a day ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Quoth the Golden State Valkyries: WNBA team's mascot is a raven named Violet
It's rare to witness an animal on the loose at a basketball game — but there are exceptions. During halftime Monday night, the Golden State Valkyries unleashed a feathery addition to their squad: Violet the Raven, the team's first mascot.
Violet danced through a tunnel, even opting for a cartwheel when she hit the court. Warriors center Quinten Post walked onto the court show Violet how to make a layup, but she just couldn't sink it.
The new arrival emerged from a large violet, gold-speckled egg — the kind wildlife expert Kenny Elvin deemed 'very unique.' The team told the Chronicle that the raven hatched Monday morning, but perhaps anticipating an energized arena crowd, waited until halftime to strut its feathers.
After the egg curiously appeared outside of Chase Center last Thursday, the Valkyries staff quickly moved it inside of the arena for 'safekeeping.' Before its relocation, a flock of inquisitive staff and onlookers approached the object, hoping to discover what might lay beneath its shell.
When Golden State unveiled videos of the egg on the team's Instagram, fans flew to post comments, speculating that what was inside must be the Valkyries' highly-anticipated mascot. Guesses ranged from dragons to swans, even Pegasuses (though, perhaps the latter too closely aligned with the Dallas Wings mascot). Some joked that fan-favorite Kaitlyn Chen or Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski would emerge from the egg.
But those who delved into Norse lore discovered that ravens are actually closely linked to the Valkyries. In Norse mythology, ravens and Valkyries share roles as symbols of battle and death — the Valkyries select which fallen warriors would ascend to Valhalla, while ravens circle battlefields and feed on the departed.
Ravens are also deeply tied to the Norse god Odin, who is sometimes called the 'Raven God.' Legend says that Odin harbors two raven companions, Huginn ('Thought') and Muninn ('Memory'). The two are fabled to fly across the world each day to gather news and report it back to Odin.
But in Norse mythology, there is no confirmed account of a raven emerging from a violet egg.
For Elvin, this was the first such egg he had encountered in his long-established career of falconry. The object sat atop a bed of violet feathers, a detail that urged Elvin to hypothesize that whatever rested inside must be some sort of violet bird.
And that it was.
