Viking mythology and all that goes with it
- Thread starter Celtik Militia
- Start date
Erzebeth.Rouge
Member
FridgePack
That Swede!
Erzebeth.Rouge
Member
Tyra
Member
Got to the library in Södertälje, ask for a tiny little book called "Asken Yggdrasil" by Alf Henrikson. It's very, very well written and entertaining. Another really good book, but a bit less "story telling mode" and more along the lines of "this is what people thought" is Ebbe Schöns "Asa-Tors Hammare".
Here in France we are lucky to have very high quality comic books, unfortunately, most of the comics which are translated are some famous ones for kids like Asterix and such.
But we've got an enormous quantity of fantasy comic books.
A trilogy is on the make, called SIEGFRIED. I bought the first comic back in Christmas 2007 when it came out, and the 2nd part is being released this Christmas.
Anyway, all this to say that its awesome, it goes without saying that its about the Nibelungen saga. The author, Alex Alice, is an awesome artist, check out the animated trailer for his series and apparently for an upcoming animated film on it... pretty cool :
Also, on this author's blog, there's a painting (by some other author) which is so fucking kick ass that I have to try hard to not soil myself when I look at it:
http://alexaliceblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/jrmungand-midgards-serpent.html
But we've got an enormous quantity of fantasy comic books.
A trilogy is on the make, called SIEGFRIED. I bought the first comic back in Christmas 2007 when it came out, and the 2nd part is being released this Christmas.
Anyway, all this to say that its awesome, it goes without saying that its about the Nibelungen saga. The author, Alex Alice, is an awesome artist, check out the animated trailer for his series and apparently for an upcoming animated film on it... pretty cool :
Also, on this author's blog, there's a painting (by some other author) which is so fucking kick ass that I have to try hard to not soil myself when I look at it:
http://alexaliceblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/jrmungand-midgards-serpent.html
Last edited by a moderator:
As a kid when these first come out, Asterix was one of the books we'd fight over at the school library as each new book became available.
My very first interest in art came from a graphic novel, it was nordic and wish I could find this again. Yet I was only 7 at the time, more of these NEED to be translated and spread around the world!
Wow, what an artist. Thanks for sharing and gives me even more reason why I wish to live in Europe when I'm done with Uni.
If you wish to expand your skills, you need to be around those with skill or people with enthusiasm to share appreciation.
That's why I'm always watching this thread and many thanks again, Alex Alice is someone I hadn't heard of before. Just wow.
FridgePack
That Swede!
Well, just came home. Was on the library and borrowed "Asken Yggdrasil" as I was told by you a while ago 
Almost seems like a child-book but it's easy to understand and you get a good perspective on things, the basics. Have read to 4th chapter now.
How's the edda to read? I doubt that it's nothing simular to this one but =)
Almost seems like a child-book but it's easy to understand and you get a good perspective on things, the basics. Have read to 4th chapter now.
How's the edda to read? I doubt that it's nothing simular to this one but =)
Tyra
Member
Yeah, that's exactly why I recommended Asken Yggdrasil to you - it's the stories of the Edda, but in easier form. I find the Prose Edda easy to read, but the Poetic Edda is somewhat more difficult becasue, well, it's poetry. It's got all these layers of information, much of it is stuff that you'd not understand or catch unless you were really familiar with the context, the whole Old Norse culture. I'm used to scholarly texts, so I don't find it too difficult - it's worth reading - but just don't expect it to be like a normal novel. I find Skaldskaparmal very interesting from a scholarly standpoint, but that stuff is very difficult to understand unless you've studied the language and culture extensively. The Prose Edda is not difficult at all, but basically, Asken Yggdrasil and some of the other books, like Padraic Collum's Children of Odin (available on line with beautiful art work and all!) contain all the stuff from the Eddas but in easier to digest form. Some books incorporate oral tradition myths, too, which I find very interesting. There are many myths that are not in the Eddas, after all. Good on you for following up and actually making the effort to go to the library and getting the book! Shows initiative, and it is a very Odin-minded thing to seek the knowledge even when it's a bit difficult to obtain it.
FridgePack
That Swede!
Tyra
Member
Yeah, or piercing yourself with Gungnir and hanging on Yggdrasil like that for nine days and nine nights and so on. It's a recurring theme in the lore that Odin searches for knowledge at any cost. I don't think one should take it so very litteral as to pluck out an eye, but the idea is that it's worth the effort to go through some trouble to learn things, such as the pain in the ass and high cost of going to university to become an archaeologist, or to trek down to a library that might be out of the way etc just to get one tiny little book.
I was meaning to ask...
So Odin pierced himself on Yggdrasil, but did he hang on it pierced with Gungir alone or did he also attach himself with a rope? I've seen drawings of his self-sacrifice where he was attached to the tree with a rope (or actually hung by the neck with a rope), some of them don't even depict him with Gungir piercing him.
This confuses me...
Tyra
Member
Amon666, depends on who you ask. In Völuspá it doesn't say, it just says "your eye". Celtik, in the Edda, it doesn't say anything that I would interpret as hanging by a rope. It just says he pierced himself with Gungnir, but then when you translate that into English, it has often been translated as "he hung himself", as in "he hung himself on the tree with the aid of his spear". Very easy to misunderstand. IMO, it's just that he pierced himself with the spear and hung suspended by it.
RunatalsÞáttr Oðins.
Odin´s Rune-song.
140. I know that I hung,
on a wind-rocked tree,
nine whole nights,
with a spear wounded,
and to Odin offered,
myself to myself;
on that tree,
of which no one knows
from what root it springs.
141. Bread no one gave me,
nor a horn of drink,
downward I peered,
to runes applied myself,
wailing learnt them,
then fell down thence.
RunatalsÞáttr Oðins.
Odin´s Rune-song.
140. I know that I hung,
on a wind-rocked tree,
nine whole nights,
with a spear wounded,
and to Odin offered,
myself to myself;
on that tree,
of which no one knows
from what root it springs.
141. Bread no one gave me,
nor a horn of drink,
downward I peered,
to runes applied myself,
wailing learnt them,
then fell down thence.
reasons that im having troubles to learn more about the nordic myth are the names
like Tyra
Amon666, depends on who you ask. In Völuspá it doesn't say, it just says "your eye"
i have no idea how do you pronounce that, and that goes to most of the words here
like Tyra
Amon666, depends on who you ask. In Völuspá it doesn't say, it just says "your eye"
i have no idea how do you pronounce that, and that goes to most of the words here
reasons that im having troubles to learn more about the nordic myth are the names
like Tyra
Amon666, depends on who you ask. In Völuspá it doesn't say, it just says "your eye"
i have no idea how do you pronounce that, and that goes to most of the words here
WUT?
Tyra
Member
Oh! Well, read a different translation then - they don't all use the original ON. Some use English translations of the names of each saga, so Skáldskáparmál is called Poetic Diction in English, and som alglicise the names, so Völund is called Weyland and Thurvi is...well...Tyra.There are several versions in the text section at Northvegr.org.
FridgePack
That Swede!
Well tyra
Today (Yesterday) I went down to the library and returned Asken Yggdrasil now that I've read it and borrowed The Edda, both the Poetic edda and Prose Edda (Snorri's Edda or "Snorres Edda" As it is called here).
And I've looked through some pages and realized that Asken yggdrasil was a good "start", because it was easy to understand and you get in to it quite well with the world tree, midgard, Nornor and so on =)
What I kind of knew before I even got it was that this will be much harder to understand and get info from, Is not really so into Poetry ^^
But I'll try to spend maybe just 15 min sometimes on it and so on and see how it all ends. I'll keep it updated and ask things here to you or search for information on the internet if something is unclear.
// Andreas
Today (Yesterday) I went down to the library and returned Asken Yggdrasil now that I've read it and borrowed The Edda, both the Poetic edda and Prose Edda (Snorri's Edda or "Snorres Edda" As it is called here).
And I've looked through some pages and realized that Asken yggdrasil was a good "start", because it was easy to understand and you get in to it quite well with the world tree, midgard, Nornor and so on =)
What I kind of knew before I even got it was that this will be much harder to understand and get info from, Is not really so into Poetry ^^
But I'll try to spend maybe just 15 min sometimes on it and so on and see how it all ends. I'll keep it updated and ask things here to you or search for information on the internet if something is unclear.
// Andreas
Tyra
Member
That's what I figured. Don't e intimidated, though. So definitively start with the Prose Edda, then. It's easier to understand than the Poetic Edda. The first chapters of Heimskringla (Sagas of the Norse Kings) is all about the gods and goddesses, too. You will definitively be able to handle that, and you'll more than likely like the stories that follow - it's all the stories about Jarl Håkan and Egikl Skallagrimsson and them dudes. I'm trying to remember what it's called in Swedish, because there is a really good translation from the ON. Lemme sleep on it. If you really want to read cool stuff, but a bit more along the lines of "this is what it means and this is the story", then read Asators hammare by Ebbe Schön (or anything Ebbe Schön, for that matter...he pretty much rocks).
Hey, kind of a totally OT question, but just because I grew up next door to Södertälje and all, what the hell is the name of Södertälje's basketball team? I was trying to remember last night, only because with the satellite dish, we get some odd channels and some odd games. I've been able to catch a few Swedish elitserien (hockey) games and such, so I was hoping for some b-ball, too.
Hey, kind of a totally OT question, but just because I grew up next door to Södertälje and all, what the hell is the name of Södertälje's basketball team? I was trying to remember last night, only because with the satellite dish, we get some odd channels and some odd games. I've been able to catch a few Swedish elitserien (hockey) games and such, so I was hoping for some b-ball, too.
