Norse Myth

1
Norse Myth
2
Sources

• Norse myths existed only in oral form while they
  were central to religious belief. They were only
  written down after Northern Europe had become
  Christian.
• So we have new problems with our primary sources
  
• no coherent body of literature showing the myths
  and legends
• possible alteration due to the influence of
  Christianity
• fictionalization of stories which originally
  had religious importance.
• Plus
• a wide time span, wide geographical range and
  many different sub-cultures

3
Sources
Snorri Sturlesson The Prose Edda. A narrative
of many different adventures of the Norse gods,
but presented as a fictional account, sometimes
almost humorous. The closest we have to an
overview/ collection of Norse myth, but often
untraditional, and very engaged with intellectual
Christian traditions (e.g., he connects Thor
with Troy).
4
Sources
Poetic Eddas Traditional songs, which often
refer to mythic incidents, usually just
individual adventures. Skaaldic songs poems in
honor of human accomplishments, with occasional
references to myth, sometimes very cryptic.
5
The Gods
The Norse gods are divided into two races Aesir
and Vanir. Aesir are dominant they are the gods
most associated with heroic tales, conflict with
giants, warfare, and the beginning and end of the
world. Vanir tend to be fertility deities there
are fewer of them.
6
The Gods
The Vanir Njord, a god of the sea and
seafaring Freyr, a god of crop fertility, who may
have features in common with dying gods like
Dumuzi and Adonis Freyja, the most renowned of
the goddesses, who alone of the gods still lives
(Sturlesson). Goddess of love and sexuality, also
associated with crop fertility goddess of a
realm of death associated with shamanic
experience.
7
The Gods
Sturlesson refers to the gods as a family, and
says there are 12 of them, but this may be
influence from the Classical world. The Norse
gods do not have simple family relationships. Odin
is the chief of the gods more later. His wife
is Frigg, whose name means fate. Thor is a god of
thunder, with the muscle, violence, and brute
strength laced with intelligence, that we see in
Heracles. Loki is a trickster figure, often on
the side of mischief or even evil his father was
a giant. Tyr is a war god, who bound the wolf
Fenrir (more later). Balder (the beautiful) is
the beloved god who dies . . .)
8
Odin
Odin is a multifaceted, mysterious, often
deceptive god. A list of some of his names hints
at his complex nature
The Hooded one, the Warrior, Helmet-god, the High
one, the Blind one, Capricious, Inflamer,
Weak-eyes, Fiery-eyed, Evil-doer, Father of
Victory, The One with the Magic Staff, the
Gelding, Feeder, Destroyer, Terror, Wind, God of
Men.
9
Odin
God of Wisdom Odin has only one eye. He gave up
the other to drink from the fountain of Mimir
(memory/knowledge) in Utgard. So he has one eye
on this world, one eye in another realm of
knowledge. Odin has two ravens, Hugin and Munin.
Thought and Memory, who bring him news from
all over the world. His wisdom can be trickiness
or betrayal.
10
Odin
Odin won the wisdom of runes
I remember I hung on the windswept tree nine
whole nights, Stabbed by the spear, given to
Odin, myself to myself. Of that tree no man
knows what roots it springs from. No bread they
gave me, no drink from the horn, down I peered.
I took up runes, howling I took them up, And back
again I fell.
11
Odin
Odin and Shamanism Hanging on a tree suffering
is a way to access other worlds, other
experiences. Odin is the only male figure to use
the shamanic trance known as seidr usually
associated with Freyja. Odin also has the ability
ot change his shape. All of these are shamanic
skills, ecstatic ways of gaining wisdom and
experience.
12
Odin
Odin as trickster Odins Germanic predecessor,
Wotan, was associated with Mercury (Hermes) by
the Romans. Odin often deceives and tricks,
sometimes in the interest of justice, sometimes
for his own arcane purposes Odin and Geirrod
Geirrod mistreats Odin in disguise when Geirrod
realizes his mistake, he rushes to help but falls
on his sword.
Odin stole the mead of poetic inspiration from
the giants. First he tricks the giants servants
into killing each other so he can take their
place. Then he seduces the giants daughter,
using his shape-changing powers to get to
her. Successful, he flies away as a raven.
13
Odin
Odin as a war god He is god of the kings in
battle. He can inspire battle-terror (magical
binding of the will,) as well as the battle
frenzy of the berserker. He can bestow and
withdraw favor easily (e.g. king Harald, p. 50).
You (Odin) have never been able to order the
course of war often you have given victory to
cowards . . . Odin has broken faith it is not
safe to trust him.
14
Odin
As a god of death
He presides over Valhalla, where the heroic dead
killed in battle go to spend eternity fighting
and partying. The Valkyries, goddesses who come
down to the battlefield to bring up the souls of
the dead, are Odins assistants. Odins
wandering, one-eyed double vision, and shamanic
connections, also associate him with the
permeable border between living and dead.
Odin rides and 8-legged horse, Sleipnir, which
represents the bier of the dead man, and the
passage between worlds. He presides over the
wild ride.
15
Thor
To turn from the sinister, deceitful and complex
Odin to the simple-minded and straightforward
Thor is something of a relief. Thor is a
battler his enemies are the gods enemies
giants, monsters and primeval forces. R. I Page
Thor is the foremost of the gods. He is called
Aesir-Thor or Charioteer-Thor. He is the
strongest of all gods and men. He has three
valuable properties The first is the hammer
Mjollnir, which the frost-giants recognize the
moment it is raised on high! The second is his
belt of strength, the third is his iron
gloves. Sturlesson, Prose Edda
Thors hammer was a popular good luck talisman in
Northern Europe, even in Christian times.
16
Thor
Thor is a storm god, a thunder god. Thunder was
caused either by his hammer, or by the wheels of
his chariot, which was pulled by goats. (The
goats had a magical property they could be
roasted and eaten, and would reconstitute
themselves overnight.) Images of Thor were used
as flint and steel to kindle fires. Pillars
representing Thor were flung out of sailing ships
to mark the currents toward land.
17
Thor
God of the People Thor had a lasting popularity
among ordinary people. He was a straightforward
savior, and his hammer was a protective
talisman. His temples proliferated in
pre-Christian times, and he was the
most-frequently worshipped Norse god. His ring
(an arm ring?) represented fidelity to oaths.
18
Thor

• Thors chief enemies
• Frost-giants. He is frequently in conflict with
  them.
• Iormungand, the World serpent, which Thor fights
  several times
• Thor fishes it up one time and almost capsizes
  the boat his companion cuts the line.
• In Utgard, Thor tries to lift it, deceived into
  thinking its a kitten
• Thor fights it at Ragnarok.

19
Thor

• Typical Thor
• Delight in eating and drinking humorous stories
  about these capacities
• Not always very bright often tricked and finding
  himself in humiliating circumstances (e.g. when
  he visits Utgard when he impersonates Freya to
  get his stolen hammer back.)
• Can always be counted on to exert his strength
  and take care of knotty, difficult problems by
  brute force.

20
Thor ancient modern ideas . . .
21
Creation
In the south was a land of fire in the north was
a land of ice. They met in the great emptiness
of Ginnungagap, and the ice began to melt. From
the melting ice came a huge giant, Ymir. The
first man and woman grew from under his arms.
The frost-giants grew from his feet. Ymir fed on
the milk of a cow, which licked another creature,
an man named Bur, from the ice.
22
Creation

• Burs grandsons, Odin and 2 others, killed Ymir
  and made the world from his parts
• his skull became the sky
• his eyebrows formed a barrier between the world
  of men and the world of giants
• his blood became sea and lakes
• his bones became the mountains

• The world was divided into several parts
• Utgard, the home of the giants
• Midgard, the land of humans
• Asgard, the home of the gods
• Hel, home of the dead
• The world tree, Yggdrasill, extended between all
  of these lands.
• At its foot in Asgard was the well od Urd, where
  the Norns lived, three women who oversee fate.

23
World in the Balance

• It represents a world equilibrium that is more
  like entropy
• Around its roots is a serpent
• At its top is an eagle
• A squirrel runs up and down between them
• Deer are constantly eating at its branches
• and the Norns continually try to shore up the
  damage.

Yggdrasill, the world tree, spans the different
realms of Norse myth. These realms (Utgard,
Midgard, Asgard) are joined by the three roots of
the great tree Yggdrasill. (Each seems to have
the whole tree ) At its roots in Asgard is the
well of Urd, where the Norns live at its roots
in Utgard is the well of Ymir.
24
Lands of Death

• Hel, the shadowy underworld overseen by Lokis
  daughter of the same name. It is dark, gated,
  and much like Hades/Sheol/Kurnugi
• Valholl (a.k.a. Valhalla, where the souls of dead
  warriors are taken after death by the Valkyries.
  There they dink and fight until Ragnarok, when
  they will fight on the side of the gods.
• Freyjas realm there are references to Freyjas
  taking half of the dead, while Odin takes the
  other half.

• afterlife in the barrows High-status people were
  somtimes buried under a mound, called a barrow
  burials of an entire ship have been found.

25
Loki
To a reader of Snorri, Loki is perhaps the most
outstanding character among the Northern gods,
the chief actor in the most amusing stories, and
the motivating force in a large number of plots.
(Davidson)
Intelligent, astute to the highest degree, but
amoral, loving to make mischief great or small,
as much to amuse himself as to do harm, he
represents among the Aesir a truly demonic
element. Some of the assailants of the future
Ragnarok, the wolf Fenrir and the great Serpent,
are his sons, and his daughter is Hel. (Georges
Dumezil)
Loki is a classic trickster figure.
26
Loki

• He helped Thor get back his hammer, and went with
  him to Utgard
• Loki was caught by a giant and betrayed Thor to
  him
• Loki aroused the dragons to hatred of the gods
  because of a wanton act of cruelty (Otters
  revenge) and used trickery to get out of it
• Loki cut off Sifs golden hair, causing the
  creation of the greatest treasures of the gods.

• Loki is a chief instigator in many tales
• Loki found a way to keep the giant from building
  the wall of Asgard on time. He impersonated a
  mare to distract the giants work horse. (He
  became pregnant and gave birth to Sleipnir.)
  Shape changing and trans-gender problems are
  typical of tricksters.
• He gave up the golden apples of immortality (and
  got them back)

27
Loki Balder
Balder dreamed he would be killed, so Frigg (his
mother) made all living creatures swear not to
harm him. The gods then enjoyed throwing things
at him, since all fell away harmlessly. Loki was
jealous. In disguise, Loki found out from Frigg
that the mistletoe had not sworn. Then he
tricked the blind god Hod into throwing it at
Balder, and Balder was killed.
The most important tale of Loki is how he
arranged the destruction of Balder.
There is nothing but good to be said about
Balder. He is the best of the gods and everyone
sings his praises. He is so fair of face and
bright that a splendor radiates from him . . . He
is the wisest of the gods, and the
sweetest-spoken, and the most merciful, but none
of his judgments come true.
28
Loki Balder
Hel agreed to return Balder to the world of the
living if every living creature mourned him. All
complied except for one old giant woman who
was Loki in disguise. When the other gods found
out Lokis treachery, they condemned him to be
bound to a rock, with serpents poison dripping
onto him (a fate similar to that of the
benevolent trickster Prometheus . . .)
29
Tyr and Fenrir
Tyr is a minor god in Norse myth, featuring in
few stories, but was possibly more important in
earlier times. His Germanic predecessor, Tiwaz,
was a sky-god similar to Zeus. The one story in
which Tyr features is the binding of the wolf
Fenrir. Tyr put his hand in Fenrirs mouth as a
pledge of faith, and when the gods bound the
wolf, he bit off the hand. Fenrir is one of three
terrible children of Loki the others are Hel and
Iormungand.
30
Ragnarok
Norse myth, unlike Greek and Near Eastern, does
not portray a world in which the gods have
conquered discord and established order, but a
world in which the gods are constantly battling
their adversaries. This battle comes to a head at
Ragnarok. The death of Balder is one element in
the final episode of Norse myth, Ragnarok, The
Twilight of the Gods.
31
Ragnarok
An age of axes, an age of swords, shattered
shields, an Age of tempests, an age of wolves,
before the age of men crashes down.
Loki remains suffering under the poison of the
serpent, and Balder remains in Hel (rather than
in Valholl!) until the conflicts of Ragnarok. The
end of the world is preceded by an increase of
wars and conflicts among men then there is a
three-year winter. Monsters break loose,
Iormungand emerges from the sea and floods the
earth. A wolf swallows the sun and her brother
the moon stars fall from the sky.
Led by the giant Surt, with Loki as the helmsman,
the giants arrive in their ship, Naglfar, made
from the uncut fingernails of the dead. A huge
battle between gods and giants takes place at the
gates of Asgard.
32
Ragnarok
Five hundred doors and forty more in Valholl I
think there are. Eight hundred warriors at a
time will pass each door to fight the wolf. . .
Fenrir rushes forward, his jaws agape, so that
the upper one touches the heavens, the lower one
touches the earth. (Sturlesson/Page)
Thor once again fights Iormungand he kills it,
but dies from the venom. Tyr fights the hound
Garm, and they kill each other.
Odin is swallowed by Fenrir Odins son Vidar
kills the wolf in revenge.
33
Ragnarok
Loki and Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, kill
each other. Freyr is killed by the giant Surt,
who scatters fire over the earth. But from this
destruction comes a new world
A second earth the shaman-woman sees arise from
out of the sea, green once more the cataracts
tumble, the eagle flies over them, hunting fish
in the mountain stream. The Aesir meet again . .
. (Voluspa)
34
Ragnarok
Balder returns from Hel to rule over this new
world, in peace and plenty. A golden age arises
fields flourish without work. Two humans survived
to begin the race again . . .
Does this renewal of the world show influence
from Christianity? Some say yes given other
Christian ideas others say that the idea of a
final conflict and new age is also present in
Indo-European mythology. In any case, the brutal
conclusion leads to new life.
The Aesir meet again and speak of the mighty
Iormungand, and call to mind the mighty judgments
and the ancient mysteries of the Great God
himself. (Voluspa)
35
finis