[Rhuen]

Jormungand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In Norse mythology, the sea serpent Jormungand was a child of Loki and Angerboda. The Aesir knew Jormungand would be dangerous for humanity, so they tossed him into the waters that encircled Midgard. Jormungand grew so big that he was able to surround the earth and grasp his own tail.(see Ouroboros).
During Ragnarok, Thor will finally kill Jormungand, but not before Jormungand can drop poison on Thor and kill him as well.
Jormungand is also sometimes referred to as the Midgard Serpent

Kobold
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Kobolds are ugly spirits that originate from German folklore. The most common version, known as Heinzelmännchen, are described as helpful or mischievous household elves. They sometimes perform domestic chores, but can also play tricks on the human inhabitants. This type of kobold is said to be related to Robin Goodfellow and brownies. Another type of kobold that can be found in mines and other underground places seems to be more closely related to the gnome.

[Rhuen]

Nix
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Strömkarlen, 1884
Nix (also known as Näcken or Nixie) is a fictional water creature in German and Scandinavian folklore, usually shown in human form.
The Scandinavian Näcken was a male who lured women and childen to drown in lakes or streams, while playing the violin. However, he could also show himself in the form of a horse, bäckahästen (the brook horse).
The German Nixie is akin to the Celtic melusina, a kind of riverine mermaid who lures men to drown.

[Rhuen]

Ogre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
According to the folklore and mythology of the peoples of Northern Europe, the ogres (from Latin Orcus) are a race of humanoid beings, fierce and cruel monsters, that eat human flesh; they are also shy and cowardly, and have little or no intelligence and cleverness, which makes it easy for men to defeat them. A female of this race is called ogress.
Ogres are said to be able to change their shape at will into animals or objects, and they often dwell in marvellous palaces or castles, sometimes underground.
In Scandinavian countries, there is no concept for "ogre", they are translated into trolls. They are trolls that are considered to be masters of castles built in the mountains, keeping fabulous treasures (compare with the Irish leprechaun); this creature is considered to be either a giant (most commonly) or a dwarf.

[Rhuen]

Tomte
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A tomte (derived from from the swedish word for garden, tomt) or nisse (brownie) is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore, specifically part of a group of creatures called vetter (elf), common in rural areas. There were two varieties of nisse or tomte, one type that resided in the house (cf. the Russian domovoi) and one that resided in the barn. He would take care of the homestead, crops, house, and people while the human inhabitants slept.
The tomte was usually depicted as a man in height of four feet or less with a red knitted cap a long white beard and grey clothes. He is thus similar in aspect to a leprechaun, brownie, a gnome or a dwarf, and was the model for Santa Claus. Like the brownie, the tomte or nisse needed gifts, but this gift was a bowl of porridge or rice pudding on Christmas night. If he wasn't given his payment, he would leave the farm or house which couldn't survive without his nightly chores, or engage in mischief, such as tying the cows' tails together in the barn, turning objects upside-down, and breaking things (cf. poltergeist).
The close association between the tomte, kindness (his usual attitude) and Christmas made it natural for Haddon Sundblom to use him in his design of the modern Santa Claus.

Troll
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Trolls in Scandinavian folklore
According to a 1908 Cyclopedia: "Trolls are Dwarfs of Northern mythology, living in hills or mounds; they are represented as stumpy, misshapen, and humpbacked, inclined to thieving, and fond of carrying off children or substituting one of their own offspring for that of a human mother. They are called hill-people, and are especially averse to noise, from a recollection of the time when Thor used to fling his hammer at them."
Trolls are one of the most frequent creatures of Scandinavian fairy tales and more common than elves, dwarves, witches and giants (in the fairy tales, there is no clear-cut line between witches and female trolls, nor between male trolls and giants). They hoard gold. They come in any size and can be as huge as giants or as small as dwarves. They are however always regarded as having poor intellect (especially the males, whereas the females, trollkonor, may be quite cunning), big noses, long arms, and as being hairy and not very beautiful (except for certain females). In Scandinavian fairy tales trolls generally turn to stone if exposed to sunlight. (This weakness is shared by Norse Svartalfar (dark elves) and dwarves.) They live in the forest and in mountains and sometimes abduct children that have to live with them (especially princesses). Occasionally, they even steal a new-born baby leaving their own offspring, a changeling, in return ( possibly an ancient explanation for children born with Down's syndrome). Young Swedish children frequently believe in trolls, and a way to teach children to brush their teeth is to tell them to get rid of the very small "tooth trolls" that otherwise will make holes in their teeth.

[Rhuen]

Vampire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A vampire is a mythical or folkloric creature said to subsist on human or animal blood. Usually the vampire is the corpse of a recently dead person, reanimated or made undead by one means or another. Vampires are often described as having a wide variety of additional powers and character traits, extremely variable in different traditions, and are a frequent subject of folklore, cinema, and contemporary fiction.

[Rhuen]

Werewolf
Origins and variations of the word
The name has been thought to derive from either Latin vir (German: we(h)r, we(h)ren (Abwehr, Feuerwehr, Bundeswehr: defense group of men), Old Prussian: wirs: meaning men and Old English wer (or were) meaning man, man-wolf or weri (to wear), wearer of the wolf skin. Other sources believe it is derived from warg-wolf, where "warg" (or later "werg" and "wero") is cognate with norse "varg" meaning murderer or predator and as "vargulf" means the kind of wolf that slaughters many of a flock or herd but eats only a bit. This was a serious problem for herders as they had to somehow destroy the individual wolf that had run mad before it destroyed their entire flock or herd. "Warg" by itself was used in Old English for that specific kind of wolf (see J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit) and it was used as well for what would now be called a serial killer. The Greek term lycanthrope (wolf-man) is also commonly used.
The general term for the metamorphosis of people into animals is therianthropy (therianthrope means animal-man). The term turnskin or turncoat (Latin: versipellis, Russian : oboroten, O. Norse : hamrammr) is sometimes also used.
History of the Werewolf
Many European countries and cultures have stories of werewolves, including Greece (lycanthropos), Russia (volkodlak), Poland (wilkołak), Romania (Vârcolac), England (werwolf), Germany (Werwolf), and France (loup-garou). In northern Europe, there are also tales about people changing into bears. In Norse mythology, the legends of berserkers may be a source of the werewolf myths. Berserks were vicious fighters, dressed in wolf or bear hides; they were immune to pain and killed viciously in battle, like a wild animal. In Latvian mythology, the Vilkacis was a person changed into a wolf-like monster, though the Vilkacis was occasionally beneficial.
Shapeshifters similar to werewolves are common in myths from all over the world, though most of them involve animal forms other than wolves. See lycanthropy for a more general treatment of this phenomenon.
In Greek mythology the story of Lycaon supplies one of the earliest examples of a werewolf legend. According to one form of it Lycaon was transformed into a wolf as a result of eating human flesh; one of those who were present at periodical sacrifice on Mount Lycaon was said to suffer a similar fate. The Roman Pliny the Elder, quoting Euanthes, says (Hist. Nat. viii. 22) that a man of the Antaeus family was selected by lot and brought to a lake in Arcadia, where he hung his clothing on an ash tree and swam across. This resulted in his being transformed into a wolf, and he wandered in this shape nine years. Then, if he had attacked no human being, he was at liberty to swim back and resume his former shape. Probably the two stories are identical, though we hear nothing of participation in the Lycaean sacrifice by the descendant of Antaeus. Herodotus (iv. 105) tells us that the Neuri, a tribe of eastern Europe, were annually transformed for a few days, and Virgil (Ecl. viii. 98) is familiar with transformation of human beings into wolves. In the novel Satyricon, written about year 60 by Gaius Petronius, one of the characters recites a story about a man who turns into a wolf.
There are women, so the Armenian belief runs, who in consequence of deadly sins are condemned to pass seven years in the form of a wolf. A spirit comes to such a woman and brings her a wolf's skin. He orders her to put it on, and no sooner has she done this than the most frightful wolfish cravings make their appearance and soon get the upper hand. Her better nature conquered, she makes a meal of her own children, one by one, then of her relatives' children according to the degree of relationship, and finally the children of strangers begin to fall a prey to her. She wanders forth only at night, and doors and locks spring open at her approach. When morning draws near she returns to human form and removes her wolf skin. In these cases the transformation was involuntary or virtually so. But side by side with this belief in involuntary metamorphosis, we find the belief that human beings can change themselves into animals at will and then resume their own form.
France in particular seems to have been infested with werwolves during the 16th century, and the consequent trials were very numerous. In some of the cases -- e.g. those of the Gandillon family in the Jura, the tailor of Chalons and Roulet in Angers, all occurring in the year 1598, -- there was clear evidence against the accused of murder and cannibalism, but none of association with wolves; in other cases, as that of Gilles Garnier in Dole in 1573, there was clear evidence against some wolf, but none against the accused; in all the cases, with hardly an exception, there was that extraordinary readiness in the accused to confess and even to give circumstantial details of the metamorphosis, which is one of the most inexplicable concomitants of medieval witchcraft. Yet while this lycanthropy fever, both of suspectors and of suspected, was at its height, it was decided in the case of Jean Grenier at Bordeaux in 1603 that lycanthropy was nothing more than an insane delusion.
From this time the loup-garou gradually ceased to be regarded as a dangerous heretic, and fell back into his pre-Christianic position of being simply a "man-wolf-fiend." In Province of Prussia, Livonia and Lithuania, according to the bishops Olaus Magnus and Majolus, the werwolves were in the 16th century far more destructive than "true and natural wolves," and their heterodoxy appears from the assertion that they formed "an accursed college" of those "desirous of innovations contrary to the divine law." In England, however, where at the beginning of the 17th century the punishment of witchcraft was still zealously prosecuted by James I of England, the wolf had been so long extinct that that pious monarch was himself able (Demonologie, lib. iii.) to regard "warwoolfes" as victims of delusion induced by "a naturall superabundance of melancholic." Only small creatures such as the cat, the hare and the weasel remained for the malignant sorcerer to transform himself into, but he was firmly believed to avail himself of these agencies.
The werewolves of the Christian dispensation were not, however, all considered to be heretics or viciously disposed towards mankind. "According to Baronius, in the year 617, a number of wolves presented themselves at a monastery, and tore in pieces several friars who entertained heretical opinions. The wolves sent by God tore the sacrilegious thieves of the army of Francesco Maria, duke of Urbino, who had come to sack the treasure of the holy house of Loreto, A wolf guarded and defended from the wild beasts the head of St. Edmund the martyr, king of England. St. Odo, abbot of Cluny, assailed in a pilgrimage by foxes, was delivered and escorted by a wolf" (A. de Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, 1872, vol. ii. p. 145). Many of the werewolves were most innocent and God-fearing persons, who suffered through the witchcraft of others, or simply from an unhappy fate, and who as wolves behaved in a truly touching fashion, fawning upon and protecting their benefactors. Of this sort were the "Bisclaveret" in Marie de France's poem (c. 1200), the hero of "William and the Werewolf" (translated from French into English about 1350), and the numerous princes and princesses, knights and ladies, who appear temporarily in beast form in the Marchen of the Aryan nations generally. Indeed, the power of transforming others into wild beasts was attributed not only to malignant sorcerers, but also to Christian saints. Omnes angeli, boni et mali, ex virtute naturali habent potestatem transmutandi corpora nostra, was the dictum of St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Patrick transformed Vereticus, king of Wales, into a wolf; and St. Natalis cursed an illustrious Irish family with the result that each member of it was doomed to be a wolf for seven years. In other tales the divine agency is still more direct, while in Russia, again, men are supposed to become werewolves through incurring the wrath of the devil.
Historical legends describe a wide variety of methods for becoming a werewolf. One of the simplest was the removal of clothing and putting on a belt made of wolf skin, probably a substitute for the assumption of an entire animal skin which also is frequently described. In other cases the body is rubbed with a magic salve. To drink water out of the footprint of the animal in question or to drink from certain enchanted streams were also considered effectual modes of accomplishing metamorphosis. Olaus Magnus says that the Livonian werwolves were initiated by draining a cup of specially prepared beer and repeating a set formula. Ralston in his Songs of the Russian People gives the form of incantation still familiar in Russia. Various methods also existed for removing the beast-shape. The simplest was the act of the enchanter (operating either on himself or on a victim), and another was the removal of the animal belt or skin. To kneel in one spot for a hundred years, to be reproached with being a werwolf, to be saluted with the sign of the cross, or addressed thrice by baptismal name, to be struck three blows on the forehead with a knife, or to have at least three drops of blood drawn have also been mentioned as possible cures.
In other cases the transformation was supposed to be accomplished by Satanic agency voluntarily submitted to, and that for the most loathsome ends, in particular for the gratification of a craving for human flesh. "The werwolves," writes Richard Verstegan (Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1628), "are certayne sorcerers, who having annoynted their bodies with an oyntment which they make by the instinct of the devil, and putting on a certayne inchaunted girdle, doe not onely unto the view of others seeme as wolves, but to their owne thinking have both the shape and nature of wolves, so long as they weare the said girdle. And they do dispose themselves as very wolves, in wourrying and killing, and most of humane creatures." Such were the views about lycanthropy current throughout the continent of Europe when Verstegan wrote.

[Rhuen]

Sleipnir
(Redirected from Slepnir)
In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is Odin's magical eight-legged steed, and the first of all horses. His name means smooth or gliding, hence the English word, slippery. Loki, in the guise of a mare, gave birth to Sleipnir by Svadilfari.
It has been suggested that Sleipnir having eight legs is symbolic of the four men who carry a coffin, i.e. a steed to carry the rider into the underworld. It might also be a reference to a real horse with three toes, a genetic manifestation that occasionally happens on the front or rear legs of a horse, usually without harm to the animal. Though rare, it has been seen, and this might have worked its way into the myth.
A stainless steel statue of Sleipnir is a prominent feature in the Midlands town of Wednesbury (which means Odin's fort).
Alternative: Sleipner

[Rhuen]

Fafnir
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In Norse mythology, Fafnir was a son of Hreidmar and brother of Regin and Otter. After Otter was killed by the Aesir, Hreidmar received the cursed gold of Andvari's as repayment for the loss of his son. Fafnir and Regin then killed their father to get the gold, but Fafnir decided he wanted it all, turning into a dragon (symbol of greed). Regin then sent his foster-son, Sigurd, to kill the dragon. Sigurd succeeded, but then killed Regin too, upon learning that he had planned to kill him once he had recovered the gold.

[Rhuen]

Nidhogg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In Norse mythology, Nidhogg ("tearer of corpses") was the monster (although sometimes a dragon) that ate the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasil and swore at the eagle living in the tree's branches. Nidhogg also ate corpses.
Other serpents who ate Yggdrasil: Graback, Grafvolluth, Goin, Moin.

[Rhuen]

Para
Ancient Finnish household spirits who appear in the shape of a cat, snake, hare, or frog. They enlarge to amount of food and money with what they stole elsewhere

[Rhuen]

Huldrefolk (Hidden People):Norway

They are fairies that are invisible so though populous are hard to spot. Some say it is their hats that make them invisible; others report that the secret lies in a special coat. Whatever the reason, they are there at all times, living in another dimension, hidden behind a veil of invisible vapor. When, on rare occassions, this veil lifts the Huldrefolk can be glimpsed. The males closely resemble miniature humans; the female Huldre wears a blue, green or white dress has a cow-like tail and a hollow back. They live very much like humans.

[Rhuen]

Wood-Wives and Skoggra: Germany & Sweden

A fairy species which can be found in old forests and dense groves. Petitie and beautifully dressed with long claws, they are often accompanied by violent whirlwinds. So intricately connected to the woods are these spirits that it is said that if a branch is twisted until the bark comes off, one Wood-Wife dies in the forest. The Swedissh Skoggra is almost identical in appearance to the Wood-Wife, but she is often sighted in prowl mode.

Fair Lady: Hungary

One of the malevolent fairies that is so powerful as to be seen in many shapes: a beautiful woman, sometimes naked; a horse; a long haired woman in a white dress looking like a common housewife. She never travels far from home. She is often seen under the eaves of the house always a dangerous place and other times she'll show up in the stable. She weaves dangerous spells that can leave a person struck dumb or worse.

[Clearwitch]

I thought I'd start a thread on this...the topic fascinates me a lot. I covered the creation myth in Sire's Creation Myths thread, so I'll skip that now, and move straight on to the main deities.

The norse deities were divided into two main groups, the Vanir and the Aesir. The Vanir were the original gods, dating back to the bronze age. When the belief in the Aesir grew stronger, the Vanir slowly dissapeared, only leaving three known gods. The myth has it there was a war between the Vanir and the Aesir, where these three were taken hostage by the winning side, the Aesir, to maintain peace.

Njord, the original Old Man of the Sea, in charge of Fire, Wind and Sea. Njord had two children with his sister, who disappeared out og the belief system. Those two were the two fertility deities, Frey, the God of fertility and weather, and Freya, the Goddess of fertiliy and war. While Frey tends to be rather anonimous, dealing with his little elves in Alfheim, Freys has taken on a more noticeable course in the myths. She had her own army, the Valkyries, female warriors not too different from the Amazones. They had first dibs on the battlefield, and picked out the most handsome warriors to accompany them and Freya in the afterlife. The rest came to Odin, in Valhalla, to eat, drink and fight throughout eternity.

Odin was the king of the Gods. Odin sacrificed himself for knowledge by hanging upside down from a branch of the world tree, Yggdrasil, for 40 days. He thereby learns the runes. Then he sacrificed his right eye to the well of Mimir, the fountain of knowledge, and by drinking from it became all-knowing. Odin was the founder of the social classes, every now and then he would disguise as a human, and walk Midgard, the home of humans, to seek out hospitality. On one of these trips he bedded three young women. The first one lived on a large, rich farm. She bore a son, and named him Jarl, which means leader, or royal. The second lived on a medium farm, she named her son Bonde, which means farmer. The last was a slave, her son got the name Trell, or thrall. (slave). These three became the forefathers of the different social fractions, the royals, the regular farmers, and the thralls.

Beside his ardent woman hunting, Odin had a wife, Frigg, the goddess of marriage and motherhood.

I'll keep up this later, getting to the rest of the gods, some myths etc, but right now I need a break. If you want to learn more, click their names, or check out some of these sites:

http://www.ugcs.calt.../mythology.html

http://www.luth.se/luth/present/sweden/his...norse_myth.html

http://www.infopleas...a/A0197623.html

http://odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/norway/his...465/dok-bn.html

http://www.urd.nu/ur.../mythology.html

[Rhuen]

My first merger has been a success ^_^

"merged clearwitche's Norse Mythology thread with the already existing "Germanic and Norse Mythology thread"

This post has been edited by Rhuen: 24 May 2004 - 11:21 AM

[Clearwitch]

Oh, I didn't notice this...thanks :)

[Rhuen]

thats okay, I was wondering on my computer it only shows one page until I go to the time option to show from the beginning than all four other-kin pages appear. does any one else only see this one page or do I need to change something?

[Clearwitch]

It's probably because there hasn't been posted in more than one page of threads for the last 30 days.

[Azriela]

Not your average worm

Tell me how you would feel if that was the first thing you saw in the morning. Do you believe that they still exist?? :unsure:

[Rhuen]

"merged as it fits in with this group of monsters"

[Hallow]

Azriela, on Aug 9 2004, 08:53 PM, said:

Not your average worm

Tell me how you would feel if that was the first thing you saw in the morning. Do you believe that they still exist??

i'd probably bury an axe in it's head and feed it's flesh to the animals in the forest.