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| Odin |
You might know them because they appear in literature, comic books, movies. Many music bands were inspired by Nordic myths as well. Amon Amarth, Warduna, Honor recorded many albums set in this theme. But do you know their story?Mightiest of their gods is Odin, also known as Wodan. The third day of the week was sacrificed to him and thou it’s called Wednesday (Wodans day). Two ravens named Huginn ("thought") and Muninn ("memory") are his messengers and spies, gathering information from all worlds for him. His urge for wisdom is so strong that he even decides to hang himself on a tree (Yggdrasil) and gets pierced with his own spear because he knows that he will gain knowledge in the end. Being hanged for nine days gives him knowledge of runes, Nordic alphabet. Other time he sacrificed his eye to drink water from the Well of Wisdom. Odin blessed his followers with a special gift of battle rage. Those who earned it became deadliest of all Viking warriors – Berserkers.
While Odin is a god of war, warriors and power Loki is the symbol of jealousy and treachery. He is ever cunning god and his plans always make him end up bad. But even though he constantly seeks a way to hurt other gods most of his plans fail and results are quite positive. For example, a magic hammer, Mjöllnir, the most powerful weapon in the world - wielded by Thor was made by dwarfs as an effect of one of his intrigues. But if he irritated them so much, played his tricks against each of them, why wouldn’t they just kill him? After all , they were brutal gods of Vikings. But they couldn’t because he was a blood brother of Odin and none of them wanted to test his anger.Thor is a son of Odin. He was considered most kind to the mankind of all the gods. Even Odin, who created a man wasn’t liked as much and that was probably to his mysterious nature. When thunder stroke Norseman believed that it’s Thor hitting his anvil with a hammer. You can also find his name in one of the days of the week. Guess which one.. Thursday. People who seek his protection wore a pendant symbolizing his favored weapon – mentioned above Mjöllnir.
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| Mjølnir |
Nordic myths and legends
Images:
Odin: Wägner, Wilhelm. 1882. Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden. Otto Spamer, Leipzig & Berlin. Page 7.
Mjølnir: www.themedievalstore.com
I've decided to share with you a bit of myths and legends of Vikings that I have heard or read about in different books. If you'll like it I'll probably prepare some more next semester. So please share your toughts on this topic and write if you'd be interested in reading some more about it. I'm also courious if you heard about it earlier - Odin, Loki, Thor. Are you familiar with those characters, or it was first time you encountered them? If you have any books, articles or films related to this topic feel free to share them.
ReplyDeleteOf course I have heard about Viking Gods. I have never read any books about it. I was never interested in it. For sure Nordic culture is very interesting. I watch series Viking and I think that it describes this culture a little. And of course I watched film Thor by Marvel but it's not about true fact. They use only story and name of real character. So when I saw Thor for the first time, it made me feel nervous beacouse producers of this film wanted to be politically correct and made character of big guard Hajmdal is black. Asian is in Thor team.
ReplyDeleteYes, I assumed everyone have heard about Vikings, their gods.. but did you know about how much Odin was willing to sacrifice to gain knowledge?
DeleteFirst Marvel concept of Thor was an absurd and I think it was good that people forced them to reject it.
Of course I have heard about the Vikings, but I was never interested about their life and history. Recently I watched a few episodes of the Viking series and I must admit that this is a very interesting series, though very brutal, for example they burn people alive, collective rapes, for fun they dazzle people or nail them to the doors. But I know that Vikings were not only warriors, but also farmers, merchants, and craftsmen. Most of them led a sedentary lifestyle, and those who once organized themselves on the team, were not only raped, but also to gain new territories, settle in quieter places, do reconnaissance, or finally satisfy curiosity.
ReplyDelete"Vikings" are quite well made and I like those series alot.. but I'm not sure if new season will be as interesting as earlier ones were. They were as brutal as their gods were and they respected only stronger ones, it was the strenght and bravery that they valued above all other traits. Farmers they were, but they didn't have to much land to cultivate so they needed to conquer more. And when we talk about Viking merchants they were very famous of slave trading.. mostly captured Slavic and Baltic People.
DeleteYes, I have heard about the Viking as well as their gods. I find it quite interesting. If I am correct vikings beliefs are older than most of the other religions and actually some of them are inspiried by vikings gods. They become more populare thanks to comics and movies i.e. Thor. I noticed lastly new book in bookstore about nordic myths and I'm quite curious about it. I'd be happy to read more about vikings gods.
ReplyDeletePolish edition of Neil Gaimans "Nordic Mythology" showed up lately and I've bought it already but didn't have time to read whole book, just first stories. But if you like Gaimans writings it shouldn't let you down. As it comes to which gods are older I have never heard that Nordic were "born" earlier.. I rather tought about them as some alternative of Greek ones. What's more Greeks were exceptional sailors as Vikings themselves.. which gives us more similiarities between those two people.
DeleteAll of myths are very interesting but I don’t know a lot of Nordic myths. There is very interesting polish program about history: History without censure. There is one episode about Vikings. Some time ago I read about Thor and his adventures. My favorite is tale about Midgard – a snake witch surround whole world with its body.
ReplyDeleteSnake youre writing about is probably Jormungand. While Odin, Thor and Loki are main characters when it comes to nordic myths there are many others worth knowing about.
DeleteI've heard of it before, but this topic didn't interest me at all and I have no opinion on "Viking Gods"
ReplyDeleteI have never heard about Nordic myths but the characters or Thor, Odin and Loki are very well known for me because of the movies about Avangers. Thank you for this article because I have learned a few interesting thinks about Nordic myths.
ReplyDeleteI can say that what I know about Vikings is from ancient times (sorry if I am wrong) when Roman Empire was falling apart. The rest is from Marvel, but you showed me another point of view. I have never thought that Wednesday and Thursday comes from names of Gods, but why they didn't use Loki's name?
ReplyDeleteMaybe they didn't want to draw to much of his attention?
DeleteOf course I've heard about Vikings and I've watched few movies about them. But I'm not familiar with theirs Gods, more than I've seen in these movies. And I would rather say, that it isn't a most expanded theme, so until I've read your article I knew just their names and fact that Thor favourite thing is his hammer.
ReplyDeleteHis hammer is a very special item, most powerfull weapon there is. Crafted in a blacksmiths duel Loki engaded between two most famous dwarven craftsman.
DeleteThe article is the best! You're my pretend to be one of the best in this semester! I totally don’t like subject like yours, but the way you describe is the best one. The way of your statement is very fluent. I ended read this with smile, especially part with Wednesday: „The third day of the week was sacrificed to him and thou it’s called Wednesday (Wodans day)”, one my favorite. Also part relevant with music. I’d like everything which is connected to music, thank for that!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this article, that was really interesting. I heard about the Viking, however in lesser extent. In my opinion is very important to remember about different religions, mythology, everything that may be involved in contributing to the emergence and development of the culture of contemporary countries. Your post encouraged me to read about the Vikings online, I found information that the Vikings have our Museum in Oslo and Roskilde.The sad fact is that we are less and less inspired in everyday life with mythology...We come back to it after a long break, just reading comics, listening to music and watching movies or series.
ReplyDeleteThanks for very interesting article. Previously in my opinions Vikings are only fat and small people with funny helmet. I never interesting about this nation.
ReplyDeleteToday, I read few articles about fight technics and technology they used. Their boats are cool and technically advanced. Do you recommend any books about Vikings?
As I mentioned somewhere above, Neil Gaimans Nordic Mythology is a good place to start. Also Marcin Mortka published Nordic Triloghy is very good - if you like fantasy. All parts of it are quite standalone stories and third one isn't that much of fantasy at all (it is set in time of World War II).
DeleteI heard about Vicking and briefly about their gods but I didn't interesting about it. Somewere I heard about Odin and Thor but only now have I associated these characters with Viking.
ReplyDeleteDo not be offended but the presentation is a bit strange to me. Everyone heard about Vikings, and their big beard ships etc. On the other hand it is good to know that their had own kind of religion :)
ReplyDeleteI've never read Norse mythology, but I know every single nordish god you've mentioned. One from movies, others from comics, books and games. You've inspired me - I'll try to find couple of characters, that I think I know their stories and I'll compare it with originals.
ReplyDeleteIt is really interesting. If you know more it will be nice to hear.
ReplyDeleteScandinavian world is so mysterious and interesting.
I know also one fact related to Poland.
As you know Vikings has also influence on British culture. Hell was know as some land far away.
But it was real land - polish hel which previously was one land with Bornholm (part of Denmark). For Dutch people it was some wild,dangerous country. That's probably genesis of concept of hell in English :)
I was never interested in Viking's mythology. I am familiar with Marvel's movies and Thor but apparently, he only shares a name with the Viking's God ;) I've also heard that the Vikings TV series is worth watching so maybe after giving it a try I will be more interested in the myths.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I know a lot of these names but not because I’ve been actually reading Norse mythology but rather because a lot of Nordic names show up in Final Fantasy series – and I’ve been playing these titles since I was little.
ReplyDeleteThere is Odin – god often depicted with a horse, Freya – named after Nordic goddess Freyja, who was associated with war, death and love. In FFVII alone there’s a city called Midgar that comes from Midgård (the most advanced city in the world in terms of technology), a motorbike called Fenrir – which is the name of the monstrous wolf in Norse mythology, and another city called Nibelheim – which comes from Niflheim that is a Nordic realm of mist and darkness.
The list is actually pretty long, you can also find Ragnarok, Valhalla, Midgardsormr, Jörmungandr, Leviathan, references to Loki and the four sons of Odin. I find it pretty cool, it’s a really interesting lecture once you start connecting those things : )
Like most of us I have heard about Vikings.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I read Norse mythology, so I know some facts about theirs. Vikings history is very interesting for me.
If you are interested of this topic, you have to start to watch Vikings – TV series ! .
It is a historical fiction series based on the reign of Viking king Ragnar Lothbrok.
The soundtrack consists of Warduna songs.
And one more thing about days of the week – Thursday is named after Thor the hammer-wielding Norse god of thunder 😉
ReplyDeleteI have never been interested in vikings, but once I watched the HBO series "Vikings". This series was very curious. I heard that the Vikings were taking intoxicants (some kind of herbs), which made them think they were strong like bears - so they were so good warriors.
Let me begin with saying that I’m impressed by your knowledge about Vikings. This is definitely not a mainstream hobby, so congratulation on that!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, all of the gods you write about make me think about Marvel universe immediately. Of course that what Marvel presents is rather loose interpretation of the original characters, but still it’s really interesting to get to know original myths about them. Also the fact that two out of seven days names are coming from Vikings is remarkable!
I wish I could comment more the myths itself, however as I don’t know much about then, let me point your attention to something else. Although we don’t talk much about it at school, actually Slavonic culture is also very rich in myths! They were not a part of any mainstream media for a long time, however the turnover started with the first The Witcher game, which reinforced the success of the book. I’m really glad that we can promote our regional culture across whole world with such a success. Honestly, we have nothing to be ashamed of. We have our own gods, heroes! We need to keep that in mind! :)
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ReplyDeleteI have heard about the Vikings, but I did not know that they had their gods who are known to me from movies. Movies that depict Viking figure from the article are The 13th Warrior, Avengers, Thor, but I did not associate them with Vikings. More I did not watch, thanks for the article
ReplyDelete