Norse or Scandinavian mythology er kroppen af myter af North Germanic peoples, stemming from Norse paganism and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Scandinavian folklore of the modern period. The nordligst udvidelse af Germanic mythology and stemming from Proto-Germanic folklore, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition.

The source texts mention numerous gods, such as the hammer-wielding, humanity-protecting thunder-god Thor, who relentlessly fights his foes; the one-eyed, raven-flanked Gud Odin, who craftily pursues knowledge throughout the worlds and bestowed among humanity the runic alphabet; the beautiful, seiðr-working, feathered cloak-clad goddess Freja who rides to battle to choose among the slain; the vengeful, skiing goddess Skaði, who prefers the wolf howls of the winter mountains to the seashore; the powerful god Njörðr, who may calm both sea and fire and grant wealth and land; the god Frej, whose weather and farming associations bring peace and pleasure to humanity; the goddess Iðunn, who keeps apples that grant eternal youthfulness; the mysterious god Hejmdal, who is born of nine mothers, can hear grass grow, has gold teeth, and possesses a resounding horn; the jötunn‘s son, the god Loke, who brings tragedy to the gods by engineering the death of the goddess Frigg‘s beautiful son BalderOg numerous other deities.

Most of the surviving mythology centers on the plights of the gods and their interaction with several other beings, such as humanity and the jötnar, beings who may be friends, lovers, foes, or family members of the gods. The cosmos in Norse mythology består af Ni verdener that flank a central sacred tree, Yggdrasil. Units of time and elements of cosmology are personified as deities or beings. Various forms of a creation myth are recounted, where the world is created from the flesh of the primordial being Ymer, and the first two humans are Ask and Embla. These worlds are foretold to be reborn after the events of Ragnarok when an immense battle occurs between the gods and their enemies, and the world is enveloped in flames, only to be reborn anew. There the surviving gods will meet, and the land will be fertile and green, and two humans will repopulate the world.

Norse mythology has been the subject of scholarly discourse since the 17th century, when key texts attracted the attention of the intellectual circles of Europe. By way of comparative mythology og historical linguistics, scholars have identified elements of Germanic mythology reaching as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology. During the modern period, the Romanticist Viking genoplivning re-awoke an interest in the subject matter, and references to Norse mythology may now be found throughout modern popular culture. The myths have further been revived in a religious context among adherents of Germanic Neopaganism.

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Norse mythology is primarily attested in dialects of Gammeldags, en North Germanic language spoken by the Scandinavian people during the European Middelalderen and the ancestor of modern Scandinavian languages. The majority of these Old Norse texts were created in Island, where the oral tradition stemming from the pre-Christian inhabitants of the island was collected and recorded in manuscripts. This occurred primarily in the 13th century. These texts include the Prose Edda, composed in the 13th century by Snorri sturluson, og Poetisk Edda, a collection of poems from earlier traditional material anonymously compiled in the 13th century.

 Prose Edda was composed as a prose manual for producing skaldic poetry—traditional Gammeldags poetry composed by skalds. Originally composed and transmitted orally, skaldic poetry utilizes alliterative verse, kenninger, and several metrical forms. The Prose Edda presents numerous examples of works by various skalds from before and after the Christianization process and also frequently refers back to the poems found in the Poetisk Edda. Det Poetisk Edda consists almost entirely of poems, with some prose narrative added, and this poetry—Eddic poetry—utilizes fewer kenninger. In comparison to skaldic poetry, Eddic poetry is relatively unadorned.

 Prose Edda indeholder lag af euhemerization, a process in which deities and supernatural beings are presented as having been either actual, magic-wielding human beings who have been guddommeliggjort in time or beings dæmoniseret ved hjælp af Christian mythology. Texts such as Heimskringla, composed in the 13th century by Snorri and Gesta Danorum, sammensat i latin by Saxo Grammaticus in Denmark in the 12th century, are the results of heavy amounts of euhemerization.Numerous further texts, such as the sagaer, provide further information. The saga corpus consists of thousands of tales recorded in Old Norse ranging from Icelandic family histories (Sagoer om islændere) Til Migrationsperiode tales mentioning historic figures such as Attila Hun (legendary sagas). Objects and monuments such as the Rök runestone og Kvinneby amulet funktion runic inscriptions—texts written in the runic alphabet, the indigenous alphabet of the Germanic peoples—that mention figures and events from Norse mythology.Objects from the archaeological record may also be interpreted as depictions of subjects from Norse mythology, such as amulets of the god Thor’s hammer Mjølner found among pagan burials and small silver female figures interpreted as valkyrier or dísir, beings associated with war, fate or ancestor cults. By way of historical linguistics og comparative mythology, comparisons to other attested branches of Germanic mythology (such as the Gammelt højtysk Merseburg Incantations) may also lend insight. Wider comparisons to the mythology of other Indo-European peoples by scholars has resulted in the potential reconstruction of far earlier myths. The best surviving norse manuscript, is the saga of Beowulf.Only a tiny amount of poems and tales survive of the mythical tales and poems that are presumed to have existed during the Middle Ages, Viking Age, Migration Period, and before. Later sources reaching into the modern period, such as a medieval charm recorded as used by the Norwegian woman Ragnhild Tregagås—convicted of hekseri in Norway in the 14th century—and spells found in the 17th century Icelandic Galdrabók Grimoire also sometimes make references to Norse mythology. Other traces, such as place names bearing the names of gods may provide further information about deities, such as a potential association between deities based on the placement of locations bearing their names, their local popularity, and associations with geological features.

Gods and other beings

members of the gods. Numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts. As evidenced by records of personal names and place names, the most popular god among the Scandinavians during the Viking Age was Thor the thunder god, who is portrayed as unrelentingly pursuing his foes, his mountain-crushing, thunderous hammer Mjølner in hand. In the mythology, Thor lays waste to numerous jötnar who are foes to the gods or humanity, and is wed to the beautiful, golden-haired goddess Sif.

Guden Odin is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts. One-eyed, ulv– og ravn-flanked, with spear in hand, Odin pursues knowledge throughout the worlds. In an act of self-sacrifice, Odin is described as having hanged himself upside-down for nine days and nights on the cosmological tree Yggdrasil to gain knowledge of the runic alphabet, which he passed on to humanity, and is associated closely with death, wisdom, and poetry. Odin is portrayed as the ruler of Asgard, og leder af aserne. Odin’s wife is the powerful goddess Frigg who can see the future but tells no one, and together they have a beloved son, Balder. After a series of dreams had by Baldr of his impending death, his death is engineered by Loke, and Baldr thereafter resides in Hel, a realm ruled over by an entity of the same name.

Odin must share half of his share of the dead with a powerful goddess, Freja. She is beautiful, sensual, wears a feathered cloak, and practices seiðr. She rides to battle to choose among the slain and brings her chosen to her afterlife field Fólkvangr. Freyja weeps for her missing husband Óðr, and seeks after him in faraway lands. Freyja’s brother, the god Frej, is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts, and in his association with the weather, royalty, human sexuality, and agriculture brings peace and pleasure to humanity. Deeply lovesick after catching sight of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, Freyr seeks and wins her love, yet at the price of his future doom. Their father is the powerful god Njörðr. Njörðr is strongly associated with ships and seafaring, and so also wealth and prosperity. Freyja and Freyr’s mother is Njörðr’s sister (her name is unprovided in the source material). However, there is more information about his pairing with the skiing and hunting goddess Skaði. Their relationship is ill-fated, as Skaði cannot stand to be away from her beloved mountains, nor Njörðr from the seashore. Together, Freyja, Freyr, and Njörðr form a portion of gods known as the Vanerne. While the Aesir and the Vanir retain distinct identification, they came together as the result of the Aesir–Vanir War.

While they receive less mention, numerous other gods and goddesses appear in the source material. (For a list of these deities, see List of Germanic deities.) Some of the gods heard less of include the apple-bearing goddess Iðunn and her husband, the skaldic god Brage; the gold-toothed god Hejmdal, born of nine mothers; the ancient god Týr, who lost his right hand while binding the great wolf Fenris; and the goddess Gefjon, who formed modern-day Sjælland, Danmark.

Various beings outside of the gods are mentioned. Elvere og dværge are commonly mentioned and appear to be connected, but their attributes are vague and the relation between the two is ambiguous. Elves are described as radiant and beautiful, whereas dwarfs often act as earthen smiths. A group of beings variously described as jötnar, thursarog trolde (in English these are all often glossed som “giganter“) frequently appear. These beings may either aid, deter, or take their place among the gods.The norns, dísir, and aforementioned valkyrier also receive frequent mention. While their functions and roles may overlap and differ, all are collective female beings associated with fate.