Norse Mythology Test

Questions 1 to 5

1. It is believed that much of Norse mythological primary sources were highly influenced by what?

2. True or False: The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturlesson, is the traditional songs which often refer to mythic incidents, usually just individual adventures.

3. True or False: The Prose Edda is a narrative of many different adventures of the Norse gods, but presented as a fictional account, sometimes almost humorous

4. True or False: Skaaldic Songs are poems in honor of human accomplishments with occasional references to myths.

5. The Norse gods are divided into two major races. What are they?

Test Questions6-10

6. Of the two races of Norse gods, which was the most dominant?7.The other race tended to be what kind of deity?8.Which was the god of the sea and seafaring?9.Which was the god of crop fertility?10.According to Sturlesson, which of Norse goddesses still lives?11.Which of the goddesses is the goddess of love and sexuality?12.Which of the Norse gods is considered to be the “chief of the gods?”13.Which of the Norse gods is often on the side of mischief?14.Which of the Norse gods is a god of thunder with muscles to match?15.Which of the Norse gods is considered “the Beautiful?”16.Which of the Norse gods helped bound the wolf Fenrir?

Questions 17-24

17.Which of the Norse gods is often complex and deceptive?

18.It is said that this one complex and deceptive god had only one eye. Why did he have only one eye?

19.This same god with only one eye had two special ravens. One of the names was Hugin which stands for?

20.The other raven was known as Munin which means what?

21.What god rides Sleipnir?22.How many legs does Sleipnir have?23.Which god presides of Valhalla?24.What is Valhalla?25.Who are the goddesses who come down to the

battlefield to bring the souls of the heroes to Valhalla?

26.Turning from deception to goodness, we now have another god. This god is a storm god or a thunder god. Who is he?

Questions 27-34

27.This god of thunder had three powerful possessions. One was Mjollnir. What is it?

28.What are the other two powerful possessions of this god?

29.This god had a chariot that was pulled by what?

30.These two special chariot pullers had a magical property. What was it?

31.This particular god was also known as “God of What?

32.This god had two chief enemies? Who or what were they?

33.What is a Iormungand? What does it relate to today?

34.What does this god’s “arm ring” represent?

Questions 35-46

35.In the south was a land of fire, in the north was a land of ice. What was the great emptiness between both of these called.

36.Who was the huge giant that came from the melting ice?

37.Where did the first man and the first woman come from?

38.Where did the frost giants come from?39.This giant that was formed fed on what?40.What was licked into being from the ice?41.Bur has two grandsons? Who was the main

god?42.What happened to this giant?43.Name at least four parts into which the world

was divided?44.What is the name of the world tree called?45.What are the names of the three women who

oversaw fate?46.What are two major lands of the dead?

Questions 47-54

47. What is the name of the shadowy underworld that is overseen by Loki’s daughter of the same name?48. What is the name where the souls of dead warriors are taken after death by the Valkyries where they drink and fight until the end of the world occurs?49.Which of the gods is intelligent, astute to the highest degree, but completely amoral?50.What is the most important tale of Loki?51.What was one of things in the world that had not sworn to harm Balder?52.Whom did Loki get to throw this one thing at Balder?53.What happened to Balder?54.Hel said that she would allow him back if every living creature mourned him. What did not mourn him?

Questions 55

55. What happened to Loki when the other gods found out about his treachery?56.

World in the Balance

Yggdrasill, the world tree, spans the different realms of Norse myth.

These realms (Utgard, Midgard, Asgard) are joined by the three roots of the great tree Yggdrasill. (Each seems to have the whole tree …)

At its roots in Asgard is the well of Urd, where the Norns live; at its roots in Utgard is the well of Ymir.

It represents a world equilibrium that is more like entropy:

•Around its roots is a serpent;

•At its top is an eagle;

•A squirrel runs up and down between them;

•Deer are constantly eating at its branches;

•and the Norns continually try to shore up the damage.

Lands of Death

•Hel, the shadowy underworld overseen by Loki’s daughter of the same name. It is dark, gated, and much like Hades/Sheol/Kurnugi

•Valholl (a.k.a. Valhalla, where the souls of dead warriors are taken after death by the Valkyries. There they dink and fight until Ragnarok, when they will fight on the side of the gods.

•Freyja’s realm: there are references to Freyja’s taking half of the dead, while Odin takes the other half.•afterlife in the barrows: High-status people were somtimes buried under a mound, called a barrow; burials of an entire ship have been found.

Loki To a reader of Snorri, Loki is perhaps the most outstanding character among the Northern gods, the chief actor in the most amusing stories, and the motivating force in a large number of plots. (Davidson)

Intelligent, astute to the highest degree, but amoral, loving to make mischief great or small, as much to amuse himself as to do harm, he represents among the Aesir a truly demonic element. Some of the assailants of the future Ragnarok, the wolf Fenrir and the great Serpent, are his sons, and his daughter is Hel. (Georges Dumezil)

Loki is a classic trickster figure.

Loki

Loki is a chief instigator in many tales:

•Loki found a way to keep the giant from building the wall of Asgard on time. He impersonated a mare to distract the giant’s work horse. (He became pregnant and gave birth to Sleipnir.) Shape changing and trans-gender problems are typical of tricksters.

•He gave up the golden apples of immortality (and got them back)

•He helped Thor get back his hammer, and went with him to Utgard

•Loki was caught by a giant and betrayed Thor to him

•Loki aroused the dragons to hatred of the gods because of a wanton act of cruelty (Otter’s revenge) and used trickery to get out of it

•Loki cut off Sif’s golden hair, causing the creation of the greatest treasures of the gods.

Loki & Balder

The most important tale of Loki is how he arranged the destruction of Balder.

There is nothing but good to be said about

Balder. He is the best of the gods and everyone sings his praises. He is

so fair of face and bright that a splendor radiates from him . . . He is the wisest of the gods, and the sweetest-spoken,

and the most merciful, but none of his

judgments come true.

Balder dreamed he would be killed, so Frigg (his mother) made all living creatures swear not to harm him.

The gods then enjoyed throwing things at him, since all fell away harmlessly.

Loki was jealous.

In disguise, Loki found out from Frigg that the mistletoe had not sworn. Then he tricked the blind god Hod into throwing it at Balder, and Balder was killed.

Loki & Balder

Hel agreed to return Balder to the world of the living if every living creature mourned him.

All complied – except for one old giant woman – who was Loki in disguise.

When the other gods found out Loki’s treachery, they condemned him to be bound to a rock, with serpent’s poison dripping onto him (a fate similar to that of the benevolent trickster Prometheus . . .)

Tyr and Fenrir

Tyr is a minor god in Norse myth, featuring in few stories, but was possibly more important in earlier times.

His Germanic predecessor, Tiwaz, was a sky-god similar to Zeus.

The one story in which Tyr features is the binding of the wolf Fenrir. Tyr put his hand in Fenrir’s mouth as a pledge of faith, and when the gods bound the wolf, he bit off the hand.

Fenrir is one of three terrible children of Loki: the others are Hel and Iormungand.

Ragnarok

Norse myth, unlike Greek and Near Eastern, does not portray a world in which the gods have conquered discord and established order, but a world in which the gods are constantly battling their adversaries.

This battle comes to a head at Ragnarok.

The death of Balder is one element in the final episode of Norse myth, Ragnarok, “The Twilight of the Gods.”

Ragnarok

Loki remains suffering under the poison of the serpent, and Balder remains in Hel (rather than in Valholl!) until the conflicts of Ragnarok.

The end of the world is preceded by an increase of wars and conflicts among men; then there is a three-year winter.

Monsters break loose, Iormungand emerges from the sea and floods the earth. A wolf swallows the sun and her brother the moon; stars fall from the sky.

Led by the giant Surt, with Loki as the helmsman, the giants arrive in their ship, Naglfar, made from the uncut fingernails of the dead.

A huge battle between gods and giants takes place at the gates of Asgard.

An age of axes, an age of swords, shattered

shields, an Age of tempests, an age of

wolves, before the age of men crashes down.

Ragnarok

Odin is swallowed by Fenrir; Odin’s son Vidar kills the wolf in revenge.

Thor once again fights Iormungand; he kills it, but dies from the venom.

Tyr fights the hound Garm, and they kill each other.

Five hundred doors and forty more in Valholl I think there are. Eight

hundred warriors at a time will pass each door to fight the wolf. . . Fenrir rushes forward, his jaws agape,

so that the upper one touches the heavens, the

lower one touches the earth. (Sturlesson/Page)

Ragnarok

Loki and Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, kill each other.

Freyr is killed by the giant Surt, who scatters fire over the earth.

But from this destruction comes a new world:A second earth [the shaman-woman] sees arise from out of the sea, green once more; the cataracts

tumble, the eagle flies over them, hunting fish in the

mountain stream. The Aesir meet again . . . (Voluspa)

Ragnarok

Balder returns from Hel to rule over this new world, in peace and plenty.

A golden age arises; fields flourish without work.

Two humans survived to begin the race again . . .The Aesir meet again and

speak of the mighty Iormungand, and call to

mind the mighty judgments and the

ancient mysteries of the Great God himself.

(Voluspa)

Does this renewal of the world show influence from Christianity? Some say yes – given other Christian ideas – others say that the idea of a final conflict and new age is also present in Indo-European mythology.

In any case, the brutal conclusion leads to new life.

finis