: Oh yeah, and a couple things I forgot : )
: I think your right about the viking slave thrall thing.
: They also had those iron things around their neck
: except it just meant they were slaves. Hmm.. maybe I
: should look it up, but I wonder if the aformentioned
: berserkers were thrall who were told, kill this guy,
: and we'll set you free..
As far as I know, the berserks were freemen, not slaves. They killed for the honor and the glory--waiting to fight, they'd gnaw on the edge of their shields (which Myth berserks don't have) and literally go mad with killing rage. The word "berserk" means "bear skin;" the berserks wore only the skins of beasts when in battle. In most Norse myth, taking the shape of an animal requires the wearing of its skin, and many berserks (as well as their terrified opponents) believed that they became bears or wolves during their fits of madness.
: Myrmidons are from either the Oddesy or the Illiad and
: they were (quotes from The Meridian Handbook of
: Classical Mythology) "Inhabitants of Phthia. Late
: Clasical writers, fascinated by the resemblance
: between the name of this people and the word myrmex
: ("ant") invented several contradictory
: explanations for it." blah blah blah "The
: Myrmidons are perhaps best known as the soldiers whom
: Peleus' son, Achilles, led to Troy"
Iliad, mainly. And don't forget, Pthia shows up in Marathon 2...
: And then of course the Forest Giants are almost certainly
: (their four letter code for myth I was "
: ent") Ents from Tolkien.
Hroom, hroom! Let us not be hasty! :)
--SiliconDream
