Fun Facts About Norse Mythology

Hey guys!

Sorry I haven't updated in so long (it's been what, a month?). I'm touched that this blog gets so many pageviews! Feel free to comment on any post, by the way.

For the past week or so I've been obsessed with Norse mythology.

Actually, it's more like I've become re-obsessed. I first came to love Norse mythology in 4th grade, since it was part of the curriculum. For some reason I like it better than Greek mythology, which is more widely known.

My re-obsession commenced when we got an assignment in Creative Writing instructing us to take a god of our choice and write about them in modern day setting. I think whoever wrote the assignment was thinking Greek, but that's been done a lot (*coughPercyJacksoncough*)

So I did Norse.

The problem with trying to update Norse mythology is Ragnarok.

Ragnarok is the end of the world, where the gods and the jotuns (giants) have a big apocalyptic battle. Most depressing chapter in my Norse Myths book, because almost everyone dies. Odin, Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Frey...there are maybe seven survivors total, mostly minor characters (although I think Baldur comes back from the dead, so that's good).

It's pretty unusual for a mythology to include the destruction of all its own gods, and I read somewhere that Ragnarok may have been invented to allow Norse myths to coexists with incoming Christianity. The fact that in some versions two humans survive Ragnarok to re-populate the earth supports this.

Or maybe it just got consolidated with the Book of Revelations. *shrugs*

When I was younger my favorite god was Thor, but these days it's Loki.

Note: Unlike in the Marvel universe, in traditional mythology Thor and Loki are NOT brothers. I'm learning to tolerate Marvel, but this still bugs me. Loki and ODIN are blood brothers, but not brothers by birth. Back before Odin lost an eye and gained wisdom ('nother story) he met Loki. (D'Aulares Book of Norse Myths, my main source, says that Loki was some kind of mutant jotun, but I read elsewhere that he's 1/2 jotun and 1/2 god. I think that makes more sense, since he's supposed to be a pretty handsome guy and he's also a shapeshifter.)

Anyway, Loki and Odin got along so well that they cut their wrists and let their blood flow together. They vowed to always fight side by side, to honour each other as brothers and never to accept a favour unless it was also offered to the other. I'm pretty sure all of these promises got broken by both of them.

So that makes Loki something like Thor's adopted uncle.

Although to be honest, Thor and Loki really do behave more like brothers. They go on quite a few adventures together, and although Loki ticks Thor off a few times, he also gets the thunder god out of some sticky situations.

I've had fun with the modern-day story and maybe I'll post it here later. It's seven pages long with extensive footnotes and mainly revolves around a dialog between Loki and Sif (Thor's wife). Also, Thor's in jail. XD

Anyway, coming back to this post after about a week, I saw Thor the other night! And I actually really enjoyed it. They did change a lot, but it was fun to watch and I got really into it.

But I was kind of annoyed at the Loki-Odin relationship...see above rant.

The other thing that bugged me a little was that Loki was so serious. I always pictured him as being really funny, even a little goofy sometimes. I guess I'll just have to write him myself. :)

Oh, and have some art.

Drawn with pencil and pen, coloured in Sumo. Not quite finished yet though...

It's a drawing of two of Loki's lesser-known children, Narfi and Nari. (Or Nari and Vali, depending on where you look, but there's a different god called Vali, so I went with Narfi.) They have a fairly gruesome fate which I recently found out about. :P They're really very minor characters...

I will definitely be posting more about Norse mythology later!

Here's another Sumo picture for you.

Igor O'Malley, who was drawn quite a long time ago.