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Definition
Freyja
Freyja (Old Norse for 'Lady', 'Woman', or 'Mistress') is the best-known and most important goddess in Norse mythology. Beautiful and many-functioned, she features heavily as a fertility goddess stemming from her place in the Vanir family...
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Loki's Brood
Loki's Brood by the German artist Emil Doepler, illustration from page 43 of Walhall, die Götterwelt der Germanen, Martin Oldenbourg, Berlin. 1905. The drawing depicts the Norse god Loki's three children by the giantess Angrboda (shown...
Article
Norse Alcohol & The Mead of Poetry
Alcohol played an integral part in Norse culture. People drank ale more than water because the brew had to be boiled as part of the process and so was safer to drink. The Norse of Scandinavia had four main types of fermented beverage: ale...
Article
The Sun & the Moon in Norse Myth
In Norse mythology, the Sun and the Moon appear as personified siblings pulling the heavenly bodies and chased by wolves, or as plain objects. Written sources, such as the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, have surprisingly little to say about...
Article
Viking Raids in Britain
The Viking raids and subsequent settlements define the period known as the Viking Age in Britain which had profound consequences on the development of the culture and language. The raids started in June of 793 CE when three ships docked at...
Video
Fenrir: the GIANT Wolf Even Gods Feared - Norse Mythology Explained
Welcome to Mythology Explained. Today, we’re discussing Fenrir: the biggest, baddest wolf in all of Norse mythology. And there were many mighty wolves in Norse Mythology: there was Geri and Freki, Odin’s wolves; There was Skoll and Hati...
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Tessa Thompson as a Valkyrie
Tessa Thompson as a Valkyrie in a modern interpretation of Norse mythology as portrayed in the movie Thor Ragnarok (2017). Valkyries were key figures in various Norse sagas such as Prose Edda, the Heimskringla and the Njáls Saga. They were...
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Odin fighting Fenrir
Depiction by Emil Doepler from c. 1905 CE showing a scene from the Ragnarök (from Norse Mythology) in which Odin fights the wolf Fenrir. In the background are the god Freyr (on a horse) and the fire-giant Surtr.
Collection
Norse Mythology - A Collection
Norse mythology, the stories of gods and heroes from in and around the Viking Age (c. 790 - c. 1100 CE) in northern Europe, has provided us with some of the most famous figures in world mythology. Here, in this collection, we look at such...
Video
The Nine Realms of Norse Cosmology
The Norse people in their mythology divided their universe into nine realms with the world tree, Yggdrasil, in the centre. From Yggdrasil the nine realms of their cosmology either spread out from it or they stretched from the roots below...