unkindness-of-valravns
"The raven flies in the evening. It will have bad luck, for it can not have good." Dedicated to showcasing everything valravn. (Icon/Header by Zel204)
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Latest Posts by unkindness-of-valravns
Valravnen is less of a vættr and more of a fairytale creature. It's only known from medieval folk songs, and only from Denmark.
Valravnen shows up in two folk songs: The appropriately titled "Valravnen" and a version of "Germand Gladensvend," where Gammen is replaced by Valravnen. In the self-titled song, valravnen is a human who has been cursed to become a raven and is only returned to his human body when he drinks the blood of a baby. In Germand Gladensvend, valravnen is a monstrous bird who helps the main characters, but asks for their first-born in return, whom he then eats - he is, however, killed by the child's mother before it is revealed why he ate the child.
Even in the song commonly known as "Valravnen," this word only shows up in two of the nine versions of the song. In the other versions, the character is referred to as Wild Raven, Salmand Raven, or Verner Raven (Salmand and Verner being human names).
According to folklorists Holbek & Piø, "valravn" (battlefield raven) is not the original name for this figure, but is instead a misunderstanding of the more prevalent name "vilde ravn" (wild raven), as the figure never appears to have had anything to do with the battlefield, and "wild raven" is a far more common moniker in medieval sources.
However, during the early-1800s nationalistic romanticist wave, poet Adam Oehlenschläger showed a clear preference for the name "valravn" and chose to exclusively use that name in his reworkings of the folksongs. By the time folklorist Svend Grundtvig started his work, by the mid-1800s, "valravn" had overtaken the earlier "vilde ravn" name in popularity.
It is Holbek & Piø's opinion that valravnen is closely related to the werewolf, since they're both transformed humans who can be freed by drinking the blood of an infant, a belief that seems exclusive to Southern Scandinavia.
According to some modern authors, valravnen is a raven that haunts the battlefield, but I have not been able to trace back the origins of this belief. It seems fairly recent, and appears to be a result of the creature's name, more than its actual folkloric presence.
The heraldic combination of a wolf and a raven has been referred to as a valravn. This has seemingly nothing to do with the folkloric valravn, just as a heraldic antelope has nothing to do with a real life antelope. It does lend some credence to the idea that the valravn and the werewolf are related, though. The werewolf is also rarely described as "varulv" in folk songs, but is more often described as "vilde ulv" (wild wolf) or "grå ulv" (grey wolf).
Sources:
Holbek & Piø (1967) "Fabeldyr og Sagnfolk"
Poul Lorenzen (1960) "Vilde Fugle i Sagn og Tro"
Hooooowww did people 1) hear the folksong Valravnen about a knight who's been transformed into a bird (likely an eagle, not a raven) and can only break the curse by killing a baby, 2) see that one (1) now-extinct noble family referred to their heraldic beast, a wolf/bird, as a 'valravn', and 3) read one single 1800s countryboy's explanation that valravnen is like an evil valkyrie, and SOMEHOW extrapolate from those three wildly unrelated sources that "The Valravn" (because it's never a folkloric concept with different interpretations, it's always a single specific creature) is a were-wolf/raven who haunts battlefields to drink the blood of slain warriors????
Please stop depicting 'the' valravn when you don't even know what it is, I'm begging on my fucking knees, I hate the way recent Danish folklore-inspired popculture has latched onto this figure and keeps depicting it in wilder and wilder ways😭😭
If you want a folkloric evil bird creature in your story please just use a fucking dragon or gammen. Use a damn cockatrice or vættehane, idgaf. Please just stop muddying the already-confusing lore of valravnen. The figure has been abused enough already and you are making my hobby as a folklorist very difficult😥
valravn thirst trap
I made this so quick what’s also uhh valravn roller coaster thirst trap
⋆｡°✩ Art info ✩°｡⋆ ✧ programs and materials used: procreate, finger ✧ Time: 27 minutes (WHAT HOW??) ✧ date: 12/4/2023 ⋆｡°✩ Extra details ✩°｡⋆ ✧ Inspirations from: me ✧ However, I am fine with people referencing, inspiring, heavily inspiring, tracing, and reuploading my content (ONLY ON PINTREST, NOWHERE ELSE) with credits! (Just don’t steal my art style, okay?) ✧IF YOU WANT THIS TAKEN DOWN FOR PLAGERISM REASONS, PLEASE TELL ME AND I WILL MAKE THE APPROPRIATE CHANGES.
⋆｡°✩ Creator information ✩°｡⋆ ✧ any ✧ eng/esp/рус ✧ minor
Have a good day ‧₊˚ ◡̎
Valravns - Behavior
This is just my personal take on valravns. Many elements present here are not found in the source material and instead are inferences or were wholly invented by me. Feel free to use these ideas for your own valravn or valravn-inspired characters!
~~~
By the nature of their existence, valravns are intelligent and dangerous creatures. A hunger for human hearts does not easily lend itself to a charitable personality. Their hunger dictates their every action.
They are experts at fighting in their many forms, striking precisely where and how they need to. Most of the time, however, valravns pick alternatives to outright violence. A clever predator does not need to hunt prey, all it needs to do is trap it.
A valravn always has some sort of deceptive plot in mind. They have a habit of using trickery in their words or only telling half-truths when making deals with mortals. Unlike the fae, this is not a case of magic compelling them to do so. They simply have a sick sense of humor, taking joy in the despair of the mortals they have tricked.
Valravns can either be nomadic or have a set territory. Typically, younger ones are nomadic while older ones settle, but this is by no means definite. Nomadic valravns fly from one bloodied battlefield to the next, something that is easy for their keen senses to find. Settled valravns typically take up some remote locale, like a forest or island, and reign it with iron claws and beak.
Valravns, much like mundane ravens, are mostly solitary. They may take on a mate, typically another valravn, but sometimes some other monster, or rarely even a human. Valravns are fiercely loyal to their mate, to the point of madness. Anything less than perfect for their other half is unacceptable and must be corrected. A valravn separated or, gods forbid, denied their mate would be a truly twisted and insane monster indeed.
Valravns may also be accompanied by their young. These chicks may be naturally born, humans they turned into their own, or even a mix of both. Their young typically accompany their parents until they reach maturity, at which point they leave their parents' side and strike it out on their own.
Valravns - Appearance
This is just my personal take on valravns. Many elements present here are not found in the source material and instead are inferences or were wholly invented by me. Feel free to use these ideas for your own valravn or valravn-inspired characters!
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The valravn is a liminal being, and each one is unique in appearance. Some appear as gigantic, eight-foot-tall raven raptors, while others are griffon-like hybrids of ravens and wolves. To complicate this matter, valravns are shapeshifters and have numerous forms for different occasions. They may blend into the environment and travel unseen as a mundane raven, then later take on a monstrous form to attack prey. The only consistency between all valravns' true forms is that they all have corvid traits in some way. They may have wolf traits as well, but this is not always the case.
Some valravns are capable of taking on a human form. They tend to give themselves armor when they do so, giving the impression that they are turning into a knight. This guise is not perfect, as there will always be something slightly unsettling and not quite right about them. While a valravn disguised as a raven can remain unassuming indefinitely, a valravn disguised as a human will inevitably be found out.
Starry-eyed.
Fun fact, with this attack complete, I have drawn every valravn/valravn-related character uploaded to Art Fight! (As of 2023 at least.)
Kvasir is the OC of Lemoneymango.
During my strange quest to draw every valravn/valravn-related character on Art Fight this year, there were several characters I encountered that didn't really fit into either of my mass attacks. Rather than exclude them, I gave them all one-off pieces!
Valerie King - CrystalDisc | Stolas - VRavne | Valravn - @lynndoublelegacy | Týr - @gosilverraven | Quilo - Quarth
Beat...h-h-heartbeat...
I can assure you that I am the only person in the world that looked at seven different valravn OC couples and said "I have the perfect 80s synthpop song for this." I genuinely considered all of these characters' relationships with each other to make sure the stanzas matched up properly.
Valravn and Loki - kagerou and natsuka | Valravn and Casrain - void.dust and Slurmplurt | Lucian and Atticus - FallingFeathers and SunshineCo255 | Finlay and Gale - Raptorscreams | V and Aiden - @grim-woof and @combat-cat | Vidar and Kessler - @abilitayy | Elin and Milas - @heartziehearts
Valravns on the prowl!
Ever since I finished my valravn mass attack last year, I asked myself, how could I ever follow it up? I missed quite a few characters last year (I am SO sorry that I missed you guys) and there's going to be newcomers this year. What should I do? Another valravn mass attack, of course.
You can find this piece on Art Fight here. As for what all of these characters are up to and where they're going...well, who knows? Surely nothing nefarious.
Valravn - eurekaclown | Valravn - Ruakku | Valravn - @naldthal-thetraders | Innocence - @whitewingedcrow | Capri - Ophiu_chuss | Sklaer - sshrimpmeal | Connor - SelkieFromNorth | Valdern - 0tesmeal
Woe betide those that see the king remove his mask.
On a less dramatic note, I'd like to thank you for posting this character, because I didn't know that squishmallow existed until I read the Raven King's description. It's now my sworn duty to acquire one for myself.
The Raven King is the OC of @zappyboicat.
" Now I'm not looking for absolution Forgiveness for the things I do But before you come to any conclusions Try walking in my shoes Try walking in my shoes You'll stumble in my footsteps "
I think I've drawn Valerie's monstrous form...once before? I really need to draw it more. More info after the cut.
So I've had the idea for this piece for years now, but I never drew it because I felt like I didn't have the skill to pull it off. Eventually I resigned myself to commissioning another artist to draw it for me, and I started making a quick sketch of my idea...and I kept sketching it...until I had drawn the whole thing myself in a few hours. Guess I just needed to get over myself and draw it mindlessly LOL
I need to make a proper writeup of who Valerie even is one of these days but for now the short summary is: she was born human, but a valravn ripped her heart out and turned her into one of his own. She escaped from him, but she also now has to eat human hearts on a semi-regular basis. Needless to say, it's taken a toll on her mental health.
Oh yeah and here's the no background version
The Ohioans suggested it to me.
So say hello to Valravn, a fiesty young king of the streets {or wherever you want it to be!} who's ready to show rivals who's boss!
Additionally, just like with day 8, please don't get rid of their Haemophilia! It's more of a genetic condition than a disability of course, but still I want this guy to keep their clot-less swag since I chose to give them this as a nod to how actual Valravn are born from ravens feasting upon those slain in battle!
Once again, Offer to Adopt. Valid offers can be art, designs, and/or Money {min £10/usd equivalent} so may the best win!
THE LINEUP
Day 1 - X-Press: Platform 13 Day 2 - Spinball Whizzer Day 3 - Baron 1898 Day 4 - The Walking Dead: The Ride Day 5 - Creek Freak Massacre Day 6 - Hyperia {Project Exodus} Day 7 - The Dragon Day 8 - The Wickerman Day 9 - Mr Monkey's Banana Ride Day 10 - Mamba Day 11 - Valravn
More Coming Soon...
my valravn oc!!
Val: Val/Valerie, Boy/male, he/they, 21, Puerto Rican. His 1st language is English, 2nd language is Spanish, and he is learning Russian. He is “friends” with Orion. He is “unemployed” in the traditional sense but owns a small business and is considering working at cedar point. He also lives in Ohio. He moved to mainland USA when he was 8. He isn’t a bug or machine but a irl human, and so is orion!
Also this is his old design, so his newer designs are different because I changed them!
When you hear the Old Church bell toll and a sad wail echo through the forest, do not approach. For the Weeping Raven is there, grieving for all she lost.
It is best not to disturb her, lest you want to join her in sorrow.
When you hear the Old Church bell toll and a sad wail echo through the forest, do not approach. For the Weeping Raven is there, grieving for all she lost.
It is best not to disturb her, lest you want to join her in sorrow.
Blessing of the Raven
Raven, carry my woes, my sorrows, black bird. The raven was primarily seen as an ill omen, a messenger of death and grief. It was strongly associated with witchcraft and shape shifting and was often called "the witch bird".
However, in one of the songs of the ancient Finns the raven was also an empathetic helper; a bird you could trust your sorrows with and it would ease your pain by carrying the woes beyond dark waters so that they would no longer bother anyone.
Find me and my art elsewhere!
OLD GODS - Artworks inspired by Finnish mythology and Folklore
Scandinavian tales and creatures
Valravn are created when a raven eats the heart of a warrior who was slain in battle. The raven gains the knowledge of the warrior and the ability to shift into human form. These creatures perform malicious acts such as tricking people and leading them astray.
