Apparently Petros – long time reader and friend of this blog – came across this image a while ago entitled “Champion of Dionysus” by Jason Behnke; he didn’t bother sharing it because of the obvious Northern overtones. But then, of course, I started posting about the Starry Bear proto-tradition and Óðr in particular, so he went ahead and sent it to me, and now I’m sharing it with y’all. You can visit the artist’s website at jasonbehnke.com – he’s done a lot of great work. I particularly like the grape motif found in the warrior’s jewelry and banner, and the drinking horn. I wonder who this is meant to represent – Óðr, a member of the Retinue, some mortal hero who fights on behalf of the God?
The House of Vines 
My guess is it must be a retinue member
I might be biased but since he’s more of a Germanic barbarian I think he’s with the Harlequinade (specifically in its aspect of the Wild Hunt). The only problem of course being that his horse and dogs are missing (though maybe they’re off canvas somewhere) so maybe not the Wild Hunt exactly but certainly a Northern wild man warrior. And for some reason I feel like the animal he embodies in battle is the boat. He doesn’t strike me necessarily as a bear and I feel like he’d have a lot more buddies with him if he was a wolf. What say you?
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Boar makes a lot of sense.
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He looks more like a boar-warrior than a bear. Jöfurr, perhaps?
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Frankly, he reminds me of Frazetta’s illustrations of Kane, the immortal warrior-magician, and my introduction to dark romanticism and spiritual pessimism as well as embracing one’s tragic fate and using adversity to rise above, themes that would recur in Dionysian literature. Karl Edward Wagner’s creation was so much more than a Conan pastiche (though Karl wrote those as well.) The beard would have to be red, of course (like his author’s.)
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I’ll have to check that out at some point.
Neat though that his name is Kane since Cain is a part of the Harlequinade lore too through becoming a hairy wild man with a horn that ends up getting shot by his descendants because they mistook him for a wild animal. Some neat circles there
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Kane is the biblical Cain. After being cursed with immortality he killed God and was doomed to walk the earth, watching civilizations rise and fall. He’s every bit the ruthless warrior that Conan is, but on top of that he’s a cross between mad scientist and evil sorcerer. He’s very much an anti-hero and one of the most unique creations in the sword & sorcery genre. It’s unfortunate he’s not better known, but such complexity generally doesn’t go over well, especially with the drooling fanboys. (He was very much a writer’s writer, having been a psychiatrist before taking up the pen which meant he could get inside the head of the reader like no one else.) Karl was always just on the precipice of making it big, only to have success snatched away from him last minute, time and again until he drank himself to death in ’94. He – along with Robert E. Howard – inspired me to start writing.
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Well then. That’s certainly neat! I should send you a video I found once that is a lecture on the relationship between Aleister Crowley, H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert E. Howard. Maybe you’d like it!
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I certainly like all of those things, and H. P. Lovecraft’s cat, who was very cute.
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*sigh* Yes. The unfortunately named cat was cute.
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I would boop his nose.
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Now that I’m looking at it again, rather than jewelry he’s wearing, I can imagine that it’s a living tattoo of gold. Look how it almost seems to be writhing around his neck and shoulders.
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