Reels tagged #norse
Thor's hammer had a famously short handle
In Norse myth, Mjolnir was forged by dwarves while Loki, in the shape of a fly, stung the smith. The distraction left the handle too short, but the hammer still never missed and always returned to Thor's hand.
Norse cosmology hangs from a single tree
Yggdrasil, the world ash, connects nine realms through its roots and branches. An eagle sits at its crown, a dragon gnaws at its roots, and a squirrel named Ratatoskr carries insults between them.
Norse myth predicted the end and the restart
Ragnarok destroys the gods, the sun and the earth in fire and flood. But the myth does not stop there: the world rises green again from the sea and two humans emerge from a wood to begin it all over.
Valkyries chose who died in battle
In Norse belief, valkyries were not just warrior maidens but selectors of the slain. They carried chosen fighters to Valhalla, where they feasted and trained for the final battle at Ragnarok.
Loki once became a horse and gave birth
To sabotage a builder's bargain, Loki transformed into a mare to lure away the giant's stallion. He later returned with Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse that became Odin's mount.
A wolf was bound with impossible things
The gods could not hold Fenrir with iron, so dwarves wove the ribbon Gleipnir from the sound of a cat's footfall, a woman's beard, a mountain's roots, a bear's sinews, a fish's breath and a bird's spit.