Originally entered in "Darker Shades of Christmas" contest over at Dreamslayer Artworks. I must not be a "Christmassy" kinda guy, 'cause the contest just wasn't inspiring me initially. Then I happened to note a comment in the rules about Santa being a modern version of Odin, which got me thinking..."What if Santa really was Odin? How would he differ from the modern interpretation?" Then I remembered a little something I learned from Trivial Pursuit: "Donner" and "Blitzen" translates into English as "Thunder" and "Lightning." Rather odd names for lovable animals pulling a fat guy on a sleigh... That's when inspiration struck. Those aren't names of beasts of burden, they're the names of...Valkyrie.