OC Muse: Valdhaern

OC Muse: Valdhaern

Image Credit: Thevan and the raven monster by ptitvink

Valdhaern. Many have heard the name of this man-turned-raven, or was he a raven-turned-man? No one truly knows, but no one truly dares to ask. All they know is that he is a man with the trappings of a monster. Valdhaern is rumored to be first of the Valravn, carrion birds of Hel herself that scour the world of the living to devour the flesh of fallen warriors, kings, and lords alike. The life of a Valravn, a raven of the slain, is one of endless hunger and wanting, a wanting that can never be sated.

Valdhaern, first of the Valravn, is one stricken with the most grievous of hunger; not for flesh, blood, or death. But for love. In life, Valdhaern was a loving husband, and his wife Leile was bearing their first child. One night, however, a shriek awoke Valdhaern from his sleep, and awoke to the horrifying sight of his wife, stomach torn open, and her child consumed by ravens. Crying in outrage, he’d chase the carrion birds away, but to no avail. His beloved Leile and child were long dead.

Storming into the night, Valdhaern begged and cried for a release from the inevitable grief that’d settle in. However, fate was malicious to his desires, and as the ravens flocked to his body, they did not consume him, but rather cloaked him in their bodies. Clothes turned to a feathery cloak, skin turned grey and leathery, his face elongating to a ravenous beak, and fingernails turned to sharp, crooked claws. He was now the first of the Valravn. Neither man nor raven. And his hunger is forever the bottomless void in his heart that cries out for a beloved one once more.