Just something I've been thinking about a lot lately that a lot of others might not know!
Basically, the second sword location in the Icerun territory seems to be based off the real Black Hills that exist in South Dakota and Wyoming in the midwestern United States. Even the flavor text is a possible reference to them: "Named for the densely forested hills that appear almost entirely black when seen from a great distance." The real Black Hills mountain range's name comes from the Lakota phrase "Paha Sapa," translating to "hills that are black." They were given this name because, like the game location, the mountainous pine forest hills appear black when viewed from a distance in comparison to the prairies and rolling hills surrounding them. It can get quite cold there due to the high elevation, and snow can appear throughout many months of the year. In fact, the game's art also very closely resembles the real-life location:
Photography Credit: Travel Wyoming
Photography Credit: Tom Anderson
I actually grew up around the Black Hills, originally being from the Midwest myself, so it's really become a special location in the game for me. Funnily enough, in the beginning the correlations flew right over my head, but the more I explore there, the fonder I become of the locale.
This leads me to wonder if the other areas in the game are also based of real-world locations. Could be fun to look into it, unless anyone else can also draw correlations between the game and real-life, in which case I welcome you to share below!
Sif
