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odin was the primary god wern't he and thor had a big hammer so i wouldnt annoy him.

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/norse-mythology.php?deity=THOR

Well, Death, according to the 2nd paragraph of this article you're right <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

AFAIK Donar/Thor was the God of peasants and serfs, too, besides being in charge of thunder and lightning war etc => needs a simple... errhm...
Kiya <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />

ROFL <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I like that description.

Thor is a dude with cool hammer, that is why I am the Thor the Mighty, ummm
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" />

Hammer Mjöllnir is considered as sexual symbol... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />
Kiya

LOL ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

never heard that before..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />

We ARE talking about Vikings here. Im sure there is a great deal of sexual innuendo in there <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kitty.gif" alt="" />

About Vikings : http://www.cultures2.de

http://www.thelairofdarkness.com/level.itml/icOid/6081

there you are, Thor => the bind runes on it. Interesting thing is this => the rune meaning war and male sexuality are one and the same. Implies a not-so-friendly conquering way of approaching the other gender. I've always felt uncomfortable at the thought, this hammer is a symbol of protection for marriage, fertility and war at the same time... "Get a lot of kids, slave females and deliver cannon fodder for the next village to burn down?"

For me as a modern feminist a really disgusting thought and insight into a very male-oriented, vicious, brutal streak of this culture. I consider the whole Norse mythology to be the most brutal and life-defying one. In case you wonder: Mythology of all cultures was an old childhood interest, later on I tried tracking down when the matrilinear cultures were forced out of human memory.
Kiya

PS: My knowldege does not come from the internet (too shallow) - I prefer books for that <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

So Kiya, what about Odin's large spear (Gungnir) and Tyr's ever-swinging Sword (Tyrfing) ?

On a side note Thor is mainly the god of thunder/weather/agriculture, the one-handed Tyr is the 'real' god of war in the norse mythology.



Thor was fooled thrice when he visited the giants: He lost a drinking contest because his mug was connected to the sea (but he drank so much that he actually could walk home instead of taking a boat), he failed to move an old woman in a wrestling contest (the old woman was actually Time) and he failed in a strength contest to lift a cat (the cat was actually the world-encircling Wyrm, and he almost managed to lift it). So yes, damned strong but not the brightest bulb in Asgard.

Sorry for going totally <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" />

Edited to add: Kiya I sent you a PM

Odin and his cloak represent air and can be used for projection of power. Perhaps this is like him throwing his spear? Do you know any legends about Odin and his spear? They might help interperet things.

As for Tyr's sword, no idea. Again, got a story for us?


Thor belongs to the people, in a sense. He is their strength, their support and their protector. Unless I've interpereted it incorrectly?

Maybe so, he might be the most human of the gods, he is even cuckold: Loki is said to have slept with Thor's wife Sif. Loki actually took a lock of Sif's hair as a 'souvenir', that pissed off Thor and the other gods so much that they demanded compensation, Loki went to the dwarves and returned with the compensation: A magical ship for Frey, the Hammer for Thor and a Spear and a gold-making ring for Odin.

Some compensation for a lock of hair huh ? Oh I think Loki also brought a wig for Sif,... I wonder how Kiya will interpret that <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

As a beard was a sign for manlihood (Islandsaga: Njall was jeered at because he had none) - the long hair was a symbol for womanhood. So... depriving a goddess of (a part of her) womanhood was indeed an insult - and I guess this: if things wouldn't have been put straight again... a deep gender crisis amongst gods? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> (and no psychotherapeutic god in sight)

Oh, dear - I opened a box of Pandora - since this morning my colleagues and I are discussing Norse mythology hotly- if incest is better than killing e.g. Small troops invade religion and history shelves - quotes from this and that book are called all over the corridors... and I'm buried under books. ARGH!

On a more serious note: Sif's golden hair symbolized wheat and harvest in a natural rhythm, she was associated as Goddess of Harvest - so stealing her hair, was like stealing the harvest and endangering food in general. Though... I can't really understand this godly fuss - cause plundering, killing, piratery in greed for land, fame and riches was considered very manly <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Please, keep this in mind => the vikings (vikingr = pirates, marine warrior) were only one tribe among the North-Germanic races - these myths were common amongst all Germanic tribes - and frankly: they all had something in common: violence even under the leading females.

Expansion due to primogenitur (Germanic birthright: only the oldest son is allowed to keep the land) and an exaggerated cultural dominance about the importance of having many sons was one of the reasons for Viking expansion (there were more, but I won't bore you with that) => sooooo, cutting off her hair should have been considered as a "natural act". <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

Consolation by buying her a wig made out of pure gold => in order to stop blood feuds you could pay your way out - part of the Germanic laws. So. Loki saved his butt <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Spear Gungnir => "never misses his goal".... errhm, we've got age rating here, correct? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" /> - what I found interesting was this: Wodan-Odin hung on a tree, pondering about the meaning of runes, wounded by a spear - if I take away the runes and look at the symbolic character of his "sacrifice" => Jesus crucification (sp?) comes to my mind.

Tyr's sword => ah, well, I think this is self-explanatory, he was the official Germanic God of war.

Take psychoanalysis => nearly everything is reduced to death or sex... my art teacher once even analyzed a water tap in an advertisement that way. Took me a few weeks until I could eat tomatoes freely again <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

Warning: this may be offensive to Christians. For the record, I am not against Christianity at all.

When Christianity came about, they started using symbols from other religions to try to convert and consume peoples religios beliefs. The crusifix is an adaptation of a Pagan symbol (I don't know it's original meaning). The Pagan symbol was a cross but with all arms the same length, as opposed to the bottom arm being longer. By using this symbol, the Christian church could say "See, we're the same as you. You should follow the rest of our beliefs too." Obviously it wasn't quite that simple, but that was one part of it.

Interestingly, Alex and I were wondering through St. Pauls Cathedral in Melbourne where Alex noticed a number of the older crosses did have arms of equal length. She asked the people at the kiosk about this and all they said that it was the same thing.

Yes, christianity adapted a lot => take Eastern <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
Ostara => origin was the Germanic goddess of spring and morning. She was celebrated during that season. "Ostern" is the German word for Eastern - see the origin?
I guess, christianisation wouldn't have worked in Europe if old Germanic traditions wouldn't have been assimilated into the new religion...


and a totally different adaption of old Norse stuff occured in fantasy literature, specially the heroic one => LOTR by Tolkien, surprised? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> - Gandalf (name => "magic Elf") with the appearance of... Odin (Wodan)... with his long cloak, large hat and the staff. This was the pic North Germanics (specially the Scandinavian tribes) had of the allmighty father of gods.

Adaption goes the other way round, too => clues point out the fact that Ragnarök (end of the world in a grand long... bloody fight) visions were developed during the Viking (800-1100 a.c.) era, presumably under Christian influence of the Apocalypse - interesting, hm?

I think it will be impossible to figure out which Germanic myths were really pre-christian and which were additional fiction due to christian influence - cause the Edda was written down in the 13th century and the author was... errhm... a christian <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

lol, in the end we cannot say what's actually lying beneath our feet - I mean we have influences from almost every culture in us - in some cases greater, in some cases smaller.

The Christianity is imho a big mixture of everything that was (in) - Europe. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Longtime before the Apocalypse and Ragnarok, in Egyptian mythology, the End of The World was thought to happen when the big snake ate Re (the sun). It just struck me that Ragnarok too involves a big snake (eating its own tail). Come to think of it, there is one famous snake in Christianity too huh ? But this bugger stars in the beginning not the end. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Kiya, in your comparaison between Gandalf and Odin, you could have added Sleipner and Shadowfax (their respective horses) similar in all things except the number of legs <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

The wyrm, Jormundgand, would stop eating his own tail and come to the surface to do battle. Interesting thing is that Ragnarok also involved the wolf Fenris (alt. spelling 'Fenrir) swallowing the sun.

The aztecs have their own winged snake (I could never get the spelling for it right), and the chinese their dragon (since it has no wings it looks more like a snake too). One could almost think there was a common proto-civilization, from which many others descend.