86 pages • 2-hour read
Norse Mythology
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Symbols & Motifs
Wolves and Serpents
Wolves and serpents are powerful symbols in Norse mythology. These creatures were important to Viking culture, appearing as recurring motifs in art, ships, and poetry. Wolves are used to symbolize brutality, barbarism, and betrayal. Serpents are a symbol of binding, punishment, and destiny.
The most obvious example of a wolf in Norse Mythology is Fenrir—Loki's monstrous son. The gods fear Fenrir’s power; he grows rapidly, and his strength becomes alarming. They betray Fenrir, binding him in unbreakable bonds. He will escape during Ragnarok and take his revenge. Another example of a wolf is the binding of Loki. The gods turn Loki’s son Vali into a wolf, his mind “replaced by hunger, by anger, by madness” (262). Vali tears his brother Narfi apart and runs off. Narfi’s entrails are used to bind Loki.
Jormungundr is, literally, the largest serpent in Norse Mythology: it encircles the world, bound by swallowing its own tail. The Midgard serpent’s form, the Ouroboros, represents eternity; breaking that form by removing its tail from its mouth, will signal Ragnarok. Another example of a serpent is demonstrated by Loki’s punishment for the murder of Balder. A serpent drips venom into Loki’s eyes, tormenting him until Ragnarok; he is relieved only by his wife catching its venom in a bowl. However, whenever Sigyn has to empty the bowl, his torture resumes.
Rivalry Between Gods and Giants
In Norse Mythology, there are two groups of gods: the Aesir and the Vanir. The Aesir are the most famous gods of the Norse, including Odin, Thor, and Loki. They preside over things such as battle and war. The Vanir gods, including siblings Frey and Freya, are more peaceful and preside over things such as fertility and the yearly harvest. The Aesir preside over Asgard, and the Vanir rule Vanaheim. At the beginning of time, the two groups of gods make war against each other. However, they soon realize “that each side needed the other: that there is no joy in a brave battle unless you have fine fields and farms to feed you in the feasting that follows” (128). They make peace; Frey and Freya live with the Aesir thereafter.
While the rivalry between the Aesir and Vanir turns to brotherhood, the animosity between the gods and the giants only grows. While they are described as giants, the Jotnar come in many forms. They range from the enormous frost and sea giants, to hideous ogres, to beautiful beings such as Skadi. Giants have magical and supernatural abilities on par with the gods. The giants are a real threat to Asgard: Only Thor and Mjolnir can reliably keep the gods safe from giants and even then, they occasionally fall victim to the giants’ attacks.
Norse Mythology features several prominent stories of the gods and the giants. Loki sires Hel, Fenrir and Jormungundr with the giantess, Angrboda. Odin later visits Angrboda in the underworld to ask who will kill Balder. The giant Thiazi tricks Loki into giving him Idunn and the apples of immortality. The giant Utgardaloki tests Thor, Loki, and Thialfi into performing great feats in order to assess their power. Thor fishes up the Midgard serpent on a fishing trip with the sea god Hymir, the stepfather of Tyr. The surviving giants will side with Loki during Ragnarok, headed by Hrym, whose ship Naglfar will carry Loki’s forces into battle.
The Inevitability of the End
Norse Mythology depicts a universe that is fundamentally cyclical: The end is always present because it is a new beginning. This is emphasized by the inevitability of Ragnarok, which forms a sort of refrain that runs throughout the text. In the very first story, depicting the creation of the nine worlds, the narrator introduces the demon Surtr, who, at Ragnarok, “will go forth from Muspell with his flaming sword and burn the world with fire, and one by one the gods will fall before him” (30).
When depicting Asgard for the first time, the narrator describes it as the place where the gods “hold their council […] and it is here they will gather in the last days of the world, before they set out for the final battle of Ragnarok” (41). The inevitability of the end of the world is thus built into its very foundation.
The ends of specific gods are also present in the text; Odin prophesizes his own end, and ensures it by binding first Fenrir, and later Loki, making enemies of them both. Whether for sport or glory, Thor pursues the Jormungundr, the Midgard serpent throughout the text, once almost hauling it onto a boat. The serpent’s poison is the end of Thor. Frey gives his magic sword to his servant, Skirnir, as a reward. Frey foreshadows his own destruction, telling Skirnir, “They say that this sword could even prevail against the flaming sword of Surtr, the Fire demon” (207). Sure enough, Frey ends up engaging Surtr in combat at Ragnarok, and falls, “missing and regretting the loss of the sword he gave to Skirnir so long ago, for the love of Gerd. That sword would have saved him” (274). Frey is the first god to fall at Ragnarok.
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