Inhabitants of Svartalfheim
Svartalfheim
The Aesir could not distinguish between Dwarves and Dark Elves of Alfheim. Thus the Dwarf Realms were named “Svartalfheim” (Land of the Dark Ones); whist the Dwarves (Dvergr) themselves call their realm Niðavellir (“Dark Fields”).
Herein, lies Nidavellir, the Forge and Nornir Chests
Aurvangar Wetlands
The Grim
The Grim are agile, frog-like humanoid creatures that reside within the Wetlands. The Wicked grim, are the strongest with a long, lashing tongue for an additional attack whilst Cursed grim, are the slightly fatter brethren with poisonous projectile spitting ranged attacks.
Design Notes: here are the initial and final exploration of different Grim
Lady of the Forge
Lady of the Forge
The Lady of the Forge is a mermaid craftswoman that crafts the Draupnir Spear, and is similar to Nimue, the Lady of the Lake from Mimir’s homeland.
Rán, the Mermaid
The Draupnir Spear is crafted by Lady of the Forge Mermaid, infused with the blood of a god unto a ring.
Notes: The icelandic Edda, describes the goddess Rán & her Jotunn (giant) husband Ægir as the embodiment of the sea, whilst their nine daughters represents the waves therein. Rán means ‘robber’, and is depicted as with a net to catch unwary travellers. Thus, Rán “seeks to catch and drown men in her net” and that “to give someone to the sea-goddess is to drown them
Mermaid Vizdev
Design Notes
Early on in the production, we had set out to explore a Mermaid for God of War Ragnarok. This involved a collaboration between Santa Monica and Opus Artz.
Lead artist Bjorn designed a wide cast of different looks. Together with Raf and Dela at SMS, we landed on a fantastical design that played a big role in the final look and feel of the Lady. The final in-game design was dynamic art collaboration between artists Raf, Dela, Bjorn and Shan.
MYSTIC GATEWAYS
Alfheim or Niflheim
The primordial world of frost and mist that is Nilfheim was first of the Nine Worlds to be brought into being, from the empty void of Ginnungagap. Twas a spring called Hvergelmir, that came to be frozen in the extreme cold and shaped this realm of mists. The Raven tree is the primary landmark of Nilfheim.
Whereas Álfheimr (Old Norse ‘Elf home’) are where the Light & Dark ones reside. Light Elves, “fairer than the sun”, live in the world of Álfheimr. In contrast, the Dark Elves dwell within the earth
Dökkálfar Beyla
Our studio explored both light & dark elves for #GodofWarRagnarok
Vizdev notes:
These were early explorations of the female Dark Elf warrior, that later informed the design of Beyla (one of Freyr’s servants).
Soon after arriving in Vanaheim, one encounters Beyla who is married to Light Elf Byggvi and part of Freyr‘s resistance group alongside Byggvir, Lúnda, and Birgir.
Nilfheim
Nilfheim – primordial land of ice & mist, lies to the North
FIERCE OGRES
Fierce Ogre Vizdev
Several Ogres appear across the nine realms. Fierce Ogres are more violent and erratic with red white skin and reptilian skin, that can leap great distances to attack an enemy from above
