Vanaheim (Hyboria)

Vanaheim
Name	Vanaheim
Aliases	Vana'heim
Status
Preceded By	Unnamed ocean
Preceded By	Unnamed ocean
Succeeded By	Norwegian Sea, Scandinavia
Succeeded By	Norwegian Sea, Scandinavia
Characteristics
Demonym	Vanir, Vanirmen
Currency	Vanirgeld
Location Details
Reality	Earth-616
Galaxy	Milky Way
Star System	Sol
Planet	Earth
Continent	Europe ; formerly Hyboria
Region	Hyborian Lands ; Nordheim
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas, Barry Smith
First	Conan the Barbarian #1 (July, 1970)
First	Conan the Barbarian #1 (July, 1970)

Vanaheim was the westernmost of the nations of the far north, lying west of Aesgaard and north of Cimmeria and Pictland.

It comprised the western portion of the region called Nordheim. It was a somber country, mostly a bleak tundra plain that was snow-covered through the long winters. Swampy taiga forests probably clothed its high southern regions thinly. Glaciers crept down from the Eiglophian Mountains in the south and the Blue Mountains on the frontier with Aesgaard. Far to the north were more mountains, crowned with a permanent ice cap that grew larger as the climate changed.

The resident population were the Vanir, typically red-haired and blue-eyed. They were a warrior culture. Their skills honed in near-constant conflict with their neighbors in Aesgard and Cimmeria.

History

Origins and ancient days

The valley in Vanaheim, close to the town of Suhron (located at three hundred miles from Zahrahn, an isle that became part of the northern Pictish Wilderness) was originally an ocean's coast, where Lahrentz wrecked after the crew was massacred by the Children of Rhan.

The Vanir were probably descendants of the people of the pre-Cataclysmic kingdom of Thule, as were the Aesir.

2,500 years after the Lesser Cataclysm (which seemingly took place in 17,500 BC), circa 15,000 BC, the Nordics (Aesir and Vanir) drove all the remaining Hyborian tribes out of all the snow-countries, save for Hyperborea. Their land was known as Nordheim, the Vanir living in Vanaheim, the western part of it.

Hyborian Age

9,500 BC

500 years after the Age of Conan, the north was the theater of constant bickering between the Cimmerians, the Bossonians, the Picts and the Nordheimr.

Circa 9,500 BC, before the post-Hyborian Cataclysm, Vanir adventurers came to Stygia, where they overthrew the ruling class building a vast southern empire which they called Egypt. The early Pharaohs boasted to descend from them.

Post-Hyborian Cataclysm (9,500-8,000 BC?) / Early History

After the post-Hyborian Cataclysm, which occurred between 9,500 and 8,000 BC, the northern Vanir, one of the variations among the Sons of Aryas (or Aryans), descended into the Danes.

Vanaheim in general was submerged by the Norwegian Sea, though Northern Vanaheim on the European continent was stated to be later part of Scandinavia.

Circa 8250 BC, the land was set in Northern Vanaheim (which became later known as Scandinavia), on the European continent. Around that time, the man who would become the monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone was born and became immortal thanks to the Bloodgem during an event that destroyed his entire tribe.

Residents

• Vanir
  • Oza
  • Tara

See Also

• 22 appearance(s) of Vanaheim (Hyboria)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Vanaheim (Hyboria)
• 3 minor appearance(s) of Vanaheim (Hyboria)
• 39 mention(s) of Vanaheim (Hyboria)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Vanaheim (Hyboria)
• 1 invocation(s) of Vanaheim (Hyboria)
• 4 image(s) of Vanaheim (Hyboria)
• 7 article(s) related to Vanaheim (Hyboria)
• 21 citizen(s) of Vanaheim (Hyboria)