Ísdolkr - Crystal Dagger

Ice Dagger - Sounds Magical

Inspired by this Facebook image, which was posted by an unknown photographer on National Geographic's page but has since been removed, purporting* to be a 3000-year-old dagger found in Spain, which needs a crystal totem to fight off the dark magic of the Necromancers in the Necropolis, my imagination went into overdrive.

But in my quest for authenticity, I searched for crystal daggers. Yes, they existed. Yes, the raw material exists in Scandinavia. So the iconic dagger could theoretically exist, however none have been found, lending credibility to such a device being used for religious or magical purposes.

So be it. In the third novel, Helsgaard's Storm, the Witch Doctor sends Lozen and Rohand on a quest to obtain the Crystal Dagger, the legendary Ísdolkr, rumored to be hidden in the Aethel Monastery. (Ísdolkr is pronounced "EES-dolk-or," where the 'k' represents more of a glottal stop than a guttural 'k.') With the Ice Dagger in hand, it will be time to rid Norðrlönd of the Necromancers once and for all.

But can Lozen do it? Does she have the training and the will to wield the Ísdolkr? Or will the Ísdolkr's creator crush Lozen in a mysterious alternate reality?

No, Ísdolkr is not a real Old Norse word. But it is a contraction of Ís (ice) and dolkr (dagger), so it works. My story, my words. What I find interesting is that the Norse word for ice (ís) is pronounced "ees," but the German word ("eis") is pronounced "ice."

* There is no proof anywhere on the Interwebs supporting the authenticity of this photo regarding any ancient crystal dagger. Nobody's going to touch an artifact like this with their bare fingers. Fake AF. Nice photo, though.