that can be folded so that it fit into a pocket, or another ship, an oven made from the nails of the dead – on it the Hel will emerge from the kingdom of the dead before the start of Ragnarok (therefore, therefore, the northern peoples have always been trimmed with their own dead nails). And, of course, Gyallarhorn is a horn of pure gold, into which Hamdal will punish, announcing the beginning of Ragnarok.

And there is also a necklace of the goddess Freya Brisingamen, who, like a true ladies' little thing, does not know how, but beautifully to insanity, sparkles and pleases the eye. He even put it on it when he had to change into a women's dress to regain his stolen mjellnir (yes, yes, this story also could not do without Loki).

Ragnarok will ever happen or not, we do not know, but there is no doubt that he excited the minds of the developers. As in the fact that the legends in games are quite free, although the rethinking of Crystal Dynamics The myth of the end of the world in Scandinavian deserves good applause.

Unfortunately, in the near future nothing portends neither the active intervention of the Vikings in the game life, nor at least the appearance of a single hit, which will move away from the topic of Ragnarok and truly immerse gamers into a multi-layer German-Scandinavian epic. The only thing that will be released is an arcade slasher based on the second part of the film “Thor”, and one can only hope that this time Marvel They will release something more likely Thor: God of Thunder , Which, despite all kinds of goodies for fans, such as the voice acting by the forces of Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Jamie Aleksander, after half an hour to get acquainted with gameplay, goes to the shelf with games of the category “Y”.

Although a surprise is a surprise to impress the imagination unexpectedly. Well, we will wait for a balanced project, thought out from the point of view of the plot and action, inspired by the myths and legends of the peoples of Scandinavia,. Maybe wait.

Writes different letters

The writing of the ancient Scandinavians was runic, and in the Swedish province of Dalarna, runes were written by runes until the 19th century. One of the most famous finds that have preserved the source letters is the rune stones in the Danish city of Elling. This is what the inscription made by the first Danish king Horma Old looked like. This is read as “Kurmr Kunukr Karthi Kubl Thusi Aft Thu Kunu Sina Tanmarkar But”, and translates as “Gorma-Korol made a memorable stone in honor of the Tyura, his wife, Denmark, the overlord/Lord”. This is the first written mention of the name of this country, found on its territory.