History Characters / NorseMythology

* DropTheHammer: {{Mjolnir}} is one of the most well-known examples.

* DecompositeCharacter: Maybe. The similarity between her name and Frigg's has a lot of academics arguing about a possible connection. Freya and Frigg ''do'' appear alongside each other in a couple of Norse poems, but it's still possible they evolved divergently from one figure.

* BigGood: The strongest of the Aesir and dedicated protector of humanity. Unlike Odin, who was very much partial to nobility and warriors(he was their patron after all), Thor was fond of commoners, farmers, fishermen and thralls, and some say his halls were big enough to acommodate them after death.

* YouAreWorthHell: On the receiving end of this. She and the mortal King Dyggvi fell in love while he was alive. All that is known about him is that he died peacefully in his bed, which barred him from Valhalla and sent him to Helheim. He chose to die to die without glory so he could be with her.

* EatenAlive: By Fenrir.
* EyeObscuringHat: Odin gave one of his eyes for a drink from the well of wisdom and wore a very wide-brimmed hat to conceal it. The hat part of RobeAndWizardHat may come from this, via ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
** Many re-tellings indicate it is impossible for Odin to go without concealing his missing eye somehow.
* EyeScream: Self-inflicted to be used as a toll for a drink from the Well of Knowledge.
* EyepatchOfPower: Is often depicted as having one over his lost eye.
* FlightStrengthHeart: Is the God of war, magic and poetry.

** He does get a lot of atenttion in ''Gesta Danorum'', under the guise of legendary king Frodi. Up to six incarnations of the same character show in the legendary Danish dynasty as compiled by Saxo Grammaticus, using a variety of unknown sources, including oral tradition and folklore, most of them sadly lost to time. Saxo seems to have rescued a lot of different mythological events not preserved anywhere else, with some parallel to the Icelandic Eddas. Many scholars and mythology aficionados prefer to just ignore this work as a heavily distorted pseudo-historical book, but it still has enough curious events to give a different perspective on Norse mythology. Frodi himself gets a lot of spotlight in the course of the first six tomes, although multiplied into six different monarchs all named the same and probably given credit for the feats of other lost characters, all of which is common in traditons around the world. If he did just half of those feats, he still qualifies as a trickster god and a strategic genius.

* DecompositeCharacter: Loki, as important as he is in the Icelandic Eddas, and it's presence being identified in Scandinavian archeologial artifacts, is notably absent from ''Gesta Danorum'' written by Saxo Grammaticus and preserving various mythological traditions. However, there are various characters who seem to be him under different names, most of them in Book I:

** In a bit of a [[NoodleIncident noodle incident]], in ''Gesta Danorum'' Freyr and Freyja, under the guises of Fródi and Gunwara, seem to have been abducted by giants until ther warrior Eirik liberates them from their influence. A trio of giant brothers, all of them names Greppr (collectively, "the Grepps") commited all kind of sexual debauchery and acts of cruelty, including explicitly having relations with men. One of them was [[AbhorrentAdmirer deeply in love]] with Gunwara, keeping her in a tower and killing any suitor foolish enough to ask for her hand. More telling perhaps is the intimate relationship that one of the Grepps has with Frodi (Freyr alternate persona), jealously coveting the young king and expressely showing his affection. Frodi himself would ignore any cruel act attributed to his "intimate friend" and holds him very close, at least until a more handsome and eloquent warrior comes around. Only an obscure reference to the myth remains in the little known icelandic ''Kórmaks saga'', where Freyja is called ''sýrar greppa'' or "Sýr of the Grepps".

** In a bit of a [[NoodleIncident noodle incident]], in ''Gesta Danorum'' Freyr and Freyja, under the guises of Fródi and Gunwara, seem to have been abducted by giants until ther warrior Eirik liberates them from their influence. A trio of giant brothers, all of them names Greppr (collectively, "the Grepps") commited all kind of sexual debauchery and acts of cruelty. One of them was [[AbhorrentAdmirer deeply in love]] with Gunwara, keeping her in a tower and killing any suitor foolish enough to ask for her hand. More telling perhaps is the intimate relationship that one of the Grepps has with Frodi (Freyr alternate persona), jealously coveting the young king and expressely showing his affection. Frodi himself would ignore any cruel act attributed to his "intimate friend" and holds him very close, at least until a more handsome and eloquent warrior comes around. Only an obscure reference to the myth remains in the little known icelandic ''Kórmaks saga'', where Freyja is called ''sýrar greppa'' or "Sýr of the Grepps".

** ''Utgarthilocus'' (''Utgarda-Loki''), in Book VIII, worshiped by king Gorm, asking him for fair weather. Later he sends Thorkill to wisit the god, crossing sunless lands, grassless plains, talking with giants who generously give him fuel for fire after the hero insults his home repeatedly. He finds it living in a hideous and grisly cave, poorly illuminated, full of iron seats and swarms of serpents, and a small rivulet flowing onf sandy soil. The giant himself, covered in spiky hairs and surrounded by noxious fumes, has its hands and feet chained in in the deepest part of the cavern. Nobody knows for sure whether the giant is the same Loki from the Eddas, or if it was the giant Utgarda-Loki who was actually chained and this later was transferred to asa Loki, if they are different characters or just two versions of the same deity.

** ''Utgarthilocus'' (''Utgarda-Loki''), in Book VIII, worshiped by king Gorm, asking him for fair weather. Later he sends Thorkill to wisit the god, crossing sunless lands, grassless plains, talking with giants who generously give him fuel for fire, he finds it living in a hideous and grisly cave, poorly illuminated, full of iron seats and swarms of serpents, and a small rivulet flowing onf sandy soil. The giant himself, covered in spiky hairs and surrounded by noxious fumes, has its hands and feet chained in in the deepest part of the cavern. Nobody knows for sure the giant is the same Loki from the Eddas, or if it was the giant Utgarda-Loki who was actually chained and this latter was transferred to asa Loki, if they are different characters of just two versions of the same deity.

** He does get a lot of atenttion in ''Gesta Danorum'', under the guise of legendary king Frodi. Up to sex incarnations of the same characters show in the legendary Danish dynasty as compiled by Saxo Grammaticus, using a variety of unknown sources, including oral tradition and folklore, most of them sadly lost to time. Saxo seems to have rescued a lot of different mythological events not preserved anywhere else, with some paralel to the Icelandic Eddas. Many scholars and mythology aficionados prefer to just ignore this work as a heavily distorted pseudo-historical book, but it still has enough curious events to give a different perspective on Norse mythology. Frodi himself gets a lot of spotlight in the course of the first six tomes, although multiplied into six different monarchs all named the same and probably given credit for the feats of other characters, all of which is common in traditons around the world. If he did just half of those feats, he still qualifies as a trickester and a strategic genius.

* ColdHam: she is mostly stoic, calm and severe goddess who rules over the shadows of the death with indifference and a bit of disdain, but she has a penchat to use rather dramatic names for her possesions. Her hall is called "damp with sleet", it's theshold is a pitfall called "falling to peril". She sleeps in a bed called "sick-bed" surrounded by a set of curtains named "gleaming disaster". She eats using a dish called "hunger" and a knife called "famine".

** Zig-zagged, when one considers that he never fights face-to-face with the warriors, but rather prefers to influence the outcome of battles using magic and manipulation to achieve his goals. He was rather a shamanic-poet, inspiring the warriors into trance-like states and giving advice to worrior-kings, never quite putting himself in direct danger in the battlefield. He was the god of warriors, but not a warrior himself, rather promising a glorious afterlife to the best fighters, and visiting the battlefield after conflict, together with valkyries, ravens and wolves, to collect the souls of the best combatants. It was noted multiple times that while Thor and Tyr were noble, honorable warriors, Odin was a morally questionable dark-magician by norse warrior standards.

* TheChessmaster: she skillfully manipulated her husband more than once and usually gets what she wants.

** In a bit of a [[NoodleIncident noodle incident]], in ''Gesta Danorum'' Freyr and Freyja, under the guises of Fródi and Gunwara, seem to have been abducted by giants until ther warrior Eirik liberates them from their influence. A trio of giant brothers, all of them names Greppr (collectively, "the Grepps") commited all kind of sexual debauchery. One of them was [[AbhorrentAdmirer deeply in love]] with Gunwara, keeping her in a tower and killing any suitor foolish enough to ask for her hand. More telling perhaps is the intimate relationship that one of the Grepps has with Frodi, who jealously covets the young king and expressely shows his affection. Frodi himself would ignore any cruel act attributed to his "intimate friend" and holds him very close, at least until a more handsome and eloquent comes arround. Only an obscure reference to the myth remains in the little known ''Kórmaks saga'', where Freyja is called ''sýrar greppa'' or "Sýr of the Grepps".

* DecompositeCharacter: With the mythical danish king Frodi, both are sons of a man who was chosen as a husband by his feet, both lived at the same time and were attributed with establishing the so-called Frodi-peace, and in general seems identical, nonetheless they are treated as different characters.

** In a bit of a [[NoodleIncident noodle incident]], in ''Gesta Danorum'' Freyr and Freyja, under the guises of Fródi and Gunwara, seem to have been abducted by giants until ther warrior Eirik liberates them from their influence. A trio of giant brothers, all of them names Greppr (collectively, "the Grepps") commited all kind of sexual debauchery. One of them was [[AbhorrentAdmirer deeply in love]] with Gunwara, keeping her in a tower and killing any suitor foolish enough to ask for her hand.

* AmbiguouslyBi: or at the very least queer-friendly. His priests in Sweden were known to be rather effeminate, dancing to the song of bells and cymbals, and possibly wearing rather [[Crossdresser, effeminate dresses]]. This would be not unexpected, given that the Vanir were more sexually open-minded, and not all the Norsemen were vikings and warriors nor had the same disdain for effeminacy as latter became the rule.

* AmbiguouslyBi: or at the very least queer-friendly. His priests in Sweden were known to be rather effeminate, dancing to the song of bells and cymbals, and possibly wearing rather [[Crossdresser effeminate, dresses]]. This would be not unexpected, given that the Vanir were more sexually open-minded, and not all the Norsemen were vikings and warriors nor had the same disdain for effeminacy as latter became the rule.

* AmbiguouslyBi: or at the very least queer-friendly. His priests in Sweden were known to be rather effeminate, dancing to the song of bells and cymbals, and possibly wearing rather [[Crossdresser effeminate dresses]]. This would be not unexpected, given that the Vanir were more sexually open-minded, and not all the Norsemen were vikings and warriors nor had the same disdain for effeminacy as latter became the rule.

* DemotedToExtra: He was one of the three main gods of the Norse pantheon and stood alongside Odin and Thor, and was actually more worshiped than Odin, however where Odin and Thor are well-known names today Freyr is anything but.

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: many of the things he does trying to stall Ragnarok just end up ensuring it goes exactly as prophesized. He exiles Hel an puts he in charge of the underworld. He orders Fenrir to betamed and failing to do so decides to have it fettered with a sword keeping his mouth open. He even throws Jormungandr into the sea, giving him enough space and plenty food to grow to a disproportionate size. Even though he tries not to intervene with the death of Baldr, Frigg does everything possible to avoid this destiny, in doing so leaving Baldr withput the possibility of a glorious warriors death, instead dying of an allergy to end up in Helheim. Even when the Aesir decide to chain Loki with the guts from his child, he just stands there, knowing full well that when Loki gets free, Ragnarok will ensue.

* TwistingTheProphecy: it could be argued that he doesn't try to avoid destiny but intead does what he can to get the best outcome from an adverse fate. He initiates the Aesir-Vanir war to make a truce and get Njörd, Freyr and Freyja as hostages, thus getting their support. He sends Hoenir among the Vanir so that he too will come after Ragnarok and be among the survivors, together with Magni and Modi. He puts Hel in charge of the underworld, then allows Baldr to be killed to return from the dead once Ragnarok has passed. He lets the best fighters die and instigates wars among men just to harvest the best warriors to join the ranks of the Einherjar. He knows full well that he is destined to die in Ragnarok, so why fight it anyways?

** Zig-zagged, when one considers that he never fights face-to-face with the warriors, but rather prefers to influence the outcome of battles using magic and manipulation to achieve his goals. He was rather a shamanic-poet, inspiring the warriors into trance-like states and giving advice to worrior-kings, never quite putting himself in direct danger in the battlefield. He was the god of warriors, but not a warrior himself, rather promising a glorious afterlife to the best fighters, and visiting the battlefield after conflict, together with valkyries, ravens and wolves, to collect the souls of the best combatants. It was noted multiple times that while Thor and Tyr were noble warriors, Odin was a morally questionable dark-magician by norse warrior standards.

* TheGrimReaper: or at least one of them, literally, he visited battlegrounds after the battle had concluded, too select the best warriors to take them to Asgard (he was also a psychopomp), and was sometimes called Grímr and Grímnir, that is to say, the "hooded", the "masked one", the "sinister, terrible or cruel", quite fitting for his frightening persona.

** Curiously, in ''Gesta Danorum'', translated to the latin goddess "Proserpina", she presents herself in the dreams of a dying Balderus, fatally wounded in the battle with Hotherus, promising to receive him in her embrace. In the ''Ynglinga saga'' she is called poetically "glitnis gna" (that means, roughly, "goddess of Glitnir", the sacred hall of Balder and his son Forseti), and in ''Gylfaginning'', Hermod finds Baldr sitting in the high-seat, in the very hall of Hel, occupying a seat of honor. Some have argued that Hel and Baldr had a rather close relationship. That does give a whole new meaning to the last sentence of Thökk, "Let Hel hold to that she hath!", as in "do not tear the lovers apart".