Norse
Myth
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.
Plus:
•a wide time
span
•wide
geographical
range
•many different
sub-cultures
•And influences
…
Sources
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.
Sources
Snorri Sturlesson: The
Prose Edda.
• many different
adventures of the Norse
gods
•presented as fictional,
sometimes humorous.
•The closest we have to an
overview/ collection of
Norse myth
•but often untraditional,
engaged with intellectual &
Christian traditions (e.g.,
he connects Thor with
Troy).
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.
Creation
•Beginning of
Prose Edda
•Involved in
question of god,
good & evil
•Parallelism
between Norse
tradition/
•Christian belief
Elemental creation rather than conscious plan …
Opposites and a fertile space in the middle –
significance ….
Creation
What are the central metaphysical aspects of
the Norse world?
•Benevolent, scary, neutral, mixed?
•Stable, chaotic, linear, cyclical?
•Geography – what are the main places and the
relationships between them? Special places?
•Places in the “real” world vs. unreachable
mythic places?
•Local significance of myths?
•Categories of beings and relationships between
them?
Creation
•Niffleheim – cold and ice
•Muspell – fire
•Ginungagap: the place in
between
•Processes of melting,
thawing, emerging …
landscape relates to myth
Central conflicts:
•Ymir central to creation, yet defined as evil
•Genealogy leading to gods to oppose him …
creation of Bur
Iceland –
Not discovered till
900s CE ….
Mostly glaciers
and volcanoes …
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6339052n
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ztg0wUqKY
Creation
Bur’s grandsons, Odin,
Vili, and Ve, 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
Frost-Giants: from
Ymir’s feet
Humans: from Ymir’s
torso OR from logs
washed up on shore …
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.
Creation
Realms:
•Utgard, the home of the giants
•Midgard, the land of humans
•Asgard, the home of the gods,
accessible only by Bifrost, the
rainbow bridge
•Hel, home of the dead
•Alfheim, home of the Light Elves
•Other less defined realms …
The world tree, Yggdrasill, extended
between all of these lands.
Creation
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 Mimir.
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.
World in the
Balance
Sun (girl) and Moon
(boy) chased by
wolves
Discovery of new
varieties of threat …
Intimations of
cataclysm in
descriptions of
various places and
cosmic situations
Bronze age sun chariot
Malene Thyssen,
http://commons.wikimedi
a.org/wiki/User:Malene
Gundestrom cauldron, c. 150-0 BCE
The Gods
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
Balder (the beautiful) is the beloved god who dies . . .)
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.
Freyja
Names of Freyja:
“Giver, sea-woman, sow,
flaxen...”
•goddess of love/sexual
relations
•associated with crop
fertility
Attribute: necklace
•searches for Od, her
dead husband
Feather/bird
associations
•liaison with Freyr
(possibly a dying god?)
carriage drawn by cats
•seidr ritual; idea of
flying, platform
•owner of one realm of
the dead
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, Weakeyes, Fiery-eyed, Evil-doer,
Father of Victory, The One
with the Magic Staff, the
Gelding, Feeder, Destroyer,
Terror, Wind, God of Men.
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.
Odin as trickster
Odin’s 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 in disguise
Odin and Geirrod
Quarrel over human
kingship between Odin
and Frigg.
Due to Frigg’s plot,
Geirrod mistreats Odin
in disguise.
When Geirrod realizes
his mistake, he rushes
to help but falls on his
sword.
No mercy …
Odin as deceiver
Mead of Poetic
Inspiration:
Thievery: he stole it
from the giants (who are
fair game).
Ruthless: he tricks the
giants servants into
killing each other so he
can take their place.
Seducer: Then he seduces the giant’s daughter
Shape-changer: He uses his shape-changing powers
to get to her, then successful, he flies away as a
raven.
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.
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.
All of these are shamanic
skills, ecstatic ways of
gaining wisdom and
experience.
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.
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.
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 Odin’s assistants.
Odin’s wandering, one-eyed
Odin rides and 8-legged
“double vision,” and shamanic
horse, Sleipnir, which
connections, also associate
represents the bier of the him with the permeable border
dead man, and the passage between living and dead.
between worlds.
Thor
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 frostgiants recognize the moment it
is raised on high!
{The second is his belt of
strength, the third is his iron
gloves.}
Sturlesson, Prose Edda
Thor’s
hammer was a
popular good
luck talisman
in Northern
Europe, even
in Christian
times.
Thor
Battler of monsters:
To turn from the sinister,
deceitful and complex
Odin to the simpleminded 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
Human integration:
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.
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.)
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.
Thor
Thor’s 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 it’s a
kitten
•Thor fights it at Ragnarok.
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.
Thor:
ancient
&
modern
ideas . .
.
Thor and Loki in Utgard:
•What are Thor’s strategies for dealing
with enemies and adversity?
•How does Loki participate in,
instigate, or derail the adventure?
•What does this story show about the
relationship of gods and giants?
Loki
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)
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)
Loki
Loki is a chief instigator in many tales:
•Bad decisions, helpful tricks: Loki found a way to
keep the giant from building the wall of Asgard on time.
•Gender-bending: He impersonated a mare to distract
the giant’s work horse. (He became pregnant and gave
birth to Sleipnir.) Shape changing and trans-gender
problems are typical of tricksters.
•Creates and solves problems: He gave up the golden
apples of immortality (and got them back)
•Father of monsters: Sleipnir (Odin’s horse) but also
Fenrir, Iormungand, and Hel …
Loki
•Fixes problems: He helped Thor get back his
hammer, and went with him to Utgard
•Cowardly and treacherous: Loki was caught by
a giant and betrayed Thor to him
•Makes wanton trouble: Loki aroused the
dragons to hatred of the gods because of a wanton
act of cruelty (Otter’s revenge) and used trickery to
get out of it
•Destruction leading to creation: Loki cut off
Sif’s golden hair, causing the creation of the
greatest treasures of the gods.
Loki & Balder
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.
Loki & Balder
Balder dreamed he would be killed,
so Frigg (his mother) made all living
creatures swear not to harm him.
(Evading a prophecy??)
The gods then enjoyed throwing
things at him, since all fell away
harmlessly.
Jealousy & deception: In disguise,
Loki found out from Frigg that the
mistletoe had not sworn.
Loki bound? Kirby Stephen
stone (England), 10th century
Trickery: Then he tricked the blind
god Hod into throwing it at Balder,
and Balder was killed.
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
Loki’s treachery, they
condemned him to be bound to
a rock, with serpent’s poison
dripping onto him (a fate similar
to that of the benevolent
trickster Prometheus . . .)
Trickery and wisdom: Odin and Loki
•What do Odin and Loki have in common?
•In what ways is Odin’s trickery different from
Loki’s?
•Both exhibit treachery from time to time –
what (if any) is the difference in the varieties of
treachery they show?
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 Fenrir’s mouth
as a pledge of faith, and when the
gods bound the wolf, he bit off the
hand.
Lands of Death
•Hel, the shadowy underworld overseen by Loki’s
daughter of the same name. It is dark, gated, and
much like Hades/Sheol/Kurnugi
•Valhalla (a.k.a. Valholl), 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.
•Freyja’s realm: there are references to Freyja’s taking
half of the dead, while Odin takes the other half.
•Other places: e.g. Gimli (heaven-like)
•Mixed traditions or complex eschatology?
Lands of Death
•afterlife in the barrows: High-status people were
sometimes buried under a mound, called a barrow;
burials of an entire ship have been found.
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.”
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.
Ragnarok
Loki remains suffering under the
poison of the serpent, and
Led by the giant Surt,
Balder remains in Hel (rather
with Loki as the
than in Valholl!) until the
helmsman, the giants
conflicts of Ragnarok.
arrive in their ship,
The end of the world is preceded Naglfar, made from
by an increase of wars and
the uncut fingernails
conflicts among men; then there of the dead.
is a three-year winter.
A huge battle between
Monsters break loose,
gods and giants takes
Iormungand emerges from the
place at the gates of
sea and floods the earth. A wolf Asgard.
swallows the sun and her
brother the moon; stars fall from
the sky.
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)
Odin is swallowed by
Fenrir; Odin’s son Vidar
kills the wolf in revenge.
Thor once again fights
Iormungand; he kills it, but
dies from the venom.
Tyr fights the hound Garm,
and they kill each other.
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 shamanwoman] 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)
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 . . .
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)
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.
finis
Snaptun stone, c. 1000 CE, Denmark
battle for the
mead of poetry
http://worldimages.sjsu.edu/Vi
eO32169?sid=31108&x=926008
4
died while
collecting
debts in
Gottland