The Origins of Norse Mythology

In May of 2011, Marvel Studios released their first Thor film that made over 449.3 billion dollars in the box office worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. In 2017, the studio released their third film to the franchise, which brought in 854 billion dollars worldwide. Through this pop culture renaissance, Norse mythology has made its way back into the hearts of modern man. However, even though these myths are so close to us now, we don’t stop to think how this older way of life pertains to our lives right here, right now, in this very moment.

So let’s take a step back. Let’s look deeper into the origins of Norse Mythology, let’s look at how it taught us the ethics of a civilized society, and let’s look back on how different it is compared to other early forms tradition.

To start, let’s look back at the origins of Norse mythology. If you look it up on any of your electronic devices with access to the internet, you will get the Wikipedia definition that states, “Norse mythology is the body of myths of the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Norse paganism and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia and into the scandinavian folklore of the modern period.” And with that definition half of the audience just died of boredom. Wikipedia’s response is simply an extremely wordy way of saying that Norse mythology is a pagan religion, that originated from early Scandinavia. This means that instead of the traditional single god that many of us follow today, there was numerous gods. In fact, it is estimate that during its prime there were over 39 gods total. But people tend to focus an about 12. This includes Thor, Odin, Loki, and Freya, to name a few.

Records indicate that Norse Mythology may have started all the way back in the 13th century, and at the time, it wasn’t really called a religion, more so it was more so tradition. Meaning people followed it just because they always did, no one really questioned it. I’m sure someone might have had their doubts, you like- Why are we sacrificing this goat man, like I’m hungry. Why are we wasting food? Anyway, Norse Mythology was practiced by early Germanic tribes all throughout Scandinavia, and it was eventually upheld during the Viking Age, which according to the The Viking Museum, lasted between the years 793 – 1070 A.D. Like all forms of religion Norse Mythology tells us a different version of how the world began:

Story goes, that before the world was created, there was nothing. No earth, no sky, no sea just empty space. In the north, there was Nifilheim, the dark side of the world. In that area, there were 11 rivers of poison that, cut through it, and it was always freezing cold. To the south of this emptiness, there was Muspell, and it was always on fire. It was the brightside to Nifilheim’s dark side, hot were Nifilheim was cold. In between the two was a void named Ginnungagap, the “yawning gap” were Ymir, a massive giant, and its children lived.

I say it because Ymir was neither male or female, yet both at the same time. Ymir had a cow that would lick blocks of ice that were inside the void, and from one of the blocks, a man named Buri emerged. Buri had taken one of Ymir’s children as a wife and together had a son, named Bor. Bor grew up and married a giant named, Bestla, and they had three sons of their own: Odin, Vili and Ve. This family had a very long patriarchy. When these three boys reached manhood, they took upon themselves to create life and the world as we know it. They had killed Ymir, their reasoning being that “it had to be done” for this great giant made the world. From its blood, salty and grey we have the ocean, from its flesh the soil was made. Ymir’s bones were piled up high to make cliffs and mountains, its teeth and bone fragments, were crushed to make rock, sand and gravel.

When all the madness had settled, it was time to create man. They had found two logs, one was made from ash wood, which is deemed to be resilient and handsome, and the other made of elm which was more elegant, yet tough. The three brothers looked at them and began their work. Odin had given them life, Vili gave them the gift a free will and intelligence, and Ve had carved them into the shape of people, two naked people one male and one female. The brothers had made clothes so that they could keep warm, and given them names. The woman was of course named Embla after Elm tree and the man Ask after Ash. It is from the creation of these two that all of today’s men and women are descended (Gaiman, 136 – 191).

Yet, Norse mythology isn’t just about the creation of the world, or in this case worlds as there are a total of 9 different realms all connected through Yggdrasail (the world tree), but Norse Mythology also teaches us the ethic of a civilized society. This ideal is or what known as Innagard and Utangard, Innagard meaning orderly, civilized, and law-abiding, unlike to its counterpart Utangard which means wild, unorderly, and anarchic. Before the introduction of Christianity, the concepts of Innagard and Utangard were found in the forms social, political, economic and religious situations according to norse-mythology.org. However for the sake of time, we will focus on the social aspects of innagard and utangard, specifically the ideal of justice. This was demonstrated by medieval Icelanders, who called their society “Our Law”. Because of this, law became a moral barrier separating the innagard and utangard. It was this concept that brought our modern world view of justice. Now I know your sitting there right now thinking- People have been finding ways to preserve justice for like ever, I mean take a look at the French the turned to beheading. Well your right however, the way that justice was taught in Norse Mythology relates heavily to the way our criminal justice system works today. You see, when a person was found guilty of a heinous crime, they were punished with outlawry, which means that a person was outcasted from society and stripped of their civil liberties.

They no longer had the protections of the law, they were an outsider. This parallels with how crimes are treated today: if you are found guilty of a crime, you punished by being separated and locked away while also being stripped of most civil liberties and, even if you do get reintroduced into society, many still don’t include you as one with the community. Today our utangard have a lot more protections from things like unfair trials. It is clear to see that our social ideals of justice were derived in part from Norse values and ideals: That being when people refuse to follow the rules, that are ideally placed to protect the people, the utangard have to face some sort of consequence for their actions.

Now even though Norse mythology just sounds like every earlier pagan religion, many of the pieces that go into it are very different. This is is because of two main reasons. Number one: is that Norse mythology ultimately has an end to the world, and all life as we know it. This event is called Ragnarok meaning fate of the Gods, in which the gods rage war against not only each other but also a number of mythical creatures that wish destruction upon the world. Many will die including some the gods such as Odin, and Thor. This is vastly different from Greek Mythology, were there is no set end of the world, or even the death of a god. Another difference that is made just from this story is that the Norse gods could die. Throughout Norse myth it is noted that the gods did age however, the only way combat the aging process was to eat these special apples specifically grown just for the gods. You know what and apple day keeps the wrinkles away, God how I wish that were true. That would be a perfect world wouldn’t it?

Number two: the Norse gods were actually involved with the lives of man. Now when I say involved I don’t mean like Zeus who come do very often and get someone pregnant. Let’s be honest her for a second, 95% of problems that are discussed in Greek is because Zeus couldn’t keep it in his pants. This is lesson for young men and women everywhere sharing, is not always caring. In Norse Mythology there are countless tales of the gods visit mortals and interacting with them as though they are friends. This is seen countless adventures with Loki and Thor. My most favorite story is where Loki and Thor are traveling to Jotunheim (pronounced “YO-tun-hame), the land of giants. Along the way they encountered a family of three that was struggling to survive and make a living, yet even though they were facing hardships, they willing opened their home to the Gods. As a result Thor and Loki shared the food and meat that they had with the family and considered them friends for life, in fact they allowed the son to continue the journey with them. Now how times have you seen a Greek god do that?

Looking back at the origins of Norse Mythology, the ethics of of civilization it teaches us, and how it differs from other forms of early mythology there is a lot of wisdom in these stories that we can look back on. In some way, shape, or form they are a part of our everyday lives. So the next you watch a Thor movie, take a moment and look up the stories behind your favorite characters, you might just find something you never knew you were looking for. 

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