De Mørke Tidene
The Dark Times
He hadn't always seemed to be completely emotionless to most people.
He would be the first to admit that he had never been the friendliest or most caring person, but for the earliest parts of his life- as late as the mid 1300s, actually- he had actually shown his emotions to others and not always kept them under lock and key, only shown to a select few people.
Even after the Black Death came to his land and the Kalmar Union, before he realized how much of a long reaching effect on his country's future it would have, he hadn't really acted that different. He had become slightly more withdrawn to everyone but Eiríkur, yes, but not so much that anyone was worried.
That all changed when Sweden left. He still wondered if he had made the right choice in staying in a union with Denmark, but he was forced to realize that he wouldn't be able to stay free for long if he tried to leave. The Black Death and other things had lowered his population far too much for that.
He thought he would be able to bear everything that could come, but he soon realized he was wrong.
Not too long after the Kalmar Union dissolved, the Danes decided to abolish his language, forcing them to speak and write in Danish, and declared his nation to just practically be a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Yes, officially they were the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, but he wasn't fooled. All the power lied with the other kingdom.
Over the next few centuries, he occasionally wondered why he even bothered existing. He was not really his own country, so why was he trying?
Eventually, he realized it came down to two reasons. The first was that he would not abandon his brother to live in this cruel world alone. The second was something that he tried to repress, but could never fully get rid of.
Hope.
He called himself an idiot for ever believing that things would look up for him. Yes, nothing lasted forever, but he didn't completely believe that it wouldn't end in Ragnarök. He could never fully convince himself of that, however.
Despite this, he became fully closed off from most everyone but Eiríkur, and even then he tried to put on a brave face as to not worry him.. Denmark tried to get through to him, but he couldn't bring himself to trust him, despite knowing that he truly cared for him and wanted him to be happy.
Unfortunately, the Dane seemed to not understand that he would really only be happy if he was free.
It took him more than a century for him to realize that he had started referring to the Dane by his country name in his mind, and had done his best to not call him by anything unless he had to. When he finally realized this, he couldn't even bring himself to care.
He wished he could return to when he was younger again, back to when he truly felt happy.
Back to when he didn't feel like he hated his neighbors.
Finally, he thought he had the chance to be a free country again in 1814. He and his people attempted to declare independence by creating their own constitution.
And then that brief spell of hope vanished.
He hated everyone involved for decades. Denmark, for deciding to give his country up as a term in a treaty. Sweden, for pushing for it because they lost Finland and for not accepting his independence. The other "Great Powers", for letting it happen. And, more personally, for making his brother stay with Denmark and not letting him have any contact with him.
It took over a century and a half for him to even begin to forgive any of them for what they did.
Finally, almost a century later, he was finally, truly, free. He was still living in poverty, yes, but he could deal with that.
And then WWII came.
He tried to fight them off. He actually took great pride in his people for holding them off longer than any country save the Soviet Union.
But in the end, it wasn't enough.
The Germans overran his country, even helped along by Sweden agreeing to let the, go through his land, something that he wished would be able to hurt him more than he did.
Even after the war ended, after he was free again, after he had become one of the richest countries in Europe and possibly the world, he was still closed off. Even after repairing his relationships with the other two Scandinavian countries, he still couldn't bring himself to fully trust them. Not after all those centuries.
Occasionally he searched through ancient spells, looking to see if there was any way to turn back the clock and stop all this from happening, even though he knew in his heart that it was futile.
He just wished he could go back to the time he was truly happy again.
Yeah, I apparently come up with some really depressing crap after 11 pm.
The title is a reference to the fact that Norwegians call the time under Denmark the "400 years of night".
I probably sort of butchered some of the history, but I don't think I got too far off the mark. Or at least I hope I didn't.
Actual picture is coming soon.
Meh, please review and tell me what you think.