OC ask blog

Ask box open. Scandinavian folklore, vetter, witches, the devil, oh my!

[askfanden]

About this blog - info :>

◻️ Welcome to my little ask blog where I draw a large portion of my inspirations from Scandinavian (though admittedly from a mostly Norwegian centered view) folklore, folk beliefs, and history through the perspective of, and how the Scandinavian devil, Fanden\Fan\Faen, as they are called was perceived.

Here you will also meet a few other characters who are both friendly and unfriendly. Human and not. Feel free to ask them questions as well if you’re interested in them, though it’d be nice if you clarified who you’re asking about. 

◻️ The blog’s host is called Termite, and I go by They\Them pronouns. :>

That’s about all you need to know about me, hahaw. I just have a special interest and find the whole process of the Viking age, Christianization, witch persecutions, folklore and folk tales wholly FASCINATING. Concepts doesn’t stem from nothing and knowing even just a few parts of it slots things into interesting places.

I’m just here to bring SOME of my ideas to life, hahaw.

◻️ Here you can expect the occasional comic about either a personal story of my making, a visualization of a folkloric concept, or a retelling of folk tales, Fun facts, and all that fun stuff. And of course questions I answer whenever I am lucky enough to get them, hahaw! 

◻️  The way I answer questions is that I go through a 4 answer options (though deviations might happen):

1: If the question doesn’t spark much VISUAL inspiration, I’ll answer through text. Maybe I will at a later time retroactively draw something when the inspiration strikes.  2: A visualized, but straight forward answer that acknowledges the questioner.  3: A comic written to be ca about the question that will answer it, even if the answer itself won’t acknowledge the question and might be left a bit open ended. Think of it as a snippet of a story.  4: OOC \ Blog related requests are fun too.

If you want to ask the person behind the blog, please phrase your question as ‘’OOC: [insert thing you want to say here]’’ or ‘’To the Mun\Termite’’, I’ll more than happily ramble about whatever.

◻️ Small rules to follow, I’ll be brief:

-Don’t spam. If you’re afraid Tumblr ate your ask, I’d be happy if you’d say so in the follow up ask. ^^

-Be respectful and don’t send in explicit NSFW questions. I am ok with NSFW themes (on my own terms) but keep it reasonable.

- Don’t send me fetish related questions or requests. Even non-sexual ones as I don’t consent to it.

- Please understand that IC =/= OOC.

- I I do not consent to anyone reposting, using the art I create, or turn my art into NFT’s. Unless I draw explicitly FOR YOU, my art is all mine.

- I can do mistakes, and while they’re never intentional, may happen. I might misinterpret a source, translate something wrong (gods I hate old danish-Norwegian and dialect texts... Norwegian might be my first language BUT WHY DO THEY SPELL IT ALL LIKE THAT), and accidentally not see through historical bias. I am just mentioning that, so that if you notice something like it, that you’ll hopefully understand it’s not from a place of malice.

- If you have any neat book recommendations on Scandinavian history and folklore, GIMME.

◻️ Most of, but unfortunately not all, of my sources I’ll likely draw from:

-Prose Edda -Poetic Edda -The history of the Danes - Saxo Grammaticus

- The Unmanly Man: Concepts of Sexual Defamation in Early Northern Society (The Viking Collection, Studies in Northern Civilization , Vol 1) - Preben Meulengracht Sorensen - Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World - Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir - Women in Old Norse Society: A Portrait - Jenny Jochens - Old Norse Masculinities - Gareth Lloyd Evans, Jessica Clare Hancock - Men and Masculinities in the Sagas of Icelanders -  Gareth Lloyd Evans -Women and weapons in the viking world - Leszek Gardeła - The viking way: Magic and mind in late iron age Scandinavia - Neil Price - Viking Friendship: The Social Bond in Iceland and Norway, C. 900-1300 - Sigurðsson, Jón Viðar - Viking Law and Order: Places and Rituals of Assembly in the Medieval North - Sanmark, Alexandra - Thraldom A History of Slavery in the Viking Age - Stefan Brink - https://www.academia.edu/7617134/Magic_beyond_the_binary_magic_and_gender_in_the_Poetic_Edda - https://www.academia.edu/30273992/Eddic_Poetry_A_Gateway_to_Late_Iron_Age_Ladies_of_Law - https://www.academia.edu/38896844/Children_of_a_One_Eyed_God_Impairment_in_the_Myth_and_Memory_of_Medieval_Scandinavia - https://www.academia.edu/2896380/Ability_and_Disability_On_Bodily_Variations_and_Bodily_Possibilities_in_Viking_Age_Myth_and_Image

- Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North - Murphy, G. Ronald -Power and Conversion: A Comparative Study of Christianization in Scandinavia - Sanmark, Alexandra -Medieval Christianity in the North: New Studies - Jorgensen, Torstein -The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation - Russell, James C.

-''Remedies and Rituals: Folk medicine in Norway and the new land'' - Kathleen Stokker ''Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages'' - Stephen A. Mitchell ''Trolldom: Spells and Methods of the Norse folk magic tradition'' - Johannes Björn Gårdbäck ''Medicine, Magic, and art in Early modern Norway'' by Ane Ohrvik

-’'Å leve med døden : folkelige forestillinger om døden og de døde'' by Bjarne Hodne  (Death, funeral rituals, beliefs, and magic connected to death) -''Merkedager og gamle skikker'' by Per Holc (holidays) -Gamle folkelige værvarsler : 1700 værmerker fra hele landet (Weather signs\folk magic) -Kjærlighetsmagi : folketro om forelskelse, erotikk og ekteskap (love magic) -''Djevelens livshistorie : scener fra en travel tilværelse'' (Stuff about the devil) -Slik levde de da -  Hanne Marie Johansen -Skeive linjer i norsk historie fra norrøn tid til i dag -  Hanne Marie Johansen - Livets høytider : skikker og overtro fra vugge til grav

List will probably be updated as I read more or remember what else I’ve read.

[husvetten]

''Hr. Jakop'' is a Norwegian folktale in the Wittenberg genre.

The Wittenberg school is a decently popular topic in folktales, as it was thought that the priests going to study there were under the tutelage of the devil. That the priests there would receive an education and the ''black book'' (in folklore, a book of spells that can't be burned, thought to be written by the devil) in exchange for 1 student of the graduating class were to give up their soul.

Which, I must admit, think is funny. In a ''so it's fine when YOU DO IT'' kind of way.

Tricking the devil to take their shadows instead of the soul is a pretty popular result as a way to showcase the priests wits. Not that it's much of a feat.

Fanden Tyken, The devil's stand in\actor, is my OC. (They\Them)

Original folktale under the cut.

My translation:

Mr. Jakop of all those weird priests who's been in Hjørunfjord, there's no one, who has as many stories told about them as Mr. Jakop. How long it is he has lived no one knows, but a wise and educated man this must be; yes he was one of those, who had been at the black school in Mecklenburg in Germany, and already then he stood out.

At that school was it like this, that the devil themself, naturally was the teacher who were to have one of the students in exchange for the education and board, should cast lots about who it should be. This time it fell on Mr. Jakop, and thus there was nothing to do, and he had to give himself to the Devil, and in a dark black room he was seated until the devil came to get him. -As it is with all great authorities, it was the devil who decided the most, and thus it went. Now good advice was expensive, he thought, and much he had learned that later would come to help. But could he be bold enough to skimp the devil, he would do something never done before nor after.

He grabbed 4 table knives and placed on in each corner of the room, and told them to answer each their turns, when the devil came to get him. And so he went up the pipe. It wasn't long after he had begun climbing that the devil came and yelled: ''Where are you?''

''Here I am!'' answered one of the knives in the corner, and the devil didn't find Mr. Jakop. So they yelled again: ''Here I am'', shouted the other corner, and the devil looked and found nothing. When they had yelled and looked through the entire room, they knew no calm, and would go up the pipe.

Mr. Jakop had gotten so high up that he had his grip at the very the top of the pipe, and was just about to swing himself up, but with that the devil grabbed hold of his foot and tried to drag him down again.

''DON'T TAKE ME, TAKE HE WHO COMES AFTER ME'', said Mr. Jakop. At once when the devil saw his shadow, they let him go and were to grab after it. Meanwhile Mr. Jakop whipped himself with both hands onto his feet, and there he stood free and blessed.

From that day on, he no longer had a shadow.

[husvetten]

I saw this black and white photo and knew I had to Tyken-ify it. There were no other options.

[husvetten]

The totally not hypocrite who sold his shadow, and the devil he forces to hang out with him sometimes. :V

Priest Peder Salamon (he\him) Fanden Tyken (they\them)

[askfanden]

(( You know, historically?  The past had some pretty crazy takes when it came to the devil and their fertility. I haven’t read much into the specifics of that in Scandinavia, just a tinge around Europe. But it’s certainly something. It was the wild west where you could say pretty much anything.

It was largely believed they’re infertile, for as the devil they can’t give life. Only god and his creations can do that. So they had to get creative to make things make sense. Like creating the belief that they committed acts of necrophilia, or had a Mara\Incubus as a partner seducing women. Among other things.

The devil was heavily sexualized in large parts of Europe. Ooooh boy. If you only knew how many orgies they’re said to have held, and ‘’ritually’’ welcomed new witches through sexual means, not to forget the anus kissing..............................

Buuuut a bit less in Scandinavia where they’re sometimes depicted as sex repulsed. Flash a naked crotch and they’re running off in fear, and running away of uncomfortable embarrassment if you tell them to kiss your ass kind of repulsed. 

Conflicting info is just a Thing with that and this topic.

Though they are still also said to give their witches children who would be born as ‘’devilish’’ and ugly creatures like bats and toads (often through the anus). 

So I mean. Eggs? It depends on what source you want to look into, maybe. I don’t have that answer. I haven’t looked deeply enough into that specifically. 

As for what I go with for Tyken as my OC who deviate a decent bit from, but is inspired by folklore?

They’re a Jotun, so I imagine they themself can get pregnant through normal means if they wanted to. They’re just super sex repulsed. ))

[husvetten]

Part 1

Part 2 (you’re here)

A retelling of the Norwegian folktale ‘’A ride with Fanden’’ 

I’m free, I’m finally free of this thing, I don’t want to work on it any more :’’)

The first part had most of the interesting bits in terms of cultural fun facts, but anyways, here are some of the ones I was able to catch for this part:

Keep reading

[husvetten]

A retelling of a Norwegian folktale in the genre of ‘’The devil gives people rides’’.

 At least part 1 of 2. Not sure if I am interested enough in the second half of the story to draw it out since this is the interesting bit.

But there are a lot of subtle cultural things going on in this folktale the narrator expects the audience to know about. So let’s start from the beginning:

In the Viking age, it was legal and perfectly normal to put out children to die if they were unwanted. But after the Christianization, that was illegalized.

The devil was known to help women giving birth outside of wedlock. They also helped those women hide the pregnancies so they wouldn’t face the many serious consequences a woman would have to face if it was known. 

If the child was put out to die, she might get the death penalty if it was caught. Or high fines, and\or prison. But it was for many a risk they’d be willing to take.

A woman having children outside of wedlock would be socially ostracized, and have it be considered a moral failing on her part. It was also difficult to take care of children, especially as a lone mother. Among many other practical things.

The devil is a moralizing figure, and anything they are approving of, is bad. So if the devil approve of this heathen practice, then you should be like Tore and do the right thing. You are supposed to notify the people around you to make sure the girl doesn’t do anything she’s not supposed to do if there are any suspicions of a hidden pregnancy.

Not a part of the story, but connected; a lot of beliefs connected to children being put out to die would turn into the Utburd. The Utburd is the spirit of a child crying about never having been baptized and wanting a funeral, or revenge on their mother for having killed them. Adding to the seriousness of the crime. 

All of that is hidden in the story, even if it’s barely glanced at in the story itself. 

Though, as for me if I’ll be honest, as a modern person in our year of the lord 2023… I’m on team Devil on this. The Devil did nothing wrong. :V

[askfanden]

I’ve sketched up a thing for a folktale comic retelling , but my energy is non-existent.

So have some simple stuff in the meanwhile as I slink back to the nothing for a while longer.

[askfanden]

Have a tusse and a nisse for good measure.

[askfanden]

I’ve sketched up a thing for a folktale comic retelling , but my energy is non-existent.

So have some simple stuff in the meanwhile as I slink back to the nothing for a while longer.

[askfanden]

Fanden for women's rights this, Fanden for women's rights that. What about Fanden for women's wrongs, huh?

- Sir Galaxy 🌌

[askfanden]

FANDEM FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS!

I feel like I am missing something...

[husvetten]

Wistfully longing for the day I get myself working on that comic I’ve wanted to do for these two…

Fanden Tyken (they\them) Riley (She\her)

[askfanden]

There's this short tale (6 pages) i think you'd like. The Devil's church by Machado de Assis. But I don't know if you have time or will find it.

It's a critic on religion. And also is about the human nature.

So the Devil realises his work is lacking order and a system. Alsoo he's jealous, he wants churches, communions, masses! Priests! Prestige!

So he wants to create his own church! Then no religion can compete! No more souls to god! He went up to heaven to brag about his plan to Him, like hahaha your followers claim to be virtuous but they always engage in sins..

Devil then went preaching "I AM NOT THE DEVIL FROM THE CHRISTIAN TALES, THE STORIES TO SCARY CHILDREN, I'm the ACTUAL Devil, The Genie of Nature.

He claims he's been slandered.

So his church. The Seven sins are virtues, you can and should engage in all your desires! Actually solidariety and loving the others is a sin! It just restrains you!

He succeds, every country knows of him, every place has a church to him!

But then he notices. His followers doing here and there, some "sins". Like they are still practicing evil, but they sometimes do good. Even though the appeal of the his church is that you can be selfish and do all other religions said you couldn't.

A gluton stops eating in another religios sacred holidays.

A apothecary murderer, saves the life of their victim's childrens with the same drug he used to poison the parents.

An camel thief is enterering a mosque, when the devil approaches him. Thief claims his going to steal a camel.

He does, but gifts camel to someone that thanks them by "I will pray to Allah for you".

Devil is puzzled! He goes to God asking, what the hell? Why they being acting like that?!

And God reminds him that the Devil himself bragged that people claim to be virtuous but still sin when they feel so inclined.

Yup, people be like that.

(( Found the book on Aarchive.org!

And of course I will give a recommendation a look if I can get hold of it in some way! And ONLY 6 pages too? That's like nothing at all when it comes to time stealers.

It was an interesting read and thank you for directing my attention towards it! Man, I love the devil's pathetic charms. ))

[husvetten]

Norwegian Folktale retelling of the story ‘’Fanden and Futen’’.

The small historical context behind the Fut was that they would collect taxes and debt for local landlords, but from from the 1600′s they became the Danish-Norwegian’s king’s tax and debt collectors.

They were highly unpopular with the population.

 Another fun fact is that in Danmark-Norway,  11. June and 11. December,  tax and debt collecting days were in jest called ‘’The Devil’s Birthday’’.

[askfanden]

I am incredibly intrigued by the werewolf lady, (Yrma, or something similar if my frail memory isn't failing me) and would love to know more about her and her story!!

(ic or ooc?, either or, really)

Glowing regards, Sir Galaxy 🌌

(( Since you're asking so open ended and vaguely, I'll answer ooc. :>

Ylfa!

She's a relatively minor character in a pretty early point in my story, but let's see what we got... ))

(( Born in pre-Christian Norway (anywhere between 500-800, no specific date decided) she is Eirkir's (Erik for simplicity sake) older sister.

This guy. Way back, and then after he figured out how to shapeshift. Shapeshifted version is ca 3,5 meters tall because he likes being tall. He's a Mara.

The way a Mara and Werewolf was believed to appear, was as a punishment for the parents crimes: like infidelity, doesn't matter which parent did it. Or if the mother tried to ease her birthing pains through magical means, but those reasons are largely Christian influenced in nature. Or as the 7th child. Sometimes the family's just cursed. Or they get cursed with it through their lifetime. Among other things. Exiles and berserkers could also become werewolves.

You would get one or the other if those conditions were met, as they were born conditions. The most common thing was for boys to become werewolves and girls to become a Mara. The Mara is a sleep paralysis demon, similar to the Incubus\Succubus.

Ok, with that little contextual lesson out of the way, Ylfa.

Ylfa was Erik's sister, and the family's favorite of the two.

Erik was a pretty weak guy, would constantly sleep at random times, always tired regardless of how much he slept, wasn't able to do heavy work without accidently harming himself. He was, frankly, a twig of a man. (Honestly, he has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but that's not a thing people would know about back then. )

Ylfa on the other hand was a hard worker, strong, opinionated, a bit of a hot head. But a top notch girl.

She learned about her being a werewolf after finding her werewolf fur after the first transformation. She tried to keep it under wraps from a pretty early age, never telling anyone about it. She hid her wolf fur as well as she could, away from people and other's eyes. The occasional obligatory nightly transformations was sort of livable, but. Yeah.

People in the area got more and more restless as the ghost wolf more and more frequented the area, and people would warn each other about staying out too late at night. That was a dangerous time, after all. The vette were out and wanted their peace as well, but this giant ghost wolf thing is kind of a worry.

When Tyken came to town, (they were considered a seidr practitioner, so constantly on the move) she JUMPED at the chance to speak to them to learn more about her own, and Erik's conditions. Though she would ask them in private since, erhm. Woof.

There they learned Erik was a Mara, and she learned that Tyken took one look at her and diagnosed her with Werewolf. Second sight is nothing if but practical!

Still not accepting of her condition she swore them to secrecy, and they just nodded and went on with their life. They didn't care that much, if they're honest.

Erik decided to, in a fit of panic about not knowing what to do, latched on to Tyken and started to live with them. Main problem with that is that Tyken was a wandering person who never stayed for longer in any settlement than a few days at a time, and was basically in exile for personal reasons. Self imposed, but still.

Tyken did settle a bit for Erik's sake, but the two didn't get along well for years. Though they became best friends eventually.

When he moved she was largely alone with her own thoughts. No longer did she have to care for Erik, make sure he was doing alright. Take care of someone else. She was just sitting with her own problems, and no one to really go to.

Besides Tyken who was at most neutral about it, and not that close to her personally. And they lived far off from where she lived.

The transformations got worse as her mental state worsened.

It was manageable if she wore her fur she had hidden away, the wolf could run faster than she could walk, but she didn't like wearing it. It felt too freeing, in a way. And she couldn't accept that. It was uncomfortable.

After this incident, she had to admit to Erik that she was a werewolf, and she's so sorry about not being able to control herself when when she attacked him.

Erik assured that it was fine, and that he felt guilty and terrible for letting her take care of him for almost all their lives as the older sibling. For monitoring his health, taking his work, making sure he wouldn't get into situations where he could potentially hurt himself from his conditions.

She just seemed to have everything under control. She was so strong, and he never noticed. He knew but never noticed.

She assures him that it was fine, since she had tried to hide it and it was easier to reflect her own issues onto him to avoid confronting things.

Tyken let her stay at their place for a while to sort things out. Taught her a few things, helped her get comfortable with the freedom her fur gave her. Who knew being around people who accepted her conditions, didn't make her feel she had to hide it, and understood how being an ''other'' felt like could do well for the soul?

And after a while she decided that, you know what? Self imposed exile is ideal for her and her life situation. This isn't so bad. And the community of Vette within the In-between aren't so bad for as long as you understood the social norms you had to adhere to.

For anyone else exile would be a death sentence, but she's a wolf. She is meant to be in the wild.

Shame for her husband, but who cares about him. He can think she's dead. She only married him because her father said she had to.

[askfanden]

Heyo Mx Devil, for scientific reasons, (a debate with a friend) what's your favourite colour?

Thanks in advance.

"Oh my! Well, since it is such a time sensitive question I will almost need to answer it with the haste it deserves to clear out the air and set things straight between you and your friend. Though I must say, I truly appreciate you coming straight for the source for the information.

Now!

I have a decent amount on my list of favourites, and they lean towards a more earthly hue. For truly, one can never go wrong with a combination of red, gold, black and brown. They work quite well together and I will say those are my favourite ones.

Though I am not averse to blue or green either. Or even white for that matter."

[husvetten]

The devil was accused of many things. Many, many, many weird things. So when you  are everyone’s saturday morning cartoon villain everyone deems very slapable because you’re ‘’evil’’, you may as well be annoying about it.

Unfortunately, Riley is lost, frustrated, scared, and also a rude child punished for her rude crimes against a hulder she also did a rudeness towards.

Fanden Tyken - They\them Riley - She\her.