Skoll
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In Norse mythology, Sköll is a wolf that chases the horses Árvakr and Alsviðr, that drag the chariot which contains the sun (Sol) through the sky every day, trying to eat her. Sköll has a brother, Hati, who chases Máni, the moon. Both are supposedly brothers/sons of Fenrir. At Ragnarok, both Sköll and Hati will succeed in their quests.
'Skoll', in certain circumstances, is used as a heiti to refer indirectly to the father (Fenrir) and not the son. This ambiguity works in the other direction also, for example in the Vafþrúðnismál, where a confusion exists in stanza 46 where Fenrir is given the sun-chasing attributes of his son Skoll. This can mostly be accounted for by the use of Hróðvitnir and Hróðvitnirson to refer to both Fenrir and his sons.
[edit] Skoll in Popular Culture
- In Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, the Skoll is the head enforcer and bodyguard to the Ulfric, the werewolf king. (The Hati is his second, while Fenrir is the challenger to the Ulfric.)
- In Warhammer Fantasy, Skoll is a legendary wolf from Teutogen folklore, the companion of Ulric himself who chases away the sun to allow the onset of winter.
- In the 2004 videogame "Drakengard" one of the attacks is called "Skoll's Feast."
- In Gordon Dahlquist's The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, a military unit bears the insignia of Skoll swallowing the sun.
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