Midgard - Hodart

Hodart

The name of these predators actually a play on two anglicised words: Hod and dart. Hod was the blind brother of Baldr, the beloved god of beauty. Loki out of jealousy tricked Hod to shoot a dart or arrow at Baldr. The arrow was made from the branch of a mistletoe, the one thing that could kill Baldr. The latter indeed died, thus setting in motion events that would cause Ragnarok.

The choice for such a name is very fitting because Hodarts are venomous. While the Puukala relative may only grow about as tall as Flamingo, the venom is powerful enough to paralyse its victim almost instantly. It needs a powerful venom to immobolise its prey: small fast-moving fresh water fisks. To hunt these, Hodarts stay motionless in shallow lakes in the Northern forests that borders the sea. They have the ability to change the texture of their legs to make them look like the large roots of mangrove-like algae trees. All they can do is wait for prey to pass between their legs and then make their move.

Being small creatures, Hodarts can still become prey themselves to larger predators. The stinger is smooth so it can repeatedly sting and pull out of attackers, causing severe pain without causing harm to the Hodart (like the case with bees). The downside is that the stinger points downwards and was specifically designed to kill prey, not attackers coming from above. Hodarts are better off running through the swamp water and avoid danger.

"This creature was originally going to be another link in the evolutionary chain of the Sleipnir, but I instead decided to make it a creature on its own. Different traits incorporated in this animal includes squids, flamingoes, wasps, shark fins and previous Midgard drawings. I'm glad I looked up the Nidhogg drawing as I drew, it helped remind me on what the pitts should have looked like."

FUN FACTS:
Although their ancestors were aquatic and they hunt in lakes, due to their body designs, Hodarts are poor swimmers.
Unlike most animals on Midgard, Hodarts are bright light blue. This has several purposes: it helps them warn animals that can see in color that they are poisonous (the universal rule is that brightly colored animals may have venom) and it helps reflect sunlight, keeping their body temperature low and making it harder for prey to detect their presence.
Hodarts show some degree of intelligence, notably the tactic of dropping grains of sand from their beaks into the water to lure prey closer.