Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings

Vikings Myths and legends

Today's post will be quite special because we are exploring a book instead of a historical place. This book, in particular, is about a topic that I like a lot, which is Vikings Myths around the gods.

The first part of the book: The Nine Worlds

The book is divided into two parts, the second one being the longest. The first part is more of an introduction to the world on the Northmen, for further details have a look at my old post on the Northmen culture. It is also introducing you to their cosmology, how the Viking view the universe. This basically introduces you to their famous visions of the nine worlds. For those who don't know the worlds let me present them. The first one is Asgard, home of the Aesir, the people that compose the majority of the Northmen gods. The second one is Vanaheim, home of the Vanir, the people that compose the non-Aesir gods. The third one is Midgard, this is basically Earth. The fourth one is Jotunheim, the world of the ice giants, eternal enemies of the gods. The fifth one is Alfheim, home of the light elves and enemies of the dark elves. The sixth one is Swartalheim, home of the dark elves and enemies of the light elves. The seventh is Nidavellir, home of the dwarves and allies of the Aesir. The eighth and ninth are respectively Nilheim and Hell, the two realms of the deads.

The second part of the book: the gods myths

Let's go to the most interesting part of the book, the myth. The myths are mostly about the life of the gods when they are completing quests, fighting ice giants or simply dealing with Loki's various tricks and frauds! The myths also follow a chronological order as the first ones are about the creations of: the worlds, the gods, Asgard and various other aspects of the Norse mythology. After the creation of Loki's children, there is no real chronological order as the stories are barely connected to one another. But all of this will end with the incoming of Ragnarok, the end of the Norse gods. This book is a good start for whoever wants to explore the Northmen mythology as it provides a good view of the world of their gods. It is not the most complete book to learn effectively about the Northmen Myths and legends because it is only covering the divinity and there is nothing about Vikings hero like Siegfried.