Someone should start making Viking Fiction Memes
You find a piece of Viking fiction that looks quite good. It's got shieldmaidens. It's got magicians.
Then you discover that the magician are all male - not a völva, not a spækona, not a wife doing simple protection spells with a spindle. And the male magicians and seers aren't even a tiny bit effemminate or even just rumored to be gay. Also, no ( Read more... )
Then you discover that the magician are all male - not a völva, not a spækona, not a wife doing simple protection spells with a spindle. And the male magicians and seers aren't even a tiny bit effemminate or even just rumored to be gay. Also, no ( Read more... )
Alas, you're right. We only learn a few things, and then we think that's all that there is to it because nobody ever bothers to tell us otherwise. It's kinda depressing, thinking about the kind of stuff we're missing out on everyday.
Still, one would think that people writing fiction about ancient societies should have the most fun researching on them and getting them right. But that's probably just me having too much faith in mankind again ... *sigh*
You know, Vikings started fascinating me in the first place because it seemed like there was just so little about them. I mean, it was like we had Greeks and Romans handed to us on a silver platter, and there was something about Egyptians too in our textbooks ... but what about them ( ... )
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"Still, one would think that people writing fiction about ancient societies should have the most fun researching on them and getting them right."
Yup, that's me. I often do lots & lots of research even when I'm writing about the present, to be honest. I spent days looking into famous flying aces, once, and one memorable time I studied a map of London for hours just to know if my character could actually walk from point A to point B in the amount of time I needed her to. Maybe I'm just mad. XD ( ... )
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I remember once I spent a lot of time researching the Winter War to write a Hetalia fanfiction for a prompt - which wasn't even actually about Finland. And I don't even like Hetalia that much anymore, to be honest. So yeah, it was more a giant excuse to dig deeper into the topic and look into the pretty unknown stuff without having to openly face my own weirdness. XD
Knowledge is knowledge even when it's pretty much useless, yeah. And who knows, we could always amaze people with utterly unknow trivias and details. XD
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OMG, see? That's why I think you're awesome! THE WINTER WAR? Nobody ever tries to actually remember the Winter War, let alone study it in detail! I love you. *_*
"So yeah, it was more a giant excuse to dig deeper into the topic and look into the pretty unknown stuff without having to openly face my own weirdness."
Yup, that's exactly it. I mean, I probably should spend a lot more time studying for my exams, instead of filling up brain space with all these things, but, well, we only live once! *pathetic excuses for my bad case of laziness*
And you know what? In my perfect little world I would make a man fall in love with me by reciting the names of all the kings and queens of Sweden (which no, I don't know - just to be clear), or some other oddity like that. It'd be the nerdiest love story ever, don't you think? XD
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My fascination with the Winter War began, of course, with the "OMG FINLAND IS SO AWESOME IT EVEN DEFEATED SOVIET RUSSIA" meme. XD But really, I wanted to see what the big deal really was - oh, and also I'm obsessed with Finland. Have I ever mentioned that? (Okay, I most probably did, knowing me.)
But anyway, I decided to stick around when I got to the less known, less heroic part of the story. Actually, I know a few basic things about the war tactis (read: "Seriously, didn't the Russians bother checking the weather or the territory? Man, Finnish guerrilla suonds awesome!"), but I got hooked on minor stuff like the way the war was portrayed by foreign press and weird stuff like the drug abuse in the Finnish army. Oh, and the sometimes-true-sometimes-not anecdotes, let's not forget those!
In my perfect little world, my ideal man would romance me with either Greek lyrical poetry or skaldic poetry. <3 ( ... )
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... Okay, maybe I went a little overboard. XD
Yup, the Winter War is really interesting stuff. I feel like people usually just remember Simo Haya, but there's a lot more about it, really.
I think not knowing about the place you grew up in is pretty common - it's just so close to you that you never think there could be something interesting and special about it. Like, I never knew Garibaldi had been in my town until my school called a schoolar for a lecture about the Risorgimento in our area - and I live five minutes away from a Piazza Garibaldi, where there supposedly is some "Garibaldi was here" plate I've never even seen. XD ( ... )
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I love Scots too much for my own good, but what can I say? They're ginger, rowdy and they wear skirts (and are very good knitters, I hear): how can I not love them? Top it up with all the trunk throwing and there you go, perfection! XD Cheeserolling is actually Welsh, if I remember correctly, but well - they're all Brits, I guess it runs in their possibly highly alcoholic blood. XD ( ... )
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Also they have David Tennant and John Barrowman, which just adds to their glory. <3
Ah, I should have expected it was the Welsh! XD I mean, people going around telling each other stuff like "whyllwlylwlyw" and understanding it ... there's just something not quite right but seriously crazy awesome about them.
I'd be careful in labelling all of them Brits - I'd at least consider the English separatly, first. XD
I'm not surprised because you've never been there ... but I am because you remember that thing in Horace! ** He did write a poem about Fons Bandusiae, which some people claim actually was in Banzi - the only famous thing about it! XD ( ... )
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Exactly, you got me. I love the sound of silence (random Simon & Garfunkel quote, here! XD) more than anything else, and snow softens everything and I've always found that beautiful.
OMG - actually, I'm going for OhMyLoki, from now on, so... OML! THOSE COMICS! I'm in love with Sweden. And Wales, also Wales. And - well, truth be told, I should say I'm now officially in love with Humon, too. *w*
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But the Welsh win everything for coming up with overlong words not even the Welsh themselves can't pronunce. XD
Another thing we have in common. :) I love the way snow makes everything softer, quieter, clearer, and more orderly in a way - like the world slows down for a bit, and you can just relax.
Come to the Dark Side ... we've also got threesomes, femdom and lots of slash. ;) And you just wait until you read some comics with Finland ...
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Oh no you don't. You won't bring me into another beautifully insane fandom. You cannot!
...or maybe just a teeny tiny bit?
*her resolve weakens by the minute*
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