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Norse mythology is a very special mythological system that was popular in Scandinavia and formed slightly later than in other parts of the world. I am not professional at all, but I have dabbled in a few books as a teenager and have a cursory understanding of the Norse mythological system. Knowing that the questions about Norse mythology are few and pitiful, since today I saw the question about the Norse mythological system, I suddenly became interested, and while checking the data, combined with the existing things in my hand to confirm each other, here try to make a popular and simple introduction to the Norse mythological system.
In case of omissions and mistakes, please do not hesitate to correct them.
Personally, I like Norse mythology, first, because it is relatively niche, and it looks very tall to understand such a niche knowledge that is easy to use to talk about the story to hook up with girls; second, because Norse mythology is very yellow! Very violent! It's pretty much to my taste.
So, let's get started!
First, the origin
In the beginning the universe was a chaos, and when the universe was in chaos, it already had the oldest and strongest will, or existence, called Orlog. He has no beginning and no end, nothing out of nothing, no birth, no death, no impurity, he seems to be a god, but he does nothing, he says nothing. He didn't create the world, he didn't refine stones to make up the heavens, he didn't have an epiphany under a tree, he didn't walk on the sea, he didn't curse the unbelievers to hell, he didn't reward the pious believers with 72 virgins, he was very close, well, to what Marxism calls "law."
After that, the chaos began to open, and the turbidity began to divide. At the heart of this chaos, a rapidly swirling bottomless pit, the Ginnunaga Gap, at its center, was born from the eternal shimmer of a living spring called Hvergelmir. This spring is the source of twelve great rivers collectively known as Elivagar.
To the north of Kinlunga is Niflheim, meaning "Mist-home" (Mist-home). It is an area full of thick fog and severe cold all year round. The great river flowing from the Hervagmir Springs freezes here into a huge glacier, accumulating over time, unpredictable in height, and once it breaks, it emits a huge roar.
South of Kinrenga, opposite Nyverheim, is the fiery Muspelheim, who is in constant flame all day, and the flame troll/man Surtr or Surtr is in charge. The boss, who later held a huge flame sword called Lævateinn in the twilight of the gods and fought against the Gods of Arthur and used the magic sword to destroy the earth, could not withstand the sound of the glacier collapsing, and often swung his flame sword to slash at the huge iceberg in the north.
《Surtr》 by John Charles Dollman
The twelve rivers flowing from the Hervagmir Spring, one of the three-eyed springs that nourished the Tree of the World, were first frozen into glaciers by the severe cold in the north, and the collapsing icebergs were blown by the hot winds in the south, melted into water vapor and rose upwards, and then condensed into frost and snow by the severe cold, falling and re-melting into water vapor. And so on.
Thus, under the control of the invisible will of Orlaug, in the midst of this mutual intercourse of yin and yang, over time and from the bottomless pit of the Jinlunga Gap, a huge, giant named Yumir or Ymir was born, and another named Aurgelmir was born.
Yumir was born in the ice and snow of the twelve great rivers known as Elivagar, but it is said that one of the twelve great rivers contained a high poison in the water, so the original giants contained this poison in their blood, so all the giants were evil.
Yumir is the original Frost Giant, the ancestor of the Frost Giant (but it has nothing to do with the Fire Giant, and the giants mentioned later in the story are almost all Frost Giants).
Along with the Frost Giant, there was also a big cow named Audhumla, uh, and from its breasts, four streams of milk burst out, forming four trickling streams, on which the original Giants and gods were raised.
Odembra & Bli, 18th century Icelandic manuscript
Yumir feeds on the milk of the cow, while the cow licks its nutrients from the salt rock around her. On the first day, a small handful of hair was revealed under the ice and snow salt rock, the next day the whole handsome head was revealed, and on the third day this beautiful and burly man stood up from the salt rock, and this distant relative of Sun Wukong, who also jumped out of the stone, was the ancestor of the Aesir tribe, Buri.
At this time Yumir was asleep, and from under his armpits gave birth to a male giant and a female giant, and between his legs grew a six-headed giant Þruðgelmir, and Thelmir gave birth to the giant Bergelmir.
The story of Selot Gemmel and Beglemere will be returned later, and here we must first mention the two giants born in Yumir's armpits, a man and a woman. One of them is called Mimir, known as the Giants of Wisdom. At the helm of the Fountain of Wisdom, some people think that the two giants just happen to have the same name, not one person (because the plot is not very compatible).
The female giant is called Bestla. There is a theory that Yumir gave birth to Bolthorn, and ThatBestra was Borsa's daughter and Yumir's granddaughter. It is also believed that Borsa is Mimir. (It is also said that under Yumir's armpits were not Mimir and Bestra, but two giants whose names are now unnamed, a man and a woman, who bred countless frost giants, including Borson, Mir, and Bestra, who was Mir's sister.) ）
The Frost Giants and Bulli fight for the milk of Odeumbra, and the two sides win and lose each other, but the war is difficult to end. Yumir later killed Boullie, but when Boole died, he bore a son from his womb, Borr. It is also said that As soon as Bulli jumped out of the stone, he gave birth to his son, WTF! Bulli is also a good cut for men?! ）。 Baul then fought the Frost Giants and, taking advantage of a chance of victory, snatched Beatra and gave birth to her triplets and three sons, the eldest son Odin or Odin, the second son Vili, and the third son, Ve. The three sons grew up on the ground, and Odin is the main god in Norse mythology, which is the origin of the Asa god family.
Portrait of Odin, Iceland, 18th century
The original Asa god Odin and four others finally killed the giant Yumir, and the blood from Yumir's wounds almost swallowed up the fleeing giants like a flood, and only Yumir's grandson Begrmir and his wife escaped by boat. They established a giant kingdom called Jötunheimr on the edge of the world. Bred a bunch of Frost Giants. After giving birth to three sons and killing Yumir, the god Bauer had no role to play.
2. Creation
Victorious, Baul and his sons called themselves the Asa gods, became the masters of the world, and began to create, or transform, the world. They dragged Yumir's body to the center of the snow-dusty Kinlunga Divide, and built a land called Miðgarðr/Midgard with Yumir's body, floating above Yumir's blood sea; planted Yumir's hair as a boundary around the land; placed the big cow on the plateau mountains in the middle of the earth, and the four streams of milk were divided into four large rivers; Yumir's bones were transformed into rolling mountains; and the teeth were reduced to steep cliffs Beard and hair for trees and flowers.
He also removed Yumir's skull as a heavenly dome, and the brain plasma was cloudy, and the four maggots that grew out of Ymir's flesh were turned into four able-bodied dwarfs, carrying the heavenly dome on their shoulders. The four dwarfs, who live on a north-south-east-west divide, are named Norðri/Nordri, Suðri/Sudri, Austri and Vestri. The gods saw the scattered sparks from Musbeerheim, and took some of them that filled the sky and the universe into shining stars, and the two largest pieces, causing the sun and the moon, were carried in a gold car. Two horses, Arvak and Alsvid, were brought tow in the sun carriage, and a horse named Alsvider was pulled alone with the moon.
There was a giant named Mundilfari who married the daughter of the fire giant Sylt and had a pair of children, a son named Mani and a woman named Sol. The two children, Sur and Mani, were very beautiful, and Mondial Fari boasted about them everywhere. The gods were not happy to hear this, so they sent his two children into the sky. Odin ordered Sur to drive the sun chariot for the sun god, and Marni was the moon god, driving the moon carriage, alternating between the sky (the sun god and the moon god so happily decided, so simple and rough).
Wolves Chasing Suhl and Mani by John Charles Dollman, 1909
Odin chose a precursor for the two of them, the frost giant Norvi has a daughter, Nott, the goddess of the night, riding a black car dragged by the black frost horse named Hrimfaxi that Odin gave her, following the moon carriage across the sky, and when they appear in the sky, the earth enters the night, and The sweat of Helim Faxi is the frost dew of the morning. Nott was married three times, giving birth to a son, Audr, with her first husband. The husband of the second marriage was Annar, who gave birth to Jord, the goddess of the earth, and is said to be the son of Jord and Odin, the god of thunder. Her third husband was Delling, the god of dawn, and their children were Dagr, the god of daylight. Odin prepares a light horse called Skinfaxi for Dagu, rides a silver cart, picks up his mother's class, and drives across the sky during the day.
Dagu on a Horse by Peter Nicolai Arbo
Because the sun was so hot, the gods installed a giant shield Svalin in front of the sun car to avoid burning the car. Disgusted by the light created by the gods, the dark-loving sirius causes a wolf named Skoll to chase the sun and swallow it. When a solar eclipse occurs, it means that Sur is being chased, and another wolf named Hati always chases the moon behind the car, and when he catches up, a lunar eclipse occurs, and people on the ground will beat gongs and drums to scare away the wolf. But when the twilight of the gods comes, the two wolves will swallow the sun and moon in one gulp. When the world is reborn, the task of driving the sun car will be inherited by Sunna, the daughter of Sur, and the new sun will not need to be separated by a shield, because it will be extremely gentle and will bring the earth back to life.
In addition to the wolf, there are some evil beings who always try to destroy the creation of the gods, and there is a corpse-devouring giant named Hræsvelgr (Hraesvelgr), because the warm new world has caused him to sharply reduce his food, and when he is hungry, he will wear an eagle feather and turn into an evil eagle, bringing cold winds across the earth and bringing harm to mankind.
3. Create man
The gods of Asa created the heavens and the earth, arranged the sun and the moon, and prescribed the four seasons. And he made man out of two sections of trees floating from the sea, made men out of ash branches, and made women out of elm branches. The male is named Ask ("Ash Tree") and the female is called Embla ("Elm Tree"). Odin gave them life and soul, Willie gave them reason and action, and Phillips gave them feelings, looks, and words. The gods placed them in Midgart, the ancestor of mankind.
When the gods of Asa created the heavens and the earth, many maggots were born from the body of Yumir, and the maggots born from the body of the ancestor of the giants were also spiritual, and the gods gave them human form and superhuman wisdom, which were divided into two categories, and the light side gave birth to some white and lovely elves, the gods called Alfar, and sent them to live in mid-air with the brow bone of Yumir, the elven house Álfheim, who flew around at will, taking care of flowers and plants. Frolicking with birds, birds, bees, and butterflies, and also helping the gods manage the world and deal with the affairs of the sun, moon, and stars.
And the shady side is born of some dark-skinned cunning and lustful lustful, called dark elves or dwarfs or Gnomes, the gods are worried that they will cause trouble to the world, so they drive them to the underground black dwarf house, Svartalfheim (Svartalfheim/Svartalgheim), they are famous goldsmiths and blacksmiths, their task is to collect underground treasures and minerals, hide them from humans easily, They also built many powerful weapons and elaborate jewelry for the gods, but the gods did not allow them to appear on the ground during the day, otherwise they would turn into stone.
After creating the world, Odin led the gods to the plains of Idawald on the banks of the Ifing River, and built the territory of the Asa gods called Ásgarðr/Asgard. Twelve male gods (Aesir) and twenty-four goddesses (Asynjur) were appointed to assist Odin. A grand meeting was convened, and Odin, in the name of the King of the Gods, swore an oath to Ollauga and laid down the prohibition of bloodshed in Asgard. Another result of this meeting was that the gods built a huge smelting furnace, casting all kinds of weapons and tools necessary for the construction of the shrine.
Asgard and the inhabited world of Midgard are connected by a rainbow bridge of fire, water, and air (Bifrost/Bifröst/Bilröst), and Heimdallr is the patron saint of this bridge, so that the gods give him the best eyes, even in the dark can see far, give him very sensitive ears, even the sound of grass and wool growth can be heard, and day and night without rest and fatigue. He also has a warning horn called Gjallarhorn. Heimdall usually stood near the Rainbow Bridge, monitoring him with his superior eyes and ears to prevent the giants from sneaking into the Realm of God. But he also had his own palace, Himinbjorg, meaning "Palace of The Guardians." His most hated person was the evil fire god Loki, so he was also known as "Loki's enemy". At dusk for the gods, the Rainbow Bridge is trampled by demons such as Sylt and falls, and Heimdall will duel with Loki. At the same time, He was also the last God to fall.
The nerves meet from this bridge to the earth, or to urðarbrunnr/Well of Urd, next to the roots of the tree of the world/tree of life. Of the gods, only Thor, the god of thunder, did not walk from this bridge, lest his heavy footsteps and thunder and fire break the bridge.
Odin had three palaces in Asgard, one of which, in the woods of Glarsir, called Valhalla (Valhalla), had five hundred and forty gates, each wide enough to accommodate eight hundred warriors to enter side by side. Above the main entrance is the head of a wild boar and an eagle; the eagle's sharp eyes can see all sides of the world. The four walls of the palace are lined up with extremely polished spears, so the light is conspicuous; the top of the palace is paved with golden shields. The seats in the palace are covered with exquisite armor, which is a gift from Odin to his guests. All warriors who died in battle, the so-called Einheriar, who were heavily armed by Odin, had to enter this palace as guests.
The heroic warriors who were brought to Valkyrja in Valkyrja were first welcomed in the palace by Odin's two sons and then taken to Odin's throne to receive a commendation. If it is the arrival of the warriors of the gods' usual wishes, Odin will also stand up to greet him as a special courtesy.
In the Valhalla Palace, there is a feast for the war dead, with delicious wild boar meat and fragrant goat milk honey wine. Wild boar meat is the meat of the sacred pig, which is cut down daily by Andhrimnir, the cook of the shrine, and cooked in a large pot, and then the sacred pig is resurrected every day and full of fat meat. Goat milk honey wine is continuously produced by Heidrun, a magical sheep, to supply the needs of the heroic warriors.
When the warriors are satisfied, they will get up and fight each other, continuing to practice their fighting skills in order to serve Odin in the final battle of the twilight of the gods. The spirit of unremitting fighting, as well as the heroic image of drinking heavily and eating meat, is the most ideal way of life in the minds of the Nordics who regard bravery as the supreme virtue and death as the supreme glory.
《Walhalla》 by Emil Doepler, 1905
Fourth, the tree of the world
After Odin and the gods created the world, humans, elves and dwarves, they created the tree of the world, Yggdrasill, which connects the nine worlds, and is related to the fate of the world, and the whole world is withered and shared, so Ygdrasho is also known as the tree of the universe and the tree of life. It is also said that the Tree of The World was born in the heart of Yumir.
The tree species of the Tree of the World is the aforementioned ash tree. Its tallest branch, named Lerad, hangs over the palace of Odin in Central Asgard, while the other branches extend to Nivelheim, Musbeelheim and Midgart, and the tallest branch, Leilad, has a condor, and between the eagle's eyes is an eagle named Veðrfölnir/Vedfolnir, crouching there, monitoring everything in the world and reporting what has happened to Odin. There is also a theory that one of the aforementioned corpse-devouring giants, Hlaswalgel, turned into an evil eagle that was Vader Vernier (isn't that a good thing?). ）。
The nine worlds connected by the World Tree are the ones mentioned above:
Asgard, the homeland of the Asa gods;
Midgart of the Human World;
Nyvrheim, the Land of Mist;
Musbelheim, the land of true fire inhabited by the Fire Giants;
The giant kingdom of Jotunheim founded by the Frost Giants;
The elven house of the air, Yalfheim;
The underground house of the Black Dwarfs, Safathavhan;
And not mentioned earlier:
Helheim, where the dead lived;
Vanaheim (Vanaheimr), the residence of another god, the Warner god clan, lives on the western seashore.
Nine Worlds
The nine worlds are roughly located as above, about three floors, of which the elven house Yalfheim is in mid-air, and the dwarf house Safafafhan is below the ground (it is also said that the underworld of Heim is not underground, but within Nifolheim, and the mythological geography looks really strange if it is set up so delicately and symmetrically as in the above picture).
The World Tree by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine, 1886
The Tree of the World has three large roots, each drawing nutrients from the water of the Three Eyes Spring.
The first is rooted in the waters of Urðarbrunnr/Well of Urd in Asgard, where the gods of Asa are mentioned as having daily meetings. Also living by this spring are The Norns, the goddess of destiny, who are three sisters, who are said to be the daughters of the wisdom giant Mimir, and some say that they are the daughters or descendants of the night goddess Nott's father, the "time turner" giant Norvie.
The eldest daughter, Urd, heads the "past," and the spring is named after her; the second daughter, Verdandi, heads the "present," and the younger daughter, Skuld, heads the future. These three sisters not only controlled the fate of mankind, but also foresaw the fate of the gods, giants, and dwarfs, who did not live here for a long time, and whose appearance was seen as the end of the golden age of the gods. Zhu Nong was also the goddess of law. Their main task was to weave the web of the destiny of all men, and once woven by the Nornons, even Odin, the king of the gods, could not change it, for they did not weave the fate of the people by their own will, but obeyed the will of Ollaug, and in addition, they drew water from the spring of Ould to water the tree of the world, and raised two geese, the ancestors of the geese in the world.
Ould is old and decadent, often looking back; Violet Danti is in his prime, young and lively, and his eyes are straight ahead; Shikoti is veiled with mystery, does not show the truth, and his face is facing the opposite direction of Ould, holding the scroll of the future, but never opening it to look at it. The gods often came to ask the norns for advice, and in addition to the fate of the gods, the norns had to answer.
《The norns》 by Ludwig Burger,1882
The second root is rooted in the well of Mimir, the fountain of wisdom in the kingdom of the giants, Jotunheim, which the wisdom giant Mimir guards, and can get wisdom by taking a sip, and in the depths of this spring, it can even reflect the future events. As for Mimir himself, he had a drink every day. (The problem, though, is that Mimir, the intelligent giant born from Yumir's armpit, should have been drowned by Yumir's sea of blood!) ）
In order to gain wisdom, Odin came to the water of mimir's spring and asked for a sip of the fountain of wisdom, and Mimir agreed to give Odin a sip of spring water, but asked for the price of one eye. Odin dug out his right eye and sank into the spring in exchange for a fountain of wisdom, gaining unrivaled wisdom, but also knowing the fate of the gods, so he was full of sorrow. The heroic warriors whom Odin entertained and accepted, mentioned above, were prepared for the twilight of the gods. Because he lost his right eye, he often wore a hat with a wide side.
Odin then took a section from the branch of the World Tree that shrouded the place and made it into his famous weapon, the spear Gungnir, and then Odin used his wisdom to invent the magic nordic ancient alphabet, the Rune script, and Odin hung himself upside down on the giant branch of the World Tree, staring at the bottomless Nevelheim, thinking with his heart, and stabbing himself with a spear; such a thing lasted for nine days and nine nights. After inventing this mysterious writing, Odin carved it on his spear, on the teeth of his horse, on the teeth of bears, and on the bodies of countless living and non-living beings. Later, Loki asked the dwarf to create the tip of the gun for Odin, and after engraving the Rune script, there was no impenetrable armor, and the handle of the tree of the world was so hard that no weapon could be destroyed, and the gun "will definitely hit the target as soon as it is thrown", which can penetrate anything it hits, and then automatically return to the owner. And the oath made against the tip of the spear can never be broken.
The third root extends to the Hvergelmir spring in the original bottomless pit center below Nyforheim, where a poisonous dragon named Nidhogg is constantly nibbling at the roots of the Tree of Life. There are also many poisonous snakes that are also helping him: Goin, Moin, Grabak, Grafvollud, Ofnir and Svafnir. When they bite through the roots of the World Tree, it will be the end of the gods. Niederhogg, Iceland, 17th century
Niederhogg, Iceland, 17th century
It is also said that the location of the Hervagmir Springs is not Nifolheim, but the underworld of Heim.
Among the branches of the Tree of the World is also inhabited a squirrel, Ratatoskr, who often jumps up and down, provoking the relationship between nidhogg, the poisonous snake under the tree, and The goshawk VaderFernier at the top of the tree.
5. The Divine Clan
Although the Asa gods created the world, there is also a Vanir in Warnerheim on the western seashore, headed by Njörðr/Njörd, the god of the sea, and it is said that Niord was caused by an ancient god of wisdom, and there are also myths that Mention Niord and Skadi( Skaði), the daughter of the giant Thiazi, who was killed by the gods of Asa, as brothers and sisters. And Shaggy is a mountain giant who lives in Jodenheim, so it seems that the Warner Gods also have giant blood.
Gullveig, a goddess of powerful magic, traveled to Asgard to discuss which of the two gods was greater and more worthy of worship. The Asa clan believed that the other party was ill-intentioned, so Odin threw a spear at her to declare war, and the Asa clan tried to kill her three times with spears and fire, but each time Gulvig was resurrected. The war lasted for a long time until both sides got tired of it, so they decided to make peace and exchange hostages with each other.
The three hostages exchanged by the Warners were the chief Niord and a pair of children born to Niord and his sister Nerthus, Freyr and Freyja. Although all three were later ranked as the Twelve True Gods of Asgard, the Exchange of hostages by the Asa Gods was a bit insincere compared to the blood of the Warner Gods, namely Odin's brother Henir (Honir/Hœnir) and the wise giant Mimir (eh?). Mimir, you are not dead, but as a hostage of the Asa Gods in exchange for the Warner Gods, are you on the wrong set? ）。
Heinil looked very handsome, had a pair of long legs, and was quick to run, but he was a relatively low-intelligence person among the Asa gods, with a wooden temperament, a dull brain, and a particularly bad at talking. Perhaps that's why Odin asked the wise giant Mimir to accompany him. Mimir was able to speak eloquently, because he drank the water from the fountain of wisdom for many years, and his knowledge was extremely extensive, helping Henil to answer various questions. When Heinels and Mimir came to Warnerheim, they were initially very popular with the Warner gods, and the Warner gods made Heiner a small leader. But the Warner gods gradually discovered that on all occasions it was the old man Mimir who was chattering and answering the questions they had asked; and in Mimir's absence, heinil, the tall and handsome-looking Asa, knew almost nothing, and was stupid and embarrassed to answer even the simplest question.
The Warner gods were so angry that in a fit of rage they cut off Mimir's head and sent them to Asgard to show their strong anger and grievances. But Heinil, the stupid god, survived, and after the twilight of the gods, after the asgardian gods and the giants, wolves, and serpents were mostly destroyed, he returned to Asgard and became one of the new gods of the new age. After receiving Mimir's head, the Asa Divine Clan could not do anything about this practice of the Warner Divine Clan. Because of the reluctance to provoke war again, this matter has not been resolved at this point. When Odin saw Mimir's head, he coated it with vanilla so that it would not decay, and then recited the incantation of the Rune script to it. Give Mimir's head the power to talk to itself and discover many strange secrets from then on.
Odin searches for the remains of Mimir, whose head is in a different place, a 19th-century illustration
After the Warner Clan reconciled with the Asa Clan, the gods built a magnificent palace for themselves and set up twelve gods.
Here are some of the more convincing claims:
I. King of the Gods, Odin;
Ii. After the gods, Frigg, Odin's wife, goddess of love, the goddess of the sky and the earth, is in charge of marriage and family;
III. Thor, Thor, or Thor, the son of Odin, the god of war and agriculture, who is famous for his hammer;
IV. Goddess of land and harvest, Sif, wife of Thor;
V, the god of fire, Loki (Loki), because his mother is Odin's adoptive mother and married Odin, because of his obedient personality is also considered to be the god of mischief, but definitely not the god of evil, himself and his three children have a lot to do with the twilight of the gods;
VI. God of War, Tyr, son of Odin, the god of courage and heroism;
VII. The god of the sea, Njord, the leader of the Warner gods, exchanged as a hostage to Asgard and became a member of the asgardian gods;
VIII. The God of Plenty, Freyr, son of Niord, came to Asgard as a hostage and was loved by the Asa gods, in charge of harvest and love (the true breadth of the tube);
IX, goddess of war, Freyja, daughter of Niord, is the god of love, war, magic, and the god of fertility, fertility, and love, and the dead in the war with Odin, because the openness of the Warner God Clan is especially loved by the Asa God Clan;
X, the gods of light and darkness, Baldur and Hodr, they are twin brothers, the sons of Odin and Frigga, Badr is the embodiment of light, Hodel was born blind, in charge of darkness, and later killed Badr with a javelin made of mistletoe under Loki's conspiracy;
XI, the god of poetry, wisdom and eloquence, Bragi, son of Odin;
XII, the goddess of youth, Idun, Braki's wife, is the embodiment of youth and spring, the master of the Garden of Ten Thousand Years in Asgard, and is responsible for the golden apple that keeps the gods young.
6. Father of the gods
Odin is best known as the King of the Gods, the Father of the Gods, who has three official wives, and a number of women who have had sex but have no name, and these goddesses and women giants have given birth to many gods for Odin.
Odin's first wife, the daughter of the aforementioned night goddess Noether, the earth goddess Jord, symbolized the primordial earth and gave birth to Thor, the god of thunder, Odin. It is also said that Petit is another name for frigga.
Odin's second wife, his true wife, Frigg after the gods, symbolized the civilized earth, and their children had the twins Baldur, the god of light, and Hodr, the god of darkness, the god of war, Tyr, and the angel Hermod (not in earlier mythological versions, and his deeds described in later mythological stories were previously completed by Odin, so, Others say he was another name for Odin or odin's servant.)
Odin's third wife, Rinda, the princess of biling, the Rus' king, symbolizes the barren permafrost, Linda is very cold, cold to everyone, the king has only one daughter, but Linda has no signs of love and fertility, which makes the king very anxious. On the other hand, because Odin learns from the prophecy that Badr, the god of light, was accidentally killed by his twin brother Hodel, the god of darkness, and continues to track down other prophecies and learns that only one person who is neither a family nor a family can be avenged, and this person is the child born to Linda. So Odin used scheming and magic to trick the king, approached Linda, and forced her and her to give birth to Vali, the god of nature, the destined avenger.
Wally grew up on the first day of his life, and before he could wash or comb his hair, he took a bow and arrow and killed Hodel. The Norse people are afraid of cannibalism, so Hodel killed Badr, which is the greatest misfortune of the Asa gods, but if the Asa gods kill Hodel because of this, it will only bring greater misfortune, of course, it can not let anyone other than the Asa gods kill Hodel, so Wali, who has not been groomed for a day, can be regarded as Odin's family, and he must kill Hodel to make up for the misfortune and avenge Badr. After the twilight of the gods, Wally is one of the new gods of the surviving world. Of course, since Loki was behind badr's killing, he was also punished horribly. In addition to his three wives, Odin had a number of other women.
One is the Frost Giant Grid, a god-friendly Frost Giant who gave birth to Vidar, the one-legged forest god, to Odin, and once helped Thor, the god of thunder. Vader tore Odin's wolf Fenrieu in half in the twilight of the gods to avenge her father and survived as the god of the New World.
The second is also a frost giant, it is said that the males of the giant family are very ugly and evil, while the women are mostly beautiful and the body is about the same size as ordinary people, some myths mention that giants can change shape at will, it seems that female giants especially like to become human size.
Portrait of Grodd
The beautiful female Frost Giant is named Gunnlod, her father is named Suttung, her grandfather is called Gilling, and the old couple of Gilling are invited to visit the dwarfs Fjalar and Galar, but Fayara and Gora trap Gilling in the boat and break the boat and drown the old man. Then a millstone was thrown on the old lady's head from a high roof and killed her. Suthurn went to avenge himself and captured Fayara and Gora, who sacrificed honey wine made from Kvasir's blood to save his life.
It is said that when the Asa and Warner gods talk about peace, the gods of both sides spit some spit in a vessel according to the rules, which is the meaning of a strong oath. This mixture of spit was later created by the gods into a human being, the wise Kwahir. Fayala and Gora, jealous of Kwahir's cleverness, killed him while he was asleep, and mixed the honey with his blood to make three altars of fairy wine, and whoever tasted a little could become a great poet respected by everyone. Although the dwarfs made this treasure, they did not enjoy it themselves, and hid it in the secret place underground as usual.
After Sutoun obtained the honey wine, he hid them in the belly of a mountain and let his daughter Grodd guard them, and after Odin learned this secret, he was bent on getting the honey wine, first using trickery to approach Sutourn's brother Baugi, and using Baugi to enter the belly of the mountain where Grod and the honey wine were located, and then tricked Grodd and snapped with her for three days and three nights, snapping a night in exchange for a mouthful of honey wine (how it felt wrong), so three days later, Grodd asked Odin to drink three mouthfuls of honey wine, but Odin used a ruse to take a sip at each jar, drank one jar in one sip, kept all the honey in his mouth, and turned into an eagle and flew away.
Sutoun saw an eagle flying in the sky, felt that something was strange, and also became an eagle to chase it, because Odin had three altars of honey wine in his mouth, and Sutoun saw the flaws, so he chased after it, and the chased Odin spilled some honey wine into the human world in a panic, so the poet appeared in the human world. Suthurn chased all the way to Asgard, where the gods laid down a jar on the walls of Asgard to catch the honey wine that Odin had cheated back, while the eagle that suthun turned into was burned to death by the fire suddenly lit by the gods at the head of the Rainbow Bridge (miserable!). ）。
Suthurn Catching Up with Odin, Iceland, 18th century
Grodd later gave birth to a boy to Odin, Bragi, who gave a small amount of the honey wine he received to the gods, and the rest to Braki, so That Braki was the god of poetry.
The third is a human queen, some people think that it is the goddess of history, Saga (Saga), it is said that Odin left to the world on that day, most of the honey wine, was obtained by Sakya, so Sakya is a queen who can speak eloquently, because of the wisdom of ordinary people, she has not been married until she is tricked into bed by Odin. Sakya lived in a palace at the bottom of the river called Sokkvabekkr, where Odin came every day to listen to her stories and drink honey wine together. She had no children, and some say that Sakya was another incarnation of the goddess Frigga.
The fourth is The Billow Maidens, the daughter of the nine sisters of The Young Wave, the daughter of Aegir, the god of the deep sea, and together they gave birth to Odin's guardian of the Rainbow Bridge, Heimdallr (who doesn't quite understand how he was born).
Heimdall is not only the patron saint of the Rainbow Bridge, but also the patron saint of mankind. He worked under the pseudonym Rigg and lived in three families, creating class. The first family lived with an elderly couple named Ai (great-grandfather) and Edda (great-grandmother). They lived a hard, hard life, and after Rieger (Heimdall) left, the family gave birth to a child, named Thrall, or "slave". Sal later married an ugly girl, Thyr,who bore twelve sons and nine daughters, from whom all the people of the "slave" class were handed down.
The second family was wealthier, with the man named Afi (grandfather) and the hostess named Amma (grandmother), who was good at domesticating livestock and building houses and fields. After Rigg left, the family gave birth to a child, named Karl, or "farmer." He married Snor (daughter-in-law) and gave birth to twelve sons and ten daughters, the ancestors of the peasants and herders, the "freedmen" class.
The third family was very wealthy, the man named Fadir (father) and the hostess named Modir (mother), who had exquisite ornaments that made the wearer's temperament elegant. After Rigg left, the family gave birth to a child, named Jarl, or "Prince.". When Yar grew up, Heimdall appeared before him again, asking him to inherit a large amount of gold and silver and teaching him the Rune script.
So Yar gained a lot of land and wealth during the war, married Erna (lively), the beautiful daughter of Hersir (lord), and gave birth to eleven sons, the ancestor of the royal family and nobles of the Scandinavian states. And the people of these three classes, no matter how noble or low, regard Rigg, or Heimdall, as the ancestor and patron saint of mankind (the hostess gives birth to a child after one night's sleep, which feels strange).
The fifth is the female giant Skadi, who is said to have married Odin after divorcing Niord.
Odin has too many titles and titles because of his role, he is the god of war, the god of war, the god of victory, the god of storms, the god of poetry, the god of the dead, the father of magic, the god of a thousand faces, also known as the father of the gods, the commander of the army, the one-eyed dragon, the drifter, the noisy man, the god of hanging, the king of the gallows, etc., a total of more than two hundred.
Odin's appearance is usually described as being about fifty years old, tall, with black curly hair, or a gray beard with a slight bald top. He wore gray clothes, a large blue hood, and a large gray-striped trunk with a blue background; it was a symbol of the northern sky with its firmament and gray clouds. He often holds his invincible spear Gunil in his hand, and on his finger or arm, he wears a ring or arm ring called Draupnir, which the dwarf made for Odin at the same time as he built Thor's Hammer for Thor, and every nine days he gives birth to the exact same eight, which is a symbol of wealth. His throne was called Hlidskialf, and on it he could see every move of all the gods, giants, dwarves, elves, and humans in heaven and on earth.
Odin also came to the world often, and if it was for war, he put on his eagle helmet, and if he was visiting the world peacefully, he put on human clothing, a gray broad-brimmed hat (so that no one would see him with only one eye), and called himself Gangleri (wanderer).
The palace where Odin lived was called gladsheim, and he also had a divine eight-legged pegasus, Sleipnir, whose story was so brutal that I'll find an opportunity to introduce it later. When Odin sat on the throne, two crows rested on his shoulders, Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory). The two crows flew to earth every day to report what had happened to Odin, who was known as the "Crow God". At his feet, there are two wolves crouching, Geri (Gluttony) and Freki (Gluttony), because they are Odin's pets, and whoever meets them has good luck (so we often say that gluttonous girls are not too lucky).
Portrait of Odin, 1888
Vii. After the gods
Frigga is another daughter of Noether, the goddess of the night, and the sister of Odin's first wife, Giard. It is also said that Frigga was the daughter of Odin and Giard, and later became Odin's wife. In addition, regarding the identity of Jiaode, some people say that Jiaode is the daughter of Odin and Nott. These legends may reflect the earlier nordic custom of marriage between close relatives.
Frigga's palace, named Fensalir, was like Odin choosing heroic warriors to come to Valhalla, and Frigga invited the souls of a loving couple to Fensalir to enjoy. Therefore she is the protector of marriage and family. Frigga was the mother of many Asa gods, a good wife and mother, but at the same time she was very greedy for gold and silver jewelry, and she had been decorating her palace with jewelry, never satisfied. Once she stole a piece of gold from Odin's golden statue, because Odin had carved a rune spell on it, so she could say the name of the thief, so Frigga broke the golden statue without hesitation.
Odin was so angry that he left Asgard and ran away. In Odin's absence, Odin's brothers Willie and Faye impersonate Odin and sleep with Frigga because the three brothers look the same (but Odin dug up his right eye in order to drink a sip of Mimir Spring water!). ）。 It wasn't until seven months later, when Odin returned to Asgard, that Willie and Faye disappeared. But Loki knows the truth and taunts Frigga as "once a debauched woman; both Faye and Willie slept with you." ”
Frigga had a lot of handmaidens, basically one for each.
One is Fulla, who is Frigga's surrogate and her secret envoy, and she often gives advice to Frigga, the most trusted and favored maid of Frigga, who knows many of Frigga's secrets. But her main job is to serve Frigga to dress up, and she is also regarded as the god of the abundance of the earth.
The second is Gna, who is Frigga's messenger, equivalent to Hermode to Odin. She had a horse called Hofvarpnir.
The third is Hlin, considered the goddess of protection and comfort.
In addition to the three most famous maids above, she has several other maids, all of whom are believed to be the embodiment of some of Frigga's divinity.
Frigga and Her Handmaidens by Carl Emil Doepler, 1882
Lofn is the maid who guards forbidden love, and she is given the right of Frigga to make the wishes of difficult men and women, and she usually appears with Xiufen.
Sjofn is the goddess of passion, love and tenderness, who is primarily in charge of love between men and women.
Eir is a doctor who can heal physical wounds, even bring the dead back to life, but also treat emotional wounds and soothe spiritual wounds.
Gefjun was the patron saint of virgins, and her duty was to take the virgins who died of unmarried marriage to Fensarir for pleasure, but she was not a virgin herself and had four sons with a giant. King Gylfi of Sweden once spent a happy night with Guffin and promised her the land that four cows had cultivated for a day and a night in return. Guffon then turned the four sons born to the giants into four muscular cattle, ploughed a large area of Swedish territory day and night, and dragged it into the sea, which is now the largest island in the Danish mainland, Zealand.
Var is in charge of the oath. Gods, giants, etc., who swear by Wahl's name, especially the marriage vows between men and women, will be retaliated against by Wahl if they violate the vows made in her name.
Snotra is the goddess of knowledge, and some say she is the goddess of virtue.
Vor is a wise and wise goddess who loves to get to the bottom of her fingers, so no secret can escape her eyes.
Syn is the gatekeeper of the passage between the human world and the kingdom of god. It is also the patron saint of "dissent", with the meaning of "negation", when the people gather, if someone speaks with "Theon present" as the beginning, it is equivalent to saying "real name against the highest vote answer". In addition, if there is an unfair lawsuit, Theon will appear as a defender, so he is also considered the "guardian of truth".