He’s Proof We Can’t Have Nice Things!

So I always like to start the new year with a lil horse fire and a spirit of rebirth… well the horse fire is new this year, but you get the gist! It’s time to try something new, so instead of just a few descriptors, we’re going to try and set the scene a bit, cause dammit, i want to see some arrows flying and some dotted lines to show me where the hell they came from. So this year we’re going with the the death of most loveable of the Norse gods, Baldr.

Here’s roughly the way it plays out:

Odin has a bunch of kids, Thor and Loki being the most well known, but back in the day, were you to ask who was everyone’s favorite, the crowds would scream Baldr! He was the most handsomest, the humblest, the friendliest and so frigging cheerful that he literally leaked light.

So Baldr has a dream that he dies, his mom, Frigg, shares this very dream and freaks the hell out, assuming that a shared dream can only mean prophecy. So Frigg travels the nine worlds and makes every, animal, plant, force and substance promise to not harm her son, but humorously she skips the tiny plant, mistletoe, cause she thinks it small, young and unthreatening (never underestimate the youth!).

So time passes, and the other gods realize that with this promise from the worldto do no harm to Baldr, their brother is not only incredibly handsome, now he’s incredibly invulnerable and they make a game of braining him with boulders, slashing him with swords, setting him afire… and since he’s so amicable, seemingly indestructible and likes to entertain, he just goes along with it.

In the meantime, Loki discovered that the little mistletoe plant not only made no promise to Frigg, but was also quite poisonous. And cause he’s a dick, convinces his blind brother, Hoor, to join in the “lets all try and hurt Baldr” game.

Now Loki provides Hoor with a bow and mistletoe tipped arrow, points his blind brother in the right direction, and with a little brotherly encouragement, Hoor let’s the arrow fly, which magically hits home, and Baldr promptly dies.

Then some other stuff happened, they visit Baldr in hell, Try and get him out, Loki F’s him over again… but that’s mostly unimportant for our task…

Now comes the fun part, they decide to burn Baldr on the largest of all ships, they light the pyre and Thor becomes so overwrought that he kicks a visiting dwarf into the burning boat, Baldr’s wife immediately follows suit and jumps into the flames herself, and at this point, the mourners figure why not, and throw his trusty armored warhorse on the pyre for good measure. So now there’s the largest of all ships burning with a dead god, his wife, an angry dwarf and one would assume a horrific scent of burning horse, and the gods suddenly realize that even they with all their might can’t send this burning monstrosity away, it’s just too heavy.

Which is of course the cue for the giantess, Hyrrokin, to ride in on a monstrous great wolf, go up to the boat and push it so hard that the earth shook and the light of fire was seen throughout the world… the end!

Now I don’t care what aspect of the story you doodle, just pick a scene and go to town, and by go to town, i mean have fun, don’t try too hard, and if you’re smiling while you’re drawing, you’re doing it right! As always our favorite gets a shirt, so get to doodling!

There weren’t a ton of drawings this time so I’m awarding the winner myself. But that doesn’t take one bit of the magic away from this guy, his comical assortment of brothers and his oozey pink brains! Thanks for always faithfully drawing ITNet… now to finally get you one of these new shirts!

And while I sorta doubt its ever going to happen, know you can always send your drawings of the Death of Baldr in late, you won’t win a shirt but I’ll gladly post it for everyone’s enjoyment