History ShoutOut / ToNorseMythology

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Next to the [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout Outs to Shakespeare]], (if not surpassing it) are the {{Shout Out}}s to Myth/NorseMythology as a whole. Maybe because everything sounds {{badass}}, [[RuleOfCool cool]] or just [[SoCoolItsAwesome awesome]] by naming someone/something after a Norse deity such as Thor, Odin or Loki.

Keep in mind that if several people or things in the same work are all named in reference to Norse Mythology, it's ThemeNaming, not a whole lot of shout-outs.

See also ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming.

There's a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythology_in_popular_culture huge list]] in ThatOtherWiki.

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!!Examples:

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' has "Ragna Blade" spell. Appropriately enough, it invokes the power of the creator deity living in primal Chaos and as such can harm or kill anything in the world, including Gods and Dark Lords providing "lesser" spells of WhiteMagic and BlackMagic. The [[http://kanzaka.wikia.com/wiki/Ragna_Blade#Incantation incantation itself]] fits well too.
* ''Anime/DotHackLiminality'' mentions the ''[[Theatre/DerRingDesNibelungen The Ring of the Nibelung]]'' from Wagner's opera as the source of the power of the World.
* The Galactic Empire in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' uses plenty of Norse Mythology, from given names to the names of starships and planets. Their capital planet is named after Odin, and characters repeatedly talk about heading to Valhalla after they die in battle.

[[AC: Comics]]
* Putting aside that "{{Comics/Hellboy}}" has probably met creatures from Norse mythology somewhere along the line, in ''The Storm and Fury'' he gets mistaken for both Thor (on account of his hammer-like fist) and Odin (as he's [[spoiler: recently given Baba Yaga his eye]]).
** For a follow up, he battles a dragon on a field called Vigrid, where Ragnarok is prophesied to take place. Ragnarok is also the name of the project that brought him into our reality.

[[AC: Literature]]
* Janine in ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' [[TheNicknamer names]] a Quetzalcoatlus that she thinks of as a "tricky sucker" Loki.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has a trickster god called Hoki, who was banished from Dunmanifestin for "pulling the old exploding mistletoe trick". The gods wage war against the Ice Giants, and the final battle between them is the Teatime of the Gods.
* Many of the dwarves in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' have Norse-derived names, although they're named for Dwarves, not for gods. Gandalf is also the name of a Dwarf in Norse Mythology, though this name is given to the wizard in the original draft Gandalf was the name given to Thorin.
* In Creator/JohnMyersMyers' ''Literature/{{Silverlock}}'', the tramp freighter Shandon is traveling on at the very beginning is mentioned in passing to have been named the "Naglfar". When it sinks, his adventure begins, and it's the first of dozens, if not hundreds of references to literature and mythology scattered through the book.
* The redheaded giant Alanna befriends in ''[[Literature/SongOfTheLioness In the Hand of the Goddess]]'' is named Big Thor.

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* During the Sylvester [=McCoy=] era of ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Doctor battled the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E4TheGreatestShowInTheGalaxy Gods of Ragnarok]] and the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric Wolves of Fenric]].

[[AC: Role-Playing Games]]
* In ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG'', there is a Dino Attack agent named Loki. Although more directly named after the mech from ''VideoGame/MechAssault'', there is also a Mutant T-Rex with the name Ragnorok, a name that fits the Dino Attack rather well.

[[AC: TabletopGames]]
* The Literature/SpaceWolves of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' are Vikings InSpace on giant wolves, so naturally they get a lot of this.
** Their recruits are chosen among the critically-wounded in the perpetual tribal warfare of their homeworld Fenris. The natives believe that these lucky few are taken by the Sky Warriors into the halls of their gods in the sky, where they will fight forevermore. This being 40K, [[ForeverWar they do just that]], and could not be happier.
** One special character is Lukas the Trickster, an obvious Loki analog (except this Lukas is a jovial prankster, albeit one who has a statis bomb in his body that will force his killer to stare into his laughing face for all eternity).
** The Rune-priests and Wolf-priests can take psyber-ravens called Choosers of the Slain to help them find potential recruits.
** The Valkyrie is a troop transport commonly used by the Guard (though instead of ferrying the recently-alive from the battlefield, they bring the [[RedshirtArmy soon-to-be dead]] onto it).
* WarhammerAgeOfSigmar: The Old World upon destruction gets rebuilt into nine Mortal Realms, which map pretty well to those in Yggdrasil's neighborhood.

[[AC: Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' has some of the objects named after terms from mythology, such as Sleipnir for a vehicle.
* ''Webcomic/SparklingGenerationValkyrieYuuki'' is based largely on Myth/NorseMythology, so naturally has plenty of references, some more obscure than others.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Ragna the Bloodedge]]. There's a very good reason why his name derives from Ragnarok, the death and rebirth of the world.
** Noel Vermillion from the same game has a [[GatlingGood Minigun]] named Fenrir and a rocket launcher named Thor.
* Two of the heroes in ''{{VideoGame/Gauntlet}}'' are Thor the Warrior and Thyra the Valkyrie.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' and ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' both have elements, the first having a psychotic BigBad who is obsessed with mythology, and the second features a heavy metal band composed by two wacky old men, which also revolves around Norse mythology. Sam Lake sure loves vikings.
* Two of the attacks in ''PhantomDust'' are called Thor's Hammer and Gungnir. Bonus points for Gungnir being one of the most accurate attacks in the game, as never missing was an attribute of its namesake.
* ''StarcraftII'': While there are the obvious ones (units named Valkyrie, Thor, and Odin), HeartOfTheSwarm has a more subtle one: You find the Odin again, but this time it's piloted by a Dominion pilot. [[http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/File:Odin_SC2-HoTS_Head1.jpg A white-haired, one-eyed pilot with a braided beard.]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsGaiden'' brings us Tytti Noorbuck, who's Finnish, and ride the mecha called Goddess/Gaddeath, shaped like a Valkyrie, has a trident called 'Gungnir', has two wolf familiars named Freki and Geri (Odin's two hounds), and her attack names include things like 'Jotunheim', 'Bifrost Fall', 'Jormungandr Ouroboros' and 'Fenrir Crush'.
* In VideoGame/{{Touhou}}, the two vampire sisters each have a spellcard named after the weapon of a Norse god. Remilia has Odin's Gungnir while Flandre wields Lævateinn. It's unclear whether or not they're actually wielding them as weapons though, or just fanciful names given to magical energy attacks.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': Two dwarf Mountain Kings are named Munnin and Huggin Ironcliff, after Odin's ravens.
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* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' and ''AlanWake'' both have elements, the first having a psychotic BigBad who is obsessed with mythology, and the second features a heavy metal band composed by two wacky old men, which also revolves around Norse mythology. Sam Lake sure loves vikings.
* Two of the attacks in PhantomDust are called Thor's Hammer and Gungnir. Bonus points for Gungnir being one of the most accurate attacks in the game, as never missing was an attribute of its namesake.

* Putting aside that "{{Comics/Hellboy}}" has probably met creatures from Norse mythology somewhere along the line, in ''The Wild Hunt'' he gets mistaken for both Thor (on account of his hammer-like fist) and Odin (as he's [[spoiler: recently given Baba Yaga his eye]]).

* Many of the dwarves in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' have Norse-derived names, although they're named for heroes, not for gods.

Next to the [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout Outs to Shakespeare]], (if not surpassing it) are the [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] to the Myth/NorseMythology as a whole. Maybe because everything sounds {{badass}}, [[RuleOfCool cool]] or just [[SoCoolItsAwesome awesome]] by naming someone/something after a Norse deity such as Thor, Odin or Loki.

Examples:

* ''{{Slayers}}'' has "Ragna Blade" spell. Appropriately enough, it invokes the power of the creator deity living in primal Chaos and as such can harm or kill anything in the world, including Gods and Dark Lords providing "lesser" spells of WhiteMagic and BlackMagic. The [[http://kanzaka.wikia.com/wiki/Ragna_Blade#Incantation incantation itself]] fits well too.

* The SpaceWolves of Warhammer40K are Vikings InSpace on giant wolves, so naturally they get a lot of this.

Next to the [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout Outs to Shakespeare]], (if not surpassing it) are the [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] to the NorseMythology as a whole. Maybe because everything sounds {{badass}}, [[RuleOfCool cool]] or just [[SoCoolItsAwesome awesome]] by naming someone/something after a Norse deity such as Thor, Odin or Loki.

* ''Webcomic/SparklingGenerationValkyrieYuuki'' is based largely on NorseMythology, so naturally has plenty of references, some more obscure than others.

* ''WarcraftIII'': Two dwarf Mountain Kings are named Munnin and Huggin Ironcliff, after Odin's ravens.

Next to the [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout Outs to Shakespeare]], (if not surpassing it) are the [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] to the NorseMythology as a whole. Maybe because everything sounds {{badass}}, [[RuleOfCool cool]] or just [[SoCoolItsAwesome awesome]] by naming someone/something after a Norse deity such as Thor, Odin or Loki. Whatever the case, we've SeenItAMillionTimes.

* The redheaded giant Alanna befriends in ''[[TortallUniverse In the Hand of the Goddess]]'' is named Big Thor.