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Description
There's not much to say about the Moon in Norse mythology that hasn't already been said in my entry on Sól. Much like the Sun, the Moon is largely treated as an inanimate object with little personality of its own. The Moon god, Máni (whose name just means "Moon") is the brother of Sól who was given charge over driving the chariot that pulls the Moon (the object) across the sky. He is relentlessly pursued by Fenrir's son, the wolf Hati, whose name means "Hate". This chase will continue every night until Ragnarök, when Hati will catch and consume the Moon at the twilight of time. It's unclear what relation, if any, this chase has to a strange insertion to a list of magical remedies in the Hávamál, wherein it calls for one to "summon the Moon in relation to hate".

Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda also includes a whole bunch of what I can only describe as "junk lore" that no one is really sure what to make of. Snorri tells us that Máni took from the Earth the children of one Viðfinnr, a boy and girl named Hjúki and Bil respectively. Apparently they just kinda got randomly snatched up while carrying a pail from the well Byrgir, and continue to follow the Moon to this day "as can be seen from Earth". I don't know about you, but I've looked at the Moon quite a bit in my day and I ain't never seen it followed by anything. Some have suggested Snorri is just making shit up because he can. Afterall, this is the only place these kids are mentioned. Others suggest they may represent some lost story about the phases of the Moon based on their names ("Hjúki" means "the one returning to health", and "Bil" just means "moment"), but I haven't been able to find any further elaboration. Others, going all the way back to Jacob Grimm, suggest that they more so represent the patterns in the Moon's craters, which in some Scandinavian folk tales are said to resemble a boy and a girl carrying a pail which… yeah sure I guess if you try really hard it does? I'm one of those people that have never been able to make out the Man in the Moon, so maybe I'm not the best to consult on that. Interestingly, I keep seeing a theory brought up that Hjúki and Bil may have some distant relation to the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill, though as far as I can tell the oldest attestation of this diddy only goes back to the 18th century. It's a neat theory, though I'm not really sure what to do with it. I guess just put a pin in that. I like to keep a junk drawer of random facts, as you never know when it may be the perfect piece you need later for worldbuilding.

Design notes, this one was a pain in my ass. I had a lot of different directions I wanted to take this piece, and I'm not sure they quite gelled together. First and foremost, I wanted to design him with a sort of astronaut aesthetic, fitting enough. Turns out it's a little difficult to suppress the inherent sci-fi aspects of an astronaut suit, though. I ended up taking reference from the space suit designed by the British Interplanetary Society in 1949, which is so British that it features a cape and a cane, and mixed in a bit of rebel flight suit from Star Wars. Because space is for nerds. While his sister's belt is inspired by the Trundholm Sun Chariot, Máni's belt is taken from the Nebra Sky Disc, another artifact from the Bronze Age. It doesn't quite look right, though. Maybe if I removed the patina the artifact has and made it proper bronze? Idk. This whole piece really feels like there should be an easy fix somewhere that would bring it all together, I'm just not sure where, and it's gonna bug me for the rest of my days… er… nights.

Description
There's not much to say about the Moon in Norse mythology that hasn't already been said in my entry on Sól. Much like the Sun, the Moon is largely treated as an inanimate object with little personality of its own. The Moon god, Máni (whose name just means "Moon") is the brother of Sól who was given charge over driving the chariot that pulls the Moon (the object) across the sky. He is relentlessly pursued by Fenrir's son, the wolf Hati, whose name means "Hate". This chase will continue every night until Ragnarök, when Hati will catch and consume the Moon at the twilight of time. It's unclear what relation, if any, this chase has to a strange insertion to a list of magical remedies in the Hávamál, wherein it calls for one to "summon the Moon in relation to hate".

Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda also includes a whole bunch of what I can only describe as "junk lore" that no one is really sure what to make of. Snorri tells us that Máni took from the Earth the children of one Viðfinnr, a boy and girl named Hjúki and Bil respectively. Apparently they just kinda got randomly snatched up while carrying a pail from the well Byrgir, and continue to follow the Moon to this day "as can be seen from Earth". I don't know about you, but I've looked at the Moon quite a bit in my day and I ain't never seen it followed by anything. Some have suggested Snorri is just making shit up because he can. Afterall, this is the only place these kids are mentioned. Others suggest they may represent some lost story about the phases of the Moon based on their names ("Hjúki" means "the one returning to health", and "Bil" just means "moment"), but I haven't been able to find any further elaboration. Others, going all the way back to Jacob Grimm, suggest that they more so represent the patterns in the Moon's craters, which in some Scandinavian folk tales are said to resemble a boy and a girl carrying a pail which… yeah sure I guess if you try really hard it does? I'm one of those people that have never been able to make out the Man in the Moon, so maybe I'm not the best to consult on that. Interestingly, I keep seeing a theory brought up that Hjúki and Bil may have some distant relation to the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill, though as far as I can tell the oldest attestation of this diddy only goes back to the 18th century. It's a neat theory, though I'm not really sure what to do with it. I guess just put a pin in that. I like to keep a junk drawer of random facts, as you never know when it may be the perfect piece you need later for worldbuilding.

Design notes, this one was a pain in my ass. I had a lot of different directions I wanted to take this piece, and I'm not sure they quite gelled together. First and foremost, I wanted to design him with a sort of astronaut aesthetic, fitting enough. Turns out it's a little difficult to suppress the inherent sci-fi aspects of an astronaut suit, though. I ended up taking reference from the space suit designed by the British Interplanetary Society in 1949, which is so British that it features a cape and a cane, and mixed in a bit of rebel flight suit from Star Wars. Because space is for nerds. While his sister's belt is inspired by the Trundholm Sun Chariot, Máni's belt is taken from the Nebra Sky Disc, another artifact from the Bronze Age. It doesn't quite look right, though. Maybe if I removed the patina the artifact has and made it proper bronze? Idk. This whole piece really feels like there should be an easy fix somewhere that would bring it all together, I'm just not sure where, and it's gonna bug me for the rest of my days… er… nights.