Of the many gods and goddesses in the Norse pantheon that receive little popular attention, Idun is among the most fascinating. She is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, her role and purpose suggest that the Vikings did not believe their gods to be immortal in an absolute sense. Secondly, she clearly demonstrates that Norse beliefs…
There are many more gods in the Norse pantheon than just the ones that most people know from the Marvel cinematic universe. Unfortunately, our knowledge of many of them is quite limited because we have to piece it together from fragments of surviving information. Bragi, the Bard of Asgard, is one of those gods about…
Norse mythology describes the universe as a fascinating cosmos with many intriguing worlds. But one of the most interesting elements of the Norse cosmos is not a world at all, but the Rainbow Bifrost Bridge. An enchanted bridge created by the gods, it connects the worlds of the Aesir gods and men, allowing the gods…
In the Marvel movies, it is an important piece of law that not just anyone can wield Thor’s hammer, and that only the worthy have the strength to pick it up. But in the original mythology, while Thor’s superior strength makes him one of the few people who can wield the hammer, Mjolnir does not…
While Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir, also known as Gudrid the Far-Travelled, may not be one of the most famous Viking women, she certainly is an important one, especially for those living on the western side of the Atlantic. She was the mother of the first Viking, and the first European, born in the Americas. Her personal story,…
Gunnar Hamundarson is one of the most famous Icelandic Viking heroes. His life story is recorded in the Njals Saga. But, while Gunnar was most likely a real person, his character is used in the saga to tell a moral story. While Gunnar is described as a warrior without equal, unlike the bloodthirsty warriors of…
It is a sad truth that until recent generations, most women have been obscured from history. In patriarchal societies with histories written by men about men, we often lose sight of the roles of women, grand and humble. This is also true of Viking history. Even the stories of the goddesses are lost. For example,…
It is well known that the Viking sagas tell the stories of the most impressive Viking heroes, but are they all to be taken seriously? The saga of the infamous Viking poet and warrior Egill Skallagrimsson reads more like Monty Python’s Life of Brian than like the story of a true Viking hero. The saga…
Eric Bloodaxe is one of the most famous Viking warriors, at least in the British Isles. Many Britons today trace their Viking ancestry through Eric Bloodaxe and his prodigy who settled in York. But Eric’s story seems far less noble than that of many other Viking warriors. He was expelled from kingship several times, usually…
In Norse mythology, the dragon Nidhogg is one of the many creatures that dwell within Yggdrasil, the World Tree, that holds together the Norse cosmos. But considering that dragons are always creatures of fear and menace in Viking stories, what does Nidhogg represent in Norse cosmology? The Norse Cosmos The Norse cosmos centers on the…
