A Very Old Character Of Mines- Valravn- Who I Still Play From Time To Time :)

“Valravn’s Keep.”

It's high time I posted this one!

I love Hellblade so much, this i sone of the most emotionally accurate and symbolic games ever in my opinion.

Illuminated Letter I made for my grapic design calss.

I tried to draw my valravn Kai. Fucked around with the brushes on Procreate to try get some good bloody effects.

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

Inktober day 8

In Danish folklore, a valravn (Danish "raven of the slain") is a supernatural raven. The ravens appear in traditional Danish folksongs, where they are described as originating from ravens who eat the bodies of the dead on the battlefield, as capable of turning into the form of a knight after eating the entire heart of a child, and, alternately, as half-wolf and half-raven creatures. … No folclore dinamarquês, um valravn (dinamarquês “corvo do morto”) é um corvo sobrenatural. Os corvos aparecem em canções folclóricas dinamarquesas tradicionais, onde são descritos como originários de corvos que comem os corpos dos mortos no campo de batalha, como capazes de se transformar na forma de um cavaleiro depois de comerem todo o coração de uma criança e, alternadamente, como criaturas meio-lobo e meio-corvo.

#danish #raven #valravn #inktober2018 #ink #Inktober #mythical #mytology #mythologicalcreature #myth https://www.instagram.com/p/BorfbhlAWjs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=u6jhyk7g91g

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😥

I finally finished this massive beast of animation. 

This one on its own have been just The Project to practice and learn how to animate. And honestly. For someone who animated for the first time in february this year - I am pretty hecking proud of myself.

I thought I had a pretty good grasp on what the mythical creature valravn from Danish folklore is but after diving deeper it’s more versatile than expected.

The version I was originally told is that a valravn (means “war raven” or more precisely “raven of the fallen” as in fallen people on the battlefield) is a normal raven that gained human intelligence by eating the flesh or brain of dead people after a battle. With the gift of intelligence also came the curse of only being able to fly at night. The only way to gain the ability to move around in daylight was to eat the heart of a young boy. Then the valravn would be able to turn into either a human or a raven/wolf beast and go wherever it wanted whenever it pleased.

But in the most well known song about valravens they’re all human men who were turned into ravens by either a witch or a female troll. A women was told her husband could only turn back if he drank her blood so she asks another valravn for help. It agrees in exchange for the life of her first son as soon as he has spoken his first three words, suggesting an infant would be too young.

In yet another version the valravn is a human who cannibalised dead people on the battlefield and turned into a raven or a human/raven/wolf monster that could only travel at night but would continue the cannibalism until it ate a young boy at which point it would be able to turn back to a human form.

So take your pick. You want a weird creepy raven that has decided it wants to be a human? Or a tragic story of someone who can only turn back by hurting their beloved? Or perhaps a wendigo style creature who became a monster after committing the taboo of cannibalism? Or maybe a mix? Because clearly Danish people in the past weren’t too worried about the valravn canon. The only generally agreed on lore is that they’re always male, can only travel at night and they eat humans or drink human blood to reach their final form or be cured.

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 ‧₊˚ ◡̎