Norse mythology consists of stories that pre-
Christian Scandinavians told about supernatural
beings, superhuman heroes, and the world around
them. Norse myths share stories and themes with
Germanic and with Celtic MYTHOLOGY. They have
provided inspiration for countless writers, including
William Shakespeare, who took Hamlet’s plot
from myth; and J. R. R. Tolkien, who drew heavily
on Celtic and Norse mythological ideas and language
for his Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Norse myths began as ORAL LITERATURE. Few
were written down before Iceland’s conversion to
Christianity in A.D. 1000. Sources for these myths
include rune-covered objects, rock carvings, and
articles found in graves. In addition, some Scandinavian
places have names derived from myth. The
scholar, E. O. G. Turville-Petre notes that these
place-names “show how eminent were some of the
gods and goddesses, such as Ull (Ullinn) [and]
Hörn . . . who, for us, are only shadowy figures.”
Descriptions written by foreign observers, including
TACITUS, have also provided information.
Written sources native to Scandinavia have preserved
myths in greater detail. Although these
sources exhibit a Christian influence, some of the
stories they contain are clearly centuries older than
the manuscripts in which they appear. They include
a history written by Saxo Grammaticus
(born ca. 1150), SAGAs, and poetry. Scaldic poetry,
which usually focuses on contemporary events, is
full of kennings, riddling descriptions that often
involve mythology. For instance, a poet might
mention “the blood of Ymir,” alluding to the story
that Ymir’s blood created the sea. Finally, the Poetic
EDDA and SNORRI STURLUSON’s Prose Edda are Norse
mythology’s greatest literary monuments.
According to Norse myth, an ash tree, Yggdrasill,
forms and surrounds the entire cosmos.
The Poetic Edda describes the early cosmos in the
following words:
Nothing was there when time began,
neither sands nor seas nor cooling waves.
Earth was not yet, nor the high heavens,
but a gaping emptiness nowhere green.
Eventually, drops from melting icicles formed a
frost giant, Ymir, the progenitor of all giants. Other
water drops became a cow, who licked ice until it
formed a man, Buri. Buri’s grandchildren were the
gods Odin,Vili, and Ve. They killed Ymir and built
the Earth from his body. In a scene with parallels in
Oceanic MYTHOLOGY, they then created man and
woman from “two feeble trees, Ash and Embla.”
Norse gods include Odin, god of poetry and
battle, who gave up an eye in exchange for wisdom;
Thor,who uses his dwarf-forged hammer to kill giants
and protect the world; Freyja, a fertility goddess
who weeps golden tears; Baldr the Beautiful,
who is destined to be killed by a sprig of mistletoe;
and Loki. Like the Hopi’s Coyote (see COYOTE
TALES) and Oceanic mythology’s Maui, Loki is a
trickster. Unlike Coyote and Maui, he has an evil
side and brings about Baldr’s death. His children
include Hel, goddess of death; the wolf Fenrir; and
the serpent that surrounds Midgard (“middle
earth,” humanity’s home).
Loki and his children will fight against the gods
in the final battle between gods and giants. In
preparation for this battle, known as Ragnarok,
Odin sends winged female beings called valkyries
to battlefields. They bring fallen warriors to Odin’s
palace,Valhalla, where the warriors drink, eat, and
await the coming of Ragnarok.
Norse myths also celebrate human heroes. In
the words of translator Patricia Terry, such heroes
receive praise for their “courage, strength, and loyalty,”
while “ordinary men are praised for prudence.”
The Lay of Volund describes how Swedish
royals capture Volund, a Finnish prince, while he is
waiting for his valkyrie wife to return from war.
Volund eventually takes a horrible revenge. Other
poems tell of the warrior Helgi and the valkyrie
Sigrun.Most famous of all is Sigurd,whose story is
a Norse version of the German NIBELUNGENLIED and
is also related to the English BEOWULF.
Norse heroes struggle to reconcile their duties
to kinsmen, spouses, lords, lovers, and friends.
Sigrun, for instance, laments when she learns that
Helgi has won her as his bride by killing most of
her family.
Although female goddesses receive less attention
than their male counterparts, Norse mythology
is full of women like Sigrun, strong yet
suffering. “For the most part women and warriors
are praised for identical qualities,” notes Terry.
“The poets seem to have been particularly interested
in the heroines, perhaps because they may
be . . . both convincing victims and daughters of
Odin.”
English Versions of Norse Mythology
The Norse Myths. Retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland.
New York: Pantheon, 1980.
Poems of the Elder Edda. Translated by Patricia Terry.
Introduction by Charles W. Dunn. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990.
The Sagas of the Icelanders: A Selection. Preface by
Jane Smiley. Introduction by Robert Kellogg. New
York: Viking, 2000.
Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda: Tales from Norse
Mythology. Translated by Jean Young. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1992.
Works about Norse Mythology
Davidson, H. R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe.
Baltimore: Penguin, 1964.
Lindow, John. Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods,
Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2002.
Orchard, Andy. Cassell’s Dictionary of Norse Myth &
Legend. London: Cassell, 2003.
Turville-Petre, E. O. G. Myth and Religion of the
North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. New
York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964.