Norn

The Norn are a race of shape-shifting half-giants who dwell in the Far Shiverpeaks.

Concept art depicts the Norn as stocky, muscular humanoids with thick red or blonde hair and tattoos or body paint resembling Celtic knot designs.

In the Eye of the North expansion pack, Norn appear as NPCs through much of the Far Shiverpeaks, where they guard resurrection shrines and portals. Typically, the Norn will challenge the player's party to a fight, and the Norn will only talk to them after he or she is defeated, earning the party a number of Norn reputation points. A typical Norn NPC will be defeated automatically when their health has decreased to a certain precentage. Norn guarding resurrection shrines will typically give the Norn hunting party blessing.

Prominent Norn

 * Jora, the Norn hero who appears on the Eye of the North box art
 * Magni the Bison
 * Sif Shadowhunter
 * Olaf Olafson
 * Gunnar Poundfist

Norn in GW2
The Norn are planned as a playable race in Guild Wars 2.

According to the May 2007 issue of PC Gamer the Norn will get a race-specific skill which allows them to transform into a half-bear form, increasing melee damage and Health. It is not clear if this skill will be available to Norn NPCs in Eye of the North, playable Norn in Guild Wars 2 or both. The half-bear form is also mentioned in IGN's Eye of the North Dungeon Crawl article as an example of a possible PvE-only skill for Eye of the North.

Trivia

 * Much of the Norn culture seem to be inspired by the Norse (this is maybe linked with the fact that they are living in the north)
 * Norn are likely based on the Berserkers, Norse warriors that wore bear skins into battle. During battle, these warriors were reported to have flown into a rage (go "Berserk"), believing that they were being possessed by the animal's spirit, berserkir meaning bear-skin.
 * It is also likely that they are based on Beorn, a character from J. R. R. Tolkein's book The Hobbit. Beorn was a big man who lived in peace with animals and had the ability to transform into a bear.
 * Norn is also now-extinct Germanic language once spoken on the Orkney and Shetland islands off the shores of mainland Scotland.
 * Many Norn names are based of Nordic names and words: Olafsson = son of Olaf, Olafsdottir = daughter of Olaf
 * The Norn are the sisters of fate in Norse mythology.