Norse and Germanic Mythology

In the cold lands of Northern Europe, a mythology developed that did not emphasize in its gods the beauty and proportion of the Greek and Roman deities. Odin, the chief god, had only one eye; and Tyr, the god of war, had but one arm. The rugged landscape, the towering mountains, the long dark winter nights, and the endless struggle against ice and cold went Buri, the first god, was the grandfather of Odin. Ymir fathered a race of frost giants who were enemies of the gods. Ymir grew so large and so evil that Odin and his brothers could no longer live with him. They killed him, and the blood gushed from his body in such torrents that all the giants?except Bergelmer and his wife?were killed. These two took refuge on a chest and came to the shores of Jotunheim. From them another race of frost giants was born.

The gods made the Earth from Ymir?s body. From it they cut the deep valleys, made the high mountains, and dug the fjords. From Muspelheim (a hot, glowing land of fire in the south) they caught flying sparks and fastened them in the heavens as stars. Out of Ymir?s eyebrows they built a wall around the place where human beings were to live. Then the gods made man from an ash tree and woman from an elm and set them to live in this place, called Midgard.

The gods chose as their home a plain named Ida, where they built a city named Asgard. Odin was the father-god, a counterpart of the Greek Zeus and the Roman Jupiter. He was also called Wotan, or Woden. From his name the day of the week Wednesday was derived. From the earliest times he was regarded as a war god and the protector of fallen heroes. His magical horse Sleipnir had eight legs and was able to gallop through the air and over the seas.

There was about Odin a special compassion and sadness. He gained his great wisdom at the price of one eye. Mimir, the giant who guarded the well of wisdom, would give Odin no drink unless he surrendered an eye. All the skill and knowledge that Odin won he shared with the gods and mankind. He passed much time in Valhalla, where the great heroes were brought to feast with him after they died in battle.

Thor, for whom Thursday was named, was the Thunderer. His hammer, Mjollnir, had remarkable qualities, such as the ability to return to the thrower like a boomerang. His chief enemy was the serpent Jormungand, the symbol of evil. Having failed to kill the serpent, the gods were destined to fight and kill each other at the end of the world, called the Ragnarok?the Twilight of the Gods.

Tyr, after whom Tuesday was named, was the god of war and treaties. He was also the god of justice and the guardian of oaths and guarantor of good faith. Balder was the beautiful god of light. Most of the legends about him concern his death. The gods often amused themselves by throwing objects at him, knowing he was immune from harm. Balder was killed when the blind god Hod threw mistletoe?the only thing that could hurt him.

Frey was the god of sun and rain, the patron of bountiful harvests. Freyja was the goddess of love and beauty. Frigga was Odin?s wife and Balder?s mother. Friday was named after her. Hel was the goddess of death. Loki was the evil one, half human and half god. Heimdal was the keeper of the rainbow bridge over which the gods passed from Asgard to Earth.

The Norse gods were deities who knew intense suffering. For example, they lived with the knowledge that in the Twilight of the Gods they would go down to defeat under the frost giants. Nevertheless, they also lived in the belief that heroic action was the highest good. This foreknowledge of doom gave to Norse mythology a tragic nobility found in no other.