Editing Norse Mythology

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'''Norse Mythology''' is the shared [[Mythology]] of the various European cultures that collectively make up the [[Vikings]], including the actual Norse, the Danes, the Swedish, the Scandinavians, and even the Anglo-Saxons.

==About the Mythology==
Like the Greeks, there's a god for every aspect and their most hated enemies are humanoid creatures called Jotun (Jætter), often translated to Giants in adaptations, who the gods/goddess also related to. They come in all sizes, from mostly humanoid to the size of mountains; from humans with big noses to actual beasts. The Norse mythos contains a lot more references to snow, winter and wolves than the Greek one. This is somewhat unsurprising, as those things are much more common in Scandinavia than they are in Greece.

===Notable Characters===
*'''[[Odin]]''' - The king of the gods. The All-Father, the One-Eyed Wanderer, and Patron of Shamans and Berserkers. He wasn't actually the first of the gods, but rather he is named "All-Father" for slaying his tyrannical grandfather Ymir and creating Midgard (Earth) from his body and bones. His stories are full of sacrifice in the pursuit of higher wisdom, such as hanging himself on the World Tree, Yggdrasil in order to be granted the knowledge of runes and giving up his eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom. He has two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, which deliver him news of the nine realms every day, as well as two fucking huge wolves, Freki and Geri, which he uses as guard dogs/hunting hounds. His major schtick is trying to prevent Ragnarok. He also has a sick-ass spear called Gungnir, which will never miss its mark. Known for being wise, but also manipulative. Not a god you should underestimate, by any means.
*'''[[Frigg]]'''- Wife of Odin. The Matron of the Aesir and Odin's wife. Sort of a power-behind-the-scenes, she is just as wise and manipulative as her husband but much more subtle and slow-moving in her plots. When she appears she seems more like the kind of person who looks to the greater good. She's a goddess of the housestead but in the distant, measured manner. Unlike her version in the Greek Pantheon, Hera, she isn't vindictive in any way and seems to take her husband's infidelity in strides.
*'''[[Thor]]''' - Son of Odin, the God of Thunder, Storms and Oak Trees, the Protector of Mankind, and arguably the most popular god, even in the [[Vikings|Viking Age]]. (No, his popularity isn't really due to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, that came much later.) He wields a mighty warhammer named Mjolnir, and uses it to great effect. Out of all the Norse gods, he's probably one of the most bro-tier, although it's ill advised to piss him off (as several giants and dwarves could attest, were their heads not smashed in). He's so unbelievably OP that even when he thought he'd lost against Utgard-Loki (no relation to Loki, btw), Utgard-Loki had to admit defeat because Thor almost destroyed the world ''by accident.'' Prophesied to die fighting the world serpent Jormungandr.
*'''[[Loki]]''' - The Trickster God, the Deceiver. Unfortunately, the Norse had a rather dim view of tricksters and deceivers, so he's usually a villain in the myths. Probably doesn't help that he and his children are responsible for killing several gods (It also probably doesn't help that the Christians writing down the Norse myths identified him with Satan). Responsible for many shenanigans, including [[Wat|turning himself into a mare and fucking a stallion,]] [[/d/|getting pregnant from said stallion, and giving birth to an eight-legged horse that Odin rides as a mount ]] (part of a crazy scheme to defraud a  contractor, no less), killing the near-invincible god Baldur (see below) as a prank, and being Odin's blood-brother. Yes, you read that right, ''Odin's'' brother, not Thor's. Essentially [[That Guy]] of the Norse pantheon, complete with uncomfortable sexual stuff involving animals and betraying his party members.
*'''[[Freya]]''' - Goddess of Fertility, Erotic Love, Magic, and War (in case you haven't noticed, the Norse really loved to fight). She claims half of all warriors slain in glorious battle, bringing them to her meadow of Folkvangr. The other half are chosen by Odin and become Einherjar, the Chosen Slain, where they will feast and fight in Valhalla until Ragnarok, where they will all charge the wolf Fenrir and die. She is among the most powerful of the Norse gods, but originally came from the Vanir alongside her brother and dad.
*'''[[Freyr]]''' - God of Fertility, Harvest and Farmers. Brother of Freya but quite a lot more mellow. He's a protector of the homestead and its prosperity. Some translations make him the god of "half-men", which is still disputed to be anything from men who don't own a homestead to actual gay dudes.
*'''[[Baldur]]''' - Son of Odin and Frigg. God of light, joy and the sun, said to be the most beloved of all the gods. Frigg asked all things to swear an oath not to harm Baldur, save for the mistletoe bush, which she thought to be harmless. Loki, being a spiteful jackass, took advantage of this oversight and arranged for Baldur to be slain by a mistletoe dart. 
*'''Høder/Höðr''' - The God of Cripples. Very unimportant - only known for being tricked into shooting a mistletoe-arrow at his brother Baldur, which killed him. 
*'''[[Heimdall]]''' - The watchman of the gods, the Guardsman of the Bifrost and the whitest of the gods-- [[/pol/|don't you look at us like that!]] (Seriously, he was known as the "shining god" or "brightest god", and is the guardian of Bifrost, a literal rainbow bridge - the exact meaning and translation of his status is a matter of some debate, though thankfully not in ''that'' sense.) Heimdall is known as the son of Nine Mothers - just how this works is never expounded on. There's... very little else to be said about him beyond that he's watching everyone, everywhere, at all times due to his super senses so keen he could hear grass growing on the other side of the world. He and Loki are going to kill each other come Ragnarok.
*'''Njord''' - God of the Sea, Fishing and the Wind. Father of Frej and Freya, but otherwise unimportant; lives far away in a tower by the sea.
*'''[[Tyr]]''' - The One-Handed God of Justice, Warfare, Strategy and Government. How does he have only one hand, you may ask? Well, let's just say... when a giant wolf demands your hand as payment for the gods binding him in unbreakable tethers, and you're known for keeping your word... well... 
*'''Sif''' - The Goddess of the Hearth and Home, wife of Thor. There's little information on her, but she has golden hair. Like, literally hair made of gold, gifted to her by Loki to make up for the fact that he cut her hair in the first place.
*'''Bragi''' - God of Music, Bards and Entertainers. Not a lot is know about him, other than he's engaged to Idunn.
*'''Idunn''' - Provider of the Golden Apples, magical apples that give the gods their youth. There's evidence that she was never a goddess, but instead a fey-creature or an elf who's a retainer within the Valhallan court.
*'''Skadi''' - Goddess of winter and'''fucking skiing'''. Only notable because she's a jotun inducted into the pantheon as repayment for the death of her father, who had been slain after he manipulated Loki into kidnapping Idunn on his behalf. She demanded she be allowed to take an Aesir husband as part of her weregild; she was hoping to snag Baldur, but wound up choosing Njord by mistake. They ultimately got divorced because they couldn't stand each other's favoured territory.
*'''The Valkyries''' - Adaptations only, they're forces of nature at best in the original myths.
*'''Fafnir''' - Son of Hreidmar who is cursed by Andvari's gold and becomes a fuckhuge [[dragon]], yo.
*'''Sigurd''' - Also known as Siegfried, this top bloke single-handedly slew Fafnir and had a tragic romance with the Valkyrie Brynhildr.
*'''Grendel''' - Technically from Beowulf, this guy is the son of Cain and is "harrowed" by the sounds of singing from the King Hrothgar's mead-hall Heorot. One day he snaps and attacks the hall, continuing to attack it every night for twelve years. Did we mention he [[Chaos|consumes the men he kills?]]

===Other important things associated with Norse Mythology===
*'''[[Yggdrasil]]''' - The World Tree. An actual gigantic tree, but also a sort of metaphysical highway linking nine universes - it is the core of the Norse Mythology, and it has always existed. Those realms are: Asgard (Home of the Aesir,. Vanaheim (Home of the Vanir), Alfheim (Home of the Elves/Dwarves; there isn't much destinction in Norse mythology between Elves and Dwarves), Niflheim (Land of Ice and Fog), Musphelheim, (Land of Ash and Fire), Midgard (realm of mortals/Earth), Jotunheim (Home of the Giants), Svartalfheim (realm of the Dark Elves/Dwarves), and Helheim (realm of the Dead). Encasing Yggdrasil is the Ginnungagap, the chaotic abyss from which all life sprung from. Four stags called Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, and Duraþrór run among its limbs, feeding on the leaves. A great serpent called Nidhogg lies within its roots and gnaws upon them, and an eagle perches upon its top. The squirrel Ratatoskr runs up and down its trunk, carrying insults between the two.

*'''The Norns''' - These are the three sisters who preside over the fate and destiny of gods and men, much like their Greco-Roman counterparts. They reside near Yggdrasil's roots at a great well of knowledge, and their names are Urd (What Once Was), Verdandi (What Is Now), and Skuld (What Shall Be).

*'''Sleipnir''' - As noted above, Loki got fucked by a stallion while disguised as a mare. Well, in truly horrifying mythological fashion, he gave birth to an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir, who later became Odin's favorite warhorse. Family reunions must've been ''awkward'' in Asgard.

*'''Fenrir''' - Another one of Loki's animal children, and the aforementioned giant wolf whom bit off Tyr's hand due to Odin and the rest of the Aesir-Vanir binding him out of fear. He's prophesied to eat the sun and then kill Odin during Ragnarok, only to be slain by his son, Vidar.

*'''Jormumgandr''' - Yet another Loki spawn, the World Serpent. Basically, a snek so fucking huge that he can encircle all of Midgard when he bites his tail. Prophesised to annihilate Midgard and then fight Thor to the death during...yep...Ragnarok.

*'''The Jotunn''' - Usually called "Giants" or "Frost Giants" in the US, Jætter or Jotunn are the personification of nature's chaos to the gods' personification of human order. Many of them are barbaric or even evil, but they aren't automatically [[Chaotic Evil]] - though they are almost always Chaotic. They live in most other planes, though they are by far most numerous in Utgard. They tend to hate the gods because Odin killed their primordial father, Ymir, who the entire world is made out of. Notable Jotunn are Loki and Skadi above; Utgard-Loki, a powerful lord in Utgard who humiliated Thor by convincing him to wrestle with a personification of old age and tricked Loki into participating in an eating contest with the embodiment of fire, and Surtr, king of the fire jotunn, who leads the charge during Ragnarok and succeeds in killing off most of the gods.

*'''The Vanir''' - Rival god pantheon of the Aesir which we know little about. The Aesir and Vanir fought a war at some point but eventually made peace and exchanged captives to keep it. These captives are Freya, Frej and Njord. Due to these three gods being fertility gods who are among the least masculine gods (compared to the likes of Thor or Tyr, this is understandable), some researchers propose that the Vanir represented feminine virtues to the very warlike and masculine Aesir. Says a lot about the [[Vikings]] that they didn't even flesh out the Vanir pantheon, let alone worship them.

===Notable Artifacts===
*Mjölnir - Thor's Hammer. Could return to him when thrown like a boomerang, but has a rather short handle because of Loki messing with its creation. 
*Lævateinn - A really powerful sword.
*Gram - Sigurd's Sword, used to kill Fafnir.
*Gungnir - Odin's Spear.
*Megingjörð - Belt of <s>Giant's Strength</s> Power.

===Creation Myth===
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Basically, in the early world's life cycle, there were these '''Jotun''' or '''Frost Giants''' who [[wat|were sweats born from the armpit of '''Ymir''', the first of their kind and, at the time, so huge he was the entire world]]. There was also a giant cow, '''Audhumla''', the udder of which Ymir frequented. [[wat|Then that giant cow accidentally created a god by just licking a salty rock]], '''Buri''', who then "begat a son" - fuck knows how. This son, '''Bor''', had a wife '''Bestla''' who gave birth to '''Odin''' and his brothers. Odin does not like the Jotun since they come out of Ymir's stinking armpits like rats and they eat a lot, so he and his brothers '''Vili''' and '''Ve''' killed Ymir. [[Khorne|Ymir was so fuckhuge that his blood caused a massive flood that killed most other jotun right there!]]. Odin then used Ymir's body to forge a new world. The death of Ymir also brought forth many life forms without Odin's touch, like the Dwarves, who were basically [[Nurgle|Ymir's corpse maggots]]. Then like the Greek gods, Odin formed a government of deities from each aspect of daily life. And then [[The End Times|Ragnarok]] will come.

===Dwarves===
While there many mythologies that have different telling of the [[dwarf]] race, we will be talking about the Norse version.

After Odin murderfied Ymir and killed a bunch of giants through blood floods (see above), maggots came out and were festering on Ymir's flesh. Yes. [[Nurgle|These corpse maggots are the precursor]] that Odin turned into the dwarfs we all knew and love, at least according to the ''Prose Edda''. [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|They have the talent of mead brewing, metal smithing and making magical artifacts]], including many iconic weapons like Thor's hammer and most importantly Odin's spear, Gungnir. (Does the Warhammer Dwarven god Grungni sound familiar suddenly...?)

Norse dwarves are also known to be denizens of Svartalfheim along with the svartalfar, who are often conflated with dwarves and dokkalfar (the 'original' [[Drow|dark elves]]) to the point of being the same. At least one instance occurs of dwarfs turning to stone if exposed to the sun for too long, not unlike some Nordic accounts of [[troll]]s.

There are four known dwarfs in the mythologies: Austri, Vestri, Norðri, and Suðri (which means “East,” “West,” “North,” and “South”), and each are tasked with holding up their respective corners of the sky, AKA the Atlas treatment with less punishment and more "best suited for the job".

===Elves===
In Norse myth, they were demi-god like beings whose sole purpose is to be [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|more beautiful and superior-than-you]]. They are described as [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|"more beautiful than the sun"]], with their demi-god status apparently linked to the gods of Vanir and Aesir. Their lord is a Vanir god called Freyr, who rules the elves’ homeland, Alfheim. They commonly cause humans to suffer illness, but have the power to cure any illness only if sacrifices are offered to them. Bunch of dicks. It is also possible for humans to become elves upon death, and elf and human can also interbreed; the mix of human and elf is described as having the look of a human, but possessing extraordinary intuitive and magical powers.

===Ragnarok===
Also known as "Fate of the Gods", "Twilight of the Gods", Götterdämmerung
[[The End Times|The seemingly ubiquitous "end of the world" event]] - The Book of Revelation, the Flood of Noah's Ark fame, and Jesus' death and return are comparable, and Greek myth has the Titanomachy, but the former is more of a case of "all according to God's Keikaku", whereas Ragnarok counts as "NOT AS PLANNED", and the latter is more a case of a victorious revolution, rather than Ragnarok's being straight up disaster for everyone involved. The event itself may or may not be a product of Christianization, which "naturally" marked the end of Nordic "pagan" believes and promises a new beginning not unlike that promised by Christian doctrine's post-return of Jesus arc.

====How The fuck did it start and why?====

It is said that Odin was the one that had foreseen this event through his empty right eye socket, and beheld three "signs": 

1. The death of Baldur. 

2. Three uninterrupted long cold winters

3. Two wolves in the sky swallow the sun and the moon, and even the stars disappear and send the world into a great darkness.

Frigg had several dreams about Baldur's death, and this depressed her to the point Frigg decided to make ''''everything in the goddamn world''''' take a vow not to hurt her precious sunshine-faced boy - and they all complied, too! All but one...

When Loki got the wind of the spell's weakness - mistletoe, which she already considered soft and harmless - the cunny fuckwit thought it was pretty funny, and made a spear, arrow or dart out of mistletoe using his magic. Since Baldur was immune to every ''other'' object, his brother gods made a sport of hurling whatever they could think to at him for shits and giggles. This gave Loki the perfect impetus to carefully place his magic spear into the hand of Höðr, a god who was blind and killed Baldur with it. Höðr was then blamed for Baldur's death, which Odin avenged by [[/d/|fucking a giantess]] and conceiving a god named Váli, who grew in one day just to kill him. 

The second sign, a winter that lasts three years with no summer in between, has yet to come according to legend. The name of these uninterrupted winters are called “Fimbulwinter”; during these three long years, the world will be plagued by wars, and men will kill their kindred.

====The End Times====
A beautiful red rooster named “Fjalar” (meaning “All-knower”) will warn all the giants that the Ragnarok has begun. Two other such roosters will warn the dishonorable dead in Hel and all the Gods in Asgard, the latter named “Gullinkambi”.

Heimdall will blow his horn as loud as he can, and that will be the warning for all the Einherjar (dead warriors) in Valhalla that the war has started. This will be the battle to end all battles, 
and all the Einherjar from Valhalla and Folkvangr who had died honorably in battle will pick up their swords and armor to fight side by side with the Aesir against the Giants.

Odin will be riding on his horse Sleipnir with his eagle helmet equipped and his spear Gungnir in his hand, and lead the enormous army of Asgard with all the Gods and brave einherjar to the battleground in the fields of Vigrid.

The Giants will come together with Hel, and all her dishonorable dead, in the ship Naglfar, which is made from the fingernails of all the dead, sail to the plains of Vigrid. The dragon Nidhogg will come flying over the battlefield and gather as many corpses for his never-ending hunger.

Odin will be torn apart by Fenrir, but shall be avenged by his son Vidar.  Loki will turn on the Aesir and fight Heimdall to the death. Tyr will fight the watchdog “Garm” that guards the gates of Hel and kill each other. Thor will fight the Midgard Serpent, Jormungand, and kill it, but he will die of the poisonous wounds it inflicts. Freyr will be killed by the fire giant named Surtr. Finally, Surtr will set all the nine worlds on fire, and everything will sink into the boiling sea.

[[Grimdark|There is nothing the Gods can do to prevent Ragnarok.]]

====The End of Another Beginning====
Everything looks pretty '''FUCKED UP''', I know - but while most of the Gods will perish in the mutual destruction with the Giants, it is predetermined that a new world will rise up from the water, beautiful and green. Before the battle of Ragnarok, a couple by the name Líf and Lífþrasir will find shelter in the sacred tree Yggdrasil. As foretold by the wise Jotunn Vafþrúðnir (Odin's intellectual rival), they consume mourning dew as food during the Ragnarok. When the battle is over, they will become the Norse version of Adam and Eve and repopulate the earth again, providing the sole comfort Odin could ever find in his foresight.

The few Gods who survive, as well as the resurrected Baldr, will go to Idavoll (the ancient altar and meeting site for the gods), which has remained untouched. There, they will build new houses, the greatest of the houses will be Gimli, and will have a roof of gold. There is also a new place called Brimir, at a place called Okolnir (“never cold”). It is in the mountains of Nidafjoll.

But there is also a terrible place, a great hall on Nastrond, the shore of corpses. All its doors face north to greet the screaming winds. The walls will be made of writhing snakes that pour their venom into a river that flows through the hall. This will be the new underground, full of thieves and murderers, and when they die, the great dragon Nidhug is there to feed upon their corpses.

==/tg/ Relevance==
Any game that has any connection to the [[Viking]]s is going to make use of Norse mythology in some way, shape or form.

===Official Usage===
In [[Dungeons & Dragons]], the [[plane]] of [[Ysgard]] is basically a mixture of Asgard and Jotunheim, with overtones of Valhalla. The [[Ratatosk]] are a race of squirrel [[beastfolk]] inspired by the squirrel of [[Yggdrasil]] - which itself is a part of the [[Great Wheel]] cosmology (somehow). [[Fensir]] are based on Nordic [[troll]]s, whilst D&D's [[giant]]s have their roots in the division between normal, frost and fire giants in Norse mythology. The [[dwarf]] race has varying levels of ties to Norse mythology, whilst the [[duergar]] take their name from a variant of an alternative Nordic word for dwarf ("dvergar").

The [[Midgard]] setting was based around Norse mythology, and then added non-Nordic regions to the world.

In [[Scion]], the Norse pantheon is so popular that it got its own spin-off [[splatbook]] in 1st edition.

===Making your own shit===
Being one of the most well-known mythologies in Western society, outside of [[Classical Mythology]], there's always interesting things you can do by looking at Norse lore and tinkering with the parts, especially if you do research into the more obscure regional variants like Danish or Scandinavian.

[[Category: Mythology]]