If you missed my last article on Serqet, you can find it here.
We are back with two Norse deities, the goddess Sol and the god Surtr and the Roman goddess Bellona. Since I follow the ladies first idea, we will be learning about Sol and Bellona first.
Sol is the Norse goddess of the sun. She has different names in different realms. For Midgard, we call her Sol or Sun, and Sunday is named for her. She is called Sunshine in Ásgard, Dvalinn’s Deluder, by the dwarves in Svartalfheim. She is Everglow to the Jotun, Alfheim calls her Lovely Wheel, and she is All-Shining to the Aesir. That isn’t even including her Germanic name, Sunna, as well as her epithets, The Shining Goddess or the Bright Bride of Heaven.
Sol’s parents are Mundilfari and Glaur. Her sibling is her opposite, Mani, the god of the moon. Because Sol and Mani didn’t know their places in the world when they were born, the gods put the cycles of days and nights into the work of the world to make a place for them.
Sol runs across the sky on a chariot that is pulled by two horses, Arvakr, meaning early riser, and Alsvidr meaning swift. Her chariot sits atop a shield so that the sun doesn’t burn up the earth and water. She is chased by Skoll, which means mockery, while Hati, meaning hate, chases Mani. Eclipses are when the wolves are catching up to the siblings. When Ragnarok goes down, Skoll will devour Sol, but she won’t be done yet. After Ragnarok, Sol will give birth to a daughter who will take up Sol’s mantle and be the new sun. I have no idea how that works, but I am not a goddess, so I am not expected to.
Our last goddess is the Roman war goddess Bellona, also known as Duellona. Her Greek counterpart is Enyo. She is associated with rage, bloodshed, and warfare and is considered a blood goddess as she lived to tear her opponents apart. Bellona’s parents are Jupiter (Zeus) and Juno (Hera). Among her siblings are Mars (Ares), Vulcan (Hephaestus), Juventas (Hebe), Discordia (Eris) and Hercules (Heracles). Bellona, being a war goddess, it makes sense to be around her brother Mars, the god of war. She, however, took it a step further and married him. Even putting up with his dalliances with Venus (Aphrodite). Bellona wears a helmet on her head and carries a sword, spear, or shield. She also carries a torch or a whip and rides a chariot that is pulled by four horses. These ladies apparently love their chariots.
On to Surtr. Surtr is the guardian of Muspelheim in the Norse myths. He is also known as Surt or Surtur, and he is sometimes called “The Swarthy One” or “The Black One.” Surtr is a fire giant, and in Iceland, he is associated with the volcanoes of the Underworld. Like most of the other gods, he is destined to be at Ragnarok. In fact, he is slated to battle Freyr with his fiery sword, which will then envelop the world in flames. In the battle with Freyr, they will slay each other.
I am sorry about the amount of information about these ancient deities. If I had a magick wand that worked for this, I would wave it and retrieve lost information about them. Have you played any of them on Smite? What are your thoughts on them? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
