# Historical, mythological and public domain warriors?



## Darkblade (Jun 14, 2013)

I'm not sure if I should put this in World Building or Research so I'm putting here because it's the first place I clicked on.

A WIP I have in planning stages (for this year's Write About Dragons online class) involves an old west Sheriff from the early 1880s getting killed by an outlaw and finding himself in Valhalla. From there the he wanders Valhalla along with his Valkyrie, Sally. A reoccurring idea in the story is the different people he meets in Valhalla and how they find meaning in their after lives filled with endless mortal combat and rebirth.

So I'm looking for suggestions on existing characters from mythology and public domain works and historical people he could meet. I'm quiet flexible in what it means to be a warrior and how you get into Valhalla. Leaders that may have seen less personal combat but still waged large amounts of war and those who were known warriors but died outside of combat can still end up in Valhalla. As long as they would be dead by 1880.

Currently I have, three confirmed characters that have been worked into the outline.

King Charlemagne and Joan of Arc lead a band of crusaders, church millitants, paladins and other assorted "Holy" Christian warriors in attempts to destroy their 'cursed' pagan afterlife and prove themselves worthy of Heaven.

Hercules's mortal half, while his Olympian side serves as labourer to the Greek Gods his mortal side, which still posses his great strength found itself in Valhalla. Unless he is provoked he avoids conflict with the other chosen dead, instead preferring to remain in the wilderness fighting the occasional monster that crosses into Valhalla. 

I also have one character concept that needs a name, face and some fleshing out. Another dead law enforcement officer who leads other dead watchmen, constables and other assorted law enforcement with the belief that it their duty to remove the worst criminals from Valhalla by non-lethally apprehending them and keeping them imprisoned. I originally intended him to be Inspector Javert from Les Miserables but I recently read that Victor Hugo's descendents are fighting legal battles against unauthorized sequels to the novel as violations of moral rights. I don't want to risk getting messed up in that.

Any comments, criticisms and/or suggestions are welcome.


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## Kahle (Jun 15, 2013)

Just a quick few-
-Wyatt Earp, old west lawman and legend, shootout at the OK Corral
-Napolean, Corsican general who conquered most of Europe
-Saladin, Muslim sultan of Egypt and Syria who opposed the crusaders
-Richard the Lionheart, king of England, crusader
-Robin Hood, archer and highwayman


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## Dr.Dorkness (Jun 16, 2013)

Ragnar Lodbrok - first viking to succesfully sail the open sea and discovering britain Ragnar Lodbrok - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
King arthur - duh
Spartacus - slave gladiator who rebels against the romans.


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## WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade (Jun 17, 2013)

Alexander the great
Black prince ( Crecy and potiers ect)or Henry the 5th (Agincourt and conquered quite a bit of France for England)
Arthur Wellesley- Duke of Wellington
Also, for a Valkyrie of Valhalla, is Sally a fitting name? surely something like Svala would be more appropriate.


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## WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade (Jun 17, 2013)

Also, I may have gotten this a bit mixed up, but are you saying that Christians are all holy and Pagans are all "Cursed"? Because If you are I find that pretty offensive as I am a Pagan. No Religion is inherently better than any other, the history of Christianity is pretty disgusting and dark. And why is Valhalla worse than heaven? If I have the wrong end of the stick, I apologise.


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## Ireth (Jun 17, 2013)

WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade said:


> Also, I may have gotten this a bit mixed up, but are you saying that Christians are all holy and Pagans are all "Cursed"? Because If you are I find that pretty offensive as I am a Pagan. No Religion is inherently better than any other, the history of Christianity is pretty disgusting and dark. And why is Valhalla worse than heaven? If I have the wrong end of the stick, I apologise.



From what I read, that's just a few characters' opinion, not the truth of the novel. Note that the words are in quotation marks.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Jun 17, 2013)

I would say King Leonidas and the 300 Hundred Spartans of Thermopylae.


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## A. E. Lowan (Jun 17, 2013)

Kahle said:


> -Wyatt Earp, old west lawman and legend, shootout at the OK Corral



Earp isn't a bad idea, but he didn't pass away until the 20th century, in LA.  However, he DID lose a couple brothers before 1880, who might make interesting characters.  And while Earp was an interesting personality, I think Doc Holliday was even more fascinating - mysterious, mercurial, and dangerous, he finally died of TB in 1887.
Doc Holliday - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Snowpoint (Jun 18, 2013)

Myrmidons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Myrmidons might be batter know as characters from Fire Emblem, but based on Greek Myth.


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## Darkblade (Jun 18, 2013)

Kahle said:


> -Wyatt Earp, old west lawman and legend, shootout at the OK Corral



He lived far too long to be in Valhalla at the time of my story.



> -Napolean, Corsican general who conquered most of Europe



A definite possibility but I'm not sure what I'd do with him. I'll need to think about him some more.



> -Saladin, Muslim sultan of Egypt and Syria who opposed the crusaders



Perfect man for Charlemagne to use as a scapegoat. I'll have to use him.



> -Richard the Lionheart, king of England, crusader



An interesting prospect. A terrible King but a great warrior, I could see him working well under Charlemange.



> -Robin Hood, archer and highwayman



I had him planned as a minor cameo, appearing in the dungeons of the Lawman much to the Sheriff's disbelief. 



Dr.Dorkness said:


> Ragnar Lodbrok - first viking to succesfully sail the open sea and discovering britain



Such a perfect man to lead one of the Viking hordes. I'll probably use him.



> King arthur - duh



I want to avoid Arthur at least for now. He has a tendency to take over any story he appears in.



> Spartacus - slave gladiator who rebels against the romans.



Spartacus would not take well to being in Valhalla, which to a certain extent can be seen as Odin's gladiator arena. Of course being pre-Christian Roman, Charlemange would very much look down upon him. I'll have to consider this more.




WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade said:


> Alexander the great



Alexander on the other hand could potentially quite like this fate. An army that never dies and seemingly infinite land to conquer.



> Black prince ( Crecy and potiers ect)



While it would make sense for him to be in Valhalla aside from his pragmatism and brutality (traits which would have little meaning when the slain rise with the sun) there is little remarkable about him to set him apart from other Nobleman Knights. I'll probably pass on him.



> Henry the 5th (Agincourt and conquered quite a bit of France for England)



He also lacks any meaningful hooks to make him stand out as more than just another King.



> Arthur Wellesley- Duke of Wellington



Arthur Wellesley, works a bit better. He has a bit of a rise from obscurity arc in his life and he continued to live as though her were on campaign well into his civilian life. An afterlife spent on campaign probably wouldn't bother him all that much.



> Also, for a Valkyrie of Valhalla, is Sally a fitting name? surely something like Svala would be more appropriate.



Sally is not her true name but an anglicized version that she used while looking for mortal souls in the American frontier, and the name the Sheriff knows her by. The way I see Valkyrie's is that they blend into all of the world's cultures unassumingly fitting into rolls that would put them into contact worthy warriors. While they are living in the mortal world they take on name appropriate to where they are living. For example the Valkyrie that took Saladin would have taken an Arabic name like Isara, the one who took Hercules/Herakles (not sure which way I want to go with his name) would have had a Greek name like Euphimia and so on.



WeilderOfTheMonkeyBlade said:


> Also, I may have gotten this a bit mixed up, but are you saying that Christians are all holy and Pagans are all "Cursed"? Because If you are I find that pretty offensive as I am a Pagan. No Religion is inherently better than any other, the history of Christianity is pretty disgusting and dark. And why is Valhalla worse than heaven? If I have the wrong end of the stick, I apologise.



What Ireth said. That is just the perspective of certain (antagonistic) characters. Bob, the Sheriff has a much more neutral perspective on the whole thing and many other characters are quite happy about their place in the afterlife. 



Brian Scott Allen said:


> I would say King Leonidas and the 300 Hundred Spartans of Thermopylae.



Along with the other 6700 assorted slaves and soldiers from other City-States? 
More seriously Leonidas and Spartans in general would fit right into Valhalla.



A. E. Lowan said:


> Earp isn't a bad idea, but he didn't pass away until the 20th century, in LA.  However, he DID lose a couple brothers before 1880, who might make interesting characters.  And while Earp was an interesting personality, I think Doc Holliday was even more fascinating - mysterious, mercurial, and dangerous, he finally died of TB in 1887.
> Doc Holliday - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



I'm wavering between Doc Holliday or Morgan Earp. I think a frontier lawman would probably work better than original plan with Javert as it provides a bit more of a direct contrast between them and Bob


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## Abbas-Al-Morim (Jun 25, 2013)

Sounds like a pretty interesting setup. The only thing that might be a bit problematic is the threat those "crusaders" pose to the other factions. First of all, how do they plan to escape? It seems impossible to kill anyone permanently and unless there's like some central "heart" or "nexus" to be conquered in Valhalla it doesn't seem like their quest has any meaning apart from fighting like all the others in Valhalla. 

Also, I'd like to see an army of crusaders pit against Wellesley's armies. They'd be shot to pieces and run down by Hussars before they even got close.


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