Skuld (Oh My Goddess!) - Creation and Conception

Creation and Conception

Skuld was one of a series of characters created by Kōsuke Fujishima, and is depicted as the younger sister of Belldandy, one of the two main protagonists of the series. Along with the characters of Belldandy, Urd and Keiichi Morisato, she is regarded as one of the four major characters in Oh My Goddess!. Skuld's first appearance in the manga was in chapter 32, The Third Goddess, but she has also been depicted in a novel (Ah! My Goddess: First End), three anime series - Oh My Goddess! (OVA), Ah! My Goddess and The Adventures of Mini-Goddess - and in Ah! My Goddess: The Movie.

As with her fictional sisters, Belldandy and Urd, Skuld has her origins in Norse mythology. Skuld is one of the three Norns and represents the future (while Verdandi represents the present and Urd the past), and this role continues into the series, although the three Oh My Goddess! characters otherwise bear no resemblance to their Norse namesakes. Her affinity is with water, and her magic usually involves manipulating water. Unlike the problems with transliteration that were encountered with Belldandy (resulting in Verdandi becoming "Belldandy" in the manga), "Skuld" presented no difficulties for translators.