#vanir twins

[bugak]

Teenage Vanir twins doodle!

I really love them so much🥹

[gwanangi]

[medievildead]

Headcanons about Vanir practices and culture (God of War)

Simply because I like exploring cultural differences in fantasy universes. Also, I can do whatever I want and make shit up.

(CW; some of these have to do with sexual culture, pregnancy, childbirth. The Vanir gods were fertility and pleasure gods in nordic mythology after all, usually depicted with huge erections. So be warned)

-The Vanir are incredibly brotherly to one another, not just their actual siblings. While they do refer to their actual brothers and sisters as such, they also refer to their friends and neighbours as brothers and sisters, their elders as fathers and mothers and etcetera. This is also what started the absurd rumors in Asgard that the Vanir were incestuous, they completely misunderstood the terminology and assumed that, when Vanir would refer to their spouses with familial terms like "sister" and "brother", it was literal.

-Vanir are not completely humanoid, and often times have more mammalian/naturistic (can't think of the word for it) behaviours, that basically translates to adapting to the seasons. Body hair grows thicker for colder seasons and they trim their hair for the warmer seasons, their eyesight adapts to the weather, etcetera.

-ALL Vanir have an animal form, not just Hildisvini and Freya. Freyr can turn into a buck, but he scarcely does this (his own choice). Because of this, the Aesir see Vanir as less than human often times. Rumours about them pollute asgard. They spread propaganda amongst one another about the vanir still being cannibals, and call them untamed creatures, believing the animal forms are their "true forms" and the human appearance is merely a facade.

-Vanir believe its inhumane to waste any part of nature when natures life is taken. If a tree is cut down every branch will be used, every leaf will be gardened and every strip of bark will become paper or fuel. A harvest must always be replanted or recycled. If an animal is killed for meat it is never wasted, the bones are ground or carved, the meat is cooked, the skin is turned to pelt, and the organs are used aswell. If a flower is plucked, the earth must be thanked. They are one with their surroundings, always.

-Vanir are beings associated with peace, fertility, witchcraft, harvest, and wisdom. The realm itself is very magical and consisting of blooming flora and magic fauna, similar to life found in Midgard but much larger and whimsical due to the enchantment of the earth there.

-Vanir practice most commonly Seiðr magic, a magic that is connected with flora and can amplify the potency of root growth, poisons and toxins, regeneration (healing living things), so on and so forth. Anything that can be naturally produced by living things. Seiðr magic is frowned upon and considered disgraceful by Asgardians. Outside of the Vanir, it's mostly only practiced by beings that use dark arts.

-Vanir culture was considered very odd to the rest of the realms, due to yltheir familial culture was different, marriage rituals were different, and birth/death rituals were very different. Even death rituals were a massive celebration of life. Most other realms viewed the Vanir with confusion because of how peace-loving they were.

-A looooong time ago, the Vanir did cannibalistic rituals. Not out of hunger, it was a willing sacrifice to nature and rebirth thing. They no longer practice this in any regard what-so-ever, but it is one of the many stereotypes that other realms bring up to make the vanir seem primitive and barbaric.

-Back when cannibalism was practiced, Vanir bodies were never left to take up space. If a Vanir was ready to die (they usually didn't die like humans died in these rituals, they just decided when their time was up, and wanted the cycle of life to continue) they would sacrifice themself, and a very non-grotesque tradition would play out. They'd be killed cleanly, harvested, eaten in the most clean way possible, and all remains would be fed to the land (think like fertilizer, but magic energy) and they'd in turn be reborn as nature. But all their actual good cuts of meat would be genuinley eaten by the other vanir, filling them with energy and etc, and their bones and hair would be used for tools, crafting, and practicing magic.

- Like I said previously, this is a very old, no-longer-practiced ritual by the Vanir. But it's still known about and its why the Aesir see them as wild animals. HOWEVER. Freyr returned to cannibalism because he had no choice but to. The aesir captured, if they had to get rid of the body, Freyr would take it and work on picking the bones clean on his own time. He was tired, hungry and exhausted, and after the genocide of his people, no more Mr. Nice Guy from Freyr. He can go a little insane. As a treat.

-Vanir could withstand cannibalism unlike humans or Aesir, they could stand it moreso than jotunn even. They wouldnt suffer any negative side effects from it.

-As mentioned before, Vanir have the ability or have a form that is or resembles an animal (Freyas falcon, Hildisvini's boar, etc) and this is another remnant of magic and witchcraft that they utilize.

- Because of the natural fertility magic of the land, pollen from Vanaheim flora is a key ingredient to the most effective tonics, tinctures, philters, elixirs, and fertilizers. It's also used in herbal blends to assist animals with mating.

-Vanir sperm is incredibly fertile, both in the literal and magical sense. This refers to both the Vanir people and the native animals to Vanaheim. So not just pollen from Vanaheim but sperm from Vanahiem (person OR animal) can genuinley be used a key ingredient to fertilizers and aphrodisiacs.

-As beings of both fertility *and* pleasure sex was something done for both fun as well as for procreation, both were seen as seperate activities.

-Sex for fun was a spectacle in its own right! Though expectantly done privately, it was often times done in gatherings, much like bonobos do, as an act of peace and love, and orgies could last for days. Vanir friends and couples would often meet each other for the first time at seasonal pleasure gatherings.

-Vanir procreation was a seperate celebration altogether. Yearly during the beginning of spring, they refer to this time as ástartímabil (lover season) and declare it the optimal time to procreate, as they believe this is the time of year when fertility blessings are blooming from the land. They seek the the land blessed by the spirits and opt to have sex in bountiful areas of the forest, often times surrounded by others at shrines who give blessings of good harvest while the couple has sex. Its not seen as an act of voyeurism at all either, just watching something beautiful, like a tree being planted.

-Vanir pregnancy cycles are much shorter than humans, only lasting around six months as opposed to the average human maternity cycle of nine months. As most vanir mothers become impregnated at the time of spring, the celebrations of birth are held most comminly around the time of autumn and the harvest months.

-All Vanir births are cherished and celebrated as natures blessing, and births can often attract crowds of others wanting to observe and give good heart (think Bambi's birth, and the crowd it drew). Birth is seen as such a gracious part of nature and the beginning of life is such a celebration. The Vanir are as "hippie" as it gets, and they truly are a people of love.

-It's very, very, very uncommon for Vanir to give birth to twins. Because the maternity period is so short, it's rare for the body to be able to maintain such. If a family wanted two children, a mother would simply become pregnant a year after the first birth to have a second child in time. That's also why Freyr and Freya were seen as the most important gifts to the realm, Vanir twins hadn't really been witnessed before.

[naegissa]

Chibi Freyr and Freya!

So i was just playing around with chibi and decided to draw them, do i made Freyr playing around with his powers and making vines on Freya too because why not?!

[gwanangi]

[medievildead]

Freyr's story in God of War hurts me. Like immensely. The Lost Pages of Norse Myth (2018) as well as the retelling by Mimir and Freya just reveal the most upsetting story I've heard about him.

I'll never be over the Aesir trying to burn him alive, just for seeking to aide them in achieving a bountiful harvest. Freyr's burn scars are still so visible on his fucking arms bro. Which means he was still sporting those when he attended Freyas wedding into the very family that tried to kill him.

Freyr was a GUEST in Asgard. He, out KINDNESS, attempted to show them the Vanir magic of the Harvest, to help their crops flourish. No record of him even wanting shit in return. He was just being the naturally kind serenity god that he is.

And then, because the Aesir couldn't get the hang of it, and, being who they are, accused Freyr of bad witchcraft, and claimed he was tricking them.

So what do they do to punish him for and assumed attempt at fooling them? They ripped up out of the ground all the crops Freyr had just generously enchanted, threw them down as kindle and lit them, and Freyr, ablaze. They left him in the flames of his own gifts. Fully intending for him to burn alive and die.

Like of fucking course he didnt want Freya to marry Odin. Of fucking course he thought Freya was dead. He knows what the Aesir are capable of. His permanently marked skin is a grim reminder.

Its just. Freyr is so fucking kind. And sweet and silly and generous. There isn't any story in GoW canon (Or even really in myth) of him being horrible. He's genuinley the serenity god for a reason. He is such a sweetheart.

And the Aesir tried to burn him alive.

I understand Freya's perspective though. What she tried to do was noble and- to be fair, she had to be convinced into that choice my Mimir. She wanted to keep Vanaheim safe, and if Marriage to Odin was the only choice she had, I was stuck in position I'd be going with the easy way out too.

But Freyr of all people would fully believe that the Aesir, under Odin's rule, have no understanding of peace. The man is the patron of that stuff. United the elves for fucks sake. He tried to teach the Aesir something to help their realm flourish and they spit on him when they can't understand it, because they can't comprehend being unable to do something So Simple that a Vanir Could Do It so Clearly He Must Be Tricking Us. Then they proceed to burn him alive. If I were Freyr, I'd certainly believe whatever promises made by the Aesir were complete bullshit.

We never get told the words Freyr said to Freya at her wedding, but.. it probably had a lot to do with the fact Freyr couldn't stand to see Freya make such a choice. Like, "Freya I love you. But I can't in sound mind be part of this union no matter what. Look at me. LOOK AT ME. What they've done to me, to us, to our people. Is this truly what you want? For us? For Vanaheim? Is this the legacy you want to be remembered for?? I won't- I CAN'T stop you from making your own choice. But I'll warn you now that that choice decides wether or not you see me again"

And she made her choice. And he kept his word. And sure enough, as he likely predicted, the peace was not kept, and he assumed his sister was lost forever, thinking that the last words he had ever said to his beloved sister were basically "I never want to see you again".

This. Fucking. Guy... ):