"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 - Page 7
A little before and after design situation after I was talking to a friend and they suggested making the bird form more lanky and long instead of the broad form to fit Zeph’s thin human frame.
Not only does it look like him and suit him so much more! Just this little shift has given me a ton of fun new little ideas for the story and I’m very excited to work with this!
Anyone remember Harpy? My undead wolf-raven gryphon that’s in reality a Valravn of old, a ghoulish creature from Scandinavian folklore, I had fun with in my MLP days as an OC.
Decided to draw her again today, just as a quick practice on drawing a raven cuz birds are hard. I think she turned out quite nicely.
Do enjoy!
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Guidance🕯
A mixed media piece with colored inks, poster color and colored pencils!
Drew some griff heads
Top: Hippogriff and Gryphon
Bottom: Valravn and Owlbear
- I gave all the caniform griffs turkey vulture noses for the sense of smell. Owlbears and valravns can track down prey or carcasses from miles away.
- Griffs have fins. The fin down their neck is used for cooling off or social signaling. In griffs that pack or pair hunt the fins are bright red. For griffs that live in colder climates the fins are often reduced and able to fold under the feathers.
- Owlbears are flightless. Their wings evolved into sharp defensive spurs.
- Owlbears are also primarily nocturnal. Gryphons are diurnal hunters. Both hippogriffs and valravn tend to be more active at dawn/dusk.
You're gonna give me a heart attack!
Oh yeah, it's the BIG ONE. At the end of Art Fight 2021 I got the idea of making an attack of every valravn on the Art Fight website. 2022 arrived, I set out to do just that. It took the entire month, but in the end I pulled it off! This is one of the most complicated pieces I've ever drawn. Thank you to everyone that loved it, you made it all worth it ❤
You can find it on Art Fight here. Below are the tags of everyone included that's on Tumblr (if their Tumblr accounts were linked to their Art Fight accounts, anyway).
@silverspleen @braindeadmuppet @thelittleanimals-artblog @crow-fangs @ferretpeets @abilitayy
NAME: Valravn (Pl: Valravne)
RARITY: ★★☆☆☆
THREAT LEVEL: ★★☆☆☆ | Primarily a concern if they’re after you. But don’t look them in the eyes or you’ll share in their vengeance quest.
HABITAT: Most frequently the woods and in mountainous forests.
DESCRIPTION: Valravne were once ordinary ravens or other corvids. Only after they feed on the heart of someone who was murdered will they become something else – a vengeful bird with eyes that glow red or purple with fury. Though still technically ravens, these birds now have part of the deceased person’s will inside of them, and in addition to playing deadly tricks on unsuspecting people, they will stalk and torment their killers, driving them insane and eventually to their death. They’ll stop at nothing to meet this goal and may even force you into helping with the task by staring into your eyes. Since it isn’t unusual for several birds to pick at a dead person’s body, there are cases where a whole flock of valravn are created from a single person’s heart; these are the most deadly for the murderer to contend with.
Because valravne are live, mundane animals with the essence and desires of the dead corrupting them, they themselves are not spectral. It’s more akin to possession. As such, both rangers and mediums will be able to feel their presence. Once a valravn slays its killer, the spirit will be at peace and disappear, leaving behind a confused raven. While valravne were originally observed as being ravens or less commonly crows, every once in a while another related bird species will end up becoming one, such as a blue jay or grackle. These smaller birds pose somewhat of a less physical threat.
ABILITIES: Valravne are, in many ways, ordinary ravens. They just have an insatiable desire for revenge, and that drives their actions even when beyond their own understanding. They have animal intelligence, but the spirit inside of them guides them in clever ways. Some misinterpret this as the valravn having supernatural intelligence, but that’s not quite the case. Valravne can feel the presence of their killer, though this grows weaker with greater distance; as such it can take them a while to find their target. Meeting a valravn’s eyes for a prolonged stare will fill you with vengeance for their killer, though you won’t know their identity. Valravne have stirred people into violence with their gaze, even making them commit murder themselves, but that anger is only directed toward the killer or killers.
WEAKNESS: There are ways to be rid of valravne, such as striking them with a silver weapon, but they’re crafty and swift, making this a difficult task. They can be killed like an ordinary bird, but again, this is difficult in practice. Certain charms may prevent valravne from attacking, but this is a temporary measure, and as soon as the targeted person removes the charm or it becomes worn out, they are vulnerable again. The best solution for a valravne problem is to get help from an exorcist who can pull the volatile spirit out of the bird – forcing the spirit to move on and allowing the raven to live. Not all exorcists would find this ethical considering it’s helping a killer over their victim; they might not see it as helping the living over the dead.
OTHER VARIANTS:
Vilde valravn: Sometimes the killer of a valravn will die in another way, or their lifespan will reach its natural conclusion. So what happens to a valravn that doesn’t get the opportunity to achieve vengeance? The hatred in the spirit’s heart continues to fuel its existence, leaving the valravn stuck on the earthly plane. These valravn grow incredibly angry and wild, and eventually stop caring about distinguishing between their killer and others who just happen to have killed anyone in the past. They’ll read someone’s heart and, if assessed to be murderous, come at them with all of the fury they reserved for their killer.
Jb 11/18/17 mythical beasts day 6 Valravn(e) Wiki:
According to Danish folklore recorded in the late 1800s, when a king or chieftain was killed in battle and not found and buried, ravens came and ate him. The ravens became valravne. The valravne that ate the king’s heart gained human knowledge and could perform great malicious acts, could lead people astray, had superhuman powers, and were “terrible animals”.
In another account, a valravn is described as a peaceless soul in search of redemption that flies by night (but never day) and can only free itself from its animal countenance by consuming the blood of a child.
if requests are open could you do blinkies inspired by vulture culture, cemeteries, or crows?
sorry this took so long i have brain worms and love dead stuff so much death is a special interest of mine so x3333 tysm for indulging me anon
pixel sources: 1, 2, 3
In Danish folklore, the valravn is a supernatural bird that can take on the form of a knight or a wolf. They were first mentioned in the 1800s, when it was said that ravens who feasted on the bodies of dead kings or chieftains would become valravne.
Valravne are often described as malevolent creatures, leading people astray and causing harm or even death. Some say they are restless souls who can only free themselves from their animal forms by consuming the blood of a child.
Image source.
Monster master list.
Suggest a spook.
My shoulder has been wrecked since christmas so I haven’t been able to draw or write for weeks. But got this one I did earlier in december that I really liked. It’s been quite a while since I allowed myself to do some grittier stuff.
I forgot how fun it was! Being a werebird.. less fun though hah!
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.
The raven flies in the evening. It will have bad luck, for it can not have good.
If a raven eats the heart of an unburied king or chieftain that died in battle, the raven transforms into a valravn. This transformation gives the valravn great intelligence and superhuman strength, but it often turns them evil and manipulative as well. They are terrible creatures.
from Danske Sagn: Som De Har Lyd I Folkemunde. Image source.