The Wave Maidens,[1] also called the Tempests,[2] are the nine daughters of the Norse deities Aegir and Ran. Each is said to represent a different ocean wave.[3]
Appearance and personality[]
The daughters of Ran are hideous sea-green giants, with hair the color of foaming waves. Each stands thirty feet tall.[2]
They are chaotic neutral in alignment, though closer to chaotic evil.[2]
Relationships[]
Family[]
The Wave Maidens are the daughters of the cruel sea deities Aegir and Ran.
All nine are speculated to be the mother of the Norse god Heimdall, who was born to nine mothers.
History[]
Current activities and goals[]
The daughters of Ran travel the oceans, raising whirlpools and sinking ships.[2]
Creative origins[]
The nine daughters of Ran appear in Norse mythology.
According to the section Skáldskaparmal in the Prose Edda, the nine daughters of Ran are named Himinglæva, Dúfa, Blódughadda, Hefring, Udr, Hrönn, Bylgja, Bára (or Dröfn), and Kolga. The sea can be referred to poetically as the land of Aegir and Ran's daughters.[4]
However, they are not individually named in any canon Dungeons & Dragons source, and the collective names "Tempests" and "Wave Maidens" appear to be original creations of D&D sources.
Heimdall is said to be the son of nine sisters. These nine are sometimes assumed to be the nine daughters of Ran, but this is not stated directly in any of the surviving sources. The poem Voluspa en skamma also describes a god, who is not named directly and may be Heimdall, born to nine giantesses: Gjalp, Greip, Eistla, Eyrgjafa, Ulfrun, Angreyja, Imth, Atla, and Jarnsaxa.
References[]
- ↑ On Hallowed Ground (1996), p.141.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 For better or Norse: I, Dragon #110 (Jun 1986), p.21.
- ↑ Deities and Demigods (3e) (2002), p.170.
- ↑ Skaldskaparmal.