6. Niflheim. The primorial world of mist and ice in Norse mythology. Those Norse, they knew from ice. Brought to you by D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths.
7. Super Mario Brothers 2, Ice Level.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ox8veftvmQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
8. EDN III in Lost Planet. It was Halo, but Japanese, and really cold.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm_LaCTAJp4&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
(More on Techland: Best of the Decade: Characters)
9. I’m running out of steam. The end of AI, I guess? When it gets really cold? And Haley Joel snuggles with his mommy?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0y93yzhctc&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
10. “Darkness,” by Lord Byron. Lord Byron, bitchez. This should be #1, except it’s more dramatic to end on it.
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went–and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill’d into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires–and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings–the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum’d,
And men were gather’d round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other’s face …
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Best of the Decade: Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels