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In my opinion, the Norse have the coolest mythology! And what`s even cooler is the fact that it inspired so many masterpieces, such as 'The Lord of the Rings'. But where did it all come from? How did the Norse get all the ideas about Odin and the gang? This always perplexes me when it comes to religions and beliefs---where did the people get the ideas? In Christianity, we have Jesus, the Son of God, who came to earth to teach us, then there`s Buda, who kinda did the same thing and, of course, the muslims have Mahommed, the profet. But what about the Norse? Who told them about the existence of gods and Valhalla, or better yet, how did they come to believe in them?

Any ideas? Any books which might provide answers? Any adresses to such sites?

to be boring and blunt, without your enthusiasm, it was just some dude who made it up and everyone believed it, just like the bible and every other religeon.

rather not have bashers of the mythology, its an interesting thing, Norse Mythology, lots of creatures that interest me, always liked the sort of tension of Odin and Loki, like reading the stories of how Odin lost his eye, its actually the mythology i prefer

Yeah, that was interesting, how he was powerful and everything and he gave his eye just so some giant would give him access to see something.

Ever come across the Voluspa dgeniu?

It is pretty interesting.I just wish I had more of a interest in art.Then I would reallly like it.JM

tolkien was on a trip when he thought up LOTR!

ya i love mythology.. but i hardly know anything of norse mythology... but which part of the world did this mythology originated from????

Mainly from the Scandinavian countries... thats Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Britain.... and a lot of us still believe in it...

wait.... britian isnt scandinavian.

yea thats what i was going to say

Britain is far more Scandinavian than it is European... lets look at the evidence... our geology and climate are Scandinavian, our main racial group is of north Germanic/Scandinavian descent, and our main language is of the German-Scandinavian group... even Irish and Scots are influenced by Norse tongues.... look at our coastline.. is it like Norway's or France's... we are scandinavian....

well in books and i bet most british would not count them as scandinavians.

a good deal of us do... especially when our affinity to the Scandinavians is explained... the main problem in this country is that we have been a subject race to European kings for so long, and have been forced over the years to think of ourselves as european... notice that out of all the member states of the European Community, it is the British who feel most opposed to European power, and are the least likely to think of themselves as European... oh, and we still call our days after the Norse and saxon gods...

oh well i am not british.. and you are so i should take your word on it.... but thats pretty cool.

anyway, thats a bit off topic... the Norse mythology is absolutely excellent, and far more appealing to us in this country than the classical mythology... the heroes of the old norse tales are definitely far more British than heracles or Perseus...

Thor is like one of the only mythological characters that were made into comics and was a big hit.


And i both love greek and norse mythology.

The days of the week were named after the Norse gods

I really do love mythology, it was my favorite subject we covered in my english class last year

seriously... ididnt know every day of the week was named after a norse god.

Well most of them

Sunday: Sun's Day. The Sun gave people light and warmth every day. They decided to name the first (or last) day of the week after the Sun.
Monday: Moon's Day. The Moon was thought to be very important in the lives of people and their crops.
Tuesday: Tiw's Day. Tiw, or Tyr, was a Norse god known for his sense of justice.
Wednesday: Woden's Day. Woden, or Odin, was a Norse god who was one of the most powerful of them all.
Thursday: Thor's Day. Thor was a Norse god who wielded a giant hammer.
Friday: Frigg's Day. Frigg was a Norse god equal in power to Odin.

oh thats so kick ass.

"Ever come across the Voluspa dgeniu?"

Not really...is it anther spelling of The Volsunga Saga, `cause I know about that.

THe Germanic tribes belived in that mythology too.
So go Germany ....

And, contrary to popular belief... Saturday was named not after Saturn, but after Saetare, who was the bringer of Agriculture and beer, and is held by most scholars to be equivalent to the god Loki... Loki himself is much misunderstoo, especially by those coming from a christian background.. Loki is mischievous, but not totally evil... he and Thor are great friends, and in most of the stories, when Loki gets the gods into trouble he tries hard to get them out of it again... the Christians did their best to equate Loki with their devil, Lucifer... the names come from the same root, Lucifer meaning Light Bringer, Loki meaning Fire or Flame... but where outside influence had turned Lucifer from being an angel of light to being a rebel and then into the source of evil, Loki had only got to the rebellious stage... the christians drew further parallels between the Ragnarok and their own Book of Revelation, and held that as Loki was on the side of Hel and the army of the dead, he must therefore be a demon and evil... but a closer look at the ragnarok shows that far from being a battle between good and evil, the ragnarok is a war between the forces of imposed order in the shape of man and god on one side, and the raw force of nature on the other.... just as in the "real" universe, Loki (fire) outlasts the sun, and all the gods succumb to death... what the ragnarok tels us is that we are not immortal... that even the gods die, but that the universe goes on regardless...

A good site about all this is www.northvegr.com

nope.... Voluspa is different altogether... go to www.northvegr.com were you can find the Voluspa, the Poetic and Prose Eddas, and the Havamal.... and lots of others besides... and remember everyone... despite what they tell you in school, its not a dead religion.... there have been worshippers of the norse gods from pre christian times right up to the present day....