Norse, Teutonic, or Scandinavian mythology Essay

Thought (Hugin) and memory (Munin) were the two ravens that went unto the world to observe and return to tell of what all men do, Driven by only if search for knowledge, Odin begged Mimir, the wise, to impart him to drink from the good of wisdom, for this he consented to lose an eye. Wounded I hung on odorize swept gallows For nine long nights, Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odin, Offered myself to myself The wisest know not from and so spring The roots of that ancient rood. They gave me no bread, they gave me no mead I looked down with a loud shout out I took up the runes and I fell. (The aged Edda 56) Here we find Odin once more sacrificing himself for knowledge, In The Ultimate cyclopaedia of Mythology it is said that Odin actually died on the gallows of Yggdrasil, that he traversed Nifleheim, or Hel in order to endure the nine sacred runes, that seem to be extremely powerful as described in The Elder Edda. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology adds yet another theory to Odin hanging himself, The parallel between Odins impulsive death on Yggdrasil and the crucifixion remains striking. Odin was pierced with a spear and like Christ, cried out originally he died there is little doubt that his hanging on the cosmic tree had pre-Christian origins and derived from ancient irreligious worship. Odin had long been the god of the spear, the god of the hanged. This could definitely be determined as less than speculation, seeing as we must rely on our sources and to this point one(a) could say that this is a very valid and easy thought out work. Regardless of minor differences in school text again we must as they did default option ourselves to the larger span of information. There were two different groups of gods in Scandinavian Mythology, The Aesir and the Vanir.Each having their own some(prenominal)(prenominal) dwelling place, Asgard for the Aesir, and Vanaheim for the Vanir. Of the two, The Vanir restrain been said to be the older. Unlike the contendrior Aesir, the Vanir were a race of gods associated with fertility, wealth, and good weather. (The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology 500) Among the Vanir were, Njord, the sea and fortune god, Skadi, the god of destruction, Freyja, the goddess of love, and Freyr the god of Fertility. Among the Aesir were, Odin, Balder, Bragi, Forseti Heimdall, Hodr, Thor, Tyr, Vili, Ve, Vidar, Frigg, Sif, and Idun.At one point in time there was a great war between these two branches of gods, yet both the Aesir, and the Vanir came to terms by exchanging several prominent gods of each side. The Vanir sent Njord, Freyr, Freyja, and Kvasir, while the Aesir sent Mimir, and Honir. The Vanir soon found that they got the bad end of the push-down storage due to the position that Mimir was the only one who knew what he was talking about, and that in his absence Honir, wasnt sincerely that bright. The Vanir then sliced of Mimirs head and sent it back to Asgard, where Odin used Powerful magic t o allow Mimirs head to speak.Little else is known of the Vanir, they seemed to lose importance quickly after it was concluded that the war was resolved however it was noted that Vanaheim, was potentially unaffected by Ragnarok. This shows evidence of two religions colliding with Scandinavian and Germanic mythology. Revealing to us that Scandinavian mythology has most definately influenced by other ancient tales and stories. (Cherry, Vanaheim) Scandinavian mythology might have been the inspiration to several works of redbrick day literature.It is Nicole Cherrys opinion that Tolkien was very well acquainted with the northern mythos, as can be seen by the use of it in his books. The name of one of his main characters, Gandalf, is found in The Poetic Edda. Gandalf is, in some ways, reminiscent of Odin, the leader of the Norse pantheon. even so the name Middle-earth, the setting for Tolkiens The Lord of the ringings, comes from Norse mythology. There are several other modern day work s of literature based on or derived from Scandinavian mythology as well, such as, The Ring of the Nibelung and The Nibelungenlied.These works, may well show the effect and legacy of Scandinavian Mythology in the World. Another notable agent of Tolkeins Lord of The Rings was his use of the ring itself to the Viings the ring meant wealth honor fame and destiny. It was in fact a tradition to give rings to neighboring countries, bringing to notice the ever prominent central point of the Lord of the Rings. (Day 29) There is no Heaven or Hell in Scandinavian mythology, the only hope is to be brought up to Asgard by a Valkyrie or Battle Maiden.Even then those chosen or the Einherjar (The Heroic dead) faced defeat at Ragnarok in the Final Battle on the Vigrid Plain. This may be unlike any other focal point of religion known. It reasons in many an(prenominal) ways that the only way to gain honor is to die in battle unfaltering. Scandinavian Mythology, although comparable to other religio ns or other pagan beliefs is an original and unique work of the Norwegians, Swedish, Icelandic, and Danish peoples of Europe. Hamilton describes it justly by saying, Asgard, the home of the gods, is unlike any other heaven men have dreamed of.No glow or joy is in it, no assurance of bliss, it is a grave and solemn place, over which hangs the nemesis of inevitable doom the same is true for humanity this conception of life which underlies Norse religion, as grim a conception the human mind has ever given birth to A heroic death is not a defeat, but a triumph. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE JRR Tolkien section.