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The Wild World of Norse Trolls
Few creatures of European folklore are as immediately evocative—or as terrifying—as the troll. Towering, often grotesque, and sometimes cunning, trolls occupy the liminal spaces of mountains, forests, and deep wilderness. In Scandinavia, they were central to the folk imagination, embodying the forces of chaos, isolation, and raw natural power. Over centuries, these beings migrated into…
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The Hidden World of Norse Elves
In modern fantasy, elves are often imagined as ethereal, fair-skinned beings with pointed ears, living in enchanted forests and possessing great beauty, wisdom, and longevity. While this image owes much to Victorian romanticism and later fantasy authors, the Norse conception of elves (álfar) is far older, stranger, and deeply rooted in Scandinavian myth. In the…
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The Secret World of Norse Dwarves
When most people think of dwarves today, they likely picture stout, bearded craftworkers from modern fantasy novels, wielding axes and mining deep in enchanted mountains. But the Norse conception of dwarves is far older, stranger, and richer, rooted in centuries of Scandinavian myth and lore. In Old Norse mythology, dwarves are not just diminutive laborers;…
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After the Fall of Beleriand: The Fate of Nogrod and Belegost
At the end of the First Age of Middle-earth, the world was violently remade. The climactic War of Wrath shattered the northern fortress of Morgoth and brought about the destruction of most of Beleriand. Mountains collapsed, rivers changed course, and entire kingdoms were drowned beneath the sea. Among the many realms caught in this catastrophe…
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Why Greyhawk Still Feels Like Home in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
I started playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons when I was six or seven, sitting on the floor with my older brother and his friends. They had all the advantages—a paladin with a gleaming sword, a magic-user with spells that could level mountains, a cleric who seemed to have a direct line to the gods—and I…
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If Frodo Had Died: Why Merry Would Have Become the Ringbearer
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is built on choices, chance, and courage. Every decision—from who carries the One Ring to who enters the Mines of Moria—shapes the fate of Middle-earth. But what if a single, devastating event had occurred differently? Imagine that Frodo Baggins, mortally wounded by the Morgul blade of the Witch-king,…
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Exploring Fantasy and Horror in Watership Down
There’s a casual misconception about Watership Down: that it’s simply a gentle animal story, perhaps even a children’s book about rabbits in the vein of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter or Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson. This assumption collapses almost immediately upon reading. What unfolds instead is something far more complex—a work…
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Pagan Narnia: Lions, Witches, Wardrobes, and World Myth
C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is often read through a modern or theological lens, but when we set aside those frameworks, the story begins to take on a different and much older shape. Beneath its surface lies a powerful mythic skeleton—one not tied to any single doctrine, but drawn from the…
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The Discord of Melkor: From Pop Rock to Heavy Metal
In the beginning, there was the Music. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, the universe is sung into existence by the divine being Ilúvatar and his angelic Ainur. This harmonious creation—a symphonic act of beauty, balance, and order—is interrupted by Melkor, the most powerful of the Ainur, who introduces his own themes: dissonant, self-serving, and darkly…
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If the Gods Spoke English: Reimagining Proto-Indo-European Religion
This article explores the parallels found in ancient mythologies across Europe and Asia, tracing these similarities to the Proto-Indo-European religion. It speculatively reconstructs how divine names could have evolved in English from PIE roots through sound changes, creating a lost pantheon of gods like Aff, Brin, and Fercken.
Christian A. Larsen 