Thorskegga has started a series of paintings depicting the gods worshipped by the Anglo-Saxon and Norse settlers in England. The mucky brown colour is gold on the original but our scanner can't cope with it. Black and white versions of these pictures have been used for the covers of Thunder and the Wain.
This dragon has been taken from the famous Beowulf epic. The dragon that kills the heri is the guardian of the burial mound, or perhaps even the spirit of the deceased guarding his treasure. Beowulf's adversary invokes the image of the Nidhogg, the great beast of the underworld which devours the corpses of the dead, who would also inhabit the burial hall.
The skulls and the Anglo-Saxon 'Ear' rune (meaning the 'grave') are both symbolic of death and the afterlife.
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