Morning Ramble 371: Wolf Slayer

Today’s Morning Ramble ties together a bunch of different wolves and features the Wolf Slayer deed in Lord of the Rings Online, the god Fenrir from SMITE, and Fenris from Thor.

Fenrir kicks my ass

I suppose I don’t have a bunch to say about this guy, but Fenrir is a tough god to compete against in SMITE. He’s an assassin of course and his leaping ability – Unchained – is a real pain. He jumps quite far and can stun you when he’s fully activated his passive. He’s also got Brutalize which is another gap closer that allows him to pounce and immediately score a bunch of hits which do some significant damage. With both movement abilities, it’s hard to stay far enough away from him to avoid getting slaughtered. Some day, I’m gonna have to try him out for myself, but I usually stay clear of trying to play assassins. Needless to say, I hate to see him selected by the opposing team.

Wolf Slayer

Wolves play a large role in Lord of the Rings Online just as they do in many MMOs. This morning I actually accomplished a deed after fulfilling a few quests for Dora Brownlock in Waymeet that went along with my wolf theme for today. After saving her farm and rescuing her chickens, she asked me to vanquish the wolf leader that had been sending out minions to attack he livestock. Somewhere along the way to the Wolf Den next to her farm, I killed my 30th wolf and attained the Wolf Slayer deed. Sure, it didn’t offer a bunch, but I did get some LOTRO points and a new title – Fur-cutter. But more to the point, it reminded me that there are tons of little achievements to be had in LOTRO and it’s about time I dedicate some time to moving forward with my Minstrel.

Ragnarok has Started

In this issue. we again see the monstrosity that is Fenris (or Fenrir) the Wolf. In this case, though, he’s fulfilling his destiny by taking part in Ragnarok and fighting the gods of Norse Mythology. He, Loki, Ulik, and Hyrm have Surtur forge hammers using the mold of Mjolnir and they take on Thor and his god friends.
This is a pretty epic issue starting all the way back at the beginning of the world where Odin asks the Dwarves to fashion Mjolnir and he and his brothers slay Ymir to create the universe. Apparently, the Dwarves never got rid of the hammer’s mold and as they were transporting it to the Great Void, it fell into the river Vuluspa where Loki retrieves it and sets it to his dastardly will.
With new hammers forged, Loki and his friends attack the gods gathered to mourn the death of the Dwarf smith and slay quite a few of them. Trolls, Wolves, and Giants all assault the gods and I’m not sure where Odin is, but even his son Thor gets his butt kicked. In the process, Mjolnir is broken into 3 pieces – wow – I never knew it could be broken – and Thor is blasted through the ground into the sea.
With Amora, Sif, and Baldur dead and Thor nearly helpless at the bottom of the sea, he does the one thing he can to try to salvage the situation – he calls out to the Avengers – and is transported to Earth hoping they’ll assemble.
The art in this issue is as epic as the story – huge battle scenes, jam packed cinematic layouts, and action shots that look like things are really happening make this a really cool issue. While my initial take was that there was too much going on, the more I look at the issue, the more I understand this is the way it had to be. This is the set up and the initial volleys of Ragnarok and I can feel the epic nature of this issue.

I rate it an A. and hope the rest of the story can maintain the momentum started here.