NORSE mythology part 1

Your mythologic fella JC again with a new fantastic blog. INDTRODUCTION Norse mythology is placed in the scandinavian peninsula (modern day Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and borders such north germany, some baltic and finnish zones, and Iceland after viking settlers colonization. This mythology was the belief system of the north germanic peoples during the "Viking Age" circa 790-1100 CE. Like in many mythologies in the world, in features a politheistic pantheon of gods and complex deities, also a quite particular cosmology where nine different realms coexist connected to a immense three named Yggdrasil. There is different groups of deities, major deities divided in 2 groups or tribes, the Aesir and the Vanir. The first ones were gods that liven in a realm named Asgard, they represented war and power, generally protectors towards humanity but complex dynamic, like "gods in our image" Aesir had the virtues and defects of humans in a greater scale. The Vanir were deities who lived on Vanaheilm realm, they were often more related to nature, farm and harversting, more kind towards humanity granting them wisdom, magic and prosperity. Originally this 2 groups were in battle, later they became to mix and marriage between them. Another group of mythic beings are the Jotunn, or jotnar in prural, they are a breed of giants, as long i know they arent considered divine beings or gods yet they are a powerful force, often representing chaos, destruction, hostile and creators of natural disasters, in most tales and adventures, jotnar are the enemies who a aesir or a legendary hero must defeat. Despite they are named giants, not all were of large size, there is some particular female jotnar that are described as beautiful, but most of them are described as large frightful or dangerous monster, the future christianization also helped to demonize this group, making them blatantly evil, also less intelligent and less virtuous meanwhile other interpretations see them as a enforcers of order who punish humans with natural disasters for their greed. Anyway their destructive rol is very important in this mythology, being key figures in bringing the "Ragnarok" a event were all gods will die, a final battle that will impact the fate of all humanity. With that said, i will group this blog in three sections, one for the Aesir, one for the Vanir and one for "others mythical beings" that will include the mentioned Jotnar and others creatures or fantastical beings and breeds. AESIR Odin Odin is the All-Father and ruler of the gods in Norse mythology. He is considered the god of wisdom, poetry, magic, war, and death, overseeing the afterlife realm of Valhalla, where fallen warriors are honored. Odin is also associated with inspiration and prophecy, often seeking knowledge at any cost. Frigg Frigg is a major Norse goddess, the wife of Odin, mother of Baldr, and the Queen of the Aesir, associated with love, marriage, motherhood, fertility, and prophecy. She presides over marriage, family, and household matters and wields the gift of foresight, although she rarely reveals the future. Baldr Baldr is the son of Odin, the All-Father, and Frigg. He is renowned for his beauty , fairness, and wisdom. By a pray and spell of his mother he was invulnerable to anything but just one thing, mistletoe, Loki a cunning trickster god got noticed of this and tricked Hodr (a blind god, brother to Baldr) to throw mistletoe arrow-made to Baldr, killing him and orchestrating the firsts triggering events for the Ragnarok. VANIR Freyr A god associated with prosperity, good harvest and peace. Son of sea god Njord and brother of Freyja. He rides a golden boar named Gullinbursti and have a magical sword. he fell in love with a jotunn named Gerd, he gave the sword to get the hand of his beloved Gerd, quite important thing for the event of Ragnarok, there was a prophecy that Surt (a major jotunn/leader of the giants of fire) will be able to defeat Freyr if he dont have his sword, and leading the battle of Ragnarok. Freyja A goddess with many attributes and complex roles such love and war, life and death, magic and fertility, sex and desire. Despite being a Vanir she dwells among the Aesir, she has the role to receive half of the warriors slain in battle into her hall, meanwhile the other half is received by Odin. Among the magic items she possess are a precious necklace, a chariot pulled by giant cats and a magical cloak who allows her to transform into a bird. OTHER BEINGS Fenrir Monstrous giant wolf, son of Loki, the trickster god, and the jotunn Angrboda, it lives in Jotunheim, the realm of the jotnar. In the events of Ragnarok it is prophesied he (Fenrir) will kill Odin. Gods knowing this prophecy did a plan to binding him with a magical chains, they offer him a power test challenge to break the chains, he accepted with the condition that one of the gods (aesir) had to put a hand on his mouth as a pledge of good faith, Tyr, a Aesir war and justice god, offered his hand, as Fenrir noticed it was a trap and he cannot break those magical chains, he bit off Tyr's hand. Jormungandr Jörmungandr is one of the three monstrous children of Loki, the trickster god, and the giantess Angrboda. Its siblings are Fenrir , the giant wolf, and Hel, ruler of the underworld. According to myth, the gods eventually learned of the threat posed by these children. Odin cast Jörmungandr into the ocean surrounding Midgard (the realm of humans), where it grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its own tail, forming a cosmic ouroboros. It is prophesied that Jormungandr and Thor (aesir god of thunder) will kill each other, event that will happen in the final battle of Ragnarok. I hope you enjoyed the reading and my depictions, for last some sidenotes -Most of the Vanir group deity, some scholars theorize, that are older deities of previous cultures or proto-germanic previous tribes. -Meanwhile i researched and wrote this blog, i noticed that the number of Vanir deities are very few to the Aesir counterpart, possibly in part 2 and next blogs i will bring just 1 or none Vanir. -I will not include humans; legendary kings or warriors, semi-legendary kings like Ragnar, or historically vikings like Rollo, for that i possibly made a separate blog post, let me know if youre interested on those!