EPT![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/mapsofthe.jpg)
On the host his spear did Othin hurl,
Then in the world did war first come;
The wall that girdled the gods was broken,
And the field by the warlike Wanes was trodden.
– The Poetic Edda
While some maps like Python have a quite obvious connection between the layout of the map and their names, some aren’t quite as easy to understand why they were named as they were. Furthermore, not all maps really live up to their names. (I’m looking at you, Tau Cross.)
Being Swedish, I could not help but notice the amount of maps with names from Norse mythology and thought to myself “are the maps attached to these names fitting, given the layout of the map?”.
"Why did you ask myself such a question?", you might ask, and I might ignore that question since I am too busy sharpening my broadsword.
So let’s dig in and take a look at the maps based on Norse mythology and see if they fit their names or not.
Disclaimer: I will throughout this text be discussing the layout of maps. Issues of balance, popularity or competition span will not be of interest.
The discussions I hold in this text and the conclusions I reach are solely based on my own personal opinions. I have not talked to any of the mapmakers and asked them about their line of thought when they made and named the maps.
![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/bifrost.jpg)
The world is, according to the Norse mythology, separated into three parts:
Asgard: Realm of the gods
Midgard: Where the humans reside
Jotunheim: Home of the giants
The three different realms are separated and crossing between them is not a feat meant for everyone. Jotunheim is separated from Asgard by the mightly river Ífingr on which ice never forms.
The humans, on the other hand, are separated from Asgard by the bridge Bifrost, known today as the rainbow, guarded by the god Heimdall.
So how do you make a map out of this bridge? Let’s take a look:
![[image loading]](http://repdepot.net/img/minimap/1024/1090.jpg)
A lot of things are wrong about this map, given its name. While it’s a good thing that it’s a two player map (symbolizing the connection between Asgard and Midgard), there are a lot of very strange things about it.
For starters, there are no less than seven bridges on this map, and while they theoretically could represent each of the colors of the rainbow, I think that it would have been more suitable to just have one large bridge. (Remember that I am completely ignoring balance issues in this text.)
But what bothers me the most about this map when it comes to the name is the fact that there is a back door into each of the bases. There should be no backdoor into Asgard. There should just be Bifrost.
How suitable is the name?
1/5
Mapmaker: [Ragnarok]Valkyrie
![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/asgard.jpg)
Asgard is the realm of the gods of the Norse mythology.
Their land is surrounded by an incomplete wall and lies between Midgard and Jotunheim. In Asgard lies Valhalla, Odin’s great hall where the gods feast every evening. Ironically, a giant, as part of a wager, built the wall. (A wager that he would have won had not Loki intervened. Then again, the fact that he almost succeeded was in part Loki’s fault to begin with.)
So how do you make a map based on the realm of the gods? Let’s see:
![[image loading]](http://i38.tinypic.com/2s0e9w7.jpg)
I’m not quite sure where to start when it comes to this map. “What has it to do with Asgard?”, one might ask and rightfully so. There is no incomplete wall surrounding the map (unless the high grounds where the two starting locations are positioned is that wall) nor is there any halls or traces of pretty much anything that I would associate to the gods of the Norse mythology.
I guess that the two starting locations could represent Midgard and Jotumheim, illustrating how Asgard is situated between them, but then the high ground can’t be the wall. So perhaps the high ground in the middle could be thought of as the incomplete wall? (Notice the holes in it etc.)
However, since nothing is strikingly close to what I think of when I hear the word Asgard, I can’t really give this map a high rating.
How suitable is the name?
1/5
Mapmaker: Str18-02
![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/Valhalla.jpg)
Valhalla was Odin’s grand mansion in Asgard where all the gods feasted each evening. They sang, laughed, drank and ate the pig Särimner who, on the day after, lived once again and could be eaten yet again. It was a never-ending party, to say the least.
Valhalla was an extremely large building with 540 vast doors, wide enough for 800 men to simultaneously rush out through, ready to do combat. That’s 432 000 men at the same time.
The building is easy to recognize for other reasons than its vast size. The spear-shafts for rafters and its roof thatched with golden shields are both very distinctive, as is the coats of mail that are strewn over the benches of the hall. A wolf hangs in front of its west doors and an eagle hovers above the building. Vastly different from your everyday household, in other words.
Of those humans who died in combat, half of them and they were taken up to Valhalla by the Valkyries to join the party. The other half were sent to Fólkvangr, where they were greeted by the goddess Freyja.
How do you take such a vast and magnificent building and make a StarCraft map out of it? Let’s have a look:
![[image loading]](http://repdepot.net/img/minimap/1024/1587.jpg)
The first thing that I note about the map is that the middle of the map could symbolize the hall itself. It’s, comparing it to the rest of the terrain, a very large building filled with riches (recall the golden shields).
Speaking of shields, the entire pattern of the map does look like a shield, which is very suitable since the way to get to Valhalla was to die in combat. That the middle of map (dubbed Valhalla by me) doubles as the centre of the shield further emphasises this fact.
Also, remember that Valhalla lay in Asgard, to which the humans never could get during their lives. How suitable is it not then that the starting positions are isolated on high ground that is not possible to leave without methods of flight?
In conclusion it’s difficult to make a map named Hall of Valhalla that better represents the origin of its name.
How suitable is the name?
5/5
Mapmaker: [Ragnarok]Valkyrie
![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/Odin.jpg)
Wisest of all the gods in Norse mythology is Odin. He had gotten his immense wisdom by sacrificing one of his eyes for a sip of Mímir’s well of wisdom.
He also has two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who flew around the world and then back to Odin and reported what happened.
Part from being the ruler of Asgard and the wisest of all gods in the Nordic mythology, Odin is also the god of death and one of the two gods of war (the other one being Tyr).
Odin had quite a selection of interesting things in his possession. He had a eight-legged horse (that Loki was the mother of. Don’t ask.) named Sleipnir, a magical gold ring called Draupnir that every ninth night would spawn eight rings of equal size. He also carried around the disembodied head of Mímir, which whispered secrets into his ear.
All in all, Odin knew a lot and wasn’t somebody you wanted to mess with…
So how do you incorporate such a powerful person into a map? Let’s see:
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/maps/248_Odin.jpg)
The middle of the map could be interpreted as either Valhalla (which was Odin’s hall) or as an eye (singular). Both would be suitable and fit the theme.
Odin had a lot of information and had a deadly spear that never missed its target. All expansions, without exceptions, are harassable from high ground, meaning that knowing where to strike is key to success, which feels suitable too.
Two of the expansions are unscoutable from low ground meaning that one has to rely on air to scout them, one per raven. Suitable.
Had the map had more graphical tributes to Odin, think ground patterns like on Python, I would rate it higher, but as of now Odin is a map with some, but not enough, connection to the figure it borrowed its name from.
How suitable is the name?
2/5
Mapmaker: Rose.of.Dream.
![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/Valkyries.jpg)
The Valkyries are the female spirits that watch over the battlefields and chose who will die and who will live. Those who the Valkyries picked were taken to Odin and Valhalla to become einherjar (warriors that would fight at Ragnarök).
![[image loading]](http://repdepot.net/img/minimap/1024/253.jpg)
There is something about this map that just feels right. It feels like Ride of the Valkyries.
The map is a two-player map and only one, whom the Valkyries will pick, will survive. The rest go to Asgard for the continuous parties that await them there.
The giant, vast openness of this map makes it really feel like a battlefield and the geist of Zealots running up those long and wide ramps does indeed have a very Viking-feel to it.
It’s hard to pinpoint just exactly why I think that Ride of the Valkyries really lives up to its name, but it just does.
How suitable is the name?
4/5
Mapmaker: [Ragnarok]Valkyrie
![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/Loki.jpg)
Loki is a half-giant that spent a lot of time with the gods and befriended them. In fact, he even befriended Odin, the head of the gods.
With time, however, Loki would show that he, after all, was a giant and thus had mean sides to him. He would constantly pester the gods, get in their way and try to sabotage their work.
Being a shape-shifter and thus having the ability to take on any shape, form or gender facilitated a lot of deeds for him, and even though he in though he usually got caught by the gods and punished for his crimes, he did manage to do harm before getting caught.
In that sense, Loki can be viewed as the mischievous force of evil in the North mythology and was constantly around to annoy.
After causing the death of the much loved god Baldur, the gods finally had it with Loki and bound him to a rock under a venomous snake that constantly dropped venom on his face. His wife Sigyn sits by his side and catches the venom in a bowl so that it doesn’t drip down on his face. However the bowl fills up every now and then and when Sigyn has to empty it she can’t stop the drops from falling on Loki’s face.
Loki will be bound to that rock until the world ends, at Ragnarök.
So how do you make a map based on such a personality as Loki? Let’s take a look:
![[image loading]](http://repdepot.net/img/minimap/1024/458.jpg)
Loki is a two-player map with two easy to obtain gas expansions near each starting point tipping the map towards macro intensive games, as is the case with most maps since Luna.
However, bearing the name such as Loki, one would expect a more micro intensive map based on sneaky plays and that encourage cheese, and while cheese did occur on Loki it is not what the map is most known for.
One could argue, however, that a lot of the mineral lines are very prone to harassment since they can be reached from two directions by, for example, lurkers. This is highly in line with the annoying aspects of Loki. Also, the unbuildable terrain in the center of the map will most likely annoy quite a few Terran players, which makes Loki happy.
How suitable is the name?
3/5
Mapmaker: CarlSagan
![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/ragnarok.jpg)
Guarding Bifrost is the god Heimdall. He holds a horn, known as the Gjallarhorn, and he will sound it at the end of the world: Ragnarok.
The events of Ragnarok are so many and so chaotic that they are difficult to sum up, but the gist of it all is that at Ragnarok havok breaks lose and men, gods, giants and beasts all alike fight and the world is set aflame and everybody dies.
Out of the ashes a new world is born and the two lone surviving humans Líf and Lífþrasir start a new and better world.
So how does one make map that captures all that fire, chaos and death? Let’s take a look:
![[image loading]](http://repdepot.net/img/minimap/1024/1588.jpg)
While I understand the temptation of using the twilight tileset for maps based on Viking mythology, I would have preferred if this one had been done in Ash World seing how the entire world has set aflame.
I like that it’s a four-player map as that can symbolize the humans, gods, giants and beasts all coming to the battlefield in the open centre of the map.
The fact that there aren’t many resources near the starting position forces the players to move out from their bases, which will cause further chaos.
And ask any Protoss player what they think of PvT on this map and you will soon see that it is an uphill battle to say the least.
But Ash World really would have improved the feel a lot.
How suitable is the name?
2/5
Mapmaker: [Ragnarok]Valkyrie
![[image loading]](http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww316/Slugbreath/Maps%20of%20the%20Vikings/conclusion.jpg)
In conclusion I would like to state that even though I have been babbling away for quite a while about how the maps might be related to their namesakes, mapmakers probably focused more on the balance issues of their maps than to make them representive of their names. (A decision that I do agree with.)
Also, even though I have rated maps like Loki rather low, it’s not easy to make a map based off a person, in comparison to a river or some other geographical location. However, that spurs the question of why they chose to name their maps after Norse mythology in the first place if history was not their main interest.
I guess that names based on Norse mythology just sound too cool to pass by.
/Slugbreath
