Jormungandr is actually an alternate in-story name for Leviathan, like how the nurse in arc 8 said Hadhayosh instead of Behemoth.

Oh, really? I suppose that makes sense with how he’s a sea monster, and Jörmungandr is by all means an “end-bringer” in Norse mythology, alongside Fenrir. I wonder if Fenrir might similarly be used as a name for Behemoth?

Also, I suppose that means Kaiser can be Thor in the extended metaphor after all, except a less successful one considering Thor actually managed to slay Jörmungandr before keeling over himself.

…can you imagine if Arc 8 had ended with Kaiser killing Leviathan and then dying himself? That would be one hell of a base breaker, I think.

I wonder if there’s a Baldr somewhere in this. The closest I can think of is Purity, as Baldr was a god of light, but Purity isn’t invincible as far as I’ve gathered, and Baldr died long before Ragnarök.

Don’t know if someone else has already mentioned this, but I’m pretty sure Wildbow mentioned in a Reddit post that Rollo actually was either a wolf or a coyote puppy, so it makes sense that Rachel’s power would work better on undomesticated species of dog. That’s what it was originally meant for.

Someone did mention that, yeah. 🙂

It’s a pretty neat background detail.

“I wonder what happens if they both succeed. Do they duke it out over the open spot?” If they both succeed, there’s a possibility that they’ve opened up more spots.

I suppose that’s true.

If that were to happen, we’d have Bitch and Hookwolf trying to be on the same team. That ought to cause some sparks.

“A sword age, an axe age. A wind age, a wolf age.” Those exact words are taken from an english translation of the Prophecy of the Völva, specifically the part where she describes the state of humanity immediately before Ragnarok. In that poem they refer to the same age. Shatterbird is making a direct reference to the mythology Hookwolf named his group after.

“A sword age, an axe age. A wind age, a wolf age.“ These are in fact describing the same age – the run-up to Ragnarok – in a quote from passage 45 of the Voluspa or Poetic Edda. Wikisource has the Icelandic text, which I have the impression is closest to the original Old Norse: "skeggjöld, skálmöld / skildir ‘ru klofnir / vindöld, vargöld / áðr veröld steypisk”. (Yeah, Shatterbird swapped the positions of the axe and the sword.)

I think Shatterbird is referring the Fimbulwinter, the three years of uninterrupted winter preceding Ragnarok. I even think I saw it once separated in three winters, one of them being of wolves and the last one being of blades. If the other one is associated with wind her comment would make sense. Then again I last saw that years ago, so I might be completely wrong and remembering things incorrectly.

“Sword and axe make sense, but wind? Also, are these in order, or describing the same age? I can’t really tell.” I believe this is a famous quote from the Norse sagas, describing Ragnarok

Oh!

I know a fair bit of Norse mythology, but I haven’t actually read all that much of the source material. That’s not really a good excuse, though, considering I recently tried to fix that and ended up reading specifically Völuspá (which, for the record, is only the first poem in the Poetic Edda, not an equivalent name for it). 

I do suppose it may have been a different translation… Actually, let me look up the passage in the translation I read:

46. Hard is it in the world, great whoredom, an axe age, a sword age, shields shall be cloven, a wind age, a wolf age, ere the world sinks.

Ah, yeah, there it is. Neat!

“You’re out of my league I’m out of my mind Thinking I was born In the wrong time” I was really hoping this was a Mr. Brightside parody.

Hehe, nope, sorry. Wrong song. :p

Pretty sure burnscar outright stated in Elle’s Interlude that Shatterbird recruited her

*checks*

Huh, so she did. I wonder if some part of my brain subconsciously remembered that when I came to that conclusion in Interlude 11e, or if I did genuinely realize that

independently after having forgotten it.