M3 GoT Old Gods

            These opposing forces are mythologically based, an interesting blend of the faerie and Norse mythology. The fae—as they are also known—hold a summer and winter court, which informs on the seasons of the series.

            The two courts are each ruled by a queen, popularized by Shakespeare’s plays A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet. In these we meet Queen Titania of the summer court, and a reference to Queen Maab, the sovereign of the winter court. These two courts struggle with one another for ascendancy, but it’s always inevitable that one gives way to another as the seasons progress.

M3 Twilight of the Gods

            This is it, the end of the worlds as we know them. Despite all of Odin’s efforts (and there are more covered in some of the heroic sagas), Ragnarok will arrive. Loki, of course, is the primary mover and shaker, here, who breaks free from his bonds, causing earthquakes and other destruction. Next comes Fenrir, with more of the same. All of this destruction isn’t just in Asgard, but throughout all of the nine worlds, particularly Midgard, AKA Earth.

M3 Nature of Norse Fate

            Ragnarok looms on the horizon of Norse mythology at every turn. The story of Fenrir is not done, even after his chaining. We’ll even set the scene.

Fenrir took the hand of Tyr. Though noble Tyr willingly sacrificed his hand to chain the monster, the gods retreated. Fenrir lashed about trying to break the silken band. The earth did tremble, and the band quivered, but its strength proved the greater. In fear, the gods retreated. There, on the peak, did Fenrir calm himself, hunter’s eyes did narrow on the last of the gods. “Flee from me, Aesir. I will bide your time, and in the end of days will I break my chain and have my revenge.”

M3 Hand of Sacrifice

It’s one thing to make the Gleipnir, but it’s another to get it on Fenrir. The wolf is not dumb. The previous chains looked weak enough for him to break, and his strength had grown, but he’s suspicious of how thin Gleipnir is, and is wary of some hidden art that makes the ribbon stronger than it appears. However, in steps Tyr, who still has both hands at this point. Tyr offers to place his hand in Fenrir’s mouth as promise that they will remove Gleipnir. If they don’t, Fenrir gets a free hand.

M3 Breaking Chains

            As we saw with the Death of Baldur, the Norse Apocalypse has a lot of stories that come before it; these are the little check boxes that Odin is seeking to prevent from being ticked until the last possible moment, and one of the more significant of those is Fenrir.

M3 Bye Bye Baldur

            Armed with the knowledge that mistletoe can kill Baldur, Loki sets out to have some fun. His brand of fun, anyway. He collects the mistletoe, forms it into a dart, and approaches the God Hodur (not to be confused with Hodor of Game of Thrones fame).

            Here we begin to see Loki’s sadistic sense of humor truly emerge. He pretends to show concern for Hodur, wanting to know why he’s not participating. Hodur is blind, so can’t see where Baldur is, and likewise has no weapon. Loki to the rescue! He makes the mistletoe into a . . . well, translations can’t agree. Some say dart, others say arrow, and also spear. I’ve seen pictures of mistletoe, and I find it hard to believe that someone can form a spear out of it. Whatever it is, it’s a thrown weapon. Loki generously offers to help Hodur line up the shot, and, blammo, Baldur is struck. Dead. Instantly.

M3 Norse Oathkeeping

            We’ve been hitting the Greeks pretty hard with these spotlight posts, but now it’s time to lighten things up with the apocalypse. And who better to start things off than the Norse?

            One of the more important aspects of Ragnarok is to understand what led up to it. Odin has been trying to delay the start of Ragnarok thanks to gaining knowledge from the Well of Mimir and his sacrifice on Yggdrasil, which means that certain checkpoints will either hasten or delay the onset, and the biggest of these is the death of the god Baldur, who is loved by all of the gods.

M3 Knowledge Myths: Norse: Odin's Quest

            The majority of knowledge myths detail how mankind comes by knowledge, always at some price. The gods, or God, has knowledge already, but mankind is completely ignorant. The Norse, however, have a knowledge myth where the gods seek out knowledge.

            We begin with Odin, who knows about Ragnarok, which will destroy not just the world, but all of the gods as well. This is fated to be. It will happen. No one can change that, not even the gods. However, Ragnarok doesn’t have a set tour date. It can be postponed. And that is Odin’s quest.

M3 The Norse Myths

            For those starting out into Norse myth, I recommend Kevin Crossley-Holland’s The Norse Myths. This is an accessible yet authentic translation of the most well-known of the Norse myths. Before the myths, it explains the basics of the pantheon and the cosmology, which many will find familiar if they watched the Thor movies produced by Marvel.

            Like with the Graves book, the myths are organized chronologically from the creation all the way through to Ragnarok. Also like the Graves book, it doesn’t have every myth, but this collection is fairly broad. It focuses solely on the gods rather than including the hero stories (called Sagas in the Norse).

            This book is an excellent stepping-stone to more complete sources of Norse myth such as the Prose and Poetic Eddas by Snorri Sturrlson. I highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in Norse mythology.

M3 Norse Creation

            Right away, the Norse creation begins with conflict. Ice and fire mingle together from the realms of Nifleheim and Muspell. A river forms, and the ice melts to reveal Ymir and a cow. Yes, a cow. The cow (by name of Audhumla) licked at the ice until it uncovered three brothers: Vili, Ve, and Odin. The three of them killed Ymir, and then . . . recycled him. It’s common in ancient cultures not to let anything go to waste, especially in a creation myth. The three needed to create the world, and, well, Ymir’s body was there, so they used it. This is similar to how the Chinese myth used the giant Pangu to create the world (though these cultures had no connection in ancient times to influence one another).