Norse Mythology
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Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian legends and religious beliefs of the Scandinavian people. Norse mythology is the best-preserved version of the older common Germanic mythology, which also includes the closely related Anglo-Saxon mythology.
Norse mythology is a collection of beliefs and stories shared by Northern Germanic tribes, which tend to reflect their cultural focus on physical prowess and military might. Since this mythological tradition was orally transmitted in the form of odes, sagas, and poetic epics, our knowledge about it is primarily based on the Eddas and other medieval texts written down during and after the conversion and Christianization of these regions. The vast majority of written sources comprising this modern understanding were assembled from accounts recorded in Iceland in the eleventh century CE.
In Scandinavian folklore, these beliefs have long held cultural currency, to the extent that some traditions based upon them have been maintained until the present day. Others have recently been reinvented under the rubric of Germanic Neopaganism. Also, this rich mythological tradition also remains as an inspiration in literature, as well as for other forms of artwork (including visual representations, films, comic books and stage productions).
Sources
Given that Norse mythological and religious traditions were transmitted orally, few have survived into the modern day - due, at least in part, to the persecution of these beliefs under Christian rule. However, some of these tales were captured and recorded by Christian scholars, particularly in the Eddas and the Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241 C.E.), who believed that pre-Christian deities were men and women rather than devils (and would thus reveal elements of their respective culture's histories). Sturluson, who was a leading poet, chieftain, and diplomat in Iceland, condensed the extensive sagas into prose retellings that made the various tales of Norse mythology systematic and coherent. An additional source for the modern understanding of this tradition is the Poetic Edda (also known as the Elder Edda), which contains poetic versions of tales found in the Prose Edda. More specifically, it consists of 29 long poems, of which 11 deal with the Germanic deities, the rest with legendary heroes like Sigurd the Volsung (the Siegfried of the German version, Nibelungenlied). Although scholars think it was transcribed later than the other Edda, the language and poetic forms involved in the tales appear to have been composed centuries earlier than their transcription. Over and above the Eddas, there is also the Danish Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus, which is unfortunately of lesser utility due to the author's more extensive editorial alterations.
Besides these sources, there are surviving legends in Scandinavian folklore. Some of these can be corroborated with legends appearing in other Germanic literatures (e.g. the tale related in the Anglo-Saxon Battle of Finnsburgh) and the many allusions to mythological tales in the Old English poem Deor. When several partial references and tellings survive, scholars can often deduce the underlying tale.
Finally, the archaeological record can also be seen to provide useful clues concerning the nature of these beliefs. For instance, scholars have discovered and translated some runic inscriptions, such as the Rök Runestone and the Kvinneby amulet, that make reference to Nordic mythology. Likewise, there are also numerous runestones and image stones that depict scenes from Norse mythology, such as Thor's fishing trip, scenes from the Völsunga saga, Odin and Sleipnir, Loki with curled dandy-like mustaches and lips that are sewn together, Odin being devoured by Fenrir, and Hyrrokkin riding to Balder's funeral (the last of these is depicted on one of the surviving stones from the Hunnestad Monument).
Cosmology
Scandinavians believed that the cosmos was divided into nine interrelated realms, some of which attracted considerably greater mythological attention. Of primary importance was the threefold separation of the universe into the realms of the gods (Asgard and Vanaheim, homes of the Aesir and Vanir, respectively), the realm of mortals (Midgard) and the frigid underworld (Niflheim), home of the frost giants. These three realms were supported by an enormous tree (Yggdrasil), with the realm of the gods ensconced among the upper branches, the realm of mortals approximately halfway up the tree (and surrounded by an impassable sea), and the underworld nestled among its roots.
Asgard could be reached by traversing Bifrost, a magical rainbow bridge guarded by Heimdall, the mute god of vigilance who could see and hear a thousand miles. Valhalla, Odin's hall (which is located within Asgard), can be seen as the Norse Heaven, as it is the final resting place for the souls of the greatest human warriors. To earn one's place among them, it was required that one's bravery be observed by the Valkyries, Odin's mounted female messengers whose sparkling armor supposedly created the famed Aurora Borealis (northern lights).
Other less important realms include Muspell, world of burning heat and home of Surt, a giant whose skin was lava and who had hair of fire; Alfheim, world of the elves; Svartálfheim, home of the dark elves; Nidavellir, world of the dwarves, tiny men who were incomparable miners and goldsmiths; and Jotunheim, world of the Jotun or giants.
The cosmology of Norse mythology also involves certain elements of duality. For example, the night and the day have their own mythological counterparts - Dagr/Skinfaxi and Nótt/Hrímfaxi, the sun (Sol) and the chasing wolf (Skoll), the moon (Mani) and its chasing wolf (Hati), and the total opposites of Niflheim and Muspell in the origin of the world and its cosmic composition. This might have reflected a deeper metaphysical belief in a fundamentally oppositional world.
Supernatural beings
There are three "clans" of deities, the Æsir, the Vanir, and the Jotun. The distinction between Æsir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried and reigned together after a prolonged war, which the Æsir had finally won. Some gods belong in both camps. Some scholars have speculated that this tale symbolized the way the gods of invading Indo-European tribes supplanted older nature-deities of the aboriginal peoples, although it should be firmly noted that this is conjecture. Other authorities (compare Mircea Eliade and J.P. Mallory) consider the Æsir/Vanir division to be simply the Norse expression of a general Indo-European division of divinities, parallel to that of Olympians and Titans in Greek mythology, and in parts of the Mahabharata.
The Æsir and the Vanir are generally enemies with the Jotun; Old English Eotenas or Entas). They are comparable to the Titans and Gigantes of Greek mythology and generally translated as "giants", although "trolls" and "demons" have been suggested as suitable alternatives. However, the Æsir are descendants of Jotun and both Æsir and Vanir intermarry with them. For example, Loki was the child of two giants, and Hel was half-giantess. Not to mention the first gods, Odin, Vili and Ve were drops of milk from the icy cow Audhumla. Some of the giants are mentioned by name in the Eddas, and they seem to be representations of natural forces. There are two general types of giant: Thurses and the normal thuggish giant, but there was also a giant made of stone and a giant made of fire. There were also elves and dwarfs, whose role is shadowy but who are generally thought to side with the gods.
In addition, there are many other supernatural beings: Fenrir the gigantic wolf, and Jörmungandr the sea-serpent (or "worm") that is coiled around Midgard. These two monsters are described as the progeny of Loki, the trickster-god, and a giant (Hel is the third of these offspring). More benevolent creatures are Hugin and Munin (thought and memory, respectively), the two ravens who keep Odin, the chief god, apprised of what is happening on earth, since he gave his eye to the Well of Mimir in his quest for wisdom, Sleipner, Loki's eight legged horse son belonging to Odin and Ratatosk, the squirrel which scampers in the branches of Yggdrasil.
Along with many other polytheistic religions, this mythology lacks the good-evil dualism of the Middle Eastern tradition. Thus, Loki is not primarily an adversary of the gods, though he is often portrayed in the stories as the nemesis to the protagonist Thor, and the giants are not so much fundamentally evil, as rude, boisterous, and uncivilized (except in the case of the Thurses who were not quite so uncivilized). The dualism that exists is not good vs. evil, but order vs. chaos. The gods represent order and structure whereas the giants and the monsters represent chaos and disorder.
Völuspá: the origin and end of the world
The origin and eventual fate of the world are described in Völuspá ("The völva's prophecy" or "The sybil's prophecy"), one of the most striking poems in the Poetic Edda. These haunting verses contain one of the most vivid creation accounts in all of religious history and a representation of the eventual destruction of the world that is unique in its attention to detail.
In the Völuspá, Odin, the chief god of the Norse pantheon, has conjured up the spirit of a dead Völva (Shaman or sybil) and commanded this spirit to reveal the past and the future. She is reluctant: "What do you ask of me? Why tempt me?"; but since she is already dead, she shows no fear of Odin, and continually taunts him: "Well, would you know more?" But Odin insists: if he is to fulfil his function as king of the gods, he must possess all knowledge. Once the sybil has revealed the secrets of past and future, she falls back into oblivion: "I sink now".
The beginning
According to the Scandinavians, the beginning of life starts out with only fire and ice. It began with the existence of only two worlds: Muspell and Niflheim. When the warm air of Muspell hit the cold ice of Niflheim, the outline of the Thurses Ymir and the icy cow Audhumla were created. As Ymir slept, the continuing heat from Muspell made him sweat. He sweat out Surt, a flaming giant who went to Muspell, whose fire made him feel welcome. Later Ymir woke and drank Audhumla's milk. But each drop of milk he spilled became a god: Odin, Vili and Ve. They then created seven more worlds and their inhabitants.
The sybil describes Yggdrasil and the three norns (female symbols of inexorable fate; their names; Urðr (Urd), Verðandandi (Verdandi), and Skuld; indicate the past, present, and future), who spin the threads of fate beneath it. She describes the primeval war between Æsir and Vanir and the murder of Baldr, Odin's handsome son whom everyone but Loki loved. (The story is that everything in existence had promised not to hurt him. Well, everything except Mistltoe spear. Taking advantage of this weakness, Loki tricked Hoder, Odin's blind son and Baldr's brother, into using it to kill Baldr. Hel said she would revive him if everyone in the nine worlds wept. Loki didn't weep) After that she turns her attention to the future.
The end times (Eschatological beliefs)
The Old Norse vision of the future is bleak. Norse mythology's vision of the end times is uniquely stark and pessimistic: not only are the Norse gods capable of being defeated by residents of Yggdrasil's other branches, but in fact are destined to be defeated, and have always lived with this knowledge. In the end, it was believed, the forces of chaos will outnumber and overcome the divine and human guardians of order. Loki and his monstrous children will burst their bonds; the dead will sail from Niflheim to attack the living. Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, will summon the heavenly host with a blast on his horn. Then will ensue a final battle between order and chaos (Ragnarök), which the gods will lose, as is their fate. The gods, aware of this, will gather the finest warriors, the Einherjar, to fight on their side when the day comes, but in the end they will be powerless to prevent the world from descending into the chaos out of which it has once emerged; the gods and their world will be destroyed. There are two optimistic facts, however: Not only will chaos also be defeated, but a new, better world will emerge from the ashes of the old one. Odin will be swallowed by Fenrir. Thor will kill Jörmungandr , but will drown in its venom. Loki will be the last to die, having taken a wound from Heimdall that, although was taken at the same time as Loki's wound on Heimdall, did not kill the god of chaos and fire so soon.
The Mythological Beings
- Ymir: The first giant ever.
- Audhumla: The first cow ever.
- Ask: The first man.
- Embla: The first woman.
- Surt: A flaming giant.
- Nidhogg: A serpent who chews at Yggdrasil's roots.
- Ratatosk: A squirrel who ferries insults between an eagle who lives in Yggdrasill's branches and Nidhogg, a dragon that lives beneath its roots.
- Odin: God of magic, poetry, death and the gallows. Host of Asgard. One of three gods who created the universe after slaying Ymir.
- Hugin: One of Odin's seeing-eye ravens. His name means "thought".
- Munin: One of Odin's seeing-eye ravens. His name means "memory".
- Ve: One of three gods who created the universe after slaying Ymir.
- Vili: One of three gods who created the universe after slaying Ymir.
- Frigg: Queen of Asgard, she was Baldr's mother and made everything in creation to swear that it would not harm her son when he came to her with news of a dream in which he was harmed.
- Baldr: The handsomest of the gods, all but the mistletoe had sworn not to harm him. Loki used this fault to kill him.
- Loki: The trickster god. His tricks peaked when he killed Baldr and didn't weep. Nence, Odin locked him in the center of the earth with a poisonous serpent dripping poison on him, but Loki's wife held a bowl over his face. Of course, she had to dish it out, and during that break Loki's face is poisoned and he screams and shakes the earth, causing an earthquake.
- Hel: Loki's half-giantess daughter. Goddess of the underworld. Her power was so strong in Nifflheim, she could defy the other gods themselves! Half her body is dead, the other half living.
- Tyr: The one-handed (not by birth. See Fenrir) god of battle and justice.
- Fenrir: Loki's wolf son. He was so monstrous, only Tyr dared feed him. Finally the dwarves made a chain out of the roots of a mountain, the breath of a fish and the swiftness of a cat. However, Fenrir would only let the chain be placed around his neck if someone put his or her hand in his mouth. Tyr did this, and Fenrir bit off his hand. Even after that, Fenrir bound so loudly the gods had to gag him with a sword.
- Sleipnir: Birthed by Loki, Sleipnir was Odin's eight-legged steed.
- Jormungand: This serpent was so large, it could wrap itself around Midgard by biting its tail.
- Hodhr: Odin's blind son.
- Gefion: Gefion the giantess had four sons whom she wished to be farmers. King Gylfi promised her all the land she could plow in a day, so she turned her sons into giant oxen. They plowed so much that they formed the Danish island of Zealand.
- Forseti: The god of justice lived in a golden palace. He could always create a fair compromise between the gods at each dispute, satisfying everyone. Sometimes he would talk over possibilities for so long that when he came to a decision the quarrelling gods wouldn't be listening and just say "yes" to whatever the decision was without considering it.
- Thor: Thor was the god of thunder and lightning. He was strong, energetic and among the most popular of the gods. His magical hammer never missed its mark, but the dwarf who made the shaft made it too short, and the "thunderer" had to wear gloves whenever wielding his mighty weapon. Thor had an enormous appetite: a whole cow could be a snack for him.
- Freyja: Freyja was the goddess of love and fertility. She had a golden necklace forged by the dwarves and a feather cloak.
- Thrym: The jarl (a prided cavalry that guarded estates) king of the Thurses stole Thor's hammer and demanded Freyja in return. But Thor disguised himself as his wife and came to Thrym. All the Thurses were surprised when "Freyja" ate several gallons of mead, a cow and about a hundred salmon, but Loki said that "Freyja" had not eaten in several days, since she had been so excited. Later Thrym looked under "Freyja's" dress to find that "Freyja" was a boy. Thor sprang from his costume and killed all the giants there.
- Skadi: After the Æsir killed her father, Skadi marched to Asgard where she challenged her father's killers. Afraid of her, the Æsir offered her several things: one, to make her laugh; two, to place her father's eyes in the sky; three, she could choose a husband from among them, but only by looking at their feet. Skadi wanted to pick Baldr, but ended up with Njord because he had gorgeous feet.
- Njord: Njord was god of the sea. After being wed to Skadi, they moved to Skadi's mountain home, but that was too far from the sea for Njord. They moved to the Njord's sea-side home, but Skadi missed her mountain home. So Skadi moved away without her husband, and storms are the result of Njord's sadness.
- Freyr: Freyr was god of fertility and Freyja's twin brother. He had a chariot pulled by two mechanical boar. He and his sister were the children of Njord and a wife among the Vanir.
- Idun: The goddess Idun had the magic apples of youth.
- Thiazi: The giant Thiazi captured Loki and had him lure Idun into the forest where the giants captured her. When The gods grew old, they knew what had happened. So Loki used Freyja's feathered cloak to fly over and free Idun.
Kings and heroes
The mythological literature relates the legends of heroes and kings, as well as supernatural creatures. These clan and kingdom founding figures possessed great importance as illustrations of proper action or national origins. The heroic literature may have fulfilled the same function as the national epic in other European literatures, or it may have been more nearly related to tribal identity. Many of the legendary figures probably existed, and generations of Scandinavian scholars have tried to extract history from myth in the sagas.
Sometimes the same hero resurfaces in several forms depending on which part of the Germanic world the epics survived such as Weyland/Völund and Siegfried/Sigurd, and probably Beowulf/Bödvar Bjarki. Other notable heroes are Hagbard, Starkad, Ragnar Lodbrok, Sigurd Ring, Ivar Vidfamne and Harald Hildetand. Notable are also the shieldmaidens who were "ordinary" women who had chosen the path of the warrior. These women function both as heroines and as obstacles to the heroic journey.
Norse worship
Centres of faith
The Germanic tribes rarely or never had temples in a modern sense. The Blót, the form of worship practiced by the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian people resembled that of the Celts and Balts : it could occur in sacred groves. It could also take place at home and/or at a simple altar of piled stones known as a "horgr". However, there seems to have been a few more important centres, such as Skiringsal, Lejre and Uppsala. Adam of Bremen claims that there was a temple in Uppsala (see Temple at Uppsala) with three wooden statues of Thor, Odin and Freyr.
Priests
While a kind of priesthood seems to have existed, it never took on the professional and semi-hereditary character of the Celtic druidical class. This was because the shamanistic tradition was maintained by women, the Völvas. It is often said that the Germanic kingship evolved out of a priestly office. This priestly role of the king was in line with the general role of godi, who was the head of a kindred group of families (for this social structure, see norse clans), and who administered the sacrifices.
Despite the Shamanistic Völvas, this religion was not a form of Shamanism.
Human sacrifice
A unique eye-witness account of Germanic human sacrifice survives in Ibn Fadlan's account of a Rus ship burial, where a slave-girl had volunteered to accompany her lord to the next world. More indirect accounts are given by Tacitus, Saxo Grammaticus and Adam von Bremen.
However, the Ibn Fadlan account is actually a burial ritual. Current understanding of Norse mythology suggests an ulterior motive to the slave-girl's 'sacrifice'. It is believed that in Norse mythology a woman who joined the corpse of a man on the funeral pyre would be that man's wife in the next world. For a slave girl to become the wife of a lord was an obvious increase in status. Although both religions are of the Indo-European tradition, the sacrifice described in the Ibn Fadlan account is not to be confused with the practice of Sati.
The Heimskringla tells of Swedish King Aun who sacrificed nine of his sons in an effort to prolong his life until his subjects stopped him from killing his last son Egil. According to Adam of Bremen, the Swedish kings sacrificed male slaves every ninth year during the Yule sacrifices at the Temple at Uppsala. The Swedes had the right not only to elect kings but also to depose them, and both king Domalde and king Olof Trätälja are said to have been sacrificed after years of famine.
Odin was associated with death by hanging, and a possible practice of Odinic sacrifice by strangling has some archeological support in the existence of bodies perfectly preserved by the acid of the Jutland (later taken over by Danish people) peatbogs, into which they were cast after having been strangled. An example is Tollund Man. However, we possess no written accounts that explicitly interpret the cause of these stranglings, which could obviously have other explanations.
Interactions with Christianity
An important problem in interpreting this mythology is that often the closest accounts that we have to "pre-contact" times were written by Christians. The Younger Edda and the Heimskringla were written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century, over two hundred years after Iceland became Christianized. This results in Snorri's works carrying a large amount of Euhemerism.
Virtually all of the saga literature came out of Iceland, a relatively small and remote island, and even in the climate of religious tolerance there, Snorri was guided by an essentially Christian viewpoint. The Heimskringla provides some interesting insights into this issue. Snorri introduces Odin as a mortal warlord in Asia who acquires magical powers, settles in Sweden, and becomes a demi-god following his death. Having undercut Odin's divinity, Snorri then provides the story of a pact of Swedish King Aun with Odin to prolong his life by sacrificing his sons. Later in the Heimskringla, Snorri records in detail how converts to Christianity such as Saint Olaf Haraldsson brutally converted Scandinavians to Christianity.
Trying to avert civil war, the Icelandic parliament voted in Christianity, but for some years tolerated heathenry in the privacy of one's home. Sweden, on the other hand, had a series of civil wars in the 11th century, which ended with the burning of the Temple at Uppsala. In England, on the other hand, Christianization occurred earlier and sporadically, rarely by force. Conversion by coercion was sporadic throughout the areas where Norse gods had been worshipped. However, the conversion did not happen overnight. Christian clergy did their utmost to teach the populace that the Norse gods were demons, but their success was limited and the gods never became evil in the popular mind in most of Scandinavia.
Two centrally located and far from isolated settlements can illustrate how long the Christianization took. Archaeological studies of graves at the Swedish island of Lovön have shown that the Christianisation took 150-200 years, and this was a location close to the kings and bishops. Likewise in the bustling trading town of Bergen, many runic inscriptions have been found from the 13th century, among the Bryggen inscriptions. One of them says may Thor receive you, may Odin own you, and a second one is a galdra which says I carve curing runes, I carve salvaging runes, once against the elves, twice against the trolls, thrice against the thurs. The second one also mentions the dangerous Valkyrie Skögul.
Otherwise there are few accounts from the 14th to the 18th century, but the clergy, such as Olaus Magnus (1555) wrote about the difficulties of extinguishing the old beliefs. The story related in Þrymskviða appears to have been unusually resilient, like the romantic story of Hagbard and Signy, and versions of both were recorded in the 17th century and as late as the 19th century. In the 19th and early 20th century Swedish folklorists documented what commoners believed, and what surfaced were many surviving traditions of the gods of Norse mythology. However, the traditions were by then far from the cohesive system of Snorri's accounts. Most gods had been forgotten and only the hunting Odin and the giant-slaying Thor figure in numerous legends. Freyja is mentioned a few times and Baldr only survives in legends about place names.
Other elements of Norse mythology survived without being perceived as such, especially concerning supernatural beings in Scandinavian folklore. Moreover, the Norse belief in destiny has been very firm until modern times. Since the Christian hell resembled the abode of the dead in Norse mythology one of the names was borrowed from the old faith, Helvíti i.e. Hel's punishment. Some elements of the Yule traditions were preserved, such as the Swedish tradition of slaughtering the pig at Christmas (Christmas ham), which originally was part of the sacrifice to Freyr.
Modern influences
| Day | Origin |
|---|---|
| Monday | Moon's day |
| Tuesday | Tyr's (Tiw's) day |
| Wednesday | Odin's (Wodin's) day |
| Thursday | Thor's day |
| Friday | Frigg's or Freyja's day |
| Sunday | Sun's day |
The Germanic gods have left numerous traces in modern vocabulary and elements of every day western life in most Germanic language speaking countries. An example of this is some of the names of the days of the week: modelled after the names of the days of the week in Latin (named after Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn), the names for Tuesday through to Friday were replaced with Germanic equivalents of the Roman gods. In English, Saturn was not replaced, while Saturday is named after the sabbath in German, and is called "washing day" in Scandinavia.
Germanic neopaganism
More recent have been attempts in both Europe and the United States to revive the old Germanic religion as Germanic Neopaganism, variously under the names of Ásatrú, Odinism, Wotanism, Forn Sed or Heathenry. In Iceland Ásatrú was recognized by the state as an official religion in 1973, which legalized its marriage, child-naming and other ceremonies. It is also an official and legal religion in all the Nordic countries, though it is still fairly new.
Modern popular culture
Norse mythology also influenced Richard Wagner's use of literary themes from it to compose the four operas that make up Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) - inspiring and laying the foundation for numerous similarly inspired works.
Subsequently, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was heavily influenced by the indigenous beliefs of the pre-Christian Northern Europeans. As that work became popular, elements of its fantasy world moved steadily into popular perceptions of the fantasy genre. In nearly any modern fantasy novel today can be found such Norse creatures as elves, dwarves, and frost giants. Subsequently, Norse mythology has also left a lot of influences in popular culture, in literature and modern fiction.
See also
Spelling of names in Norse mythology often varies depending on the nationality of the source material. For more information see Old Norse orthography.
- Alliterative verse
- Numbers in Norse mythology
External links
- Viktor Rydberg's "Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland" e-book
- W. Wagner's "Asgard and the Home of the Gods" e-book
- H. A. Guerber's "Myths of Northern Lands" e-book
- Peter Andreas Munch's "Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes" e-book
- A collection of most of the standard texts in English translation
- heimskringla.no Old Norse Prose and Poetry
- Nordische Götter - Götter-Portal (German)
- Sacred-Texts.com - More source materials
- Timeless Myths - Norse Mythology - Information and tales from Norse and Germanic literatures
- Jörmungrund: Skálda- & vísnatal Norrœns Miðaldkveðskapar [Index of Old Norse/Icelandic Skaldic Poetry] (in Icelandic)
- Project Runeberg - a Nordic equivalent to Project Gutenberg
- Norse Gods, Goddesses, Giants, Dwarves and Wights
- CyberSamurai Encyclopedia of Norse Mythology
- [1]
- Squid vs. Thor: Teuthid Imagery in Norse Mythology
Bibliography
- Primary Sources
- The Prose Edda
- The Poetic Edda
- Gesta Danorum
- Ynglingasaga
- Modern retellings (often inventive)
- Armstrong, Fredrick and Puls, Dave (2004). It Came From Animatus. Rochester, N.Y.: Animatus Studio. DVD UPC: 825346-49479-1. Includes The Derf The Viking Trilogy, a cartoon series featuring the Norse gods.
- Colum, Padraic (1920). The Children of Odin: A Book of Northern Myths, illustrated by Willy Pogány. New York, Macmillan. Reprinted 2004 by Aladdin, ISBN 0-689-86885-5.
- Sacred Texts: The Children of Odin. (Illustrated.)
- Crossley-Holland, Kevin (1981). The Norse Myths. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-74846-8. Also released as The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-025869-8.
- d'Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar (1967). "d'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths". New York, New York Review of Books.
- Guerber, H. A. (1909). Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas. London: George G. Harrap. Reprinted 1992, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover. ISBN 0-486-27348-2. (The scholarly veneer is deceptive. Material from primary sources, scholarly speculation, and secondary invention is indistinguishably mixed.)
- Keary, A & E (1909), The Heroes of Asgard. New York: Macmillan Company. Reprinted 1982 by Smithmark Pub. ISBN 0-8317-4475-8. Reprinted 1979 by Pan Macmillan ISBN 0-333-07802-0.
- Mable, Hanilton Wright (1901). Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas. Mead and Company. Reprinted 1999, New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-7818-0770-0.
- Mackenzie, Donald A. (1912). Teutonic Myth and Legend. New York: W. H. Wise & Co. 1934. Reprinted 2003 by University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 1-4102-0740-4.
- Munch, Peter Andreas (1927). Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes, Scandinavian Classics. Trans. Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt (1963). New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation. ISBN 0-404-04538-3.
- Rydberg, Viktor (1889). Teutonic Mythology, trans. Rasmus B. Anderson. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Reprinted 2001, Elibron Classics. ISBN 1-4021-9391-2. Reprinted 2004, Kessinger Publishing Company. ISBN 0-7661-8891-4. (Rydberg's theories, although interesting, are generally not accepted.)
- Rydberg's Teutonic Mythology (Displayed by pages.)
- General secondary works
- Branston, Brian (1980). Gods of the North. London: Thames and Hudson. (Revised from an earlier hardback edition of 1955). ISBN 0-500-27177-1.
- Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1964). Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Baltimore: Penguin. New edition 1990 by Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-013627-4. (Several rune stones)
- —————— (1969). Scandinavian Mythology. London and New York: Hamlyn. ISBN 0-87226-041-0. Reissued 1996 as Viking and Norse Mythology. New York: Barnes and Noble.
- de Vries, Jan. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 2 vols., 2nd. ed., Grundriss der germanischen Philogie, 12–13. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. (Generally considered the most authoritative current standard reference.)
- Dumézil, Georges (1973). Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Ed. & trans. Einar Haugen. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03507-0.
- Grimm, Jacob (1888). Teutonic Mythology, 4 vols. Trans. S. Stallybras. London. Reprinted 2003 by Kessinger. ISBN 0-7661-7742-4, ISBN 0-7661-7743-2, ISBN 0-7661-7744-0, ISBN 0-7661-7745-9. Reprinted 2004 Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-43615-2 (4 vols.), ISBN 0-486-43546-6, ISBN 0-486-43547-4, ISBN 0-486-43548-2, ISBN 0-486-43549-0.
- Lindow, John (1988). Scandinavian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliography, Garland Folklore Bibliographies, 13. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-9173-6.
- —————— (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515382-0. (A dictionary of Norse mythology.)
- Mirachandra (2006). Treasure of Norse Mythology Volume I ISBN 978-3-922800-99-6.
- Orchard, Andy (1997). Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-36385-5.
- Page, R. I. (1990). Norse Myths (The Legendary Past). London: British Museum; and Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-75546-5.
- Simek, Rudolf (1993). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-369-4. New edition 2000, ISBN 0-85991-513-1.
- Simrock, Karl Joseph (1853–1855) Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie.
- Turville-Petre, E. O. Gabriel. (1964). Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Reprinted 1975, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-7420-1.
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