User:Prose Edda/sandbox

It starts out with how the gods dealt with the monstrous children of Loki, who were feared because of who their father was. They threw the Midgard Serpent in the sea, mad Hel ruler of the Underworld, and eventually imprisoned the wolf Fenrir. Then it goes over the names and qualities of the various goddesses, making sure to stress that they are just as important as their male counterparts. Then it goes into some detail on Valhalla, how you get there, what you eat and drink when you get there, and what you do there. After that it gets into another of Loki’s tricks, getting the gods to agree to have a master builder built a hall in Asgard in exchange for the sun and moon.

The next several sections detail the deceiving of Thor by a giant. First the giant pretends to be an eagle and eats all his food, then tricks Thor and company into thinking he was immune to harm. When he gets to the giant’s hall, the giant beats Loki, Thjalfi, and Thor at eating, running, drinking and strength respectively. Once Thor accepts defeat and leaves the hall, the giant admits trickery on his behalf. Loki was going against Wildfire who burned through the food, Thjalfi was racing the giant’s mind, and Thor was drinking from the ocean and trying to lift the Midgard servant. This deception makes Thor so irate, that he chases down the Midgard Serpent, and is almost successful in killing it.

The next few chapters deal with the death of Baldr and Loki’s role in it. Baldr dreams of his death, so the gods take steps to prevent it. It doesn’t work and Baldr dies, as Loki is behind it. Hel will release Baldr if everything cries for him, so it does, except for Loki in disguise. This infuriates the gods who track down Loki, capture him, and put him under eternal torture. The last bit deals with the details of Ragnorak, or the end of the world; and the eventual rebirth of the world.

Gylfaginning-The Gylfaginning Section ends with Gangleri returning home and spreading the creation myths he’s learned with others, causing them to be passed from one person to another. The AEsir then discussed the stories they told Gangleri and assigned names to each other to take credit for these stories, (suggesting to me they made them up on the spot.)

Skaldskaparmal-A man named Aegir goes to see the AEsir and feast with them. The AEsir again create a big impressive Hall with magic; Illustrating the belief and importance of spells and witchcraft in old Viking religion. Bragi then begins to tell him stories about the Gods. Idunn is the keeper of the apples of youth. These apples were to keep the gods from aging. From this we see that the gods were believed to be everlasting due to magical artifacts; Showing the power of the Gods and of Holy artifacts. Loki angers an Eagle who then almost kills him until Loki swears an oath to get Idunn to leave Asgard with her apples. The apples are then stolen and the Gods start to grow old. It is interesting that Loki is released but he chooses to keep his oath this occurs a lot in the Prose Edda demonstrating the importance of oath taking. Idunn is then stolen back and the importance of marriage is seen. The AEsir make a deal with the eagle’s(whose actually a giant) daughter. She is allowed to marry one of the Gods. This illustrates marriage not for love but more as compensation. Bragi then explains the creation myth of how poetry came about. Thor’s strength is then tested against a giant. Loki gets into trouble again and swears another oath(he could break) but doesn’t getting Thor into trouble this time. Dwarves make treasures for the Gods, ring that makes more rings, boar mount, Thor’s Hammer(here again we see powerful artifacts), due to a wager for Loki’s head. Loki uses cunning to keep his head but his lips are sewn shut. Many creation myths for gold.(importance of wealth) and again there is some oath taking. The AEsir in one instance pay gold for a murder mimicking what is acceptable, and expected in Viking society. There’s then the appearance of a ring that brings death to everybody it who owns it. It is passed from Viking to Viking and in all cases someone ends up dead. We then see another marriage were Gunnar has to jump through fire to marry the Valkyrie Brynhild. (again not married for love) But in this case Brynhild gets say in who she’s marrying.

Poetic References From Skaldskaparmal- In this section the different types of poetry are discussed and how one can refer to the gods and goddesses. They are all referred to by family connections and traits that make them special. Man can be referred to by his – work or what he does, possessions, family. Women can be referred to by –what she is fit to do (giver), her activities, family, goddesses, and female attire or possessions(precious stones, alcoholic beverages, gold) The section then explains how to refer to gold, weapons, and battle, time, and poets. Also great lineages are discussed. A small paragraph about Christ and Christianity is also included. This may be due to the Prose Edda being written by Snorri Sturluson, a Christian. Snorri fits pagan religion together with Christianity in this paragraph.