Intro to Norse Mythology

Norse mythology tends to be less well known than Greek and Roman mythologies, at least in the United States. While most people are undoubtedly familiar with the names of Thor and Loki, they tend to know very little about the other members of the Norse pantheon. Stories from Norse mythology seem to not be known by the general populace. Since this is the case, let me give you a basic rundown of some of the characters and themes.

As much as I love Marvel’s portrayal of Loki and Thor, they seriously botched the backstories of these gods. For starters, Loki is the son of a giant named Laufey...but Laufey is a woman. Perhaps more importantly, Loki and Thor are not actually brothers.  Loki isn't even his adopted brother.  They aren’t related at all!  Loki is instead the blood brother of Odin, which involves an oath of brotherhood rather than actually sharing a parent.

Odin is the king of the gods, and is sometimes referred to as the Allfather. It is because of Loki’s relationship with him that Loki gets away with so much mischief. Both a god of war and a god of wisdom (Norse mythology tends to have multiple gods of the same thing), Odin is respected by the other gods and rules over them in Asgard.

Asgard is the realm of the gods, and here’s where things get really interesting. In Norse mythology there are nine realms. For this introduction we're only going to cover three of them, with others to come in later posts.  There's Asgard, the home of most of the gods; Midgard, which is Earth; and Jotunheim, home of the giants, who are called Jotun. Each realm rests in the bough of a giant ash tree called Yggdrasil, also commonly referred to as the World Tree.

The reason Jotunheim is important is because of the part it plays in the Norse version of the Apocalypse. This event is called Ragnarok, which translates to “doom of the gods”. During Ragnarok, Loki allies with the giants, or Jotun, and attacks the gods. Just about everyone dies in this event, including most of the main players in the pantheon. Oh, and most of mankind is wiped out too. Don’t worry, though - a few gods survive, along with two humans, who gradually repopulate the realms.

Norse mythology is fascinating to me for several reasons. The first is how different it is from most other mythologies. There are general similarities, sure, but the mythologies people are generally more familiar with all originated in the same parts of the world. The western civilizations that created the Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Mesopotamian pantheons were all influenced by similar things and had somewhat similar cultures. The Norse were highly different from those western cultures, making their rich mythology also very different.

The second reason Norse mythology interests me is Ragnarok. According to the myths, Odin possessed the gift of foresight, so he knew about and warned of Ragnarok for a very long time. The gods lived their lives knowing that they were going to die - something almost unheard of in other mythologies, where gods were immortal and could not be killed.

That is a very brief rundown of Norse mythology and some of the themes I’ll be talking about. Stay tuned while I delve into specific characters and stories. Want to learn more? Below are two books that provide some basic information that’s good for getting started - check for them at your local library, or a college library near you if you have access. Feel free to post below with questions or comments, or to email them to me. See you guys next post!

Norse Mythology A to Z by Kathleen N. Daly

Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology by Brian Branston