Now that it’s done.

Tales From Vatngaard Book III - A World Void of Truth is out in the world. And I think I am done with writing books. For now at least. I want to share with you, you few who find and read this what I was trying to achieve.

Spoiler warning.

Þeir eru það sem við gerum þá. They are what we make them is a theme running through all three books. Well, what does it mean to me and why is it important?

Every god in the trilogy exists because mortals need them. Von exists because mortals need hope. Hel exists because mortals need an end. Bogus exists because mortals wanted more than enough. The gods are mirrors of human longing. They don't create us, we create them. We pour our fears, desires, and failures into the shape of the divine, and then we bow to it.

In the real world, we do the same thing. We create systems, ideologies, and institutions that reflect our collective values, and then we forget we made them. We treat them as eternal, unchangeable, natural. But they're not. They're made. By us. And we can unmake them, or remake them, if we choose.

We make our prisons.

Hel says to Kief in book 1: "You are creatures of habit. You cling to what you know, to the safety of patterns, even when those patterns bind you." Mortals build their own prisons, traditions, expectations, fears and then blame the gods for the walls. But the walls are made of human habit. They can be broken.

In the real world, we do this constantly. We stay in jobs we hate. We repeat cycles of harm. We believe we can't change because we've always been this way. We believe in the system of our “fathers”. But that's a lie we tell ourselves. The chains are real and heavy, but they're made of our own belief in them. And belief can be changed.

We make each other.

The most literal reading of "they are what we make them" is also the most profound: we create each other. Every interaction, every word, every choice shapes the people around us. A parent's love makes a child brave. A teacher's belief makes a student capable.

And the opposite is also true. Neglect, cruelty, and abandonment make people broken. Trauma makes people afraid. The people we become are not just the result of our own choices, they're also the result of what others have made of us, and what we have made of them.

The tragedy and the hope of this “truth.”

The tragedy is that we often make each other badly. We create gods who demand sacrifice. We build systems that crush the weak. We raise children who carry our wounds. We look at the brokenness of the world and say, "This is just the way of the world."

But what makes this design hopeful is that if we made it and we can unmake it. We can choose differently. We can be kinder. We can raise children who are not afraid. We can build systems that serve life instead of death. Life instead of profit. We can look at the gods we've created and say, "You are not who we are. You are who we were. And we are done with you."

Lilja is the proof of this.

She was made by grief, by loss, by the violence of the world. She was broken in ways that should have destroyed her. And she chose differently. She chose sacrifice over safety. She chose love over survival. She chose to break the pattern.

She didn't break her chains because they were weak. She broke them because she believed she could. And that belief made it true. As Seethastur says about mortals in Book 3, “You are the only creatures in the cosmos who act as if your tiny, flickering moment matters more than the stars. And because you believe it, for that moment, it does.”

That's the message of the trilogy. Not that we are doomed to repeat the past. Not that the gods are in control. But that we are makers. We make gods, prisons, each other and we can make them differently.

We are what we make each other.

So what will we make?

Much love. -H.W.

Death has left the building!

A World Void of Death is Finally Here.

It has been a long road to get here, but the wait is over. Tales from Vatngaard: Book II is officially live.

When we last left our “heroes” in A World Void of Hope, the board had been shattered. Kief, the Godkiller, lay almost cut in half by Eadwards giant axe. Lilja Frey, the girl from Blackwind Valley who lost everything, found herself staring into a mirror that wasn't hers, a vessel for the Ender of Things. And Mole... well, the "stuttering servant" revealed that some masks are heavier than others, and the son of a god whose ambitions were snuffed out with a crossbow-bolt to the face.

Bogus has fallen. The balance is broken.

In Book II: A World Void of Death, we explore a terrifying question: What happens when the dead have nowhere to go?

Hel is imprisoned. Misery is rising. And for the mortals left behind, the release of the grave is no longer an option. We will follow Kief as he grapples with a fate worse than death, and Lilja as she navigates a world where she is the only one holding the shears. We will meet Bjorn, one of Tyr's Elect, who learns the hard way that gods view us all as little more than toy soldiers.

This isn't just a story about knights and magic. It is about the tragedy of mortals trying to fix what the gods broke. It is about finding hope when Hope herself is unhinged.

I hope you are ready. The war on existence has begun.

I think Vos is done with sparing your house. ;)

Skál!

Book II - A World Void of Death

It went to the printers today. 04.11.25 Won’t be long now! Check out the Store page to see the beautiful cover-artwork by Ásgeir Jón Ásgeirsson.

The printed book is finally here

06.17.2025

Well, the first batch of printed books arrived yesterday. They look good, but predictably, there's a hitch: the printer forgot to add the barcode and ISBN. So, I'm now the proud owner of roughly 46 physical books that can't be scanned anywhere. What that means for anyone besides me, I don't know.

Maybe the silver lining is these first 50 will become collector's items once I'm pushing up daisies. The repercussions of this screw-up? Only time will tell.

Speaking of screw-ups, today is Iceland's independence day, June 17th. We 'broke free' from Denmark. Big mistake, if you ask me. We've proven beyond a doubt we're incapable of running this small island of 400k without rampant nepotism and relentless greed.

Anyway, enough of that. If you're still interested in getting a physical copy, faulty or not, head over to the store. And yeah, I know the shipping cost is truly excessive. My apologies for that, but it is what it is.

The story behind the story.

08.06.2025

The order is gone to the printers.

This story started as a comic book back in 1992. I was a young man then.

I wrote the first book, found an artist, thought we had something. But it fizzled. Life got in the way.

Three decades passed. I came back to it, not to the comic, but to the idea. The shape of it had changed. The world was rougher. So was I. But the bones were still solid.

I started writing a bible for the lore three years ago, intent on finally getting this story out there. At its core, it’s always been the same. This took thirty-some years to finish, not because the story was tough to get down, but because I feel like I had to live enough to tell it right. To tell a story that isn't just stoic, mysterious killers waving swords. I don't want to sound pretentious but dealing with themes like hope, excess, misery, fate, and ultimately death takes insight into the human condition. I didn’t have that back then. I understand it better now. Still learning, though. Maybe that’s the point.

Almost there!

06.04.2025

Greetings fellow earthlings,

I recieved a sample print, read it through and made some final adjustments and am going back to the printers with the final final version of book one, A World Void of Hope, today. The printer says it will be ready before christmas. I’m working on getting me store up and running, so as the title says almost there…

I’ll keep you posted.

Vatngaard: what is it and why is it here?

Vatngaard is not a kingdom. It is not a brand. It is not here to be sold, sanitized, or sacrificed to algorithms.

It’s a world.

A world where gods fall and fate is just another word for surrender.

Born from Nordic mythology, shaped by modern disillusionment, and soaked in blood and defiance, Vatngaard is a realm where hope is chained and misery reigns and if you are younger than 15 you are not invited.

It has no business existing, except that someone had to say it out loud: The world is broken. The gods are complicit. And the mortals? They're done waiting.

Alright, enough dramatic sales pitches. It is may 12th 2025, the world is on the brink of some disaster or other… again.

My obsession— this project— is also verging on the brink. I am waiting for my cover artist. The wonderful Mr. Ásgeir Jón Ásgeirsson, he sent me an idea last night and it was awesome. So hopefully book I will be out soon. I am publishing everything myself, I made a POD deal with the printer and they are on stand by, soon people, so very soon.

Oh, and I also need to mention that fine looking gentleman above is RUN. Runes / Runic Knowledge “Run” evokes rúnir, the Old Norse word for secret, whisper, or rune. Tied directly to hidden knowledge and wisdom. Odin "discovered" the runes through sacrifice, so wisdom and runes have always been linked in Norse myth.

Here is a little snippet about RUN; Keeper of ancient knowledge, encoded in runes and symbols that reveal themselves only to those worthy. He grants insight through dreams, riddles, and signs rather than direct answers. His presence feels like standing before an ancient tome. Heavy with secrets, waiting to be opened, and he smells like a bookstore. You know that heavy musky dust smell. He is known to vanish answers when approached with arrogance; wisdom must be earned, not taken.

-H.W.