Voltan's Hammers

A depiction of Voltan at the forge

Voltan's Hammers is a Dwarven myth from the Age of Heroes. It concerns the lament of the god Voltan (sometimes called Voltin or Moradin) after his creation of Inevitable and his eventual decision to destroy his hammer into three pieces. The narrative is present in both Dwarven and Haelian mythology, although scholars can trace the Haelian myth back to Dwarven origins. The narrative is supported with a subplot telling the love story of two Giants Mjïok and Lùrn, who lament at their inability to conceive a child. The mixed morals of the two tales accommodate multiple interpretations, and most modern retellings leave out the love story altogether.

## Synopsis

The story occurs during the time when Chaos and the New Gods were locked in a bloody war. It begins with the goddess Erazmisk arriving at the forge of Voltan situated in a volcano deep within the sea. Not wanting to be disturbed, Voltan sends his apprentices, Mjïok and Lùrn, to delay her as he finishes building a set of invincible armor. Mjïok and Lùrn do all they can to delay Erazmisk, and, becoming annoyed, Erazmisk decides to punish the Giants for delaying her. Erazmisk removes a vial of love potion given to her by the goddess Bahk and convinces Mjïok and Lùrn to each take a sip. The effect of the spell is immediate, and the Giants rush off to be alone. Erazmisk arrives at the anvil just as Voltan finishes the armor, and Voltan proudly shows Erazmisk his handy work. Voltan challenges Erazmisk to dent the armor, and Erazmisk, swinging her hammer with all her might, fails to damage the armor. Erazmisk fains being unimpressed, and remarks on how the armor, although sturdy, is meaningless without a bearer. Gesturing to Mjïok and Lùrn in the throws of passion, Erazmisk indicates how Voltan is a god, yet his apprentices have the ability to produce something he cannot; life. Voltan, angered at being made a fool, exiles Mjïok and Lùrn from his forge, and agrees to take Erzamisk up on her challenge. Heating his forge with the purest of embers, and gathering the rarest ores from the god Skylled, Voltan begins crafting a life-force to place in his armor.

Meanwhile, the exiled Mjïok and Lùrn are distraught as they, being Giants, find themselves unable to conceive a child. Saddened at their expulsion from Voltan's forge and the inability to fulfill their familial desires, the Giants go to see a wise woman for answers. Telling the wise woman of their problem, she assures them that she can provide a solution for the right price. Without inquiring as to what the price will be, Mjïok and Lùrn agree to her proposal. The wise woman gives them a large red egg and tells them that they will need to return with a human baby if they want to complete the ritual. Mjïok, aghast at the request, refuses to steal the baby, but Lùrn, overcome with the desire to create a family, convinces them to go along with it. Raiding a nearby village, Mjïok and Lùrn retrieve the child and give it to the wise woman. The wise woman cracks the egg over the baby and places it within the shell of the egg. She tells Mjïok and Lùrn to seal the egg with iron and leave it in a fire for forty days, which they do. During the forty days Mjïok and Lùrn can hear the child crying in the egg, and eventually Mjïok can no longer bear the guilt and leaves Lùrn in the middle of the night. Lùrn, overcome with grief the next morning at finding Mjïok gone, throws themselves into a volcano and dies.

While Voltan is crafting the life-force Erazmisk travels to the Shadowfell to acquire the remnants of some of the Old Gods. Gathering up some bones from the Laws, Erazmisk returns to Voltan's forge and throws them into the fire while he isn't looking. Eventually the life-force is completed, and using his colossal hammer, Voltan drives it into the armor. The armor shakes with life, and Erazmisk dubs it "Inevitable". Before Voltan can speak, Erazmisk ordered Inevitable to seek out the Chaos and destroy it, and Inevitable flew away with haste. Voltan, seeing Erazmisk's trickery, flies into a rage and banishes her from his forge. Voltan then watches from his forge as Inevitable beats back the Chaos, before turning on Erazmisk and the other gods, unable to distinguish between them and his enemy. As more and more Gods fled from the Inevitable into their own planes, Voltan felt the guilt of his creation hang heavy on his shoulders. Swearing to forge no more, Voltan destroyed his hammer, reforging it into three smaller hammers. Ashamed at banishing his apprentices, Voltan found Mjïok sitting under a mountain, and giving them two of the hammers, one for them and one for Lùrn, Voltan threw the final hammer deep into the sea, burying it in his forge before returning to his plane.

When Mjïok returned to give Lùrn the hammer, they found the house empty and Lùrn nowhere to be seen. From the egg, still within the fire, Mjïok heard not the cry of a baby, but the shouts of a man. Using Voltan's hammers to crack open the egg once more, a large man with stripes of red on dark black skin emerged from the egg. The egg, having been forgotten on the coals for many years, had produced not a child but a full grown half-giant man. Mjïok, feeling kinship with their creation, named the man Nephilim, and gave him one of Voltan's hammers.

It was at this moment that the wise woman appeared once more. Telling Mjïok that it was time to pay up, the wise woman demanded that Mjïok give her one of the hammers. Aghast at the possibility, Mjïok refused. The wise woman, showing a display of all her magics, demanded that Mjïok give her the hammer, reminding them that they had already agreed to the transaction. Mjïok begrudgingly handed over the hammer, and the wise woman vanished. Looking at their child, Mjïok took the new born man over to the forge, and began teaching him the art of smithing.

## Further Myths

There are several other myths and legends regarding Voltan's Hammers. In *The Hymdael Sagas* it is said that the hero Bifrost Hymdael used one of Voltan's Hammer to forge the legendary warhammer Whelm. In another legend the Lord Errant Hornish McTine battled the Archfey Lisander who wielded one of Voltan's hammers, and used the hammer to forge the Cloak of the Witch Queen from her skin. In yet another legend the hero Brènne Scoatelle killed a great dragon and found one of Voltan's hammers in its belly. These examples are just some of dozens, most of whom are contradictory in one way or another.