Ullr is one of the Viking gods that didn’t make it into the Marvel cinematic universe. But, while he is among the lesser-known gods, he seems to have been a very important Norse god, in both pre-Viking and Viking times. The son of Sif and stepson of Thor, he was a god of winter, skis,…
Did Viking women (and men) really wear the elaborate braided hairstyles that we see in modern re-imaginings on TV? The short answer is yes, though they might not have looked exactly as they do on today’s actors. Today we are going to have a very quick look at the evidence for the Viking braid. We…
We spend a lot of time talking about Viking warriors, but often, it is the opponent that makes the warrior. Where is the glory without a formidable foe? To many Vikings in the second half of the 9th century, Alfred the Great, the King of Wessex, was that foe. Alfred the Great is largely considered…
The Vikings were fearless warriors, but empires were not built by individual warriors. The Vikings had to form bands to conduct their raids and live in communities to protect what was theirs. That means that they had leaders. Viking rulers were more like chieftains than kings, though some of them styled themselves kings within their…
Most cultures have an “in the beginning” story that describes how the world came into being. The Vikings are no different. At the center of the Norse creation story is Ymir, also known as Aurgelmir, the first of all beings. A primordial giant that was the hermaphroditic ancestor of all giants, the Vikings also believed…
One of the most popular Norse gods thanks to his excellent portrayal by Idris Elba in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Heimdall was the watchman of the gods, and it was his job to sound the alarm on his horn if the enemies of the gods tried to gain entry to Asgard over the rainbow bridge.…
Niflheim, the “World of Mist”, is considered among the nine worlds of the Norse cosmos. Described as a world of darkness, cold, mist, and ice, it was one of the primordial worlds. Along with Mulspelheim, the “World of Fire”, Niflheim played an important role in the Norse creation myth. It is also sometimes considered a…
One of the nine worlds that formed the cosmos in Norse mythology, Muspelheim, the realm of fire, plays an important role in both the creation of the Norse universe and its final destruction at Ragnarok. Muspelheim was the home of the Fire Giants, an old enemy of the Aesir gods led by Odin. They were…
The History Channel’s TV show Vikings has really set the bar in terms of good representations of the Vikings in film and television, but they are far from the first to have tried to bring our favorite warriors to life. Scores of films have been made about the Viking Age, some good, some bad, and…
Anyone who has watched an episode of the History Channel’s epic show Vikings would be forgiven for thinking that all Viking women were Valkyrie warriors on par with their menfolk, that enjoyed significant power and freedom. But, while Viking women enjoyed more freedoms than their counterparts in other parts of Europe, they were far from…
