Grizzleheim – Wizard 101’s version of Australia?

OK, I have been exploring Grizzleheim for a little while now and I think I have it figured out. Sure it’s supposed to represent the proud and fierce viking warriors of the North, but in reality, they have modeled it more after Australia.

Why Australia, you ask? Surely the lush forests and streams don’t remind me of the great Australian outback or the limitless pristine shorelines around the Great Barrier Reef, do they? No, not at all. The topography and landscape of Grizzleheim looks nothing like Australia, and those noble bears inhabiting the deep green forests are pure Viking – or at least the furry cartoon bear version of the vikings…

So why Australia then? Because apparently in Grizzleheim, much like Australia, EVERYTHING WANTS TO KILL ME!!!!

I have never been so terrified just to walk out of the main inhabited area. I fully understand why they invented these nifty teleporters, because walking more than seven feet from the village will get you attacked, cooked, eaten, and digested by something out these in the woods before you can say ‘Sunbird’. It comes out more like ‘Sunbi—-argh!!!’

Even cute little flitting fairies just come right over and thump me across my furry orange head. It’s a crazy, crazy place that makes Krokotopia look like a vacation hotspot. Sure you’ve got your sand scorpions and evil Nirini warriors, but at least you know they’re coming!! In Grizzleheim you turn a corner and come up against some giant spider or long-taloned grendel or something else that just walks up and makes a snack out of you.

I admit, I am not brave – typically we monsters are not, ironically. Just look at Grover and ‘The Monster at the End of this Book‘ – spending the whole narrative afraid of himself…. and that’s pretty typical for us, really.

So I’m going to keep exploring Grizzleheim for a little while longer, all in the name of entertainment (since that’s where my ‘Daring Adventures’ are taking me lately… ) but I think I’ll be making more trips to the pet pavilion to calm my nerves…. And someone in town actually said ‘this is nothing, just wait until Jotun’… I wonder what that meant? Sounds bad in any case…