The Forerunner Saga assumes that readers have a basic knowledge of the pagan gods of Norse mythology. In order to provide some background, this blog will cover the key gods of the Norse pantheon, especially those that play a role in the continuing tales of the Agneson Clan.
Let’s start in the beginning. Before the age of gods and men, the original two realms, the land of Fire, called Muspelheim, and the land of Ice, called Niflheim, existed. A formless chaos stretched between them—the Germanic and Nordic Peoples called this abyss Ginnungagap. The two powerful realms grew and clashed over this bottomless pit, and fires of Muspelheim singed the frost of Niflheim, turning it into water droplets.
This water coalesced to become Ymir, the first living being, a hermaphroditic giant. The name “Ymir” means “screamer,” as in the primordial sound or “wordless voice” that forms all other sounds. Another common name for him in Old Norse poems is Aurgelmir, which translates to “sand or gravel screamer.” As the first being, he’s the ancestor of all other giants and since most of the gods are descended from giants, he’s their ancestor as well. It is fitting that a giant is the first being, as giants played an important role in Nordic beliefs.
Ymir was suckled by the celestial cow Audhumla. While he slept, several other giants were spontaneously conceived asexually in his body, springing from his legs and the sweat of his armpits. The great cow Audhumla received her nourishment from a salt lick, and as she licked, a being named Buri, the first of the Aesir gods, emerged from within the salt. He produced a son, Borr, who mated with Bestla one of Ymir’s giant descendants.
From their union came Odin, the chief of the Aesir, and his two brothers, Vili and Ve. The divine brothers slew Ymir and fashioned the Nordic mythological universe from his blood, bones, flesh, teeth, hair, eyelashes, brains and skull. Nordics believed the entire world we inhabit is a part of giant Ymir. As one of the poems in the Poetic Edda, Grímnismál or “Song of the Hooded One,” words it:
From Ymir’s flesh the earth was created,
And from his blood the sea,
Mountains from bone,
Trees from hair,
And from his skull the sky.
And from his eyebrows the blithe gods made
Midgard, home of the sons of men
And from his brains
They sculpted the grim clouds.
Norse gods belong to two major clans: Æsir and Vanir. Odin, Frigg, Thor, Loki, Balder, Hod, Heimdall and Tyr are the most well-known of the Æsir clan. The Vanir clan contains the fertility gods and includes Njord, Freyr, and Freyja as their members. Despite the antagonism between the two clans, it was necessary for the both families to combine powers and ideals for the gods to flourish. In this continuing blog I will cover what is currently known about the Æsir and Vanir and establish the background for the historical fiction in Thorfinn’s adventures.