25
votes
What is Loki considered to be?
Loki is an anomaly, his parents were a giant, Fárbauti, and a goddess (or possibly a giantess, we don't know for sure) Laufey.
(I can't find any decent images of either Fárbauti or Laufey)
Loki was ...
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24
votes
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What is the difference between giants, Jotuns and trolls in Norse mythology?
Giants are said to be element-based creatures.
Giants are extremely strong and are associated with cold and frost.[1] One giant is supposed to bring about the wind (Hræsvelgr), while another is ...
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24
votes
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Was Loki originally a fire god?
No, the confusion between Loki and Logi goes back to 19th-century theories about myth, which saw Odin as the storm (or sun), Thor as literally thunder, and Loki as fire. No one accepts these ideas now,...
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23
votes
How was it decided which warriors would go to Fólkvangr and which to Valhalla?
The Norse mythological texts record three primary places where the dead were perceived to go: Helheim (Old Norse Helheimr, “the home of the goddess Hel“), Valhalla (Old Norse Valhöll, “the hall of the ...
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22
votes
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Who were the weapons-makers for the Norse gods?
Dwarfs, mostly. Some particular examples:
Gungnir: created by the Sons of Ivaldi (Prose Edda, p 145)
Loki went to those dwarves who are called Ívaldi's Sons; and they made the hair, and ...
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22
votes
Was Loki originally a fire god?
It's true, Loki is believed to have been a god of fire, before being considered a trickster god. But, as Karl Seigfried tells us:
The “god of fire” idea is a famous mistake that is due to the ...
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21
votes
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What is the story behind Thor wearing a wedding dress to get Mjölnir back?
The source of the story is the Þrymskviða poem (The Lay of Thrym), which is included in the Poetic Edda.
It was Thrymr, king of the jötnar, who stole Mjölnir. He then demanded the gods allow him to ...
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21
votes
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Is Mjolnir actually capable of flying back into Thor's hand like a boomerang after being thrown?
Yes, it seems so. In the Prose Edda, when Thor is presented with the hammer by Brokkr, this property is in the description (Page 147, here):
Then he gave the hammer to Thor, and said that Thor ...
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20
votes
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What happens after Ragnarök?
Most gods die during the battle together with the evil and the two people are left to repopulate the world. The Children of Odin addresses the event in an easily comprehensible way:
What said Odin to ...
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20
votes
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Did myths involving Loki influence Christian myths?
It is typically assumed that when similarities are found between Christianity and another religion, whether in myth, dogma, or practice, the flow of influence is syncretism into Christianity. This ...
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20
votes
What do the "runes" on this pendant say?
Sorry to say, it's actually nothing more than the Elder Futhark, the eldest of the runic alphabets.
You can read more on it on Wikipedia. A good giveaway that it doesn't "say" anything is the lack of ...
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18
votes
What is the story behind Thor wearing a wedding dress to get Mjölnir back?
As said already, your story is taken from Þrymskviða. There's a retelling of the story named The Children of Odin, which refers to that in a more easily comprehensible way:
The actual story does not ...
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18
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Why would slaves be sacrificed after their master's death?
Although slaves aren't specifically mentioned, Odin's burial laws tell us that "every one will come to Valhalla with the riches he had with him upon the pile":
Odin established the same law in ...
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17
votes
Is there a connection between Adam and Eve, and Ask and Embla?
I found an interesting site for comparing names. I can't trace the exact source(s) used for all four names, but the references given for the entire site may prove useful (and impossible to scroll ...
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17
votes
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How are future apocalyptic events detailed so greatly?
In the Völuspa (part of the poetic Edda), the tale is told to Odin as a prophecy by a völva who tell him both the story of earth creation and destruction.
In the Gylfaginning (part of the prose ...
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17
votes
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What is the Norse equivalent to the Great Flood?
The Norse flood myth is actually a flood of blood, created when Odin, Vili and Vé slew Ymir, the primeval ancestor of the jötnar. From Snorri's Prose Edda:
The sons of Bor slew the giant Ymer, but ...
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16
votes
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What did Mimir do with Odin's eye?
Odin's eye remains at the bottom of Mimir's Well:
I know where Othin's eye is hidden,
Deep in the wide-famed well of Mimir;
Mead from the pledge of Othin each mom
Does Mimir drink: would you know yet ...
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16
votes
Odin's Counterpart
The key point here is Roman Syncretism. The romans believed the world was full of different gods, and they didn't presume to know about all of them, or to know everything about the ones they already ...
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16
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Why is the story of Odin hanging from Yggdrasil so similar to that of Jesus on the cross?
Taking a look at a few things here.
The word Yggdrasil itself firstly. "Ygg," means Death. "Drasil" is a Nordic term that has the dual meanings of both "gallows" and "horse." So Yggdrasil itself ...
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15
votes
Did Loki spend 8 years underground as a maid, milking cows and bearing children?
Maybe he actually did.
Hypothesis 1. The Dwarven Arts
According to The Unmanly Man: Concepts of Sexual Defamation in Early Northern Society, Preben Meulengracht Sørensen is convinced, for some ...
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14
votes
What is Loki considered to be?
I have slightly modified the following from a Yahoo! Answers question I answered sometime ago.
He is referred to as a god in the Nibelungenlied and the Völsungasaga. In the Eddas he is generally ...
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14
votes
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Is there a connection between Adam and Eve, and Ask and Embla?
First, note that the first known mention of Ask and Embla is in the Völuspá, in the Poetic Edda:
Then from the throng | did three come forth,
From the home of the gods, | the mighty and ...
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14
votes
Why was Odin afraid that his ravens would not return back to him?
I found a different wikipedia source, for Hugin a Munin which states:
Scholars have linked Odin's relation to Huginn and Muninn to shamanic practice. John Lindow relates Odin's ability to send his "...
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14
votes
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Is "Viking mythology" the same as "Norse mythology"
A "Viking" was a a warrior who went raiding abroad. (See the Jorvik site for more on this.) They were probably the most famous medieval Scandinavians, but they were a small subset of all the Norse ...
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13
votes
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Was the Mjölnir usable by only the worthy?
As your quote shows, the story of it's creation makes no such specification.
If stealing it qualifies as "using" (I believe, in the the Marvel universe, simply lifting the hammer qualifies), the ...
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13
votes
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Did Jörmungandr and Fenrir have any relationship/interaction aside from sharing a father?
There haven't been any myths which describe the relationship or stories of interaction between Fenrir and Jörmungandr.
This could be because, in Gylfaginning, it is told that Fenrir, Jörmungandr and ...
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13
votes
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Did the Sami affect Norse mythology?
Yes, both as figures in historical and semi-legendary stories, and possibly through borrowings of mythological themes and ideas.
History and semi-legendary material
First, let's note the actual ...
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12
votes
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How are the two humans selected to repopulate the world after Ragnarök?
The two human survivors are Lif and Lifthrasir. They live through Ragnarök by hiding in Yggdrasil before the great battles, supposedly in Hoddmimir's wood. Apparently, Vafthrudnir told this to Odin in ...
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12
votes
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Why was Odin afraid that his ravens would not return back to him?
The meaning of those two ravens is not 100% answered, yet. One possible explanation is as follows:
In the Norse shamanic tradition, Odin's ravens represent the powers of necromancy, clairvoyance and ...
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12
votes
Who were the weapons-makers for the Norse gods?
Many weapons were made by dwarfs.
Brokk and Eiti (Sindri) made Mjölnir (Thor's hammer) according to the Prose Edda and Odin's spear Gungnir which the dwarfs originally gave to Loki.
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