The Norse were tribes from Northern Europe such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They were known as Vikings and were famous for raiding the British Isles and Europe. Norse myths were originally oral traditions but were later written down by Christians, though some alterations may have occurred due to this influence. The Prose Edda and Poetic Edda contain many of the myths. The Norse creation story describes the formation of the world from the primordial emptiness of Ginnungagap and the realms of fire and ice. The gods killed the giant Ymir and formed the world from his body. Odin created humans and all life. Ragnarok is the prophesied end of the world, where the gods and

1. Norse Mythology

2. Who were the Norse?
• The Norse were tribes that inhabited Northern
Europe, specifically Norway, Sweden, Finland,
and Denmark.
• Historically, the Norse were know by the term
“Viking” and were famous for their raids along
the British Isles and continental Europe.

3. How Do We Know What We Know?
• Norse myths existed only in oral form while they were
central to religious belief. They were written down
after Northern Europe had become Christian.
• However this presents a few problems:
– There is no coherent body of literature showing the myths
and legends
– There could possibly be alterations due to the influence of
Christianity
– The “fictionalization” of stories which originally had
religious importance
– Therewas a wide time span, wide geographical range, and
many different sub-cultures.

4. Recorded Sources
• There are some sources that were recorded
and we are pretty sure have not been altered.
• Prose Edda and Poetic Edda are where most of
our ideas about the Norse religion come from.
• However, unlike most myths, we know exactly
who wrote these Eddas…Snorri Sturluson in
the 13th centaury.

5. Norse Creation Myth
• Ginnungagap was the
great emptiness before
there was a world, or
any living things in it.
• Far to the South of the
Ginnungagap was the
fiery realm of Muspell.
• With its long, hot rivers
full of poison and vast
lakes of fire, nothing
could grow in Muspell.

6. Norse Creation Myth
• To the North was the
dark and cold realm of
Niflheim, where icy
fountains spewed forth
freezing rivers.
• Nothing could grow
here either, for the sky
was always dark and
the mountains were
blocks of solid ice.

7. Norse Creation Myth
• Slowly, over years and
years and years, the
fiery blasts from
Muspell began to melt
the icy mountains of
Niflheim.
• Out of the melting ice,
the giant Ymir emerged,
the first being of the
vast Ginnungagap.

8. Norse Creation Myth
• Next to him there emerged a
cow from the ice.
• The cow licked the salt from
the ice mountains and Ymir
drank the cow’s milk.
• The cow licked away entire
mountains of ice. Slowly she
licked the ice from two more
beings, this time the god Buri
and his goddess wife.
• They had a son named Bor,
and his son was named Odin,
who became the king of all
the gods.

9. Norse Creation Myth
• Ymir was cruel and brutal.
• Odin and the other gods
could no longer abide by his
evil acts and together the
gods slew him.
• Ymir’s huge body formed the
earth. His blood became the
sea, his flesh became the
land, his bones the
mountains and his hair the
trees.
• Odin and the other gods
formed the sky with his skull,
held up by four towering
pillars.

10. Norse Creation Myth
• Odin gathered sparks from the fiery depths of
Muspell and created the sun and moon and
set them in the sky.
• As the sun and moon shone over the new
world in the Ginnungagap, the ice began to
melt and plants and trees began to grow.

11. Norse Creation Myth
• The greatest tree of all was
the Yggdrasil, which grew
in the very center of the
earth.
• Its roots penetrated into
the bottom of creation and
its leaves reached the very
top of the sky.
• Odin was satisfied with the
new world, and named it
Midgard, ‘The Middle
Land’.

12. Norse Creation Myth
• On one of his walks, Odin found
two fallen trees, an ash and an
elm.
• He lifted them from the mud
and formed the first man and
woman from them.
• Odin breathed life into the
beings, gave them reason and
feelings, hearing and sight.
• He named the man Ask and the
woman Embla. From these two
sprang the entire human race.
• The humans had the task of
looking after Midgard, while the
gods ascended to Asgard (their
realm in heaven).

13. Norse Creation Myth
• Ymir’s giant sisters were still mourning his death and were
looking for a way to take their revenge on the gods who
killed him.
• They gathered at the foot of Yggdrasil and began carving
lines into it.
• Each line was a human life, filled with twists and turns,
beginning with a man’s birth, and ending with his death.
• At the end of each line they made a deep cut to ensure that
humans would never be as powerful as the gods.
• These spells were so powerful that not even Odin could do
anything to change them.
• Thus Yggdrasil became known as ‘The Tree of Life’ and
humans knew death and suffering in their world.

14. Different Deities
• There were actually two distinct division
among the gods of Norse mythology.
• The Aesir make up the principle gods of the
pantheon and were connected to power and
war.
• The Vanir appear to mainly be connected to
cultivation and fertility.
• Over time both groups would merge with the
Aesir gods being the dominate.

15. Nine Worlds
• There were nine separate worlds to the Norse
that made up the cosmos.
• Midgard (where the humans dwelt)
• Asgard (this is the capitol of the Norse Gods
and where most of the myths take place).
• Hel (the underworld)
• The other six worlds are referred to, but play
no big part in the major myths.

16. Valhalla
• Odin’s Hall
• The home of those slain
gloriously in battle.
• There idea of heaven
where you prepared to
fight at the end of the
world.

17. Gods and Goddess

18. Odin
• Chief God
• God of wisdom, war,
battle and death (among
other things)
• Had one eye. Gave an
eye for wisdom
• Odin’s weapon of choice
was a spear (Gungnir)
and he rode Sleipnir (an
eight-legged horse).

19. Frigg
• Wife of Odin
• Patron of marriage,
motherhood and
fertility.
• Plays little part in the
myths.

20. Thor
• Son of Odin
• Red Haired and Bearded
• God of thunder (as well
as lightening, wind and
rain) and war.
• Weapon of choice was a
special crafted war
hammer, Mjolnir.
• Hammer was crafted by
the dwarfs of Asgard.

21. Sif
• Golden haired wife of
Thor.
• Fertility goddess
• Plays little part in the
myths.

22. Tyr
• God of single combat
and heroic glory.
• Bound the great wolf
Fenrir.
• One hand (lost the
other to the wolf Fenrir)
• Bravest of the Gods.

24. Heimdall
• Guardian of the Gods
• Watches over the Bifrost
Bridge (connects the
worlds together).
• Could see perfectly for
hundreds of miles in the
day or night.
• Needed no sleep.
• Blows his warning horn if
trouble approaches
• Will only blow his horn
once in all the myths.

25. Freyr
• One of the most
important Norse Gods
• God of Fertility
• Carried a magic sword

26. Freya
• Goddess of love and
fertility.
• The most beautiful of
the goddesses
• Patron of crops and
childbirth.

27. Baldr
• God of innocence, joy,
beauty and peace.
• Odin’s second son.
• Invulnerable to
everything, except
mistletoe
• Killed by his blind brother
Hoor, who was tricked by
Loki
• Death begins the
prophecy for the end of
the world

28. Hoor/Hod
• God of winter and
darkness
• Blind
• Tricked by Loki into
killing Balder

29. Vidar
• God of Silence
• God of Revenge

30. Uller
• God of the Winter.
• Always dressed in
animal furs.
• Patron of the western
mountains.

31. Valkyrie
• Goddess of combat
• Rode over the
battlefields to choose
those slain gloriously in
battle.
• They choose who got to
go to Valhalla.

32. Forces of Chaos
• There are several forces that are constantly
fighting the gods but among them only six are
prominent.
– Frost Giants
– Fire Giants
– Loki
– Loki’s three children

33. Loki
• God of Mischief
• Odin’s brother
• Prankster
• Has three child who are
the greatest monsters
in the known world.

34. Loki’s Brood

35. Fenrir
• A massive wolf
• Capable of breaking any
bonds
• Special bond was made
by the gods and Tyr
bound the monster.

36. Jörmungandr (World Serpent)
• A massive snake with
venomous breath.
• Cast down into the
oceans of Midgard
where he became so
large his body circled
the world
• The arch-enemy of Thor

37. Hel
• A female with half a
face like a beautiful
woman and the other
half of her face like a
corpse.
• Ruler of Hel (the place),
the Viking underworld.
• Companion her
hellhound Garm.

38. Ragnarok
• The Viking Armageddon
• Introduced by the birth of Loki’s three
children.
• Triggered by the death of Baldr.
• Fought during three consecutive winters.

39. Loki’s Punishment
• Punished for the death
of Baldr, Loki is tied to a
rock where a snake
spits its venom onto his
face everyday.
• However a great
earthquake will break
all the bonds in the
universe and the battle
of Ragnorak will begin.

41. Final Battle
• At Ragnarok, the sons of Muspell (fire giants)
shatter the Bifrost Bridge.
• Loki leads the rest of the giants toward
Valhalla for the final battle of the world.

42. Final Battle
• Odin will fight Fenrir,
but after a long battle
will be eaten by the
great wolf.
• To avenge his fallen
father, Tyr kills the
beast by ripping its jaws
apart.

43. Final Battle
• Thor will fight the world serpent and kill it, but
will only be able to take 9 steps back before
dying from the creature’s venom.

44. Final Battle
• Tyr will fight the hellhound Garm, and the two
will slay each other
• With Garm dead, there is no guardian of Hel
so the dead warriors not in Valhalla rise to
fight.

45. Final Battle
• Heimdall and Loki with fight and kill each
other.

46. Final Battle
• Brandishing the Sword
of Vengeance, Surtr
(the great fire giant) will
burn all 9 worlds of the
Norse universe.
• The fire will destroy
everything, including
himself
• Thus ends the world

47. The End?
• Although Surtr destroys the world, this is not
the end.
• The earth reemerges and the sons of the gods
as well as two humans (a male and female)
emerge from Yggdrasil and begin to
repopulate the world.
• A newer and a fairer sun will arise symbolizing
the completion of a perfect world.

48. Heroes

49. Sigurd/Seigfried the Dragon Slayer
• Sigurd the Dragon Slayer is the hero of the
anonymous 13th century Icelandic prose epic,
Völsunga saga, based on legends of Old
Scandinavian folk culture.
• Slays the dragon Fafnir to claim a dragon’s
hoard.

50. Beowulf
• An Anglo-Saxon hero
chronicled in the epic poem
Beowulf from the 8th
centaury.
• Kills three monstrous
beings: Grendel, Grendel’s
Mother, and a Dragon.
• Embodies the ideals of the
Norse culture.
• Considered the first piece of
written literature of what
would become English.