Ellis MacVey
Donor
Okay, so I was inspired by this wonderful video by leftist YouTuber and media analyst Renegade Cut, where he analyzes how the horror genre in the western world is heavily influenced by Christianity, often making copious implicit or even explicit Christian (typically Catholic) imagery, monsters, and ideas, and even when they aren't religiously oriented at all, some Christian elements tend to slip in. This makes sense, since we live in an incredibly Christian world, and the wealthiest and most influential nations in the world are predominantly Christian.
This is also part of why Japanese horror films have a reputation among western viewers of being so scary, they draw from an incredibly different religion and cultural mythology. Which got me thinking...
Knowing this, what would horror fiction made from the religious perspective of a culture that follows the Norse/Germanic faith look like?
Let's say, in this timeline, the Norse faith is somehow reformed (le epic CK2 memes intensify) and survives to the present, similar to what religions such as Shinto or Hinduism (which are incredibly different religions, do not get me wrong) ended up doing.
Now, let's look past (though probably not completely ignore) all of the incredibly interesting cultural, political, religious, and even technological ramifications of this for now, and focus specifically on horror media in countries that follow this religion. Books, films, tv shows, podcasts, all of the horror media they produce. What would it look like? And by that, I know some of you are just going to focus on what the monsters would be (and by all means, you should tell me what you think the monsters would be, I know a few, but I'd love to hear more), but I really want you to think about that question. What would common themes in this media be? What imagery would often be used? How would the monsters be defeated (not mechanics-wise, but in a thematic way)? How would the ire of these monsters be aroused? What should a Norse horror protagonist do if they want to survive, and what actions would lead to certain death?
There are probably more questions that I forgot to ask, but if you have your own, ask them, then if you can think of a question, answer them! I've honestly thought of this off and on for awhile, and I feel it would be an incredibly interesting thought exercise.
This is also part of why Japanese horror films have a reputation among western viewers of being so scary, they draw from an incredibly different religion and cultural mythology. Which got me thinking...
Knowing this, what would horror fiction made from the religious perspective of a culture that follows the Norse/Germanic faith look like?
Let's say, in this timeline, the Norse faith is somehow reformed (le epic CK2 memes intensify) and survives to the present, similar to what religions such as Shinto or Hinduism (which are incredibly different religions, do not get me wrong) ended up doing.
Now, let's look past (though probably not completely ignore) all of the incredibly interesting cultural, political, religious, and even technological ramifications of this for now, and focus specifically on horror media in countries that follow this religion. Books, films, tv shows, podcasts, all of the horror media they produce. What would it look like? And by that, I know some of you are just going to focus on what the monsters would be (and by all means, you should tell me what you think the monsters would be, I know a few, but I'd love to hear more), but I really want you to think about that question. What would common themes in this media be? What imagery would often be used? How would the monsters be defeated (not mechanics-wise, but in a thematic way)? How would the ire of these monsters be aroused? What should a Norse horror protagonist do if they want to survive, and what actions would lead to certain death?
There are probably more questions that I forgot to ask, but if you have your own, ask them, then if you can think of a question, answer them! I've honestly thought of this off and on for awhile, and I feel it would be an incredibly interesting thought exercise.
