Translation: Jon Alkorta Martiartu, PhD (UPV/EHU)
A Little Bit of Nordic Mythology
We are all familiar with Odin and Thor, the Valkyries and the Viking raiders. Let’s travel to Scandinavian and Northern European lands to get closer to the legends that make up the Nordic mythology. Come into the Valhalla.
The Eddas
No one would say that it was thanks to a Christian monk that we have preserved the great corpus of Norse mythology. This was Snorri Sturluson, who lived in Iceland between 1179 and 1241. During his lifetime he collected from the Scandinavian oral tradition a whole series of stories to which he gave the name Edda. In particular, Snorri’s work has come down to us in prose, and is therefore known as the Prosaic Edda or Lesser Edda. The same name was also given to another anonymous compilation, this time in verse, which is known as the Poetic Edda or Greater Edda.
Thanks to these texts we know the Norse cosmogony that explains how the world originated for the Scandinavians, how their nine worlds were characterised (all of them connected by the Yggdrasil tree), who were the gods and their sides (the Vanir and the Aesir), and how the world would end, especially for the brave warriors who fell in battle and who would go to celebrate their death in Valhalla with their god Odin.
Apart from these texts, a whole series of narratives known as Sagas have also come down to us, which tell of the exploits of Norse heroes that straddle the line between fantasy and reality. For example, the Saga of Erik the Red tells of the arrival of the Vikings in North America, in a place they called Vinland.
If you want to enjoy these medieval texts in their genuine form, we recommend the Alianza Editorial editions of the Greater Edda and the Lesser Edda, as well as all the Sagas published commendably by Miraguano.
Without a doubt, the most popular gods in Norse mythology are Odin and Thor. The former is characterised by his wisdom. We know that he galloped on an eight-legged horse called Sleipnir, accompanied by three ravens through which he saw at a distance. According to legend, in order to gain wisdom he immolated himself by hanging from a tree. After a few days on the verge of death, the runes were revealed to him, a magical alphabet with which he could cast spells. In exchange he lost an eye.
Thor, on the other hand, was the god of thunder, a mighty warrior whose main attribute was his hammer Mjolnir. One of his stories tells how he defeated the sea serpent Midgard with it, after a terrible fight to the death.
Other gods of the Norse pantheon are Freya, Loki or Balder. Here I leave you a video in which I interview Manuel Velasco, one of the greatest experts in Spain on Norse mythology, where he talks about these characters.
Ragnarök
Odin on his horse Sleipnir.
The end of the world for the Northmen was an event known as Ragnarök, which was a terrible final battle that would lead to total destruction.
This battle will be fought by the gods, or Aesir, led by Odin, and the fire giants led by Surt, along with the jotun led by Loki. Not only will all perish, but almost everything in the universe will be destroyed.
To prepare for this battle, the Valkyries, sacred women who turn into ravens, will fly over the battlefields to collect the souls of the most valiant warriors who have fallen in battle and bring them to Odin in his palace known as Valhalla where they will wait until the final battle.
The Winter Solstice Sacrifice
Carl Larsson. The Winter Solstice Sacrifice (1914-1915).
If you travel to Stockholm, you should not miss a visit to the National Museum. There, as soon as you enter, as you climb the steps, you will come face to face with a gigantic canvas by the painter Carl Larsson. It is The Winter Solstice Sacrifice. Here we have the narration of a potentially mythological story that tells us of a kingdom plunged into famine and poverty after years of bad harvests. The leader of the tribe decides to sacrifice his life to the gods in order to bring prosperity back to his people. If we look at the centre of the composition, the monarch removes his fur cloak and is left naked. The priest raises Mjolnir to the sky while the executioner prepares his dagger behind his back to carry out the sacrifice. At the sides of the composition we see the different classes of the village awaiting the sacrifice.
We are not sure where this story comes from. One of its sources is thought to be a text by the historian Adam of Bremen.
A spectacular canvas not only for its dimensions, but also for this terrible story that tells us about human sacrifice in the Nordic world. Be sure to visit it if you happen to be in the Swedish capital.
Mistérica 11 – Vikings Special
Cover of Mistérica Ars Secreta magazine, vikings issue.
In the Mistérica Ars Secreta magazine we dedicate an issue to the world of the Vikings. There you will find a lot more information on this topic: articles about the Valkyries, the berserkers, the Norse gods, the map of Vinland, the drakkars, the arrival of the Vikings in Seville, the way of Saint Olav (the first Viking saint), rune magic, the monumental canvas about the winter solstice sacrifice in Stockholm, as well as the historical truth behind the characters of the Viking series. We also have an Icelandic saga translated for the first time into Spanish by Mariano González Campo.
OpenEdition le sugiere que cite este post de la siguiente manera:
Dr. Pedro Ortega (6 de octubre de 2023). Un poquito de mitología nórdica. El blog de Tartalo. Recuperado 19 de marzo de 2025 de https://doi.org/10.58079/unvy