Amanda Platz

My ancestors certainly were not normal people. They believed in a male shapeshifter god who gave birth to an eight-legged horse, for starters. They also believed that this same god disguised himself and a large, burly man-god as women to go to a feast in which they killed most of the people attending. Yes, Scandinavians were pretty crazy people, and Neil Gaiman, in his book Norse Mythology captures this astonishingly well. His style appears to be for children; however, Norse Mythology is not for children. The mythology is full of scandal, deviousness, and intense blood-thirstiness. But Gaiman captures every element of Norse mythology tastefully while continuing with the major ideas from the myths.

Norse Mythology is a retelling of the original stories from mythology, discussing what are short stories as opposed to a novel. It contains familiar characters such as Thor, Loki, and Odin. It also contains unfamiliar characters like Tyr, Freya, Frey, and Sigyn. The lessons learned from the stories, with these wonderful characters, are as many as the chapters in the book, and to discuss all of them would be impossible in the short space I have. But one or two is acceptable.

“The Story of Gerd and Frey” tells the story of Frey, the mightiest of the race of gods known as the Vanir. He finds himself one day realizing that he is lacking something, yet he did not know what he lacked. So, he starts to search through everything he already possessed. Nothing there satisfied him, so he takes his search elsewhere. He finds himself finally in the halls of Valhalla, where the dead human warriors go once they die. He, from Valhalla, see’s what his heart longed for, what he feels he had lacked for so long. He see’s a woman. From then on he finds himself longing for this woman, but felt unable to win her hand. So, he sat, moping about until finally one of his servants tentatively peeked into his room and asked what was wrong. Frey explained the issue, and asked his servant if he could go get the woman, whose name is Gerd, and bring him back for a wedding. His servant agreed, on one condition: the servant got to keep Frey’s sword. The thing about Frey’s sword is that it is able to fight by itself, and fight just about anything, including Surtr, the fire demon who was said to be a major villain in Ragnarok, the end of the world. But Frey, being foolishly in love with Gerd, lets his servant take the sword, in exchange for the woman. Frey’s heart is happy once he marries Gerd, but giving up the sword proves to be a fatal mistake in the last days of Ragnarok.

Frey’s decision to give his sword in exchange for a woman is very much a poor decision. The last line in Gaiman’s retelling is chilling. He says:

Ragnarok is coming. When the sky splits asunder and the dark powers of Muspell march out on their war journey, Frey will wish he still had his sword. (209)

Frey’s sword would have been a great tool to save the gods from the coming Ragnarok, but instead, he foolishly pawned it away as if it were nothing, simply for the fleeting pleasures that life has to offer. Frey could have defeated Surtr and put an end to Ragnarok, but in his selfishness he chose marriage to a woman over the lives of every living being. His selfishness inevitably will cost the demise of the world.

This is a common theme throughout the myths: the theme of the gods being willing to give away something very important, all in exchange for something petty and useless in comparison. They don’t understand the value of something until they bargain it away, or until they have risked the possession of it for some petty trifle. The gods are often willing to sacrifice something, but sometimes they sacrifice too much for too small a prize.

Another example of this kind of mistake happens in “The Master Builder.” In this story, the gods decide that Thor and his hammer cannot protect them forever, so they need to build a wall around Asgard. But they realize that it would take years to build the type of wall that they need, so when a strange man comes to Asgard and offers to build the wall in only three seasons, they are impressed and more than willing to take him up on his offer. They were willing, that is, until they found out what he wanted in return. This stranger requested that the gods give him the sun, the moon, and marriage to Freya as his payment for building the wall. At first, the gods were going to refuse, but here is where the craftiness of Loki comes to play. He suggests that they limit the amount of time the stranger could use to one season only and that they only allow him the help of his horse. He assumes that the stranger is attempting to accomplish an impossible task, and that there is no way the stranger could actually accomplish such a feat. The gods are overjoyed with Loki’s idea, and they accept the strangers offer. Once the stranger begins to build, however, they realize the mistake they made. This man could actually accomplish the feat that he endeavored towards.

Naturally, the gods were furious with Loki for suggesting such a foolish plan. Now they were going to lose the sun, the moon, and Freya, all because of Loki speaking up and putting such a stupid idea into their head. So Loki must keep the stranger from building the wall. You will just have to read the story to find out how he does this: I’m not spoiling this one for you.

Either way the story teaches an important lesson: don’t give up essentials for non-essentials. Do not bargain away things for somthing that are important for things that are completely unimportant in retrospect. A wall may be important, but having it built in a couple seasons is not necessary. Having the sun and moon, and not giving Freya away without her consent are all vastly more important than having a wall built faster than expected. Such foolishness on the part of the gods is a lesson to us: do not be so flippant. Romans 1:22 says “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” This is precisely what the gods of Norse mythology are: fools. They claim to be the wisest, most beautiful, most magnificent people in the entire nine realms, yet they continuously make foolish decisions and constantly fail. The only thing that really makes them gods is their immortality and the possession of magical relics. Otherwise, these gods are just like humans: foolish creatures stumbling around in the futility of life, desperately hoping for something good to come of their blunders. The gods and goddesses of Norse mythology, just like those of other mythologies, are just glorified human beings.

Neil Gaiman’s retelling of the stories of Norse mythology is very well-done. He brings to life ancient stories and re-crafts them without changing anything. The stories are creative, mischievous, and whimsical, while still being rough and hardy, demonstrating the tough, war-like nature of the Scandinavian people. These stories still, in Gaiman’s retelling, wonderfully describe the Scandinavian culture, the war-like tendencies of her people, and the imaginative qualities found in their literature. Norse mythology is certainly creative and imaginative, and Gaiman’s retellings capture that element perfectly.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman recounts many stories in Norse mythology. In these stories we find lessons we can learn and themes we can trace throughout. Common themes such as “Loki is mischievous so trust him but don’t,” or “don’t be stupid or make bad decisions” come up often. Each story has a lesson we can learn and a common theme we can follow, making the stories of Norse mythology timeless. It is easy to understand why Gaiman chose to retell Norse myths in his Norse Mythology: the stories are absolutely fantastic.