Dísablót was born out of the worship of the Disir, or minor deities usually depicted as spirits of female ancestors.
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Historically, festivals honoring the Disir were also held around the winter solstice or at the start of a new year.
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Before you dig into Disir, though, it's worth taking a little time to find out what Völur is all about.
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But, given the prominence of maternal and female deities in general, it's not surprising that the Disir were significant enough to warrant their own celebration.
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Pre-Christian, Northern European faiths rarely applied a strict system or hierarchy to their gods, so little is known about the Disir specifically, besides the fact that they were thought to be guardians of the living.
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The Canadian drum, bass, and electric violin trio are all involved in other musical ventures—Blood Ceremony, Do Make Say Think, solo jazz efforts—and the genre agnosticism showed both in their Prophecy debut, Disir, and onstage.
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The last time we heard from Völur, it was 2016, an orange fascist certainly did not have access to the United States' nuclear codes, and they'd just officially released Disir, their stunning debut (and, soon after, they captured my heart at Prophecy Fest).
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Regarding the dísir, Simek states that Old Norse dís appears commonly as simply a term for 'woman,' just as Old High German itis, Old Saxon idis, and Anglo-Saxon ides, and may have also been used to denote a type of goddess. According to Simek, "several of the Eddic sources might lead us to conclude that the disir were valkyrie-like guardians of the dead, and indeed in Guðrúnarkviða I 19 the valkyries are even called Herjans disir 'Odin's disir'. The disir are explicitly called dead women in Atlamál 28 and a secondary belief that the disir were the souls of dead women (see fylgjur) also underlies the landdísir of Icelandic folklore."Simek (2007:61–62).
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He reveals that he values Arthur's compassion and loyalty to his kingdom above Morgana's desire to see the return of magic. The fifth episode of season 5 entitled "The Disir", sees Arthur, Merlin, and Mordred confront a sorcerer who has been injured by Gawaine. The dying sorcerer gives Arthur a coin from the Disir, interpreted as a judgement against Arthur. Mordred is allowed to accompany the King to meet the Disir, and is consequently fatally injured protecting his King.
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Völur was formed in 2014 by Lucas Gadke (Blood Ceremony), Laura C. Bates (ex-Trent Severn) and James Payment (Do Make Say Think). Their first EP, Disir, was recorded in a single day in April 2014 by Ian Blurton and released independently. In 2015 the band signed with Germany-based Prophecy Productions and performed at Prophecy Festival in 2016 at the Stone Age Balve Cave in western Germany. Prophecy subsequently re-released Disir later the same year.
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The 13 Disir unite and assault him as one, but Loki managed to defeat them using extraordinary swordsmanship skills, thus forcing them to submit to him and declare him the victor. Loki meets with Hela and asks her what she will give him in exchange for a new Hel, to which she answers 'Anything.' She then met with Mephisto, demonstrating the power of the Disir and agreeing to lend him the Disir for a hundred and one days in exchange for the demon lord granting a portion of his netherworld to Hela for one thousand and one years, as her new "Hel", which Mephisto agrees to. In exchange for this, Hela erased Loki from the Books of Hel, thus, he was no longer tied to Hel or Asgard, gaining absolute freedom.
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During the trip, Amara reveals to Clarice she has still been seeing Mephisto and asks her not to tell anyone.New Mutants, vol. 3 #41 Eventually Mephisto's relationship with Magma collapses after she uncovered his dealings with the Disir, which caused her to call off any chance of furthering their relationship, much to his displeasure.New Mutants, vol.
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Meeting with Mephisto, Loki strikes up a deal granting a portion of his netherworld to Hela for one thousand and one years, as her new Hel. In exchange for this, Hela erases Loki from the Books of Hel, thus he is no longer tied to Hel or Asgard, gaining absolute freedom. However, unknown to Hela, Loki had manipulated these events in his favor as he had the Disir in his services and had leased them out to Mephisto for one hundred and one days after demonstrating their skill to the demon lord.Siege: Loki #1 Hela summons Danielle Moonstar to repay her debt and to gather the spirits of the Asgardians that fell in battle with Norman Osborn's forces as quickly as possible so they do not fall prey to the Disir.
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Freyja, the daughter of the sea god Njörðr, was both a fertility goddess and a goddess of war, battle, death, seiðr, prophecy and was also sometimes associated with the valkyries and disir. Nora Kershaw Chadwick (1959)Chadwick, Nora K. "The Monsters and Beowulf". The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in Some Aspects of Their History. Ed. Peter ed Clemoes. London: Bowes & Bowes, 1959. 171–203.
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Hela summons Danielle Moonstar and calls in her favor: to gather the spirits of the Asgardians that fell in battle with Norman Osborn's forces.New Mutants Vol. 3 #11 This time, due to the specific nature of her task, her sword cannot touch Asgardian living flesh, but instead proves deadly against the Disir, who have come to feast on the spirits while they are helpless.
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New Mutants Vol. 3 #11 The Disir, still hungry, attack Hela's new Hel as it was not the true Hel they were banished from. Sensing the Disir's assault on the dead Asgardians, Hela attempts to protect them using the sword Eir-Gram, but she is disarmed and her arm sliced off brutally. Hela is quickly overwhelmed and her own remaining power insufficient to counter theirs.
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In younger legendary sagas, the Norns appear to have been synonymous with witches (völvas), and they arrive at the birth of the hero to shape his destiny. It seems that originally all of them were Disir, ghosts or deities associated with destruction and destiny. The notion that they were three may be due to a late influence from Greek and Roman mythology.Nordisk familjebook (1913). Uggleupplagan. 19. Mykenai-Newpada.
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Völur's lyrical themes draw primarily from Norse mythology. Their name comes from an old Norse world (völva) which means like a seeress or woman who can see into the future. Disir focuses thematically on these female Norse goddesses as told in "Voluspa: The Prophecy of the Seeress" from Poetic Edda. Their second album, Ancestors, incorporated more chamber folk and drone musical elements and thematically focused on male gods.
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Arthur decides to beg for Mordred's life, and the Disir give him an ultimatum, saying that he must embrace the Old Ways. Arthur is swayed against them by Merlin, in an attempt to prevent Mordred's survival. Arthur is therefore told his fate and doom is now sealed. Once they arrive in Camelot, Mordred exits the castle alive and well, and Merlin realises his mistake - that Arthur refusing to embrace the Old Religion sealed his fate.
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During the Siege of Asgard Loki appears before Hela asking if she has made arrangements for the dead. Hela points out she is without a Hel so she cannot take them in and plans to let the dead wander Midgard forever. Loki provides her with proof of the Disir, banished, cannibalistic Valkyries who once belonged to Bor whom he cursed for dining on the flesh of other Asgardians to only be able to feed on the souls of gods. Using his extraordinary swordsmanship skills Loki was able to make a group of 13 submit to him.
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Loki, when Osborn called out for his aid, sent the Hood and his diminished syndicate as reinforcements to help Osborn's forces against the Avengers. Loki later appeared to Balder, telling him that he would have simply pardoned Thor instead of banishing him if he had not wanted the throne of Asgard for himself. Balder later banished Loki from Asgard.Thor No. 609 (June 2010) Sometime after, he magically disguised himself as Osborn's Green Goblin persona to lay siege to Asgard, Loki encountered the Disir (the Valkyries of Bor) after he lured them using several wandering god's souls he imprisoned as bait, revealing that he desired to gain their service as his slaves.
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He called the first four issues "brilliant", repeatedly lauding their consistent excellence from month to month, and naming the series one of Marvel's best comics, saying the first issue was the best one of the year thus far. Evans described Gillen's child Loki story as "perfection", and hailed Gillen's ability to tie in seemingly digressive elements as thematically relevant, his issue structure and his facility for narration and dialogue, as well as the humor, adventure and characterization. Evans called Braithwaite’s art and Ulises Arreola’s colors "stunning" and "epic", finding it to be on a higher level than other comics art, and comparable to that found in a fantasy storybook, which he felt made the Asgardian environment seem "immense, important, and full of life." Evans and D.S. Arsenault gave a "B+" to issues 626 and 630, respectively, with Evans that despite being "absolutely fantastic", his grade was due simply to the exceptionally high standard set by the prior issues, and that Surtur and the troika of Try, Leah and the Disir not as interesting.
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