Mythos Mondays
January 6, 2020
Norse : The Beginning
Thank you everyone for sticking around as long as you have, I sincerely apologize for not pulling through as promised, things just got really busy. I will be doing my absolute best to keep up every week, or at least every other week if things get too hectic.

As it is, we've got some great plans!! We may not have them all come to fruition this year, but we can always improve
Starting us off this year we've got Norse Mythology. We'll start easy and work our way more in depth as the month continues. Enjoy!!

The Norse creation myth originated in Iceland, and was believed to pull inspiration from the glaciers and volcanoes of Iceland; it begins as such:
Ginnungagap was a large void, and there was nothing else but this void. Eventually, two realms appeared at opposite ends of the void: Muspelheim and Niflheim. Muspelheim was a realm of heat and fire at the south end of the void, and Niflheim to the north, a realm of cold and ice.


Ginnungagap, with it's two realms
[Image Source]

Between the two, heat and cold met and over time formed a frost giant named Ymir.


Ymir pictured above at the center of the image.
[Image Source]

Three other frost giants were born from Ymir's sweat, produced by the warm air from Muspelheim. From the sweat under his left arm came a male and a female frost giant, and from the sweat on his legs came a six-headed frost giant.
The warm air from Muspelheim continued to melt the ice from Niflheim and came to form a cow called Audhumla who licked the ice to get drinkable water, eventually forming another frost giant, this one named Buri.


Audhumla feeds frost giants milk and frees another from the ice.
[Image Source]


The frost giant Buri had a son named Borr. Borr married Bestla, the daughter of a giant named Bolthorn, and they had three children named Odin, Vili, and Ve. These three eventually became the first three Norse gods, known as the Aesir, or sky gods.
In a great battle, they slew Ymir (referenced in the first image above), and his blood created a river that drowned all but two frost giants. These two frost giants were Bergelmir (Ymir's grandson) and his wife. They escaped in a boat and eventually settled in a place called Jotunheim.
The three Aesir created the Earth using Ymir's body, then created the first man (Ask) from an ash tree and the first woman (Embla) from an elm tree.


Odin, Vili, and Ve create the cosmos.
[Image Source]

Such was the creation of the Earth as told by Norse myths. Next week we'll go more in depth about the various gods, see some more history, and maybe explore some creatures!


We do have a clan discord, although it's currently not very active. Anyone is welcome to join!
Discord Link

All information comes from the following text :
Myths & Legends: An Illustrated Guide to their Origins and Meanings
by: Philip Wilkinson

HTML Credit : Magpie #72433