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It’s hard to find someone that loves mythology and dislikes Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien was a visionary and, like us, loved the old myths. He never stopped learning in his quest to create a British Pantheon. Tolkien wanted to create a set of stories that could inhabit our imagination forever.
For all that I know, I can say for us – and legions of fans – that he succeeded.
Walking through Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the characters that we can find stronger references borrowed by Tolkien from the Norse myths is the wizard Gandalf.
I’m pretty sure that, if you are into the Old Norse religion, you noticed some similarities between our grey wanderer and the all father, Odin.
Yes, Gandalf was inspired by the king of the Norse gods to be a wise, mysterious and tough old man walking through the land, ever watching.
These are not the only references to the Allfather. Odin had the horse Sleipnir, and Gandalf, Shadowfax. The two are also associated with birds as Odin had his gossipers Huginn and Muninn, Gandalf had help from the giant eagles during some critical moments.
In one of the most interesting passages of both characters is the assimilation of a greater knowledge through sacrifice. Besides the differences, they both became wiser after dying one time.
At this point, Odin got the knowledge of the runes and Gandalf the Grey becomes Gandalf the White, surpassing the former leader of his order, Saruman.
Lord of the Rings is an unprecedented piece and we can find many other references inside Tolkien’s work, mythological or from his life experiences during World War I and how he overcame the trauma through some characters’ speeches.
Have you found more mythical references in the LOTR?
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]]>The post Baldur’s death and the prologue of the end appeared first on Find Your Quest.
]]>Many are the tales of enlightened deities and they all share similar elements. It’s not hard to find them, usually they are celestial beings that come to bring peace, order and knowledge and at the end, invariably they are killed leaving the path ahead to others. With Baldur’s Death should not be different.
With Baldur should not be different. He was honest, handsome, kind and wise and met his unfair end in the hands of his brother.
Baldur was one of the sons of Odin and Frigg, the most beloved of the Aesir. There was no creature, stone or plant that didn’t care about the god.
He lived with his wife Nanna and his son Forseti in a place called Breidablik. A place in the heavens so incredible that, according to the Prose Edda, it is impossible to be unclean. All this reflected the god’s aura, always clean in mind, spirit and soul, perfect to his very core.
His fairness and light were also reflected in his family: Nanna, his wife, was the goddess of peace and joy and his son, Forseti, justice and reconciliation. All around Baldur was perfect.
But something wasn’t right
Even though he had all this love towards him, he started to dream about his vicious death. For many nights, Baldur dreamed about it as an omen that something terrible was to come.
Frigg, his mother, was a völva and had the same nightmare. Worried, she shared her concern with the Allfather. That information struck Odin, he had learned long ago that Ragnarök, the twilight of the gods, would be caused by the death of his son.
Instantly both gods went into a quest to avoid Baldur’s death by telling everything and everyone in the cosmos not to hurt him. An oath was made by all but the mistletoe.
Here is where we have some diversion on how that happened. Some say that Frigg found the plant so tiny and delicate that she didn’t even bother to ask it the favour as it would be impossible that Baldur could be hurt by such small and fragile thing.
On another darker version, Frigg did ask the mistletoe to swear the oath, but it refused. That’s because the plant was Loki in disguise.
The truth, we will never know.
So they said “mission accomplished”
Baldur was safe and more than ever before, the Aesir became the thrill of Asgard. All the other gods, knowing it was impossible to hurt him, started to throw arrows, axes and rocks at him and were astonished by his invincibility.
Everything seemed good. Relieved, Odin and Frigg took a deep breath for they had evicted the death of their beloved son once and for all. That was when Loki came to change everything.
The trickster saw everyone amazed by Baldur’s new power but his brother, Hodr. The other son of Odin could not enjoy his sibling’s fortune for one simple reason: he was blind. Not that Hodr resented Baldur, he just could not join the others in the celebration.
Loki decided to help him. He walked up to Hodr and said “I can help you with that. One brother should be able to share another brother’s joy“. He then took a bow and arrow and placed it in Hodr’s hand.
“Trust me“
whispered Loki in his ear
And so it happened…
Loki aimed and gave the command to release the arrow. A second later, total silence. The gods were in complete shock, Baldur, the fair, handsome, wise and lately invincible, was dead. Whilst the gods watched his body fall, they were all trying to understand how that could be possible.
What has happened which no one saw is that Loki had managed to create an arrow made from mistletoe, the only thing that did not swear to hurt Baldur. We do not know for sure if it was for envy, hate or simply for the fun of cruelty, we only know that he found a way to do another mischief and, this time, went too far.
Despair took place. The Allfather even had time to whisper something in his son’s ear, but it was too late, Baldur was gone. Odin refused to accept his son’s fate and decided to send someone to the underworld to retrieve him from Hel back to Asgard and negotiate Baldur’s death.
Hermóðr immediately offered himself to complete the quest and rode the borrowed Sleipnir as fast as he could to reach the foul place. Getting there, he bagged Hel – the daughter of Loki and queen of the dead – to give Baldur back. It was when he realised that the Aesir was there, sitting by her side, sad and without his usual light.
Hel agreed to retrieve the god under one condition:
— If it is so that Baldur is so beloved by everyone and everything, humans, gods, plants, rocks, mountains and rivers, so hear my demand: all must weep his death! Otherwise, he's mine to keep until the end of times.
Said Hel confident that she would thrive over the challenge.
Hermóðr accepted the offer and ran back to Asgard to tell the news to the gods which, straight away, started the quest. Through the 9 realms, they ran, asking all things to shed tears for the kind Baldur.
It was in Jötunheimr that everything collapsed, as the giantess Thokk, who lived in an isolated deep and dark cave refused to weep. She claimed no love for Baldur and that Hel should keep her belonging to herself.
That was the end, Baldur would not come back. This was the first event marking the dawn of Ragnarök and the end of all things, but this is another story we will have to tell.
He came, brought light to those around him and was ruthlessly killed. Was promised to return, but left the world to its apocalyptic fate. After the events caused by his death, he would be reborn to rule the realms with dignity and peace.
That is the story of Baldur’s death, but there are many others throughout history, similar to this one. Would you risk anything? We invite you to share your thoughts and help us understand our lives through the ancient stories as our ancestors once did.
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]]>The post Sunna, the conductor appeared first on Find Your Quest.
]]>The Norse religion is within those who created a whole persona for the Sun, but for them the star was a goddess named Sunna. She was destined to ride across the skies until the end of time.
The ancient ones believed that everything had a reason to be or, many times, a personality of its own. It’s not hard to find personifications of chaos, earth, skies and other mightiness of nature.
Most often we find our forefathers giving name and appearance to the Sun, the most venerable star in our sky. It’s easy to understand why. In the majority of the European cultures, the simple presence of the Sun meant that it was time to sow, and with long and dark winters, time to venture outside without freezing to death.
The Germanic peoples are within those who created a face, name and stories for the Sun. Most uncommon, it was a goddess named Sunna or Sól.
There are no precise records on how she came to be or who she really was, the Poetic Edda says that Sunna and her brother Máni, the Moon, were born in the beginning of time and, not knowing what to do with their powers, received the task from the gods to wander in the skies in a certain way to establish the four seasons.
On the other hand, in the Prose Edda, they were fathered by a man called Mundilfari that found them so beautiful that he gave them the names of the Sól, after the Sun, and Máni, after the Moon. In this version, Sól married a man called Glenr (meaning opening in the clouds) and, because of her father’s arrogance in comparing her to the god’s creation, she was actually condemned to conduct the Sun.
The figure of Sunna is composed by a lady with golden curly hair that looks like rays of light.
She rides a chariot pulled by the horses Árvakr (Early Riser) and Alsviðr (Swift), carrying the Sun – which was made from sparks of Muspelheim, one of the 9 norse worlds – and with a shield called Svalinn, to protect the land from burning up completely.
It’s also known that Sunna and her brother are chased all the time by the sons of the gigantic wolf Fenrir – Skoll (Mockery) and Hati (Hate). At the end, during the apocalyptic events of Ragnarök, the beasts will finally reach their prey. Although it is the end for Sunna, her daughter will continue her legacy.
Sunna was praised for many reasons and associated with the power of healing, both the land and the people. For Midgard, Sól brings the spring making the trees, grass and flowers come back to life, also it is when the rivers unfreeze and it’s time to plant once more. Basically, it’s time to be reborn and rise back to life.
To the people, having the sunlight back was a sign that the hard times are gone and that they could finally be back to work the earth, time for a little happiness and a break of the hardness of the dark and cold months that have passed, to rejoice for a second before it goes all dark again.
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]]>What would you do to become the wisest creature in the universe? Have you ever wondered why Odin is missing one of his eyes? What Happened? A fight? A battle? Not at all. Know more about Odin’s sacrifices
We all have heard of many stories about the search for knowledge, but none of them is as strong and violent as Odin’s quest for wisdom.
It is known that, more than anything else in the cosmos, Odin craved wisdom. In his quest, he has searched throughout all the 9 worlds and risked anything to achieve his goal.
Sources tell us about the time he travelled to the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasil. His plan was simple: find the Mimir and drink from his well.
Mímir was one of the wisest beings in the universe and got his knowledge from his well, Mímisbrunnr, located at the bottom of Yggdrasil. It is said that Mímisbrunnr, was one of the 3 wells located in the roots of the gigantic tree and that it had the property to store all the knowledge of the creation also passing it on to those who drink from it.
The problem was that Mímir would not give anything from the precious well without asking for something in return at a high price. When Odin arrived and asked to drink from it, Mímir was unconditional:
— If it is knowledge you seek, you, Allfather, like anybody else will also need to pay the price! I shall have one of your eyes in exchange for a sip.
As said before, this was a problem, but not for Odin, the almighty king of the Asgardians. Without hesitation, the god scooped his eye from his face and gave it to the well.
Then, the deal was sealed. Mímir dipped the god’s horn in the well and gave away the draught. This was his first sacrifice.
In future passages, he found the decapitated head of Mímir and embalmed it with herbs and charms, keeping it with him almost all the time in case he needed advice.
The Allfather’s ultimate sacrifice
In another passage, the bards tell the stories of his second sacrifice. This time, even harsher.
Odin caught himself many times watching the work of the Norns. The Norns were beings that controlled the destiny of all mortals and gods. As they decided the fate of everyone, they carved runes on the trunk of Yggdrasil.
They were the only ones that could read them, as the runes were only revealed to those who were worthy. And the unstoppable Odin knew that.
One day he decided it was time to acquire this new knowledge, but, to do that, he needed the ultimate sacrifice. Before acting, he forbade the other gods to help him, not even a sip of water or fruit would touch his lips.
He decided to hang himself and that he should stay there until the task was done.
He threw a rope around one of the branches of Yggdrasil and wrapped around his neck. Then he jumped. That was not enough. To make sure the sacrifice was true, Odin took his spear Gungnir and pierced himself.
For 9 days and 9 nights, he was there, not dead and not alive, calling for the runes. He only stopped when he sensed something different, something taking shape. The runes accepted his tribute. Reborn and victorious, the god´s cry of joy could be heard in all the cosmos.
“I am worthy! I have the knowledge!”
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]]>The post Sleipnir: King of horses appeared first on Find Your Quest.
]]>However, the acquaintance of the stallion is very unusual and curious. It is said that Odin’s horse first appeared when Loki decided to help the Asgardian gods, turning himself into a mare to distract the stallion Svaðilfari.
All began when a mysterious master-builder offered the gods to rise a massive wall around Asgard to protect them from the attack of giants. The price was high. In exchange for his services, he asked for the Sun, the Moon and the hand of the astonishing Freyja in marriage.
Under Loki’s influence, the gods accepted the offer under one impossible condition: the man should finish the job in just one season, with no help but his horse, Svaðilfari.
The trick was that the man would get a majority of the work done, with no possible way to finish within the tight deadline and no help whatsoever. Once he failed, the gods would take over and finish his job keeping the wall, the Sun, the Moon and the beautiful Freyja all to themselves.
The man accepted despite the fact that no one believed he could make it.
As the days went by, they’ve realised that the man was in fact up to the task and could indeed deliver the job within the outrageous deadline.
Scared, the gods tried to delay him using many tricks, but the most effective came from Loki – as usual.Threatened and accused by the other gods as a major responsible for the disastrous bet, he had an interesting idea. Loki decided to use his powers to turn himself into a beautiful mare and seduce the incredibly strong stallion.
When the stallion spotted the sexy-horsy-Loki, he didn’t hesitate to chase him into the woods, leaving the master-builder alone to finish the wall.
Furious, the man cursed the gods and revealed himself to be a giant with a plan to leave the gods without the lights of the Moon and the Sun and depriving them of the beauty of the goddess Freyja.
After the giant failed to attack the gods – thanks again to Thor and his hammer –, a few months later, an embarrassed Loki comes back home bringing a gift to Odin. It was the best of the horses and, also, his son – with Svaðilfari – the eight-legged horse Sleipnir.
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