Norse 5 Flashcards
The Eddas
[N] The two compilations from Iceland that describe the gloomy and stern views of Norse Mythology. They came in two parts, the younger and older.
Valhalla
[N] the warrior’s paradise. The only way to get there was to die courageously fighting.
Aesir
[N] the primary race of gods, which included Odin, Thor, Tyr, Balder, and Heimdall, as well as others.
Asgard
[N] The Aesir lived in this place, where they held temporary power over the cosmos.
Ragnarok
[N] The final battle of time in which evil would overcome good.
Vanir
[N] A secondary race of gods, not much different from the Aesir. In ancient times they would battle the Aesir until a compromise in which these gods were allowed into Asgard.
Giants
[N] they came in two varieties, frost or mountain. They were terrible magicians, who lived at Jotunheim, and they would shatter the cosmos at Ragnarok.
Jotunheim
[N] The land of the giants.
Dwarves
[N] a subterranean race of craftsmen.
Valkyries
[N] “choosers of the slain”. Female warriors who selected brave mortal fighters who died in battle to live in Valhalla in Asgard. They were the attendants of Odin, and also the immortal waitresses in Valhalla.
Odin
[N] the chief god, a master of wisdom, magic, and poetry. He protected courageous noblemen in war, and was also the god of the slain.
Odin
[N] He was blind in one eye, wore a golden breastplate and helmet carried a magic spear, and rode an incredibly swift, eight legged horse named Sleipnir.
Sleipnir
[N] Odin’s incredibly swift eight legged horse.
Hugin
[N] represented thought, a raven who perched on Odin’s shoulder along with Munin.
Munin
[N] Represented memory, a raven who perched on Odin’s shoulder along with Hugin.
Hugin and Munin
[N] Two ravens who perched on Odin’s shoulder. They represented thought and memory. They flew throughout the world and reported everything to him each night.
Frigga
[N] The wife of Odin. She protected brave warriors whom Odin neglected.
Thor
[N] the god of thunder, a powerful deity, upright in character but fearsome to his enemies.
Thor
[N] he protected peasant warriors and possessed a belt that double his strength, magic iron gloves, and a magic hammer, Mjolnir, which always struck its target and returned to his hand.
Mjolnir
[N] Thor’s magic hammer. It never missed its mark and always returned to his hand.
Baldur
[N] the son of Odin and Frigga, he was especially loved by nearly every being in the world, but he was the first god to die.
Tyr
[N] presided over public assemblies, legal matters, and battles. His hand was bitten off by Fenrir the wolf, a monstrous enemy of the gods.
Frey
[N] one of the Vanir; he was the god of vegetation and fertility.
Freya
[N] one of the Vanir; she was the goddess of love and beauty.
Heimdall
[N] the watchman of the gods, stationed at the rainbow bridge Bifrost which led into Asgard. His trumpet, Gjallerhorn, would announce doomsday.
Bifrost
[N] the rainbow bridge which led to Asgard. It was protected by Heimdall.
Gjallerhorn
[N] Heimdall’s horn which he would blow at doomsday.
Loki
[N] the son of a Giant. He was full of malice and cunning, and perpetrated michief until the gods bound him in a cavern with a venomous serpent to torment him.
Fenrir
[N] the wolf, a mighty enemy to the gods, he bit off Tyr’s hand.
Jormungandr
[N] often known as the Midgard Serpent, the child of Loki. He was a major enemy to the gods, and especially Thor.
Hel
[N] the goddess of the netherworld. Half her face had human features while the other was blank. She ruled the dead, and was a child of Loki.
