[References] Swedish NPC and town names in World of Warcraft

**Leonim** · 07-16-2010

Hello!
early 1200-century, Vikings ruled in sweden and plundered everything they saw.
The Vrukuls of Northrend is a reference to swedish viking history:

NPC name - Original Swedish Name

Agnetta Tyrsdottar - Agneta Tyrsdotter

Astrid Bjornrittar - "Astrid Björnrytt" or "Björnriddare"

Halvdan - Halvdan (populair name during Viking times, a big character in the swedish comedy series of "Hem till Midgård")

Lillehoff - Lillehoff

Originally Posted by Dale93

Dun Niffelem – Niflheim is one of two places that existed before the known world. It is intensely cold and likely the basis for Dun Niffelem’s name.
Thorim – Thorim is based upon the God of Lightning, Thor. Lending credence to these claims is that the name of Thorim’s wife, Sif, is the same name as Thor’s beloved.
Loken – Loken is based on the tricky bastard known as Loki, happens to be Thorim’s brother.
Val'kyr, valkyrion - Valkyries, which go along with how their duty was to lead dead heroes to Valhalla, which incidentally also featured in Icecrown.
Jormungand - The huge snake Jormungandr curling around the world tree in Norse Mythology. Also spits acid that resulted in the death of Thor. With his nemesis "Fenris" (You might have seen Fenris when you visited Shadowfang Keep) in the actual Mythology Fenris is named Fenrir, he grew up among the gods and he was harmless at first. When he got bigger the gods feared him and decided to bound him. During this struggle, Fenrir bit of Tyr's right hand. (Tyr's Hand anyone?)
Avatar of Freya - Ripped straight off of Freya.
Aesir and Vanir - Again ripped straight off of the two races of Gods in Norse mythology, but then in the true mythology the two races got together after their wars.
Jotunheim - Ripped straight off, again, but in the mythology it is the world of the giant.
Ymiron, Ymirheim - Ymir is the first primordial living being in the world. Now we just have to wait for Blizzard to give Ymiron a new attack that summons a cow add that heals him.
Nibelung (Yes, the staff from ICC) - The Nibelungs in Norse mythology were the royal family of the Burgundians, said to hold a massive treasure hoard that was protected by the Valkyries.

Thanks Dale93 for that info (:

Zone name - Original Swedish Name

Skorn - Skörn (If you look closely into the name (middle of Howling Fjord) you will see an "Ö" instead of an "O", which means "Skörn"

It's not much, but probably the biggest country reference in WoW

Please post here if you find some more, and make this list big

**~~ZnyX~~** · 07-16-2010

You mean Danish Viking History, as Vikings from mainly Denmark ruled most of the north from 787 to around 1200, and shortly thereafter.

Or i suppose you could call it scandinavian history, as it was a mix of all 3 countries i suppose.

Either way, cool find.

**Leonim** · 07-16-2010

Well, norweigan viking pwned both swedish and danish, but the names themselfs are swedish

**Dale93** · 07-16-2010

Originally Posted by Leonim

Well, norweigan viking pwned both swedish and danish

You know it, son!

Anyways, all of Northrend is made after norse mythology (or Viking-lore as some call it), and for us scandinavians you can often recognise some of the "language" used in Northrend, me myself did the Sons of Hodir-quest-chain the other day where you stumble upon the quest "The Drakkensryd" I noticed when I just quickly saw the name that "Drakkensryd" wasnt possibly an english word, and as I said it to myself, I could clearly hear "The Drakkens Ryd" Wich in english would be "The Dragon Ride" (Dragons were known as "Drakkens" back in viking-times, mainly from the front of the ship, where it would be featured a dragon's head if it was a succesful ship. The vikings themself called their ships for "Langskip" (Translates to: Longship). There was one great fear of any vikings that was out on the sea, and that is "Kraken", wich is an "under-water-dragon", according to history this beast would live at the bottom of the sea, and if you disturbed it in any way, it would come up and crush your ship and eat everyone inside.

But down think that BLizzard's "viking-inspirement" started with Northrend, back in 1992 Blizzard released a game called "The Lost Vikings", a side-scrolling MMOrpg. Since then, blizzard has made re-appereances of the characters in this game through many of their games like Ronk 'N' Roll Racing and Blackthorne, also. If you remember when you were doing Uldaman you might recall having to obtain "Shaft of Tsol" and "Amulet of Gni'kiv", if you read it backwards that is "Lost" and "Vik'ing". For the Shaft you will need to kill the three dwarf "vikings" Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout, wich is the same Vikings that was starred in "The Lost Vikings".

Dun Niffelem – Niflheim is one of two places that existed before the known world. It is intensely cold and likely the basis for Dun Niffelem’s name.
Thorim – Thorim is based upon the God of Lightning, Thor. Lending credence to these claims is that the name of Thorim’s wife, Sif, is the same name as Thor’s beloved.
Loken – Loken is based on the tricky bastard known as Loki, happens to be Thorim’s brother.
Val'kyr, valkyrion - Valkyries, which go along with how their duty was to lead dead heroes to Valhalla, which incidentally also featured in Icecrown.
Jormungand - The huge snake Jormungandr curling around the world tree in Norse Mythology. Also spits acid that resulted in the death of Thor. With his nemesis "Fenris" (You might have seen Fenris when you visited Shadowfang Keep) in the actual Mythology Fenris is named Fenrir, he grew up among the gods and he was harmless at first. When he got bigger the gods feared him and decided to bound him. During this struggle, Fenrir bit of Tyr's right hand. (Tyr's Hand anyone?)
Avatar of Freya - Ripped straight off of Freya.
Aesir and Vanir - Again ripped straight off of the two races of Gods in Norse mythology, but then in the true mythology the two races got together after their wars.
Jotunheim - Ripped straight off, again, but in the mythology it is the world of the giant.
Ymiron, Ymirheim - Ymir is the first primordial living being in the world. Now we just have to wait for Blizzard to give Ymiron a new attack that summons a cow add that heals him.
Nibelung (Yes, the staff from ICC) - The Nibelungs in Norse mythology were the royal family of the Burgundians, said to hold a massive treasure hoard that was protected by the Valkyries.

(Note: Some of the names are actually spelled differently in the actual mythology, like "Freya" wich is spelled "Freja" and "Jormungandr" wich is spelled "Jörmungandr" etc, to make it a bit easier I have decided to write their names in "english")

So yeah, there is some for you lore-people to feed your souls at...