The Deacon of the Dark River

It’s spooky season and Icelandic folklore is filled with many spooky stories.   
With Halloween just around the corner and the veil between the world of the living and the dead becoming much thinner, we would like to introduce you to a tale called: “Djákninn á Myrká”  “The Deacon of the Dark River“

Once upon a time the Deacon of Dark River rode to the farm of Bægisá to ask Guðrún the pastors housemaid to a Christmas party at Dark River. When Guðrún happily accepted, the deacon rode back to Dark River, after promising to pick her up the day before Christmas.

A big storm hit the deacon on the way back and the river between the farms became full of water and ice.
The deacon tried to be careful while passing the river, but he fell off his horse, hit his head and drowned in the river. The next morning the people of Dark River found the deacon’s lifeless body. He was buried in the churchyard, but sadly the news of his deathcould not be passed over the river, because it was still full of water and ice.

On the day before Christmas, Guðrún was excitedly getting ready. When she had put everything on except one sleeve of her jacket, there was a knock on the door. The deacon took Guðrún on the horse towards Dark River. He seemed to be in a hurry and his horse tripped. Then Guðrún saw a terrible white spot on the deacon’s head. Then the deacon said: “The moon fades, death rides. Don’t you see a white spot on the back of my head, Garún, Garún.”  The deacon could not say her name because ghosts can not utter the name of God – or Guð in Icelandic.

When Guðrún and the deacon arrived at Dark River, the deacon suddenly tried to pull her into his open grave. But she managed to escape and run towards the bell tower and ring the bells. The sound of the church bells made the deacon fall back into his grave. The next day the people of Dark River got the priest to come over to bless the grave, so the deacon wouldn’t return – The priest also put a huge boulder on the grave, that can still as of today be found on Dark River – or Myrká in Icelandic. Guðrún was never the same again.

Illustration by Sigrún Hreinsdóttir.

The Confederation of Icelandic Employers is running a campaign on outstanding companies in Iceland. They came to visit our offices and did a feature on our CEO,  María Guðmundsdóttir.

In the video María talks about what drives her and the goals of creating a company with a focus on equality and parity. She also discusses her quest to get more women and other minorities interested in the industry as well as the importance of creating future role models.

The video is unfortunately only in Icelandic.

We have just released our new minigame for Android which is now available on the Play store!

In this game you play as Rórra the raven and need to avoid the obstacles in her way. You as the player get to control the speed she travels at and need to dodge the orange orbs!

Rórra is simple on the face of it but surprisingly tricky as you collect points! 

Game review site GamesKeys thinks it’s one of top 20 games to try this November! 

Again we are feeling humbled and thankful for the recognition our game, Island of winds, has received! This will be another big step going forward on our journey of making its magic come to life for you to experience!

www.rannis.is
Article (in Icelandic)

We are thrilled to have our application for the Rannís student innovation fund accepted last week. Our candidat, Sylvía Fjóludóttir Wallace, has already settled at the studio and is hard at work developing our photogrammetry pipeline further.

A Bucket which was created in the 18th century.

Sylvía graduated with a diploma from Reykjavik Academy of Digital Entertainment (Margmiðlunarskólinn) in 2019 and continued her studies in the UK where she recently graduated from Bournemouth University of Arts with a BA (hons) in Visual Effects Design and Production.

Screenshot taken in-game

This summer she will be taking part in scanning historical items on site and producing them in 3D for the world of Island of winds.

We welcome Sylvia at the office!