Deacon. Posted August 17, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 9 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 54 Reputation: 8 Joined: 01/03/12 Last Seen: December 29, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2012 (edited) We all know Ragnarok, at least the first iterations of it, had taken some inspiration from Nordic mythology (if you can even call it that when it's really based on a manga). Valhalla, Balder, Iggdrasil, etc. A few days ago I happened to be in a museum in Norway (Hamar, to be exact), where I found the oddest thing. It instantly reminded me of Ragnarok Online.. It's about 30x30x40 cm in size. If you look carefully, it even has a little hole on top. Maybe for some kind of weird pointy sticky out thingy? Regardless, I think it was supposed to be a mask of some sort. It just looks like some kind of small critter. But what do you think? Right. Just wanted to throw this out there. *clarification*: this is a history museum. Vikings and stuff, not modern art. Edited August 18, 2012 by Deacon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nipsino Posted August 17, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 28 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 218 Reputation: 16 Joined: 01/24/12 Last Seen: May 24, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2012 That's totally awesome! They have the same mouth structure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon. Posted August 18, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 9 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 54 Reputation: 8 Joined: 01/03/12 Last Seen: December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 (edited) The ears are similar too, if slightly in the wrong place. If you look carefully, there's also some stripes underneath the eyes. Just lower, closer to the mouth and not so pronounced. The skin is also a little furry. I wonder if any other homunculi are based on things like these. Edited August 18, 2012 by Deacon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dori Posted August 18, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 105 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 332 Reputation: 15 Joined: 12/11/11 Last Seen: August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2012 wow thas crazy.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScriptingPhailure Posted August 19, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 30 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 87 Reputation: 21 Joined: 01/13/12 Last Seen: March 15, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2012 ... maybe more inspired than we all think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon. Posted August 20, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 9 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 54 Reputation: 8 Joined: 01/03/12 Last Seen: December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 Maybe. Are there any Scandinavian players out there? I wish I could recognize more of this stuff, but I don't know where to look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfeh Posted August 26, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 119 Reputation: 19 Joined: 11/14/11 Last Seen: June 13, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2012 Who was smoking what when they made this... But I'm guessing this is from Hedmarksmuseet? With my mad googling skills, I could find nothing, but several similar pictures of freaky stone faces so I don't think that particular one is unique and they are all connected. If anything I think it is a troll, trolls are very popular in Scandanavian folklore. Seems to have long whispy fur as well which kinda supports the troll theory. Lif does exist in Norse Mythology though. This is also definitely not a mask, holes would be on the sides not top but even then this appears to be of stone material which is way too heavy to have on your face and/or hold. Is still rather strange that it has that hole though, and seems to be hollow. Can't come to any other conclusions as to what it was used for or came from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted August 27, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 75 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 2223 Reputation: 593 Joined: 10/26/11 Last Seen: June 2, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I only found food under "visually similar images" on Google. XD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfeh Posted August 27, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 119 Reputation: 19 Joined: 11/14/11 Last Seen: June 13, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2012 (edited) LOL. I found this, this, this, and Jesus. Norway is scary. >: Edited August 27, 2012 by Wolfeh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon. Posted August 28, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 9 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 54 Reputation: 8 Joined: 01/03/12 Last Seen: December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 LOL. I found this, this, this, and Jesus. Norway is scary. >: Yup, those were all there. I have no idea why I didn't stop to check out what they were. Sorry. The Jesus one caught my eye too, it looked pretty silly. Who was smoking what when they made this... But I'm guessing this is from Hedmarksmuseet? With my mad googling skills, I could find nothing, but several similar pictures of freaky stone faces so I don't think that particular one is unique and they are all connected. If anything I think it is a troll, trolls are very popular in Scandanavian folklore. Seems to have long whispy fur as well which kinda supports the troll theory. Lif does exist in Norse Mythology though. This is also definitely not a mask, holes would be on the sides not top but even then this appears to be of stone material which is way too heavy to have on your face and/or hold. Is still rather strange that it has that hole though, and seems to be hollow. Can't come to any other conclusions as to what it was used for or came from. I have my doubts whether they are masks too, it's just what my GF mentioned afterwards. They could be any number of things. Whether or not they are trolls.. I don't know. There's a host of mythical creatures all around Scandinavia. I'd love to learn more about the people who designed the art for RO, where they got their inspirations from. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curiosity Posted August 28, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 7 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 133 Reputation: 189 Joined: 05/20/12 Last Seen: November 7, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Norwegian here. I suspect those are actually supposed to be stylized lions, and the muzzle of the sculpture from the first post is just worn down. As in the pictures Wolfeh posted, you can see patterned carvings of a mane on the the neck. Keep in mind these people had never seen a lion in their life and probably just had a rough verbal description of a carnivorous quadrupedal beast. Point in case, this. Even familiar animals were often stylized in odd ways, see for instance this depiction of the Fenris wolf on a metal cross. Except for a few key elements I've noticed little actual influence from Norse culture in the game. I believe more of the inspiration came from early role-playing games based on the Dungeon and Dragons franchise, which in turn is heavily inspired by Tolkien's work. There's a few things though. Satan Morocc seems to be the same character as Surt from the comic, which is based on the jotun Surtr; a lord of the Muspell realm and also one of the creatures which will ultimately destroy the realms of gods and men alike. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon. Posted August 28, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 9 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 54 Reputation: 8 Joined: 01/03/12 Last Seen: December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 Point in case, this. Ha, I saw that one on the tv show Norks Attraksjon. 'The Swedish Mistake', right? Laughed my ass off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfeh Posted August 29, 2012 Group: Members Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 119 Reputation: 19 Joined: 11/14/11 Last Seen: June 13, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2012 @Curiosity LOL, that taxidermy... But oh wow. It is crazy what people come up with when they just have a verbal description, but really amazing seeing how they tried to make what they heard. I would have never guessed lion. @Deacon Ah okay, but I feel your pain, lol. I wish the RO artists were more involved in the community and were put out there more, instead we have to search for them but even then, we hardly know anything about their works other than they are pretty and/or interesting. ): Would be cool if we had like development notes from Gravity to see what the original ideas were. I've heard of even different/older job sprites found before but finding them now would really be impossible. I hardly even remember what job in particular it was that was found to have a different sprite in the past... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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