Viking mythology and all that goes with it

Erzebeth.Rouge said:
Ive almost finished the painting im working on right now, theres a detail i need to specify though....
Oden, what would/could be the color of his cloak? i know it could simply be a dusty gray or black, but in this painting hes not really concealing his personnality, or if he is, hes just acting as a warrior. but the cloak is what we see the most and i was wondering what color it could be in such a context. Gray wouldnt fit.
or then, maybe... what could be the color of the cloak of an einherjer or a living warrior?
Tyra, since hes the one youre more akin to, what do you think please? and how are you by the way? :)
thank you for all answer
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bah.. nevermind, i did it red, for each and every painting i make, there must be that red catalogued as 'mine'... and since the sky didnt rendered it well enough to my taste well, i did the cloack of that color. thanks anyway :)
 
I wonder why some bands (like amon amarth for example :p) use oden instead of odin? I did some research but i did not find any useful answers. I had thought oden is odin's (maybe old) scandinavian name, but i didnt see oden when i found some names like Óðinn, wöden, wotan, uuoden.. I have been using oden (instead of odin) for long time coz of amon amarth's lyrics, anyway you understood me :) i really wonder this very much
 
Amon Amarth, by virtue of being a Swedish band, use the Swedish spelling of His name. Odin is the form that most English speakers would use and in Old Norse there are also several different spellings depending on time and place. The continental Germanic tribes called Hom Wotan and Wodan, too. All those spellings are correct, and then He also had other names, such as Grimnir, Tveggi, Hangatyr, Ennibrattr and so on. As we say in Swedish, kärt barn har många namn (beloved children have many names).
 
thanks, i had thought oden comes from swedish too but borknagar's the eye of oden confused me, anyway thanks.

i have one more question ;) hel is loki's daughter (i read somewhere she is loki's sister :s) and hel means something like kingdom of deads too, and there is muspelheim too, i think valhall is (not exactly but like) heaven (coz of martyrs going heaven story), and which one is like hell? muspelheim or hel, standart people go hel after death and muspelheim is land of scorching flames (i dont know well this is true or not). actually i dont think there is a land (in norse mythology) like hell, i think i am confused :s
 
Hi Tyra! havent seen you here for some times! i hope everything is fine with you :)

I can try to answer your question HermoD.
It all depends on who is the the god you 'prefer' - i wouldnt say worship because the relation man/god was a of equals, so maybe 'befriend'? - and/or how you die. If your main god is Oden and you really are serious about him and devote your life to him, then you might die tragically before your time and end up in Valhall and become an Einherjer to fight in his army at Ragnarök. But otherwise you could end up in any of your god's hall (Thor's, Freya's, Freyr's, Njord's (? or Ran's?, etc) (you can also just go to your kin and ancestor's hall) If you die w/o a faith, or of sickness, or old age, you might end up in Nifhelheim, where the godess Hel, Loke's daughter, rule. Depending on the version of your sources, if they are tainted by xtians beliefs, it might be that Hel (the place, cause it also is a place in Nifheleim) is for the souls to be tortured eternally and all that jazz. The other version is that it is simply a place where 'souls' rest and are tended by Hel who acts much more like a host. This would go till Ragnarök as well, where they would march against the Aesirs and Vanes, etc.
Runesinger wrote something very interresting about it in this earlier thread :

I have a good friend, Kjartan, who is one of the best scholars in Viking theology that I know of. His studies indicate that how you live your life here will say where you end up in the next life.

For instance he was telling me that the monotheistic religions (including Satanism and wicca) are all inspired by Surt the Firelord. His center is around the desert lands of North Africa and the Middle East. Surt promotes monotheism because he is pretty much a dictator. Those that follow the monotheistic religions end up in Muspellheim, the land of fire. This is because they have given their minds and their will over to the rule of another. They will stay in Muspellheim until they learn to think for themselves.

If a person is very sickly in their life, so they could not live a whole life, they might go to Vanaheim for healing and renewal of their soul.

He also believes that your next life is not permanent either. You learn and grow in the nine worlds to what will benefit your soul. He said that the concept of a heaven and hell that are eternal are ideas from Christianity.

There are concepts like that in the Eddas. Brynhilda was a valkyrie, but because she lacked the discipline to do her duty, she was reborn as a mortal. Once again, she was ruled by her passions instead of her mind, and she ended up going to hel.

Helgi Horvathsson had a defined mission for his life, but was unable to complete it. He was born again in Midgard to complete his work.

It is probably not too healthy to become preoccupied with Hel. The land of the dead is not for the living...

Runesinger
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(http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/amon-amarth/182924-viking-mythology-all-goes-38.html#post5830125)

And theres finally the oath breakers, murderers and all those mean persons that did real bad things. they would end up in Nastrond and their body would be eaten by Nídhögg which lies under Yggdrasil and gnaw at its roots.

Well.. my answer was really my understanding and synthesis of all the informations given in this thread, so you might just want to go through too, its very interresting, im rereading it myself. But i hope it helped you somewhat :)
 
it helped Erzebeth thanks very much :)
umm really interesting, lets look did i understand right; in norse mythology, monotheists are the most sinful things and they will stay muspelheim till they believe oden/aesir/vanir, other sinfuls will go nastrond.. but that "their bodies will be eaten" part sounds like a paradox :) monotheists can go out from muspelheim but other sinfuls can never evade from eaten by nidhögg? maybe i misunderstood :)
and what about loki's followers?
 
hum.. there is no 'sins' in norse mythology, not like the xtians seem to base their fate around them anyway. to kill another man is considered bad by every 'sane' or 'moral' persons around the world and at any era. i doupt very much any viking killed out of pleasure or for absolutely no reasons.
I cant speak for Runesinger nor her friend that researched on the subject. Although its a very interresting theory (if i can call it this way). i think you should read the previous posts about the subject, this quote was inserted in a specefic line of ideas and posts, and i removed it from the ensemble so it can only mix you up more...wasnt my intention sorry.

As for the other religions and the perception of norse ppl of them, im in no way the one to ask about for this delicate question, although i have my ideas, i dont have much sources to back them up like Tyra or Runesinger could have. But as much as i see this, i dont think norse ppl and their beliefs had any problem with any other religions. Vikings went to the east as far as Constantinople (or Bizance) where some of them even became personal guard of the emperor there. (in a grave, somewhere in scandinavia, archeologists even found a buda once or twice!) They traded and raided the european coast and if they were to trade with xtians, they had no problem doing so, although the xtians wouldnt trade with them unless they converted... since the norse ppl seemed quite, and still are(no?), pragmatic ppl, to cease trade - and possibly starve - because the xtians wanted to see a cross on their chest, it wasnt a big deal to wear their mjöllnir beside a cross. Of course some conversions went serious. No, to me, the norse ppl were very open minded and acceptful, while xtians made such fuss over religion its ridiculous. and it didnt changed over time... its my opinion anyway, dont quote me lol Im sure Tyra could give you a much fuller and interresting answer :)
 
Don't confuse Hel with Hell. Hel is not a place of suffering, except for Nastrond, which, according to Völuspá and Gylfaginning is where murderers, oathbreakers and such go, at least after Ragnarök.
38.A hall I saw, far from the sun,
On Nastrond it stands, and the doors face north;
Venom drops through the smoke-vent down,
For around the walls do serpents wind.

39.I saw there wading through rivers wild
Treacherous men and murderers too,
And workers of ill with the wives of men;
There Nithhogg sucked the blood of the slain,
And the wolf tore men; would you know yet more?

(From Voluspá) There are other places, besides from Valhall, one can go to after death. Freya takes half of those slain in battle (Odin the other half), while those that drown at sea go to live with Ran. Bondsmen go to live with Thor. Women who have proven themselves to be particularly good wives also go to Freya, and spirits of maidens go to be with her handmaiden Gefjon. Some people believe that all their family members would reside in mountains or a grave mound when they died.
To me, the ultimate "hell" would be Nifelheim - imagine all alone in a landscape consisting of nothing but snow as far as your eye can see, never to be warm again, never to have company again. Or at least not until Ragnarök, when, if you were bad enough to be sent to Nifelheim, you'd be fighting on Loki's side.
 
Tyra said:
Don't confuse Hel with Hell. Hel is not a place of suffering, except for Nastrond, which, according to Völuspá and Gylfaginning is where murderers, oathbreakers and such go, at least after Ragnarök.
38.A hall I saw, far from the sun,
On Nastrond it stands, and the doors face north;
Venom drops through the smoke-vent down,
For around the walls do serpents wind.

39.I saw there wading through rivers wild
Treacherous men and murderers too,
And workers of ill with the wives of men;
There Nithhogg sucked the blood of the slain,
And the wolf tore men; would you know yet more?

(From Voluspá) There are other places, besides from Valhall, one can go to after death. Freya takes half of those slain in battle (Odin the other half), while those that drown at sea go to live with Ran. Bondsmen go to live with Thor. Women who have proven themselves to be particularly good wives also go to Freya, and spirits of maidens go to be with her handmaiden Gefjon. Some people believe that all their family members would reside in mountains or a grave mound when they died.
To me, the ultimate "hell" would be Nifelheim - imagine all alone in a landscape consisting of nothing but snow as far as your eye can see, never to be warm again, never to have company again. Or at least not until Ragnarök, when, if you were bad enough to be sent to Nifelheim, you'd be fighting on Loki's side.
Click to expand...



ok.................so what I miss?
 
Tyra said:
Don't confuse Hel with Hell. Hel is not a place of suffering, except for Nastrond, which, according to Völuspá and Gylfaginning is where murderers, oathbreakers and such go, at least after Ragnarök.
38.A hall I saw, far from the sun,
On Nastrond it stands, and the doors face north;
Venom drops through the smoke-vent down,
For around the walls do serpents wind.

39.I saw there wading through rivers wild
Treacherous men and murderers too,
And workers of ill with the wives of men;
There Nithhogg sucked the blood of the slain,
And the wolf tore men; would you know yet more?

(From Voluspá) There are other places, besides from Valhall, one can go to after death. Freya takes half of those slain in battle (Odin the other half), while those that drown at sea go to live with Ran. Bondsmen go to live with Thor. Women who have proven themselves to be particularly good wives also go to Freya, and spirits of maidens go to be with her handmaiden Gefjon. Some people believe that all their family members would reside in mountains or a grave mound when they died.
To me, the ultimate "hell" would be Nifelheim - imagine all alone in a landscape consisting of nothing but snow as far as your eye can see, never to be warm again, never to have company again. Or at least not until Ragnarök, when, if you were bad enough to be sent to Nifelheim, you'd be fighting on Loki's side.
Click to expand...



ok.................so what I miss?
 
Hello again people :D

The other day I was wondering something, and since internet sometimes isn't THAT reliable, I'm back to ask the specialists :p
This is a question that came back to my mind after looking at AA's new cd cover: In every painting, illustration or whathever I saw of Thor, he's blonde. Is that a mistake made by the first popular artists who painted him and got copied by every artists after by a lack of information, wasn't he actually red haired or is it me the one who's wrong?
 
HermoD said:
it helped Erzebeth thanks very much :)
umm really interesting, lets look did i understand right; in norse mythology, monotheists are the most sinful things and they will stay muspelheim till they believe oden/aesir/vanir, other sinfuls will go nastrond.. but that "their bodies will be eaten" part sounds like a paradox :) monotheists can go out from muspelheim but other sinfuls can never evade from eaten by nidhögg? maybe i misunderstood :)
and what about loki's followers?
Click to expand...

Try to get yourself a copy of HRED's The Road to Hel. It is an excellent book on the afterlife concepts.


Someone might want to open up a new thread dedicated to that very topic of heathen afterlife views, it is guaranteed to suck up a shitload of bandwidth.

Read Eyrbyggja Saga...Ch 11.. and Njal's Saga...Ch 14..., they both have excellent instances of "where someone went".

There are also some threads on asatrulore.org worth looking at, I will search for them and post later, wife just got home and we going out to dinner now.
 
hey guys i wanna know a site 2 read the norse myth ..iam from egypt and fed up with pharaohs and crap :d
ne wayz iam a BIG FAN OF Amon Amarth and really wana know everything about the norse myth
i have a site 4 the eddas but i want something that can help me explaining it
thx
 
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