Norse Mythology Retold

 

Pulling from the Norse Poetic Edda and the younger Eddas using Snorri Stulson as the main source, author Neil Gaiman gives a retelling of these ancient myths. First an overview before we dive into the myths. There are nine world in the universe of the Norse. The earth that we live on is called Midguard. The realm of the sky gods like Thor, Odin and Tyr is Asguard. Asguard is protected by Heimdall and in order to get to Asguard one has to cross the Rainbow Bridge of Bifrost. Only the gods of Asguard can cross it. The next is the world of Vana or the earth gods. There are  worlds occupied by giants. Jotunheim is a land of giants. There is also Niflehim, Muspelhaim. The realm of the dead is Hell presided over by Loki’s daughter Hela. Alfheim is the realm of the light elves and svartlheim is the realm of dwarves.

Next come the players. Everyone knows Thor, Odin and Loki. But there are other gods in Asguard. Tyr loses his hand to Fenris. Tyr is the god of war. There is Frigg Odins wife. Baldur who is Odin;s son. Amongst the Vanir are Frey and Freya and their father the sea god Njord. Once upon a time there was a war between the Vanir and the Aesir. The war ended in a stalemate with them exchanging hostages and becoming almost as one, Frey gets overlordship of Alfheim and grants prosperity and peace to mankind. Freya is a goddess of love and battle. She has a rven cloak that lets her fly about.

Then of course there is Ygdrasil , the world tree that has roots in several important wells and acts as a pathway to the different realms. One of these well is Mimir’s well. Odin is forever seeking knowledge. He goes to Mimir’s well and asks to drink of the water which will give him wisdom. In order to drink of it he must first hang from Ygdrasil for nine days upside down and cut out his right eye and leave it in the well. From this Odin gets wisdom. Later Mimir loses his head and Odin preserves it by applying herbs to it and preserving it in Mimir’s well. Now Odin can turn to it anytime for wisdom .After the battle of the Vanir and Aesir a bunch of spit was left around. They combined it to make Kvasir a god of poetry and wisdom. He is tricked into entering a giant’s castle where in he is killed and added to a vat of meade. Whoever drinks of it will be blessed with the ability to write great poetry. Odin conspires to get it. By trickery he enters the castle and finished the mead. Turning to an eagle he escapes. The Giant turns itself into a eagle or hawk and pursues Odin. Odin prevails and he vomits the meade into asguard where in others may drink of it and get inspiration.

Loki is a giant who is a bloodbrother to Odin. He is a green eyed trickster god. He is always playing pranks and causing mischief. Whenever things go wrong Thor always says that Loki is behind it all. In one story, thor’s wife Seif ends up bald because Loki took her hair and cannot replace it. Thor threatens vengeance if he does not fix the damage. To fix it Loki goes to Svartleheim and goes to two dwarf camps and says there is a contest to see who can make the nicest gift for the gods. First he approaches a set of three dwarves and they make gifts and then he goes to a second set of dwarves and they agree but they want Loki’s head if they win. Right way Loki takes the shape of a fly and bites the second set of dwarves to sabotage them. From the contest the gods get some nice gifts. Odin get’s a spear that never misses the mark. Seif gets a golden wig to replace her hair and Frey gets a ship that can shrink to pocket size. The second set of brothers gives Frey a gold boar and a hammer to Thor called Mjolnir. The second set of dwarves win but through trickery Loki mangaged to keep his head. There are more stories all of them entertaining and informative. Hope you enjoy the read/