History Myth / NorseMythology

* MagicKnight: Odin.

* [[TwoBeingsOneBody Nine Beings, One Body]]: Modern artists usually portray the nine mothers merging into a creature with nine heads in order to give birth to Heimdall.

* LethalLavaLand: Muspelheim is the realm of fire and home of the fire giants.While the exact meaning of the word is uncertain, the most common theory is that it translates to [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "home of the world destroyer",]] as it's where [[DestroyerDeity Surtur]] lives.

* TheMultiverse: The Nine Worlds, on three levels linked by Yggdrasil: Asgard, Vanaheim, and Alfheim; Jötunheim, Midgard, and Nidavellir/Svartalfheim; Helheim, Muspellheim (sometimes spelled Muspell) and Niflheim. Note the list of worlds is artificial: they are never specified in the Norse myths themselves and was produced by Victorian scholars based on places and races mentioned in the texts and has since become standard through Memetic Mutation. Unfortunately, his list creates some ContinuitySnarl as the myths imply that Hel[[note]]The proper name of Helheim. "Helheim" was constructed to better fit with the naming scheme of the rest of the worlds.[[/note]] is a place in Niflheim. Some scholars have tried to fix this by removing Hel from the list and putting Glaðsheim in its place. This, however, just creates a similar problem as Glaðsheim is often implied to be in Asgard; [[TakeAThirdOption a third option]] is to separate Nidavellir and Svartalfheim, but the basis for this is tenuous. And as Snorre states that Odin gave Hel power over Nine Worlds, one can assume there are even more worlds.
* MutualKill: This will happen to Thor and Jormungandr, as well as Loki and Heimdall, during Ragnarok. Ragnarok as whole is possibly the biggest one ever: almost all the gods and almost all the monsters wipe each other out, and almost all life in existence is caught in the crossfire.

For most researchers, the main source of canon is the ''Literature/PoeticEdda'', also known as the ''Elder Edda'' or ''Codex Regius'' (as it was originally known). This is a collection of both mythological and heroic poems; the most famous, the ''Völuspá'', relates the past creation of the world, the future [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt death of the gods and burning of the world]], and the beginning of the world to come. Others give pithy advice (''Hávamál'') or contain legends of the Aesir and the Vanir, while even more tell us about the heroic deeds of human beings. Perhaps the most important hero is Sigurd Fafnesbane, a man cognate to the [[Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}} Siegfried]] of German legend. The oldest surviving copy of the ''Elder Edda'' was made in the late 13th century, though many of its poems are much older than that; though how much is often quite unknown.

* AmicableExes: Skadi and Njord are usually seen this way. Their relationship got off on the wrong foot when the Aesir offered Skadi a marriage deal as part of the negotiations to compensate for the death of her father, and stipulated that she had to pick a husband from a lineup of bachelor gods... whom she was only allowed to see from the knees down. Skadi was angling for Baldur, and assumed that the most beautiful of the feet had to belong to him. It turned out that the constant salt soaks put Njord far ahead of his competition, and though she was disappointed, they made a go of it anyway. The brief marriage produced the twins Freyr and Freyja, but it turned out that Skadi and Njord were incompatible roommates - he couldn't stand the wolves howling in her domain, while the seagulls in his drove her nuts. They split up, but given that Skadi still considered her deal with the Aesir to be fulfilled and the couple regularly continued to attend divine events together, there can't have been too many hard feelings.

* ''Film/ErikTheViking''
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse''

* HammerSpace: Thor could make his hammer shrink to an incredibly tiny size, and be pulled out of seemingly nowhere, and is the first user of this trope.

* MurderByProxy: Loki tricks Hodr, Baldr's blind brother, into shooting Baldr with an arrow from mistletoe (the only thing that could harm him), thereby killing him.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: %% Please don't add more names and their different spellings here. One example of a character's names' spellings is enough. We have a character sheet where that information can go.
** The names of many beings and places typically have two letters that aren't found in the English alphabet. These letters are Þ/þ (thorn)[[note]]sounds like the "th" in "thing" and may be transliterated as "th" or "t"[[/note]] and Ð/ð (eth)[[note]]the "th" sound in "that" and may be transliterated as "th," "t," "d," or "dh"[[/note]] but other letters, such as the ash ([=Æ=]/æ), are also present.
** The grammatical way that Old Norse marks noun cases has led to confusion over the spelling of certain names. Is it Fenris or Fenrir? Bald or Baldr (or Baldur or Balder)? Originally, it would have depended on whether the name was the subject of the sentence.
** The translations into different languages (e.g. Old Icelandic, Old English/Gaelic, or Norwegian, etc.) further alters name spelling. Odin's name alone could be Ódin, Oðin, or Wóðan.

[[caption-width-right:350:Can't touch this.]]

** The giantesses are hot enough that gods married them on a regular basis. Frey's wife Gerd was even said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, which makes her more beautiful than Freya, who's already extremely beautiful. But the male giants are described as pretty fugly. Half-giant Loki is an exception, being extremely good-looking (though he is a shape shifter); on the other hand, his children with a giantess are horrible monsters.

* EndlessWinter: The Fimbulvetr or Fimbulwinter is an especially harsh winter that lasts trice as long as usual and signifies the beginning of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Ragnarök]]. It's believed that this myth was actually developed as a explanation for a real disaster that occured in the early 6th century, due to volcanic activity which would have caused the sunset to appear bloodred and robbed sunlight of the power to cause photosynthesis which in turn made it appear that winters came with no summer between.

* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: The hideous jötnar (giants) occasionally have beautiful daughters. Naturally in stories involving them they get seduced by Norse gods. Odin (or Thor) was the usual culprit. The guy really got around, although not to the same extent as [[AnythingThatMoves Zeus]].

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTensei''

* TheMultiverse: The Nine Worlds, on three levels linked by Yggdrasil: Asgard, Vanaheim, and Alfheim; Jötunheim, Midgard, and Nidavellir/Svartalfheim; Helheim, Muspellheim and Niflheim. Note the list of worlds is artificial: they are never specified in the Norse myths themselves and was produced by Victorian scholars based on places and races mentioned in the texts and has since become standard through Memetic Mutation. Unfortunately, his list creates some ContinuitySnarl as the myths imply that Hel[[note]]The proper name of Helheim. "Helheim" was constructed to better fit with the naming scheme of the rest of the worlds.[[/note]] is a place in Niflheim. Some scholars have tried to fix this by removing Hel from the list and putting Glaðsheim in its place. This however just creates a similar problem as Glaðsheim is often implied to be in Asgard. And as Snorre states that Odin gave Hel power over Nine Worlds, one can assume there are even more worlds.

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Downplayed. The Aesir are generally seen as good beings, even though they can be {{Jerkass}}es at times. Although the Jotnar are often enemies of the Aesir, their personality in general is not described clearly so therefore it is hard to tell if they are totally evil.

** The jötnar, perennial foes of the gods and one of the ur-examples. Their sizes varied considerably, however (for example, ''the entire earth'' Midgard was made from the body of the dead giant Ymir). Size was not the only thing which varied; sometimes the giants (at least the male ones) were hideous, sometimes the implication was that the giant(s) in the story looked about as human as the gods, sometimes the giants and the gods were constant, general enemies, and sometimes the gods had peaceably relations with some of the giants that ''hadn't'' managed to become an Asar or Vanir by marriage or adoption...

* OurTitansAreDifferent: Some argue jötnar better fits this trope, actually as divine beings of similar power to the Aesir and Vanir, but aligned to primordial chaos, destruction and entrop.

* ExactWords: In one story, Loki makes a bet with some dwarves and offers them his head as a wager -- an expression for "my head's weight in gold" -- as his part of the bargain. When they win and claim his actual head, he argues that since they can't take that without also cutting his neck, the deal is void. (In various versions, he also prevents them cutting his head in half or some such by emphasising that by his head, he meant his ''whole'' head, so they can't leave any of it behind or else they'd forfeit.) The dwarves content themselves with sewing his lips together, earning him the nickname ''Scarlip'', and the scars remain in his various forms.

By the way, note that this page is called Norse Mythology, not ''Viking'' Mythology. Originally, the word "viking" meant the act of faring overseas and the sailor participating, while in English it denotes a profession meaning something like "{{pirate}}". Only a minority of [[UsefulNotes/TheVikingAge Norsemen were Vikings]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Music/MCHammer Can't touch this.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[DropTheHammer Can't touch this.]]]]