Guild Wars 2

Why must nordic people in fantasy games always be stuck in areas with snow as far as you can see. Surely its doesnt snow 24/7 in sweden or norway

Is this sterotypical or just some set rule for fantasy nordic lore?

I hate it!

At least you Nords get the representation. I’m Scottish and we have nothing in this game that emulates our ancient culture.

Many fantasy games that use this as a base of a culture tend to think towards the climate in Greenland. If you are not familiar with those weather patterns, here you go:

Greenland has an arctic climate with average temperatures that do not exceed 10° C (50° F) in the warmest summer months. In the southern part of the country and the innermost parts of the long fjords, the temperature can, however, rise to more than 20° C (68° F) in June, July or August.

1) it’s usually the other way around, a snowy region is created and they populate it with a people whose culture is derived from real world nordic cultures, because they’re good examples of how cultures evolve from living in that kind of environment.

2) “Nordic” literally means “of the north”.

3) Some of the “nordic” regions are not covered in snow, they transition into grasslands if you go south or lower down the mountains.

I don’t really get your issue here, it’s like asking why sea zones are filled with fishermen.

Rhaps.8540:

At least you Nords get the representation. I’m Scottish and we have nothing in this game that emulates our ancient culture.

There are places where it rains quite often.

Yargesh.4965:

Rhaps.8540:

At least you Nords get the representation. I’m Scottish and we have nothing in this game that emulates our ancient culture.

There are places where it rains quite often.

Anytime I play, it always seems to be raining. I guess I’m just lucky? Now they just need to make my character look like a drenched cat and the environment would be complete. (You know, the sodden hair, the clingy clothes, complete with squishy boot sounds)

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Yargesh.4965:

Rhaps.8540:

At least you Nords get the representation. I’m Scottish and we have nothing in this game that emulates our ancient culture.

There are places where it rains quite often.

Anytime I play, it always seems to be raining. I guess I’m just lucky? Now they just need to make my character look like a drenched cat and the environment would be complete. (You know, the sodden hair, the clingy clothes, complete with squishy boot sounds)

That was a great laugh. They want to bring rain into games but forget about the messy bits.

It was just colder back when the vikings roamed.. and it is that time it is inspired by. It is a sterotype, kinda wrong. But who cares. I had a laugh once, when I broke the illusions of a british person by telling him that Denmark rarely has snow, even in winters
We have gotten a lot more snow the later winters though… was before that.

Thinking about it, it kinda shows how climate changes. It is funny how you complain about the climate, when there are so many other things to take.
Now GW2 have not done this so much, but nordics are not all tall or blond.
The norn in the mythology is actually a smaller group of female deities associated with fate… kinda far from what GW2 norn is if you ask me.

Yargesh.4965:

Rhaps.8540:

At least you Nords get the representation. I’m Scottish and we have nothing in this game that emulates our ancient culture.

There are places where it rains quite often.

Good! I like it nice and dreich.

Zeefa.3915:

I had a laugh once, when I broke the illusions of a british person by telling him that Denmark rarely has snow, even in winters

It shouldn’t have surprised them considering the most northern part of Denmark is on the same latitude as southern Scotland. In fact i think Scotland would get more snow but then it is iirc more mountainous than Denmark.

try go over the atlantic and see what we are in latitude with over there it will set things a little in perspectiv

You think this is bad? Try being german, either you live on a mountain in bavaria, drinking beer or in the Black Forest, building cuckoo clocks.

BuddhaKeks.4857:

You think this is bad? Try being german, either you live on a mountain in bavaria, drinking beer or in the Black Forest, building cuckoo clocks.

Lol. It’s funny …. because that’s what they do :-P

Korsbaek.9803:

try go over the atlantic and see what we are in latitude with over there it will set things a little in perspectiv

Yeah, you can thank the Gulf Stream for that – it’s why Europe is warmer than Canada or Siberia. In fact, one of the concerns about global warming is that it might disrupt the Gulf Stream and, ironically, make Europe colder.

From what I recall, the North Atlantic was actually warmer during Viking times – that was when the colony on Greenland was actually sustainable.

But going back to the OP… it’s partly, as mentioned above, a case of placing the culture to fit the climate. ArenaNet also tends to have sections of the story based in the Shiverpeaks happen around the colder end of the year as well, which exacerbates the issue – most of the parts of the Shiverpeaks we see clearly aren’t permafrost unless the trees and forests we see there are so hardy they can grow in frozen ground, so presumably there is a thaw during summer – we just don’t see it.