Dating from the twelfth century, long after the ‘Viking Age’, this tapestry depicts Odin, Freya and Thor. Much of our knowledge of the Norse mythos comes from such later sources; little was recorded at the time.
THE NORSEMEN
The stories of Thor, Odin and Loki are at least vaguely familiar to most of us. Many people can recall – often without being able to say exactly where they heard the story – that the Norse gods fought against giants and were ultimately betrayed by Loki the trickster. The end of the world and the death of the gods in a grim battle called Ragnarok has also found its way into popular culture.
People who would never consider studying mythology may know a surprising amount about the religion of the Norse people, often without realizing they do. One reason for this is the profound influence that Norse mythology has had upon other cultures, causing the legends to filter through to today, not only in the histories of the Norse people themselves, but from other sources, too. Ideas ‘borrowed’ from Norse mythology are frequently found in modern fantasy and science fiction – such as elves, dwarfs and undead warriors rising from an unquiet grave, for example.
In some cases, the use of Norse characters in modern stories is deliberate. InMarvel’s graphic novels and movies, Thor and his fellow gods are an advanced race whose science gives them god-like powers, but they are essentially the same people as in the original myths. In David Drake’sNorthworld series of novels, the lead characters are parallels of the Norse gods – Commander North himself lost an eye in return for knowledge of the future, as did Odin the Allfather. This use of mythical characters is quite deliberate on the part of the author.
Other influences may be less obvious, and, indeed, the creator might not be aware of the process by which he or she ended up adding Norse concepts to a novel of modern fantasy or science fiction. Magical weaponry made by dwarfs is a common fantasy trope; few realize that it comes from Norse legend. Similarly, there are numerous ‘Ragnarok Devices’ and ‘Ragnarok Operations’ in science fiction; the meaning is obvious even to those who do not know anything about the original mythology.
The modern fascination with the Norsemen has resulted in detailed reconstruction of their homes and way of life, such as here at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.
THE NEWFOUNDLAND AND GREENLAND NORSE COLONIES ARE LONG GONE, BUT ICELAND PROSPERED AND BECAME A MODERN NATION.
There are many reasons why Norse characters and stories exert such a powerful influence whereas other mythologies do not. For one thing, these are interesting characters whose adventures make a great story. Other mythologies have equally fascinating concepts, but are less well known. They require more explanation and will not necessarily
