How much is true about Valhalla

[Archer of the Void]

Hello everyone, I'm unsure as to if there is a thread like this but I thought I would give it a shot. I have always wondered how much about Heroscape is accurate to mythology and history. As a fan of Mythology I come from the Nordic background of Germany and being as such I love the history behind it. but there where a few thing I was curious to know, such as how much did Hasbro intend to be correct from Valhalla.

First is Valhalla in general, it is really Odin's hall, not the entire planet. Valhalla is part of Asgard which is one of manny worlds in the Norse belief. But Valhalla is the hall where hero's chosen by Odin, the ones who will help defend him on Ragnarok. All the other hero's go with the Goddess Freyja.

Vydar, Valkyrie or more? Vidar is the son of Odin and is claimed to kill Fenrir, the Wolf king who kills Oden on Ragnarok. It makes me wonder why they chose the name but switched the I with a Y. Maybe had herscape gone on, Vydar would have revealed to be more? we may never know.

Dwarves and Elves. The Dwarves of Heroscape a native to Vahalla, which is true because the Dwarves have their own world in the Norse belief, not Vahalla but still true enough, however the Elves are from the Norse mythology to but from a different world. Was the creators aware of this? This is the same with the Giants, also from Norse mythology, but not from Valhalla?

Utgar. Utgar seems bent on power and evil, I'm going to assume he follows Loki, the Norse god of Darkness and Chaos... More of a guess then a statement.

Had Heroscape gone on, I wonder how much more they would have added from this belief, how far they would have gone, or could have gone. In conclusion, this has been my thought on the structure of Heroscape's characters and armies. Please fell free to add anything you picked up on, not just from the Nordic Myth but others displayed in our loving game

Thank you - Archer of the void

[Crypto-Knight]

Many of the glyphs have Germanic names. "Jotun" simply means "giant", so I think the figure's name is just slightly inappropriate as he is unique. There was an Izumi province in feudal Japan, and of course the Knights Templar existed, as did the 4th Regiment of Foot and whatever those redcoat guys were called (I'm not placing the name right now). The Viking helmets however look nothing like the actual Vikings' war helmets. Tyrannosaurus and velociraptor were probably feathered, so there's an inaccuracy, but the figures are so cool. That's all I can think of right now....

[Kroc]

I'm pretty sure the designers just grabbed whatever they came across. Like you say, the land is Asgard not Valhalla, and if Vydar is just a misspelling of Vidar... well I doubt it and if so that's probably all they took. Did he have any inclinations toward high tech in Norse myths?

Not to mention the entire "battle over the wellsprings" does not fit into the mythology at all. Regnarok was supposed to be a battle between the ice giants and the gods. There was ONE wellspring in Asgard, but there also was a clear chain of command and no war between the gods themselves.

I don't think they had any interest at all in being faithful to Norse myths, they just poached whatever was handy.

I think the reason for Valhalla is just that Norse heros (I think) continue battling after death. I know that they are supposed to be around for Regnarok. Battles in Heaven = Heroscape.

Both dwarves and elves come from another world, not Valhalla, but I think they both come from Feylund (not sure on that.)

[RobWeaver]

"Kyrie" is a real word, but it hails from Greek, not German or Norwegian. It would also not be used as the subject of a sentence, as it's in vocative case. The nominative case is "kurios" meaning "Lord." That kind of fits how they act in the game.

[screwDriver]

I think the designers never really meant to be faithful with the mythology or historical facts but they didn't want to go completely inventing stuff either. A lot of those figures were based on either fiction, legends or real figures found in literature or documents of human history. They just changed them a bit, probably because the mystery sure provide a lot of fun for players to discover or simply to avoid being criticized for in-accurate information or representations.

I think the Hall of Valhalla was made into a planet to accommodate or rather create a whole universe instead of just limiting the design to earthly characters. As such, they managed to get away with combining Sci-Fi, historical and fantastical figures. They also managed to get away with disregarding mix and matching armies from different time lines. It's like they just create a seamless connection for everything.

The Valkyries, in the Norse mythology, these are actually female figures who decides who dies in a battle. But in HS, they decide to save those who were about to die so they can fight in Valhalla. Basically, the designers borrowed central ideas and used certain characters as molds to create a whole new world. And this new world still allow the players to feel familiar or attuned with these creations without having to be critical with them.

[Archer of the Void]

I'm sure hasbro did twist the mythology to make it more original, and they pulled it off nicely, reason I fell in love with the game. Someone mentioned Jotun meaning "Giant" which is true so it is slightly odd to have that as a Unique hero's name. Someone also said there was never a war between the gods in Norse Mythology, not true entirely, there was the Aesir - Vanir war, Both are types of gods just from 2 different worlds in the norse belief, and being 9 worlds linked by Asgard as its capital, there had been a war of the gods. I'm sure Ragnarok is more then just a battle between the ice giants and the gods, but I might be one of the events that happen during Ragnarok. As far as the game its self, I know it has inspired me to look more into this resulting in learning new stuff, even if heroscape is not 100% accurate, still provides enough information to get you started, mixed with fun, and links to education

[RobWeaver]

I agree. Hasbro was very creative in the names and backstory for the game, not just the mechanics. Giving us foreign things which are close in appearance to familiar things is like a shorthand technique for delivering information quickly. George Lucas did it in Star Wars. Han Solo's blaster is a modified "Brommhandle" Mauser. He did that on purpose so the gun would be both exotic and instantly recognizable. RE Howard did the same thing in his writing. "Turan" is really "Iran;" "Vendyah" is"India" and the reader knows something about the culture of the area.