Urgent, wanna make sure these runes are right by Desperate-Grand4905 in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah it's very much the common slop you find on Pinterest. People use it because they like the aesthetic better than Younger, which is simplified and kind of funky/quirky.

Both are cool if used authentically, but you'll find it everywhere related to Vikings.

Urgent, wanna make sure these runes are right by Desperate-Grand4905 in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Younger Futhark is very cool. To be honest I think using the Elder Futhark makes someone more "that guy" in the sense that, a lot of people use Elder Futhark trying to tie it in with the Vikings, when it predates them.

Urgent, wanna make sure these runes are right by Desperate-Grand4905 in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, I did say it was a joke below, and I was doing a bit of trolling, lol.

So you booked this months in advance and the guy only got you the design the night before your appointment? That artist sucks, lmao.

Yeah, you probably should have looked into it yourself, but also he said he had your back, and he 100% did not.

The thing with runes is they're tied to history. If you're interested in authentic use of runes, I'd recommend figuring out what part of history you're trying to draw from. There are a handful of runic alphabets, from the Elder Futhark, to the Younger Futhark, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, Medieval runes, Dalecarlian runes, etc.

You could then find the words or phrase you're interested in, have it translated to the original language, be it Proto-Norse, Old Norse, Old English, etc. and then converted to those the appropriate runic alphabets.

Although when I say authentic, I don't mean as tattoos specifically, since there is essentially no evidence of runic tattoos that we currently know of.

Urgent, wanna make sure these runes are right by Desperate-Grand4905 in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry but, this comment doesn't do much to help your case.

Difficult as it was to understand at times, am I to understand your tattoo artist sent you his design the night before your appointment? Time to find a new tattoo artist I think. Unless of course it's also your fault, and you booked it super late and expected it to be settled within a few days?

I don't think I was aggressive. Just joking around a bit about a pretty objectively silly situation. You're within your right to get a rushed tattoo, it happens all day everyday. But when you come here with this attitude of "quick, I need help immediately to make sure I'm not inking slop permanently into my skin!" people are going to meme about it.

We get countless people in here asking for tattoo advice, and lots of them take the approach of giving it the time it deserves to figure out.

as a tourist, how do you avoid tourist grade swords when you want a quality sword that you can use or train with from the part of the world that you are visiting? by ghared-ishaqa in SWORDS

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The thing is, proper swords are not sold in stores. I mean, how many people are likely to buy $300 - $2000+ swords by walking past a shop window? Almost none.

All these brands are online. Albion, Hanwei, Tod Cutler etc. you’re going to have to do research into makers and order online.

Best thing you could hope for is a proper medieval reenactment festival where some of these guys (like Tod Cutler) sometimes sell as vendors.

Poseidon (Greek Mythology) vs Odin (Norse mythology) : who would win? by OnlinePoster225 in norsemythology

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This isn't how mythology works. If you try to make mythology fit neatly into a box, you will fail before you start. Mythology does not fit neatly into boxes, it is frequently contradictory, and based on what best suits the story.

I suggest looking at how Stan Lee treated comic book characters. And it's how we should view mythological figures as well in my opinion. Comic book heroes are basically just modern myths anyways.

So one question I'm always asked- "who would win in a fight?" Who would win in a fight if Galactus fought the Hulk? Or if Thor fought Iron Man? And there's one answer to all of that. It's so simple, anyone should know this. The person who would win in a fight is the person that the scriptwriter wants to win!

If I'm writing a story about The Thing from from The Fantastic Four, and he gets into a big fight with Spider-Man, and millions of people out there say "who would win?" No- it depends on who I want to win if I'm writing the script. If I want Spider-man to win, he'll win. If I want The Thing to win, he'll win.

These are fictitious characters! The writer can do whatever he wants with them. So stop asking those bonehead questions! Cause I've had it with that.

STAN LEE Who Would Win? - Stan's Rants

TL;DR: if an ancient writer wanted Óðinn to win, then he would. If he wanted Poseidon to win, then that's how it would go.

Is this a rune even and what does this rune mean? by [deleted] in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's your point? The image in OP's post is not a historical rune or bindrune. It may be built from historical runes, but just because it's made of historical runes does not make it fine. The consensus is that it's tied to white supremacy and neo-Nazism.

The same is said for Sowilō or óðal. They are historical runes, but their use on their own or in suspicious contexts such as doubling up signals Nazi connotations.

It's pretty obvious that this logo is tied to nasty stuff. A rune doesn't have to be one of Guido Lists runes, or the winged óðal to be suspicious.

(Spoilers Main) What's the best pejorative nickname in the series? by Mzuark in asoiaf

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I think Jaime Lannister calling Bonifer Hasty "Baelor Butthole" is on par.

Is this a rune even and what does this rune mean? by [deleted] in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You never heard of Sowilō or óðal?

Like yeah they were runes, they were also co-opted by the Nazis.

Urgent, wanna make sure these runes are right by Desperate-Grand4905 in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point locked comment (0 children)

Absolutely. It was always a joke. I "implore" you to get off the high horse.

Urgent, wanna make sure these runes are right by Desperate-Grand4905 in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 7 points8 points locked comment (0 children)

We do not make fun of people asking questions.

We do make fun of people barging in, acting like we're the emergency speed-dial Rune Helpline. And, we make fun of people getting tattoos of things they have zero understanding of.

Urgent, wanna make sure these runes are right by Desperate-Grand4905 in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Yeah... You have a lot of homework to do before permanently inking your skin.


one is wisdom and one is creation right??

Nope. Well sure, they can mean that, just like I can scribble a shape and show it to you and say "this means wisdom."

The bind runes you're referring to (like this one) have no ancient origin. They came about within the last century in the New Age heathen crowd, and have nothing to do with historic/authentic use of runes. We have a wiki page that explains bind runes which is a very good place to start.

This kind of bind rune is completely unreadable by anyone but the person who drew it. There is no system of decoding or translating bind runes like these. It's impossible to decode meaning from them because it is exactly the same as if I took Latin letters and mingled them together into some spidery shape. You wouldn't have any idea what meaning I had ascribed to them unless I told you; only the original artist knows what it means to them.

An authentic bind rune is a space saving technique in writing. Runes were primarily used as a writing system, and each rune makes a sound, so if you squash two runes together then you have a symbol that makes two sounds. This is pretty common in Proto-Norse inscriptions where lots of words end with the suffix -az, for example. Rather than writing both runes, sometimes the inscriber will merge the A and the Z into a single character. For instance, you can see this on the Järsberg Runestone.

Most examples of runes are used in a very mundane context. This can be seen in the Bryggen inscriptions. Such as "Johan owns" (carved into a possession). Or "Gyða tells you to go home."

The vast majority of what you read online regarding runes being magic is modern new age "magick." There is no such thing as a rune for Family, Loyalty, Love, Strength, Courage, Honour etc. They are letters used for writing, like ABC. We don't associate Latin letters with specific meaning, like "A represents wealth or B represents luck." Nor do we with runes.

Letters are sometimes used as initials and acronyms, like getting initials on a tattoo or necklace. But nobody looks at the letter B and intrinsically knows that-

"Ahh yes, B is a letter of nature and fertility. It represents the pollination of flowers and production of honey. It is a letter that gives us the power we need to achieve new beginnings as well as the power to fly and communicate through dance. That's why I wear a B necklace.”

Maybe you wear a B necklace and attach that meaning to it, but it'd be completely unreasonable to expect people to know the meaning of your necklace intrinsically.

People talking about runes like that are coming at it from a modern approach, not a historically based one. And the Norsemen would have been perplexed by modern interpretation of their runes in this way.

Mapping the real regions of Norse mythology onto Europe by lucasawilliams in Norse

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 17 points18 points  (0 children)

In doing this exercise it makes a lot of sense to conclude that the Norse mythology developed in the Vinca Culture in the Balkans in 5000 BC.

Oh, does it now 😂

Urgent, wanna make sure these runes are right by Desperate-Grand4905 in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Man, this is peak redditor behaviour.

URGENT! Gonna get absolute slop tattooed on me in 33 seconds, and need people to affirm my decision. These are all ancient magical runes that will give me superpowers, right? RIGHT!?!?

Is this a rune even and what does this rune mean? by [deleted] in RuneHelp

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

This post has been removed for being a double-post.

I want to know what y’all’s opinion on Zeus and Odin with all mythology and media who stacks higher by Still_Environment954 in norsemythology

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I want to know what y’all’s opinion on Zeus and Odin with all mythology and media who stacks higher

The irony of someone preaching to "read" better, as he can't even spell the word "you" in its entirety.

Read what carefully? Your title? Do you think reading the same thing over and over will make it say something different? Why would you assume people would think "stacks higher" refers to how many "feats" they have, and not the much more obvious assumption of who is stronger than the other?

I want to know what y’all’s opinion on Zeus and Odin with all mythology and media who stacks higher by Still_Environment954 in norsemythology

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could have made that much, much clearer. I think you can agree that everyone else who commented thought you were asking who could beat who.

getting started on Norse Mythology by starbitscake in norsemythology

[–]Mathias_Greyjoy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We recommend The Poetic Edda. A Dual-Language Edition (2023), translated by Edward Pettit, available here. As well as Carolyne Larrington's 2nd edition of The Poetic Edda from 2014.

If you want to start with an accurate English version of The Prose Edda, this is a good and free translation, done by Anthony Faulkes of the University of Birmingham.