Comic Books
"I'd say we are in hell, but then I'd imagine it'll be easier to get a fucking fire going."
Fan Works
They were the ones who had stayed and survived the Coming of the Ice, they had heard the Windigoes howl and seen the great shapes of the Frost Giants moving on their northern horizons. On another journey I would see Iceguard, their great city-fort. They seemed out of place in the gay beauty of the Crystal City, and moved warily, as if they feared the Ice-Orcs or Snow-Griffons would attack at any moment. They bore ice-axes and picks strapped to their backs, and though peace-bonded looked as if they expected to have to use them.
"They say [Sharp's] homeland is a frozen wasteland where the icy wind would cut you to the bone and where water only ever falls as snow, like it does here upon the mountaintops yonder... it is said the forests there are full of ferocious beasts with huge teeth and claws called bears, and that you must prove yourself worthy by defeating one with a traditional weapon of his tribe they call a hockey stick"
—XSGCOM, describing Canada
Films — Animation
"This is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We've got hunting, fishing, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. Most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have... dragons."
—Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, How to Train Your Dragon
Literature
"And men rode out of Northern lands, enormous lands alone
And the rain is changed to a silver dust
And the sea to a great green stone,
And a shape that moveth murkily
in mirrors of ice and night
Hath blanched with fear all beasts and birds,
Blasts a man's hair with white.
"The North is hard and cold, and has no mercy."
Eddard Stark, A Game of Thrones
SNOWBOUND NORTH is the COUNTRY beyond the most northerly MOUNTAINS where the NORTHERN BARBARIANS live. It is quite often the place where the DARK LORD chooses either to sequester himself or to plant a MUTANT NASTY of huge proportions whose magical exudations poison the whole continent. Therefore it is a very important place and the Tour will unfailingly call there. Do not expect a pleasant time. You will have to gatecrash a PALACE of ice and/or torch the Nasty. And contend with deep snow, blizzards, and Barbarians.
"The elders say that the cold winds from the north blow over ShadowClan cats and chill their hearts."
—Graystripe, Warrior Cats: Into the Wild
Religion and Mythology
"Therefore prophesy, O mortal, and say to Gog: Thus said the Lord GOD: Surely, on that day, when My people Israel are living secure, you will take note, and you will come from your home in the farthest north, you and many peoples with you — all of them mounted on horses, a vast horde, a mighty army — and you will advance upon My people Israel, like a cloud covering the earth. This shall happen on that distant day: I will bring you to My land, that the nations may know Me when, before their eyes, I manifest My holiness through you, O Gog!"
—God, Ezekiel 38:14-16
[T]hey came hardened with the stiff frost of their own wickedness from that roof of the world where he had fixed his abode who in his mad ambition sought to make himself equal to the Most High. In fine it is proverbial, according to the prediction of the prophet, that from the north comes all that is evil, as those have had too good cause to know, who through the spite of fortune and the fall of the die have experienced the barbarity of the races of the north.
Tabletop Games
Lying close to the borders of Chaos, the Northlands are saturated with malefic forces. It is a frozen wasteland stalked by all manner of gruesome monsters and roving barbarians. No crops survive there, for the ground is as hard as iron and the howling winds cut like daggers purest cold. A network of fjords and mist-shrouded islands wreath the coastline, and it is here that the Northmen build and tether the longships with which they terrorize the shores of the known world. In the lands of Norsca, lying between the Sea of Claws and the Sea of Chaos, scattered coastal settlements provide some respite from the cruel elements, yet they are often attacked by bloodkrakens and other horrors. Further inland, the ice gives way to frozen steppes and eventually to open plains, where the tribes of horsemen hunt and stay clear of bone-carpeted Ice Drake lairs. It is a grim and shadowy land where the weak do not live long, and living means a constant fight for survival, supremacy, and the chance to appease the gods.
—Warhammer: Warriors of Chaos Army Book (8th edition)
Video Games
"The harsh northern blizzards are deadlier and more savage than the axes of the land's denizens."
— Ridolfo the Wanderer, Dawn of the Dragons
Ice and silence
The zailors bundle themselves up in heavy peacoats; nerves fray a little under the sound of ice floes bumping against the hull. The wind always blows from the North, and it's always uncomfortably cold. More than that, even the false-stars seem to avoid this corner of the Neath — nowhere else is gloomier. The world looks grey and lifeless, like a cheap tintype.
— Entering the Stormbones, Fallen London
"Seal Clubbers hail from the frigid Northlands, because one character class always hails from the frigid Northlands."
Old Man Quint: Hmm. I heard that North Ambria isn't exactly the most hospitable place for a number of reasons.
Sully: Call it what it is: Gehenna on earth. It's the kind of place where everyone's in a desperate struggle to survive from one day to the next. The only person you could truly fend for was yourself. Caring for others was... a luxury most couldn't afford.
Sully: Call it what it is: Gehenna on earth. It's the kind of place where everyone's in a desperate struggle to survive from one day to the next. The only person you could truly fend for was yourself. Caring for others was... a luxury most couldn't afford.
"We seek the monsters that you fear the most. We chase the nightmares that haunt your cowardly dreams. The deadlier the prey, the more we exalt in the hunt, the more we honor our gods. This harsh land breeds the savage... and we revel in it."
—Wulfrik the Wanderer on the natives of Norsca, Total War: Warhammer
