Mapping of Yggdrasil
For a long time various parts of Yggdrasil have been represented in game. I've long ignored these myself, thinking they likey were just eastereggs, but at some point always wanted to visually map them and visit them in game.
Are these locations related to Raxxla, who knows? My suspicions are they are not, or at least only partly. Mapping I thought will only bring better understanding and context, and let us rule them out of the Raxxla hunt or provide new information which may aid other explorations.
For clarification this is not a definitive explanation of Norse myth, I am no expert and this is all just tin-pot theorising.
If there are any experts in Norse myth out there please feel free to enlighten, to confirm, or correct. My interest here is to identify if these places / names exist in Elite Dangerous (ED) and if they mean anything or are placed in game in a certain pattern.
Yggdrasil's meaning if broken down literally means: Yggr (terrible), drasill (horse) or 'horse of Odin'.
The horse of Odin is a reference to when the tree became a gallows for Odin when he sacrificed himself to discover the runes.
In Michael Brookes (MB) old Drabble thread he references this journey for enlightenment.
"The same secret torments my dreams as I follow the same path, so I too can visit all the worlds of gods and men".
A blog about my explorations in writing and art - with the occasional side order of fries and philosophy.
thecultofme.blogspot.com
Reading into it, writers write what they know, and artists steal, so if MB did write / code / help locate Raxxla maybe just maybe a pattern to his behaviour / style of working is reflected in Elite Dangerous.
Now its highly unlikely but, what if these deities were MBs initial inspiration for his 'The Space Inbetween' novel...who knows, very unlikely but with no other clues...lets look into the first drabble.
A blog about my explorations in writing and art - with the occasional side order of fries and philosophy.
thecultofme.blogspot.com
In his drabble on Odin theres mention of Yggdrasil and its nine limbs and Odin hanging from its branches to obtain enlightenment.
Yggdrasil - a faction in ED in a system called Mulungu (a tree of Brazil).
In his drabble MB next discusses the crows 'Huginn (mind) and Muninn (memory)' 'from high in the heavens sharp-eyed ravens shared their intelligence with him'.
Odin is also known as 'Hrafnagud' or the raven-god because of his relationship with Huginn and Muninn.
'Hrafnagud' is not in game.
Hugin or Huginn is not in game.
Muninn is is game, as a station in the Ayethi system.
Could these be represented in the stars as constellation 'Corvus' which sits within the constellation 'Draco'?
Odins 'journey' essentially concerns him venturing to Mimir’s Well, possibly 'Well of Urd', amongst the roots of the world-tree Yggdrasil. Where resided the 3 fates the 'Norns' whose powers and knowledge Odin envied.
Hall of Urd
Well of Urd
Urd is a system and faction in ED.
In norse myth this well is located under the second root around the world tree Yggdrasil in Jötunheim (not under it) guarded by the jötunn Mímir.
Mimir is not in game but Jotunheim is a system.
Deepest void
Yggdrasil is decribed as growing out of the well of Urd. Not underneath but around or above in the sky (Im not too sure) and possibly this is also where the gods l hold thier council.
The well of Urd is fathomless pool whose depths hold cosmic knowledge and poweful beings, one such are the 3 wise maidens the 'Norns' who live in a hall by the well of Urd, these Norns shaped the fates by carving runes into Yggdrasil’s trunk affecting everything in the 9 realms / worlds.
These Norns are:
Urd (Urðr) - past.
Verdandi (Verðandi) - present.
Skuld (Skuld) - future.
All three Norms are in game as systems.
In Norse cosmology, Jötunheimr (or Jǫtunheimr in Old Norse orthography; often anglicized as Jotunheim or Udgård) is a location associated with the Jötnar, entities in Norse mythology, which are often mistakenly anglicised as "giants".
en.m.wikipedia.org
The well is the source of Mímir's wisdom. Odin, wanting to possess great wisdom and so his journey can be seen in two forms, one where he hangs himself from the tree and sacrifices himself, staring into the depths of the waters and willing the runes to show themselves (another theory was the runes were reflected in the waters, and were star constellations); or it took him through the land of the 'giants' to acquire great knowledge by drinking directly from the well.
Here Odin asked the guardian of the well a water spirit named 'Mimir' (or Mim) for a drink of the wells waters to impart its cosmic knowledge.
Mímir's also appears to be closely associated with the well Mímisbrunnr which lies directly underneath the great tree.
Edit: Mímisbrunnr doesnt seem to be in game, nor does Mimir, that I have yet to discover, but any of these could go by other names.
'Mímir's name appears in the names of the well Mímisbrunnr, and the names Mímameiðr and Hoddmímis holt, which scholars generally consider to be names for Yggdrasil'
In another iteration it/he is also a disembodied head that Odin later carries around and obtains his knowledge from.
Again this is tin-foil and a collation of various theories.
In regards to the well, Mimir demands a sacrifice before Odin can partake of the waters, Odin then rips out his own eye; after doing so, Mimir offers the now-one-eyed vagabond a drink.
Odins eye was then left behind within Mímisbrunnr.
'Eyes to see'?
Odin’s quest for wisdom is never-ending, and he is willing to pay any price, it seems, for the understanding of life’s mysteries that he craves more than anything else. On one occasion, he hanged himself, wounded himself with his spear, and fasted from food and drink for nine days and nights in...
norse-mythology.org
Looking further into any references regarding Norse mythology and the stars, I happen uppon a few interpretations which alluded to Yggdrasil as being the Milky Way and Odin as Ophiuchus.
Ophiuchus is a dark nebula region in game.
Ophiuchus to the Greeks, represented the god Apollo slaying Pytho which guarded the oracle of Delphi.
Remember that the rift below the oracle is thought of as being a crack in the ground where vapours from Pythos rotting corpse originated...the Omphalos Rift.
Also recal that Donars Oak (Thors Oak) is also in Delphi in game...
So whats below Ophiuchus if it where to depict Odin hanging from the ash tree... the Well of Urd?
Antares is also below Ophiuchus, in ancient China its referred to as the 'fire star'.
The jewel that burns on the brow of the galaxy.
Qoute: Cmdr Han Zen
"Uriel is the Archangel of Antares. He is also the presider over Tartarus. Tartaurs is 'the deepest void'. As far below Hades as earth is below heaven."
Are these anomalies detectable by fss? If so what type of signal do they appear as? They should show up in the nav panel just from using the 'honk', appearing as 'notable stellar phenomena'. You can find them in the part of the fss associated with Concentrated Signal Sources (further right than...
forums.frontier.co.uk
Scorpio in some interpretation could represent a root or branch of the 'World Tree' from which grow nine twigs. The nine runes of Odin?
The vagabonds heart, Odins desire was knowledge over the Runes.
Or is Odin Centuarus, which could place the well within the coal sack nebula? Thats grassping at straws, but I feel its healthy to explore every idea, so it can be ruled out.
Currently I have all these elements mapped ingame and trying to attribute a correlation, but at first sight, they all seem randomly placed.
Their likely simply eastereggs, if there is a correlation it hasn't shown itself yet.
Whilst on this thread I quickly delved into MB's second drabble on 'gods'. Tiamat.
Tiamat was an interesting candidate, its in game too. The mother of galaxies?
en.m.wikipedia.org
The Gigaparsec WiggleZ (Tiamat) Simulations
www.astronomy.swin.edu.au
Not much to report so far, but at least its got me to appreciate Norse myth at least.