Examples Of Gods And Myths Of Northern Europe

Thor, Odin, and Loki, all good marvel characters, but they didn’t originate in the minds of Stan Lee. In fact they originated nearly 1300 years earlier, in the Viking age. In that time Norse mythology was born in its entirety. The way it was shaped was an effect of the Viking way, and the Viking way was affected by their mythology. Norse mythology didn’t stay inclusive to their own gods because of their raids and trading they learned different religions. Norse mythology integrated another mythology into theirs. This in turn cause wars between those said gods, specific to this essay the Aesir-Vanir War. This affected how Vikings saw the use of Seidr and this event was directly related to them raiding and trading with other lands.

While many myths have been turned into movies and comic books, my opinion was that Vikings were hot tempered fair skinned brutes. I recently sat down at watched Marvel’s Thor and thought I could get into it. Thor was handsome, hot tempered, strong, but he had a tender side for his human companion. I did not really know or understand the true myth of Thor nor did I truly understand Norse mythology which left me feeling a bit naïve. After delving into the past few weeks, I realize that many ancient civilizations have myths and traditions, Thor is true Norse mythology and after learning the differences between Thor, the Marvel character, and Thor the god, Norse mythology, I have a deeper understanding of what this mythical hero/god really

According to the Norse Mythology for Smart People in the article, “THOR,” Thor is the thunder god, who protects Asgard from the giants, “Thor, the brawny thunder god, is the archetype of a loyal and honorable warrior, the ideal toward which the average human warrior aspired. He’s the indefatigable defender of […] Asgard from the encroachments of the giants […].” Thor is described as having similar characteristic of Finn: Loyal and honorable. Thor is also strong and courageous: “His courage and sense of duty are unshakeable, and his physical strength is virtually unmatched,” (THOR).

Hundreds of years ago people did not have the technology to explain different forces of nature. They created gods, each with separate powers, to rule their domains. Some of the gods were merciful, some were wicked, and others were merely servants of more powerful gods. Looking at the gods, it is easy to tell what the civilization most valued. I am going to look at the Greek and the Norse gods to compare what was most important to their societies.

In mutiple times in the movie, there was reference to the Norse Gods, Odin and Thor. Stoick the Vast, leader of the village spoke it in an expression of happiness, “OH, THOR ALMIGHTY!” At another scene, Gobber, a viking warrior missing his hand and

There was a misleading image of the Vikings that made them be known as pagans with a hatred of the Christian Church. What some people failed to realize was that the Vikings had many gods and found it to be no problem accepting Christian god alongside their own. The Vikings encountered with Christianity through their raids, and as they began to settle in lands with a Christian population, they also could adapt to Christianity much quicker. The Vikings had 14 major Gods. Their appreciation is the cosmos is divided into three main levels which are, Asgard, Aesir, which is also the upper level where the major gods such as Odin, along with the fertility gods, and the light levels lived. Midgard was known to be the middle level where dwarves, giants, men, and even the dark elves lived. Niflheim was known to be the lower level, and well known as the underworld. They called Niflheim the world of the evil dead because this was where the evil dead died the second death in the fortress city of Hel. Yggdrasil was known to be above

Scandinavian Paganism, more commonly known as Norse Mythology, was a popular polytheistic religion during the Anglo-Saxon time period. It is believed to have been derived from the culture of Germanic Paganism. According to Norse Mythology, at the center of the universe lies the greatest ash tree, known as Yggdrasil, whose roots and branches spread across the universe connecting each of the nine realms of Aesir, giants, and Niflheim. The world was believed to have been created by the body of Ymir, a giant that was killed and dismembered by the first gods. His flesh created the earth, his bones formed the mountains, and his blood filled the seas.

Norse mythology has been traced as far as the 2nd century AD and has been studied by the Vikings mostly. These Viking were from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Faroe Island, and Greenland. Norse mythology was at one point a religion of which people studied. North religion bases all its stories on the Elder Edda, which creates stories from god's other wise known as the Aesir and gives a standard of how the earth was made, how we should treat others, and stories of lessons we must learn. In this type of mythology it also gives knowledge as to what happens when you die. It says there are two possible places people could go, Helheim, Valhalla. Most people who die go to Helheim but those who die an honorable death are rewarded by going to Valhalla.

However, the three most important were: Odin who was the God of warriors, wisdom, and even poetry, Thor who was the God of thunder, farmers, and seafarers, and Frey, who was the God of fertility, marriage, and things that grew. They believed that their Gods walked among them every day in the human form. I think that their religion is really fascinating because each of their Gods has a backstory and I find listening to their stories to be really magical. I have heard many stories about the way their Gods were, but living in that time to hear their stories and experience it in person would be

Although there are many similarities and overlaps between the deities of the Norse pantheon and the Greek pantheon of ancient religion, the pantheons themselves have differences that are major enough to make it difficult to categorize them together, except for both pantheons falling under the umbrella of polytheistic religions, as you would the Greek and Roman pantheons. The ancient Norse religion was practiced as the main religion by Scandinavian people until around 1100 A.D. The ancient Greek pantheon was the main religion in greece, even after it being conquered by the Roman empire, until around 400 A.D. when the Roman empire converted to christianity.

The sun has been depicted as a god or an object pulled by a god throughout many mythologies. Most people may think of Helios, Apollo, or Ra when the term sun-god comes up, but in Norse mythology, there is yet another god of the sun. Frey, who is also known as Freyr, is a god who is considered to be a god of the sun, among many other things. It can be said that Frey is to the Norsemen what Apollo was to the Greeks. He was one of the many deities that made up Norse mythology, and also one of the most interesting.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, born in 1892, an English writer, among other things, has had a numerous number of sources that has influenced him. “As a young boy he fell in love with Scandinavia and its ancient stories” (Birzer). His successful and worldwide well-known writings, has made him classified as the “father of high fantasy”. One of the sources that he was influenced by, was Norse mythology. Norse mythology was influential to Tolkien when he was creating his envisioning.

There are many similarities between the two of them too though that really shines a light on to why I choose these two. Thor is the Norse god of Thunder, Lighting and all storms and he is also a “full” god meaning both of his parents were gods. (Davidson) The most obvious of the differences is that Thor is from the Norse culture which is in the Norwegian/Swedish area of world. His most famous possession is his

In Norse mythology, Thor is known as the God of Thunder. The Vikings believed that the sound of thunder was caused by Thor. In the Norse myth, Thor and his mighty hammer, Miolnir, take on the destructive giants. It is said that every crack of thunder is Thor dropping his hammer down. (The Encyclopedia of Ancient Myths and Culture 449-455)

The first has to do with the fact that Norse myths were codified during the Viking era: 780 - 1070. This gives the Norsemen many centuries to become exposed to the Greek (or Roman) myths. The Vikings did travel as far east as the Caspian sea, which