Valhalla by Iain Muir

[TaoPhoenix]

I must only be getting half of this one. That's the thing about poetry - it's denser than prose, so if you miss a reference you miss part of the intent.

However...

In ages past, I would have given up there. Yet the digital age is the elixir of life to poetry as much as any other lore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valhalla

A search for "ravens" discovers:

"Odin sends his ravens Hugin and Munin from Valhalla to fly throughout the entire world, and they return in time for the first meal there."

I am far out of my depth to figure all of that out, but it points the way to understanding this neat poem.

Hail, Odin!

One-eyed old man with two ravens. I get it. The one-eye bit is one of the clues here (the other eye was sacrificed to Mimir's well of wisdom), as are the ravens (obviously Hugin and Munin).

Now, the question is, why is Valhalla so cold and empty? I would expect it to be filled with rowdy Viking warriors. Is cold and empty it because belief in the Norse Pantheon has waned?

Odin:
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/o/odin.html
Mimir (mentions Odin sacrificing his eye):
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mimir.html
Huginn and Muninn ("thought" and "memory"):
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hugi ... uninn.html

[TaoPhoenix]

Hail, Odin!

One-eyed old man with two ravens. I get it. The one-eye bit is one of the clues here (the other eye was sacrificed to Mimir's well of wisdom), as are the ravens (obviously Hugin and Munin).

Now, the question is, why is Valhalla so cold and empty? I would expect it to be filled with rowdy Viking warriors. Is cold and empty it because belief in the Norse Pantheon has waned?

"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"

Hmm. I think your Sig is very fitting here!

[Wormtongue]

I was working on the grounds that if you send out Thought and Memory, there would be nothing left but a drooling vegetable... and knowing his relatives, Odin would want to make sure he was alone

[Wormtongue]

Memo to self: never explain; it kills the conversation

I was working on the grounds that if you send out Thought and Memory, there would be nothing left but a drooling vegetable... and knowing his relatives, Odin would want to make sure he was alone

Makes sense.

Not to mention, with the likes of Loki potentially lurking around, being left in a vegetative state could be quite the dangerous situation. What sorts of things might Loki do to Odin if he found him in such a condition? Hmm...

Memo to self: never explain; it kills the conversation

Or maybe people just get busy with other things. (Or maybe their wives have to work from home for a couple of days and take over the computer.)