Norse Culture in Modern Times

Norse Culture in Modern Times

The title may be a bit confusing...In this blog, I will be writing about how the Norse culture affects the rest of the world in today's time.  During the old days, histories were told through story tellers, monks and priests copying it down into books, adding or deleting anything that they please.  I will use the story Beowulf as an example to help get my point across.  The story Beowulf is an old folklore told by the Norsemen, now there are hundreds of the different versions of Beowulf.  The reason for the hundreds of different version can't solely be blame on the storytellers, priests, and monks.  Part of the blame can be contributed with today's culture.  From the old traditional days to even today, we have not changed a bit.  If we don't like how something is, we will just change it so that it will appeal to us or if your an author/ movie maker, you will try to throw in your own twists of how you believe things are and how you can appeal to your audience. 

 If a person were to watch Zemmeckis version of Beowulf, introduced in November 2007, for anyone that has read Beowulf or decides to read any version of the original story will find a major twist in the movie.  The twist appealed to a large majority of young audience...I wonder why? 

Half naked temptress? How can anyone resist, even the almighty Beowulf couldn't.

Overall, the story Beowulf and many of Norse mythology have touched many reader's heart.  How do I know this?  Well take a look at what kids are reading in school, it quite obvious to find that the English teachers and the U.S Department of Education have taken a liking to a nude man jumping on the back of a hideous monster and tearing its arm off.  Jokes aside, Norse mythology has definitely been mixed into an already mixed culture.  Norse mythology, like Greek mythology, gives the audience a sense of adventure and a appeal to the reader's wild side.  A side that we can never enjoy, mainly because we're stuck in school.

The Goddess Freya

The Goddess Freya

  The Goddess Freya, or Valkyrie Freya...depending on her mood, can be the goddess of beauty and love or the goddess of war and death.  Sounds familar?  I know it does for me, I chose this one in particular because this reminds me of my girlfriend.  One minute we can be laughing and kissing and the next I'm running for my life as she chases me with a knife. Yikes!
Freya was a beautiful goddess yet also held large amount of power.  It is believed that after a battle, Freya would take half of the bravest Norsemen that died in battle and take them to her home, allow them to rest and be reborn.  As kind as Freya is, the goddess would also invite their wives or lovers to come and live there along with the husband.  Well this sounds great, but imagine this happen in today's society.

Please do NOT read the following sentence if you do NOT have a sense of humor.
Not much rest with nagging wives and what if you had a secret lover that you wanted to take to the grave...I apologize if I offend anyone, this is suppose to be a joke.  Please do not hold this against me as I did warn you in the first place


Continuing on, the other half of the bravest warriors would be taken by Odin to Valhalla.  In Valhalla, the souls may enjoy an afterlife of comfort and honor.

The goddess Freya was also a very faithful wife, Freya was married to a mysterious god Od (this is not a typo, the god is named Od, not Odin).  Not long after the marriage, the Norse god Od disappeared and Freya wept, her tears turned to gold as it hit the Earth.  Freya searched and searched and only later did she found that her husband had degenerated into a sea monster.  Still deep in love, Freya continued to stay at her husband's side.  One day while Freya was gone, her husband, now the sea monster, was killed (possibly Beowulf?).  Freya became enraged and threatened to take revenge on the murderers...the whole human race? o.O Loyalty to the point of Insane in my opinion.  Freya eventually settled down after Odin accepted her husband into Valhalla, giving Freya a chance to still visit her husband.

Dalba, Mary. Freya Gems of the Goddess. 27 Dec. 2009. 27 Sep. 2009 <http://paganpages.org/​content/​tag/​freyja/>.


The Goddess Freya. 27 Sep. 2002. 26 Sep. 2010 <http://www.goddessgift.com/​goddess-myths/​goddess-freya.htm>.

Trickster Loki

Trickster Loki
  Loki is known as the god of fire in Norse mythology with the ability to shape shift.  For those that know about Zeus, the Greek God, both Loki and Zeus share almost the same exact mentality.  Could Zeus and Loki have been best buddies?  Well that an answer we will never know.  Like Zeus, Loki has a sexual desire that cannot be contained and his method of achieving his goals is similar to that of Zeus.  Thanks to his ability to shape shift, Loki can morph into any shape or size or anyone, and I'll stop there for now in case there are any young readers and leave it to your imagination.  However, I can't blame Zeus or Loki, having the power to shape shift is hard not to abuse.  The difference between Zeus and Loki, however, is huge in my opinion.  Loki is known as the trickster but has a sick and crude sense of humor.

  Loki, as mention above, is the god of fire in Norse mythology, nicknamed the Trickster for his mischievous and deceptive personality.  It not hard to guess why anyone shouldn't trust Loki or leave your lover with him.  Loki, despite his deceptive scheming personality, is important in the creation of Asgard.  During the creation of Asgard, Loki created an agreement with a Giant, promising the Giant both the sun and the moon and the goddess Freya if the Giant could complete a series of task within a set time.  Freya, the goddess of beauty and also a Valkyrie, a race of warrior goddess, disapproved but was reassured by Loki that the Giant will fail.  At the creation of the agreement, Loki believed there was no way the Giant could possibly finish the task.  The Giant brought his stallion, and together worked rapidly to finish the building of Asgard.  Not intending to keep his  side of the promise, Loki shape shifted into a mare and lured the Giant's stallion into the woods.  Without the stallion, the Giant could not accomplish the task within the given time frame and therefore lost the chance at having the Goddess Freya.  Outraged, the Giant attempted to take the Freya by force, but was killed by Thor.  During this, the Trickster Loki became pregnant and gave birth to an 8 legged stallion named Sleipnir, which Loki presented to Odin as a gift.

For full details on the image, please read the note at the bottom of the blog. 1

Could this possibly be Loki in disguise?

Loki has 2 known wives and the father of Nari and Vali,  however this doesn't stop Loki from having his fun.

As well as his love for animals, also had many love affairs with other goddesses, drawves and giants.  According to Spring's Guardian of the Wolves, in one story, Loki gave birth to 3 monstrous spawn that threatened the existence of human kind.  The first is the serpent Jormungand, a daughter by the name of Hel, which later became the underworld goddess, and the giant wolf Fenrir.
Unlike many other Norse god, Loki is a prominent figure and gives a unique sense to Norse Mythology.

LOKI: God of Hokey Pokey and one of the world's major Trickster Gods. 27 Sep. 1999. 27 Sep. 2010 <http://www.godchecker.com/​pantheon/​norse-mythology.php?deity=loki>.


Loki, The Fire God. 27 Sep. 1997. 27 Sep. 2010 <http://springwolf.com/​wolves/​nature/​loki.htm>.

1. The image above depicts a "woman" who has undergone surgery to show male characteristics.

About Me

Background: 
  About Me...This is usually the hardest part, finding something interesting about yourself to tell everyone.
Well, to begin, I would like to thank everyone for visiting my blog.  My name is Khai Nguyen, currently I am enrolled in TCC (Tarrant County College) with the hopes of transferring to UT Arlington to finally graduate with a Bachelor's or possibly Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Why Norse Mythology?
  The answer is quite simple, or at least for me it is anyways.  Norse Mythology to me is interesting, it is very similar to that of Greek Mythology, Norse mythology appeals to my sense of adventure, and my fantasies of not having schools, or test but getting to slash demons and sailing the world.  Besides, who doesn't like reading about Beowulf jumping on the back of Grendel while being nude...*SARCASM* Please don't take that the wrong way.  Anyways, back to the main topic at hand, I prefer reading about Norse Mythology or just mythology in general because I like to see how people viewed the world back then.  I found it entertaining to and a bit sick to read the story of the trickster Loki.  I will write more about the trickster Loki and possibly my opinion on Loki, so check that out when you have the time.  As far as my knowledge is concerned, I'm definitely no expert but I do consider myself somewhere between the lines of enthusiast. Before attending the class British Mythology, I knew only the basics, Odin was the almighty king of gods and Loki was the "evil" trickster god.

Norse: Followers and Gods/Goddesses

The Norsemen


  When asked who the Norsemen are, most people usually think of them as the Vikings, or if you were a Roman citizen in the 8th century AD, the Norsemen were considered as "barbarians".  We will get into that topic about Norsemen and the Romans later, but for now, back to the main topic.  The Norsemen is a named used to describe, not one specific ethnic group, but a variety of ethnic groups.  The Norsemen were great sailors, which not only traveled to Germany but also explored and settled in France, England, Iceland and Greenland.  Many people do not realize this but it was also the Norsemen that first reached the Americas, Northern Canada to be specific.  In an interesting side note, The Norsemen had 3 different classes of ships, warships, commercial, or general small boats.  The warships were named Drakkar, often large and decorated with runes, and a dragon at the head.  The commercial ships were named Snekkar, and the small boats Holkkar.  Originally from Scandinavia, the Scandinavians began to migrate down South, in what is now Germany.  Depending on the region, you could expect to find many different cultures and different languages spoken but also share a bit of similarities, such as their gods.  One group of Norsemen we will be concentrating on will be the Danes.  The Danes, characterized by the Danish language, were the early Norsemen that landed and settled in Northern Germany.

    The map above depicts a map of Scandinavian exploration and Viking raids from the 8th Century A.D to the end of the Vikings in the 11th Century A.D.  In addition the thousands of deaths caused by Viking raids, the Vikings were also believed to be the cause of the international trade between Middle Eastern kingdoms and Europe.


Getica. 26 Sep. 2008. 26 Sep. 2010 <http://www.geticagame.com/​index.php?section=norse&categ=civilization>.


Hooker, Richard. European Middle Ages: The Norse. 6 June 1999. 26 Sep. 2010 <http://wsu.edu/​~dee/​ma/​norse.htm>.