I got a question in my head and now i cannot get it out so,,,
What mythological creature/deity would you associate the otwd saga characters with? I personally always like to think about these kinds of questions to get to the core motivations/needs/whatever of characters and its really fun to think about!!
Would love to hear you rant about this, its such an interesting topic to me personally <33
I feel so bad that it took me this long to reply when it was on your mind but I didn't forget it just took me literal months to make time to return to OTWD 😔 This is a fun question bc it's already something I think about haha
Zephyr is already named after the Greek god of western winds, which feels appropriate to me. Wind is associated with change and journeys while the west is historically associated with progress and the unknown.
Nuffink has a lot of ghost imagery in his life so that's definitely a big one, but in ITPN I think the wendigo from North American folklore is an apt association. The transformation is supposedly triggered by consuming human flesh and associated with winter and the north.
Baldur has a lot of mythological associations. He's named after a tragic god whose name means prince, but he also has similarities to the trickster Loki with his silver tongue (who indirectly killed Baldr!) and the god Tyr who sacrificed his hand to trick and bind the monster wolf Fenrir. Blackfin is obviously connected to Fenrir, but I also like to think of him as Akhlut from Inuit folklore, a man-hunting creature who transforms into a wolf on land and an orca in the water.
Bjorn doesn't have anything that I try to actively weave in but he's similar to Bodvar Bjarki, a hero who was the king of Denmark's adviser and might've been the inspiration for Beowulf. His father had been transformed into a bear, so Bjarki could also send his spirit into battle as a bear.
Eret has a lot of similarities with Cassandra, a devoted priestess and prophet who was cursed so that nobody listened to her. She also reminds me of a willowy fairy. Unrelated but I've been loving Helaena on House of the Dragon bc her pale hair, green/gold color palette and weird bug girl whimsy are so Eret coded.
Torunn and Zephyr are two sides of a coin and both always remind me of valkyrie, a classic symbol of Norse mythology that represents the dichotomy of woman's role in the viking age, in fiction, and today. They're swan-angels who are alternatingly portrayed bursting out of lightning strikes with their chainmail drenched in blood and as fair dutiful maids bathed in light and fetching drinks. Simultaneously princesses and servants, mead-bearers and shieldmaidens.
Tryggir I associate with witches of all kinds. I can't think of a specific example...
Herne the Hunter is a horned ghost who haunts Windsor forest and is likely based on Cernunnos. Sometimes he's depicted leading the Wild Hunt, all imagery that fits Cato well. I almost named his father Herne as a reference but pivoted into a more historical choice.
I don't think I have any strong association with Sikka... there is the tupilaq of Inuit lore, which I learned about tangentially from AMC's The Terror. It's a vengeful creature created and sent to destroy a specific enemy, but if that enemy has stronger magic than the creator then the tupilaq will return to kill its maker. I hesitate to associate her with sorcery or monsters since those are unrelated, but some of themes are interesting.
Gustav I always connect to Odin. The lost eye, the hanged man symbolism, ravens etc. Cato had a line in OTWD connecting the two.
Nothing came to mind for Rilla, which is sad... her surname is a reference to a real woman called Aud the Deep Minded, a Norwegian matriarch in the British Isles who had to flee to Iceland to save her family from some pretty bad political situations. She was a devout Christian unlike other Icelandic settlers, so she put up crosses to pray at "cross hills". There's still at least one krossholar in her honor. Her father was the king Ketill Flatnose who ruled in the Southern Isles (south of the Northern Isles where Cato originates) so I used Ketill for her father's name and Aud in their surname. It's not exactly mythological but her first name references Rilla of Ingleside (an Anne of Green Gables book) where the protagonist has to rise to her duties at home while her brothers become soldiers in the first world war.
Long reply but I'm glad I could finally get around to it!!
