Bergelmir's wife

Bergelmir's wife and her husband are the only two Jotnar to survive the bloodshed when the Gods kill Ymir. Little is know of her from the old sources except for that and that she and her husband restart the Jotnar race which again become numerous.

I've had trouble sculpting female figures because my main reference always have been the mirror. It's finally started to loosen up a little. Main features to make a figure female is big hips and a small jaw. Big hips are emphasized by a extra narrow waist, and a small jaw is empathized by a extra large forehead. Usually my style have been figures with long faces and small foreheads, which I have realized is very hard to make feminine. Other general traits of a female face is that it has small features than a male face. Smaller chin, nose, jaw (especially important), ears, an almost absent brow and narrower eyebrows. Big eyelashes and heart shaped lips are also very feminine, but I was happy I managed to make her look feminine without those as those things takes more time to animate.

Her legs are not really made for walking, but that's OK as she won't use them in the movie. If she were to walk I would have to design her differently.

Bergelmir

Bergelmir is a frost giant, and one of Ymir's grandsons. His name means "Mountain Yeller". He is one of the very few Jotnar to escape the bloodshed and repopulate the Jotnar tribe after the Gods kill Ymir and the blood from Ymir's body creates a massive flood. In one of the old sources it's just Bergelmir and his wife who survives, in another he has his household with him. For the movie though it's more practical production wise that it's just him and his wife I have to sculpt and animate.

While making him I experimented a little bit with giving him texture. The brown plasticine was very sticky so my fingers left marks on the lighter green color which I then smoothed out. The texture gives more realism, but realism reduces the stylistic look so there's a fine balance. In the end I removed the texture from his face, shoulders and chest as those areas get the most light, and left it on his arms and back. His back won't be seen in the movie anyway, so it doesn't matter there.

Bolthorn

Bolthorn (also known as Boelthor) is a frost giant and Bestla's father, which makes him Odin, Vili and Ve's grandfather.

Six-Headed Troll

 

 

 

 

This is one of the first creatures to spawn out of the frost giant Ymir's body. His feet mate together and bear a son with six heads.

This was the most fun character to make, and will probably be the most memorable one from the movie. The plasticine puppet is about 20 cm tall I reckon. I've found that small pupils bring a lot of life to a puppet, and I was extra wary of that with this character. I've also given each head a different face expressions for this photo shoot to show that they each have their own personality.

Long after the Viking homelands were Christianized, people still believed in trolls for centuries. Most Norwegian fairy tales have a troll as the villain, typically with up to three heads. In the Viking sagas, some have many many more.

Troll

A troll is just one of many names creatures from the Jotnar tribe were given by the vikings. There were wolves, serpents and other creatures dangerous to the Vikings that were born from a Jotun woman.

This is not a character mentioned specifically in the myths, but rather one of the many Jotuns that spawned out of the frost giant Ymir's body. He is by far the scariest of all the characters in the movie.

The viking religion was not about good vs. evil, but order vs. chaos, which is a philosophical way of saying human vs. nature. The Aesir (the gods) were very "viking" in their behavior and could do really cruel things. However, as this film is for little kids, good vs. evil is easier to understand, so this troll was designed specifically to send the message that the Jotnar are evil. His long limbs and short torso are to resemble a spider, his skinny body to bring associations with disease, and his zombie-like blank eyeballs radiates death.

Tomorrow I will post the six-headed son parented by Ymir's two feet.