In doing some research for my second werewolf book I’ve been
reading about runes. In my book Marked the werewolves had symbols on their
wrists when they transformed and I based the shapes on runes. My second book
will have a bit more about runes in it so I decided to share some of that
information here just because it was interesting to me and might be to someone
else. DISCLAIMER!! I do not profess to be any kind of EXPERT in runes or even
have much knowledge about them. Actually I have NO knowledge except what I’m
beginning to learn now. I’m just gathering some general basic information and
that’s what I hope to share.
No one knows EXACTLY how old runes are. Evidence of them can
be seen as far back as 1300BC.
Runes have names which have meaning indicating they had some magical or
religious significance. The word rune itself comes from the Norse word Runa
meaning secret or mystery. Runes represent objects, gods, people animals,
concepts and occurrences. They are frequently felt to have a symbology that is a
powerful form of communication. There is believed to be a link between the
power of the mind as well as other magical properties which are represented by
the symbology contained within each symbolic letter. Rune stones are set of 24 ancient alphabetic symbols
although the number of runes was somewhat fluid over time. The basic 24 are called the FuThark
which comes from the sounds of the six letters. The 24 Runic signs are arranged
into three families of 8 runes each.
Later I’ll share more about meanings of some runes.
I think runes are fascinating and I look forward to learning more in your next book. The series by Cassandra Clare called Mortal Instruments deals heavily with runes. The shadowhunters use runes to give them strength, courage, agilty, etc. when they fight. From what you've written here, their runes have been adapted somewhat in the book to differ from the ancient alphabetic symbols. I think it is a great idea to give a back story to the marks on the werewolves wrists! It is especially exciting for me as a reader to read different books that have some common principles based on history (even in mythical). Thanks and good luck!
ReplyDeleteMakayla I haven't read the mortal instruments yet, but I've read the infernal devices and am trying to work my way to MI. I did love her use of the runes. It's very different. I hope to have more rune info up soon. I like learning when I read! Thanks for stopping by!
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