Special thanks to Hexum, for the info I was missing, (considering I got most of the info that I was missing, from his page, there wasnt a lot, but there was some, I figured I owed him thanks for his page on Norse Mythos, that helped me fill this in a bit).
Now just in case you dont know what Norse Mythology is all about I will explain it to you. Norse Mythology is stories about Vikings, Gods, Wars, and pretty much anything else the Norsemen could think to make stories about. The main source of these stories/myths is the Icelandic Eddas, which include the Prose (elder) and Poetic (younger) Edda, which includes a heroic and mythological cycle. The Poetic Edda is made up of of 35 poems, 15 of which are about the mythological cycle and the other 20 are about the heroic cycle. The Volsunga Saga is also a major source of information, where as the Nibelungenlied, is basically the same as the Volsunga Saga, but in german with alternate spellings, events, and roles.
The poetic Edda was written by many unknown authors between 800 and 1100 AD, where as the prose Edda was written by an Icelandic author, Snorri Sturluson in about 1222/1223 AD. The prose Edda is like a handbook of Norse/Germanic mythology written in two parts, the Volsunga saga and the Nibelunglied.
So now I suppose I gotta tell you who Norsemen are..... Norsemen (Northmen, though Norse basically means Norweigan.) are men that lived in the north. Pretty simple really. Okay, there is a little more to it. Norsemen were the tribes of people that lived in the northern regions of the world, ie. Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Poland, and a little bit in eastern North America, (They called it Vinland, we call it Newfoundland, personally, I prefer Vinland.)
Okay, now that we got that out of the way, a little bit on the history of the Norfolk. Norfolk were big, strong, brutes. They liked to fight, they liked to tell stories, and poems, and they liked to fight, (yes I realise I said it twice, but they really really liked to fight damnit!) They had no real kings or rulers, just pretty much followed the leader of the tribe. All tribal council meetings were called 'things', ( a very good name for em if you ask me.) The Vikings (Norsemen, Norfolk, whatever you want to call em) were originally big, and blonde,(yes just call em big dumb blondes, come on, I dare ya!) Although there were some red haired smaller Norfolk, this was probably from capturing of slaves, (more than likely those Irish guys). As for when these dinosaurs roamed the earth, about 800-1100 AD.
Aside from fighting, raping, pillaging, looting, razing towns, destroying stuff, and generally being all around not nice guys, the Vikings did have a good side, (Hey, you cant be all that bad when you are sleeping can you?) Vikings did create some beautiful stuff, like boats, (for raiding), and swords, axes, and spears, (for raiding), and decorations from their houses, (I am sure this has to do with raiding too, probably all melted down stuff they stole). But best of all, they created sagas and poems. Some of the best and most fascinating mythological creatures come from Norse Mythology. As well as some pretty interesting stories.
Dieties. This is a list of the more known dieties, and a little info on each one.
Balder/Baldur
Brynhild/Brunhild
Eir
Frei/Freyr
Freya/Freyja
Frigg
Hel
Hemdale/Heimdall
Hermod
Hodur/Hod
Loki
Mimir
Odin/Odhinn
Surt
Tor/Thor
Tyr
Ull
Vidar
Fafnir
Fenrir/Fenris
Huginn and Muninn
Jormugand
Nidhogg
Sleipnir
Aesir
Dragons
Dwarves/Nibelungs
Einherjar
Elves-Light
Elves-Dark
Fire-Giants
Humans
Jotuns
Swan-Maidens
Valkyries
Vanir
Vikings
Brisingal - Brisingamen, Brisings' Ring
Gleipnir
Gram
Gungnir
Mjollnir
Nibelungen Ring - Andvaranaut, Nibelungen Treasure
Philosophers Stone
Runes/Futhark
Alfheim
Asgard
Bifrost
Jotenheim
Muspelheim
Midgard
Nifleheim/Helheim
Valhalla
Yggdrasil
In the beggining there was nothing. Well, there was a void. The void was called Ginnungagap, (say it five times quickly, well, come on). To the north was Nifleheim, and from it flowed eleven rivers, called Elivagar. Flowing south the rivers froze and hardened, (as stuff usually does when it freezes), and the the northern part of Ginnungagap began to fill with ice and frost.
To the south was the land of fire, called Muspelheim. Muspelheim in turn caused the southern end of Gunnungagap to become hot. Of course these two elements met, and in the resulting runoff, life was created. First a humanoid shape took form and resulted in the man Ymir. Then another creature formed out of the mist, a cow named Audhumbla. While Ymir slept, the cow fed Ymir its milk, and from his armpits sprouted a male and female frost giant. Ymir's legs then mated producing a six headed troll.
Audhumbla fed itself by licking the salty ice, and in the process discovered a man, Buri, frozen within the ice. The man thawed and had a son, Bor. In the meantime, the giant, Bolthurn had a daughter. Bor met Bolthurn, and well they had three kids, Odin, Ve, and Vili.
A hatred arose between the frost giants, and the three children of Bor and Bolthurn, and so Odin led his two brothers and killed Ymir. This began the hatred between the gods and the giants, which would eventually lead to Ragnarok.
The three children drug the body of Ymir into the void, where it decayed and became the earth. His bones became the mountains, his blood became the seas, and his flesh became the land. His hair turned into trees, and his teeth to stone. Then upon the land, the three noticed maggots feeding on the world. The maggots formed and became dwarves and dark-elves. The dwarves and dark-elves began to burrow into the mountains, mining for precious ores and minerals.
The three noticed also another race take form from the land, these were the light-elves, and they were placed in Alfheim. All the while the blood continued to spread, and the oceans drowned the giants, save one, Bergelmir, who managed to escape in a hollowed out tree trunk, which became the first boat.
Then taking Ymir's skull, they placed it in the sky, and created the heavens, their future home. They placed a dwarf under each corner of the heavens, and their names became the directions, North, South, East, and West.
Taking the sparks from Muspelheim, the three created light for this new world. Then they created Jotenheim, a place for the giants, and using Ymir's eyebrows, surrounded Jotenheim, making a wall around their world, to protect the new land they named Midgard.
While strolling along the beach one day, the three came upon two trees, in which they saw a great beauty. Odin gave each of them a soul, while Vili gave them motion and sense, and Ve gave them color. They gave these two new beings, Ask and Embla, Midgard to use as their home, and so were created the first humans.
Now with the world created, the gods created night and day. Night was a very beautiful giantess. She had dark skin, and gorgeous black hair. Night married a man, named Aud, and gave birth to a daughter named Earth. During her last marriage, she gave birth to a boy named Day, his father was Delling.
Night and Day rode through the sky in beautiful horse drawn chariots given to them by Odin. The sun and moon are led throughout the sky at regular intervals by the beautiful children of Mundilfari. Odin named the young man Sun, and the woman Moon. Both Sun and Moon must forever move about the heavens as they are being chased by two wolves, Skull and Hati, and will be devoured if they ever stop.
And in the middle of it all, the gods finished their final task, a home for themselves. Connected to Midgard by the rainbow bridge, and to the other nine worlds by Yggdrasil, they named their new home Asgard.
Ragnarok will be proceded by three winters, with no summers in between. Fueds will break out, and families will fight amongst themselves. Morality and justice will dissapear, and this is only the beggining.
The wolf Skull will devour the Sun, and Hati, the Moon. Stars will vanish from the sky, and the world will be plunged into darkness. Fjalar the cock will awaken the giants, the golden cock, Gullinkambi, will awaken the gods, and a third will call out to awaken the dead.
Great and tremendous earthquakes will cause the realease of Fenrir, while the serpent Jormungand will writhe in the sea, stirring it up, causing tremendous waves to crash upon the shores. This will release the ship, Naglfar, with Hymir as their leader, sending them towards battle. Meanwhile another ship will head out from Nifleheim, filled with the dead and lead by Loki. Surt the fire giant will leave his home in Muspelheim, and join the war against the gods, weilding his great sword of fire.
In Asgard, Heimdall will alert the Aesir of the approaching armies, and call them to the battlefield. All things living will head towards the great plane Vigrid, the battlefield where the war to end all wars will take place. Odin will rise up against Fenrir, Tor will attack Jormundgand, the serpent, and defeat it, but die from his wounds and the poison of the giant snake. Surt will search out the weaponless Freyr and kill him, while Tyr with only one hand will defeat Garm, the guardian of Hel, and then die of his own injuries. In probably the greatest battle, Loki and Heimdall will meet for one last fight, managing to kill each other, niether one the winner. The fight between Odin and Fenrir will still continue, until Fenrir manages to get a hold of Odin, and devour him. Vidar will witness his father's death, and grabbing hold of Fenrir by the jaws, rip them apart with his bare hands, killing him as well.
And then Surt, with his sword of fire, ignoring friend and foe alike, will lay waste to the world, setting it ablaze, leaving few survivors.
From the ashes will arise a new world, more ideal for those that remain, filled with abundant resources. Some of the gods will survive, others will be reborn, to look after this new world. Pain and suffering will be a thing of the past, as gods and men live together in peace. And from Yggdrasil, the descendents of Lif and Lifthrasir will come and once again continue the species of man.
I hope you enjoyed it, see ya!
Kelton Earl.