Notes for "The Viking Gods," Part Two

This is the second part of the personal notes I prepared for my appearance on the Ancient Aliens episode about “The Viking Gods” on H2, the second History Channel station. Click here for Part One.

Thor as ruler with Frigg (left) and Odin (right) in an illustration from
History of the Nordic Peoples by Olaus Magnus (1555)

THOR

Thor is a complicated character who can be seen as both a war god and a fertility god, as both subject to and superior to Odin – depending where and when your source comes from. Despite what modern artistic interpretations show us, he’s never physically described in any detail in the ancient poems, and it’s not even clear if he’s human-sized or giant-sized. All of this underscores that he is a spiritual and symbolic figure. The idea of Thor as a blustery, red-bearded, human-sized character really comes from the Icelandic sagas in the 1200s and 1300s, long after the conversion of Iceland to Christianity in the year 1000. In these late sources, he seems to be shrunken down to underscore the victory of the new Christian faith.

In the mythological sources, he’s often in conflict with Odin – a conflict that is sometimes interpreted as reflecting a rivalry between the followers of each god. Odin is characterized as wise and wily, often using deceit and magic to get what he wants. Thor is blunt and honest, facing foes head-on and distrusting magic as dishonorable.

THOR'S IMPORTANCE

In Iceland, the courtly poets make Odin the superior god – understandable, given that he’s the god of both nobles and poets. Thor, the god of the free farmers and peasants, seems to have had a superior role in pre-conversion Sweden. In some regions in the North, Frey was more important. Thor was particularly associated with farmers and peasants, which shows that a conception of him as only a battling war-god is missing out on his fertility aspects as the god who brings rain to the fields. According to the Icelandic version, his mother is the Earth itself, and the variations on his wife in different sources also seem related to earthly fertility.

Thor’s popularity is connected to his characterization as an idealized self-image of the independent farmer – he’s rough, hard-working, honest and takes children on adventures. He fights off giants (symbols of terrifying natural forces) as farmers would struggle against rough conditions to protect their farms and families. In the conversion era, Thor (with his bluntness and love of common folk) was seen as the direct opposition to Christ as missionaries sought to convert the northern peoples.

THOR'S HAMMER

Thor’s hammer is usually interpreted as a symbolic representation of lightning. It’s connected to conceptions of the mystic thunderweapon that show up in cultures around the world as early peoples sought to understand how something from the sky could smash trees and destroy homes. Like so many of these poetic images of a physical object that falls from the sky, Thor’s hammer is literally a “thunder-bolt,” a physical object that crashes to Earth with the flash of lightning.

Thor's hammer pendant from Sweden c1000 CE

Although we’re most familiar with the Icelandic image of Thor’s weapon as a metal hammer, other sources describe it as a rock or wooden club. The image of the thunderweapon evolved as human technology evolved, eventually giving us something described very much like the hammer of a smith, but one given the very convenient properties of always returning to the thrower’s hand and being able to shrink down small enough to fit inside Thor’s shirt. This last quality may be connected to the small hammer pendants worn by heathens during conversion times, in opposition to the crucifixes worn by Christian converts.

In the Icelandic myths, Thor’s hammer is the primary weapon of the gods against the enemy giants. Thor is constantly smashing giants at home and abroad with his hammer, and is very upset when it gets misplaced. Unfortunately for those of us who grew up with Marvel Comics, it’s never given a physical description other than mentions that it’s a bit short in the handle.

THE GIANTS

In Norse mythology, the giants are natural forces that are given a poetic or metaphorical form. The popular image of giants as huge, humanlike creatures really comes from later folklore. In Norse myths, they’re not necessarily big – and Thor himself sometimes swells up to gigantic size. Male giants are sometimes wise old rulers, sometimes frightening trolls. Female giants are sometimes beautiful maidens that mate with the gods, sometimes hideous troll-women.

Some conflicts between giants and gods seem like disagreements between rival families, and the two sides are actually closely related through marriage and parentage. In other cases, the conflict seems to be a symbolic one, between the gods representing order and creation and the giants representing chaos and destruction.

FREY

Frey is the main fertility god of Norse mythology. He seems to have been represented artistically as having an immense phallus, a clear symbol of his fertility role. He’s referred to as “the friend of the folk,” the god who is close to humanity and brings them aid – again, a fairly straightforward reflection of his role as fertility god. What records we do have of his worship tend to focus on his gifts of peace and plenty.

Frey (Froh) in Carl Emil Döpler's costume design for
premiere of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

FREY'S SHIP

Frey had a ship called Skíðblaðnir, which means “assembled from pieces of thin wood.” Icelandic sources tell us that it was so cleverly constructed that it could be folded up like a cloth and put in your pocket, which connects it to model boats that were used for fertility rituals and then folded up and put away when not needed. Like so much of the mythological material, it seems that Christian writers in the 13th century and popular writers in the 20th century have misunderstood poetic imagery – which is sometimes based on forgotten religious ritual – and taken it as literal description of mystic objects.

LOKI

Loki is not a god, but merely counted among the gods. He’s a giant who – for reasons never explained – becomes the sworn blood-brother of Odin. He’s the one character in Norse myth who seems to evolve over the course of mythic time, which is part of the evidence that he was a late literary creation and not part of actual pre-Christian religion.

He starts out as a mischievous character who gets the gods into trouble and then gets them out of it, usually through clever trickery and deceit. Early in the mythic timeline, he’s the travelling-companion of both Odin and Thor, but he goes on to kill the god Balder and will personally lead the army of giants and non-heroic dead against the gods in the final battle at the end of time. He has been interpreted as a sort of shadow-Odin, because many of his characteristics seem like parodies of those of Odin himself – more evidence that he’s really just a literary creation.

THE SONS OF IVALDI

The sons of Ivaldi are dwarves who, along with another pair of rival dwarves, are tricked by Loki into making a set of treasures for the Norse gods. They appear briefly in the mythology in the role of smiths, a role taken by dwarves throughout Germanic mythology, legend and folktale.

Loki, the golden hair, and the dwarf in an illustration
from Maria Klugh's Tales from the Far North (1909)

TREASURES OF THE GODS

The dwarves were tricked into making a set of treasures for the gods, all of which are symbols for values held by the noble classes of ancient Germanic culture. Among other objects, they fashion Odin’s spear, which represents religion throughout Norse myth and saga. They create Thor’s hammer, which represents the power to protect one’s family and followers. They make Frey’s boar, which is a Nordic symbol of fertility. They forge Odin’s ring that itself creates other rings, a clear symbol of wealth. They also make golden hair that attaches itself to the head of Thor’s wife and grows; her name basically means “wife,” which underscores that this golden, ever-growing hair is a poetic symbol of the bounty of fertility.

TRAVELS OF THE NORSE

Norsemen traveled west to Canada, east as Iran, north to Greenland, and south to Africa. Despite the popular image of the Norse as violent Vikings, they were also great traders and adventurers.

THE NORSE IN AMERICA

The Icelandic sagas of the 1200s describe Norse voyages to North America in great detail. Archeological proof of their visits to this continent was finally discovered in Newfoundland in the 1960s. Research teams found clear physical evidence, including ship’s nails and remnants of buildings that matched structures in Iceland and Greenland.

GODS AND SEA VOYAGES

Altar to the goddess Nehalennia (Domburg, Netherlands)

Thor, in his role as thunder god, seems to have been invoked for protection against stormy seas, as was a goddess named Nehalennia – there’s some evidence that she was a deadly sea-goddess who was asked by merchants to be merciful, but she may also be have been a benign goddess of fertility and plenty. There was also another sea-goddess named Rán, whose name is related to “robbery,” and who symbolizes the dark and terrifying ocean that drags down men and ships.

Notes for "The Viking Gods," Part One

I recently appeared on episode of the Ancient Aliens television show about “The Viking Gods” on H2, the second History Channel station. As they do for all episodes of this popular series, the producers interviewed scholars of a particular historical period and asked them to explain the culture, mythology and technology of the time. I was asked about Norse mythology, as were Scott A. Mellor (UW-Madison Department of Scandinavian Studies), Timothy R. Tangherlini (UCLA Scandinavian Section), Kirsten Wolf (also UW-Madison) and Jonathan Young (Joseph Campbell Archives).

Crop circle in shape of bass clef – proof of ancient alien bassists?

Personally, I agreed to participate because I wanted to make sure that basic information about Norse mythology and religion was presented in a fair and accurate manner. I told the producers up-front that I have absolutely no interest in “ancient astronaut theory.” My answers were edited down to a few very brief soundbites, which is totally fair and understandable. However, many people have asked me what my full answers were to the producers' questions. I can’t provide transcripts of what I actually said, since I haven’t seen the full footage myself. Instead, I am posting the personal notes I typed up while preparing for the interview. Enjoy.

WORSHIP OF THE NORSE GODS

The Norse gods were worshiped over a very wide range of space and time. Rock carvings and artifacts in Scandinavia dating back to over 1,000 years BCE show what we could call “reverse echoes” of the Norse gods. The conception of the gods hadn’t yet evolved into the characters we’re familiar with as Thor and Odin and the rest, but you can see common symbolic elements such as the sacred chariot, sun wheel and axe or hammer.

Rock carving from Bohuslän, Sweden (c1800 BCE)

Conversion to Christianity began in England around 600. Sweden, the last heathen holdout, converted around 1150. As the various Germanic tribes migrated over time, the gods moved with them. We have evidence from literature, archeology and place-name analysis that shows local variants of Norse religion throughout the continental German lands, Scandinavia, the northern islands and the British Isles.

THE WORLD TREE

The World Tree is a poetic concept in Norse mythology that serves as a symbol to connect the Nine Worlds of gods, men, elves, dwarves, giants and the dead. It’s related to the Germanic concept of the Warden Tree, a tree that guards your homestead. A farm would have a Warden Tree to protect the household, a temple would have a tree that protects the community. By extension, Odin’s hall (Valhalla) has its own Warden tree, and the world itself has a tree – this symbolic World Tree that connects the different realms of the various inhabitants of the world.

SOURCES OF NORSE MYTHOLOGY

There’s a wide range of sources for what we now call Norse mythology. There are Latin writings by Julius Caesar and Tacitus that describe the religion of the Germanic tribes that came into contact with the Roman Empire. There are texts by Christian writers during the Conversion Era that discuss heathen beliefs. There are sagas and histories written by Icelanders and Danes that record tales of the gods.

A copy of Snorri Sturluson's Edda (Iceland, 18th century)

Next to these sources, the two books that provide the most coherent version of Norse myth are what we now call the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. They were written down by Christian writers in Iceland in the mid-1200s – over two centuries after Iceland’s conversion. Both texts contain a lot of Christian elements mixed in. Snorri Sturluson, the compiler of the Prose Edda, is particularly keen to let readers know that he thought the pre-Christian religion was nonsense. These books are accessible to modern readers because, in typical medieval fashion, they seek to impose a clear structure on what was really a variable and contradictory set of religious beliefs over a wide range in space and time

SNORRI STURLUSON

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic author who compiled a book called the Edda, which is sometimes translated to mean “Poetics.” This book was not written to record religious belief or describe religious ritual. It’s really a poetry manual.

With the coming of Latin learning and continental-style prose writing after Iceland’s conversion to Christianity, the older art of traditional poetry was dying out. Icelandic poetry was largely based on metaphorical allusions called kennings, which referred to characters and events of Norse myth. In order to understand the poetry, the audience had to know the mythology very well. Two centuries after conversion, this knowledge was fading – and so traditional poetry was becoming difficult to understand. Snorri wanted to record the myths in a systematic, orderly way so that his contemporaries could read and write in the older poetic style.

THE NINE WORLDS

The concept of the Nine Worlds is a poetic way of imagining the different realms of gods, men, elves, dwarves, giants and the dead. These realms are thought of as discrete areas, mythical versions of the discrete homesteads and communities of the northern world. Gods, giants, dwarves and men in the myths and sagas travel on foot and by horse between these areas, which are clearly not distant planets in outer space – that’s an idea we get from the Marvel Comics version (which appeared nearly a decade before Erich von Däniken published his “ancient alien theory” and seems, along with other 1960s pop culture, to have greatly influenced it).

Map of Asgard and Nine Worlds from Marvel Comics

ASGARD

Asgard means “enclosure of the Æsir” and is named for one of the two tribes of Norse gods. It’s the home of the major Norse gods and goddesses, including Thor, Odin and Freya. Each of the characters has their own hall within the wall of Asgard, and there are poetic ideas connecting Asgard to the afterlife.

Odin’s Valhalla (“Hall of the Slain”) is where he collects dead human heroes to fight the final battle with the giants at the end of time. The goddess Freya takes half the dead who die in battle into her hall, but we don’t know why. Thor gathers the dead from the peasant or farming class, the part of society he is especially connected to as the god who brings rain for crops and defends the common person from the giants, symbols of the terrifying forces of nature.

MIDGARD

Midgard means “middle enclosure.” This is where humans live, and the term is the root source for Tolkien’s “Middle-earth.” Midgard is surrounded by frightening places such as the home of the giants and the home of the dead. This is understandable, given the structures of communities in the ancient North, where life was often hard and vicious. Thor was thought of as the protector of humanity, defending his followers from the overwhelming forces of nature, which are given metaphorical form as terrifying giants.

THE NORSE GODS

When we think of Norse mythology as a coherent system, we’re really accepting a very late version of the myths that was systematized and written down in Iceland, centuries after the conversion to Christianity. In the Christian era, Snorri Sturluson tried to organize a complicated heritage of poetry and oral tradition into a clear storyline. He clearly misinterprets some of his material and seems to freely invent some passages.

According to this post-conversion synthesis, there are two main tribes of gods. The Æsir include gods more associated with war like Odin and Thor; the Vanir are gods tied more to fertility, like the twins Frey and Freya. These two groups mix freely together, and evidence of actual religious belief tends to blend and blur their supposed roles as gods of war and gods of fertility.

ODIN

The consistent characteristic of Odin in Germanic myth is his power to inspire. His name is connected to a root meaning both “fury” and “poetry.” This really sums up his role – he inspires the warrior to a battle-frenzy and he inspires the poet to a creative-frenzy. This idea is reflected in his power to metaphorically bind and unbind men’s minds. He could bind the minds of his enemies, which is a poetic way of saying that he could paralyze them with fear – like Mike Tyson did with his boxing opponents. He could also unbind men’s minds, which is poetic way of saying he could inspire creativity by freeing poets from what we now call “writer’s block,” for example.

A bronze figure thought to represent Odin (Sweden, 7th century)
The missing arm appears to be later damage.

ODIN'S HIGH SEAT

Odin’s high seat, which is named with a term that roughly means “watchtower,” is a place where he could sit and look out over the world. On one hand, it’s related to the high seat of the Germanic hall, where the leader of the family would sit during gatherings; Odin is (at least in the late Icelandic version) the leader of the main family of gods. On the other hand, it’s related to the high seat of the prophetess; she would be physically raised up so that, symbolically, she was raised above the world and could see farther ahead in space and time.

ODIN'S RAVENS

Odin has two ravens named Hugin and Munin who fly through the world each day and report back to him what they see. Their names mean “thought” and “memory,” showing them to be symbolic representations of Odin sending out his thoughts in animal form while in a shaman-like trance.

VALHALLA

Odin’s hall is called Valhalla, which means “hall of the slain” and may be connected to ancient religious beliefs that the dead lived on inside of burial mounds. This is reflected in poetic descriptions of a host of human warriors that have been killed in battle and selected by Odin and his Valkyries to live on in Valhalla, fighting and dying and being constantly reborn – feasting on an endless supply of mead and pork until the final battle with the giants at Ragnarök. We know about the hall from Icelandic poetry that describes it as full of weapons and shields, populated with fierce warriors who joyfully fight each other and are served endless food and drink by Valkyrie waitresses – clearly an image of paradise for young warriors.

ODIN AND GODS OF OTHER CULTURES

Odin is really a unique character, but the Romans connected Odin to their own Mercury, most likely because of the Roman god’s connection to trade, wisdom and traveling far and wide. Odin was seen by his followers as a god of cargoes, as a seeker after and sharer of wisdom, and as a lone wanderer who traveled the world in a quest for knowledge.

Mercury as god of commerce and industry on a French coin from 1924

THE VALKYRIES

The term Valkyrie means “chooser of the slain.” They are mythologized versions of female ritual leaders in the Germanic world mentioned by Roman, Arab and Anglo-Saxon writers. These original women led ritual human sacrifice, literally “choosing the slain” – selecting who would be sacrificed and then carrying out the killing themselves. They would, of course, have been imposing and terrifying figures, and over time they evolved into this conception of mystical warrior-women who decide who is to die on the battlefield – taking the greatest heroes to Odin in Valhalla, where they are gathered to fight in the final battle with the enemies of the gods at the end of time.

To be continued in Part Two.

Valley of the Gods in Iceland

Vor Siður – newsletter of the Ásatrúarfélagið (“Æsir Faith Fellowship”)

Original article by Kári Pálsson appeared in Vor Siður 22, no. 1 (2013)
Translated by Kári Pálsson and Dr. Karl E. H. Seigfried for The Norse Mythology Blog
Read the original article (in Icelandic) here
Original text © Ásatrúarfélagið

As a young boy, I visited Goðdalur (“dale of the gods”) in Bjarnarfjörður in northwest Iceland several times. The valley is extremely remote and not known to many people, since the one road leading to the dale is fairly poor and usually impassible in the winter except with large vehicles. There are two cottages in the valley owned by friends of my family.

When I was teenager, I started wondering about the history of this place and was particularly interested in its name. The valley is not mentioned in any sagas or historical records, but it was said by people through the centuries that this place had a hof (heathen temple) and many kinds of vættir (wights) and other spirits or gods. Legends say that Bishop Guðmundur tried to exorcise the spirits of the dale in the 13th century, but he failed.

The valley was inhabited until December 1948, when a 130-meter wide avalanche destroyed the town and killed six people. A farmer named Jóhann Kristmundsson and his young daughter survived. The girl died soon after; Jóhann lived couple of years longer, but never recovered. Today, the dale still holds ruins of the old farm.

In the foreground are the ruins of the old farm in Goðdalur – Photo by Kári Pálsson

Ingibjörg Sigvaldadóttir, a housewife born in 1912 in Svanshóll, remembered that her father Sigvaldi Guðmundsson had told the farmer then living in Goðdalur that he shouldn’t have removed the remains of the old hof that stood in the valley. The farmer later denied having done so and claimed he only covered it with soil and built over it.

In the 1952 yearbook of Ferðafélag Íslands (Icelandic Touring Association), Jón Hjaltason wrote, “Goðdalur has been a place of tragic events and accidents. It is clear that this place is filled with the wrath of the gods, and that only land-wights want to live there.”

It is interesting how many places around Goðdalur have heathen names. In his 1945 book Heiðinn Siður á Íslandi (Heathen Practice in Iceland), Ólafur Briem names four waterfalls that have the name Goðafoss (“waterfall of the gods”). There are actually five – including two in Bjarnardalur and one in Goðdalur – but Ólafur forgets to mentions one of them. There are also several place-names in Goðdalur that relate to hörgur (heathen stone altars).

Heiðinn Siður á Íslandi by Ólafur Briem

Remains from different eras have been found throughout the valley, and the dale is a popular location for archeologists. Once, when I was playing in valley’s little stream as a boy, I found a small square iron plate that looked like ashtray with a picture of bearded man done in an interesting style. I’m not sure how old this iron tray was; I gave it to an adult and learned nothing more. It was likely from before the time of the avalanche.

In 1960, as excavations were being done to build a small summer house on the spot, an ancient blót (sacrifice) stone was found. Scientists examined black marks on the inside of the stone and found that they were residue of ancient animal blood. The stone was lost, but it resurfaced in 2002 and is now stored in Galdrasafnið á Ströndum (Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft).

It is clear that blóts were held in this location in ancient times. Scholars think that heathens gathered here and held blóts in secret, even two centuries after the conversion to Christianity had outlawed public sacrifices. The discovery of the stone gives clear evidence for stories that this area had a hörg or hof.

Blót stone found in Goðdalur, Iceland

Eyrbyggja Saga tells of a hof raised by Þórólfur Mostraskegg:

There he let build a temple, and a mighty house it was. There was a door in the side-wall and nearer to one end thereof. Within the door stood the pillars of the high-seat, and nails were therein; they were called the gods’ nails. Therewithin was there a great frith-place [peace-place, sanctuary]. But off the inmost house was there another house, of that fashion whereof now is the choir of a church, and there stood a stall in the midst of the floor in the fashion of an altar, and thereon lay a ring without a join that weighed twenty ounces, and on that must men swear all oaths; and that ring must the chief have on his arm at all man-motes [moots, meetings]. 

On the stall should also stand the blood-bowl, and therein the blood-rod was, like unto a sprinkler, and therewith should be sprinkled from the bowl that blood which is called hlaut, which was that kind of blood which flowed when those beasts were smitten who were sacrificed to the gods. But round about the stall were the gods arrayed in the holy place.

The blót stone from the valley was likely used as a hlaut-bowl like the one described in the saga.

It is said that an ancient goði (heathen priest) was buried near the site of the hof in Goðdalur and that around him was a some sort of hex place on which animals were never allowed and which was never mowed. It is also said that the hofgoði (temple priest) threw his gods’ statues in Goðafoss after the conversion to Christianity, although this tale has been probably confused with that of Þorgeir Ljósvetningargoði. Of course, people suspect that this story is pretty one-sided.

Photograph of Goðdalur by Kári Pálsson

Thanks to Kári and the Ásatrúarfélagið for sharing this piece. Þakka þér kærlega fyrir!