1/9/20 Nafi Osmani PD1

1/9/20 Nafi Osmani Period 1

Group 4 Presentation: Katrina, Kayla, Matthew, Nafi, Brianna, Jacob

Aim: How is magic used to deceive nature and people in Norse Mythology?

Thor’s Journey to the Land of the Giants and the Apples of Immortality

The Story of Thor:

Thor is the Norse God of thunder, the sky, and agriculture. He is the son of Odin, the chief of the Gods.

Thor is the defender of the Asgard, the realm of the Gods, and Midgard, the realm of the humans.

Most depictions of Thor are of him slaying giants in order to protect those realms.

Many of Thor’s tales are of him fighting off the Midgard Serpent, Jörmungandr. Thor is doomed to die in Ragnarök to the poison of the serpent after he killed it with Mjollnir.

Thor’s Journey to the Land of Giants:

The names of Thor’s goats are Snarler and Grinder.

Thor tells Thialfi and his family to not eat the bones of the goats

Pair-Share:

Discuss why Thor told the family to not eat the goats’ bones. Who ate the bone and why did they eat the bone?

Thor tells the family to not eat the bones because he knows that he will revive the goats later on and without all of their bones, they would not be able to walk properly or function properly depending on the bone.

Thialfi is the one who ate the bone while Thor was not looking because Loki told him that “the marrow of the bones of those goats is the finest thing a young man can eat” and that Thor always keeps it for himself.

Utgardaloki:

In Norse Mythology, Utgardaloki was the ruler of the castle of Útgarðar in Jötunheimr.

His name literally means “Loki of the Outyards”, distinguishing him from the Loki we know as Thor’s companion.

Along the journey Thor and company have a hard time keeping up with this ruler, aka skymir, and the crew eventually settles down but is unable to retrieve their items from the giant’ knapsack.

Thor tries to deal damage to skymir with Mjollnir, but he is unfazed by any of Thor’s strikes.

Once again trickery and deception is used by Utgardaloki in challenges that the crew could not complete and our left standing in an open field instead of the castle where their feast was.

The whole time Skymir was Utagardaloki utilizing the recurring theme of deception in Norse mythology once again.

Summary Video/Class Discussion: (after watching the video)

What was the end result of all three challenges?

• Loki, Thialfi and Thor lost to their challengers Logi, Hugi, and Elli (respective to order) and learned to be humble

Why were these the end challenges?

• Logi is wildfire itself and that it devoured everything in its path (Loki)
• Hugi was the embodiment of thought and thoughts are always faster than actions (Thialfi)Elli represented old age and no one can beat old age as it is inevitable. (Thor)

What lessons can be learned from this and how can they show the differences between Greek mythology?

• To approach everything in a humble manner
• Nothing is as it seems
• Difference: The Gods in Norse mythology show physical weaknesses like humans
• Similarity: Hubris as a theme (Gods in both were prideful which led to their failures)

The Illusions of Their Journey:

• The giant they met along the way was actually the king in disguise, and the hammer blows created rifts and valleys.
• Loki’s Eating Contest

• Loki claimed to be the world’s fastest eater (His hubris)
• Although he consumed a lot of food, Loki was not able to beat his opponent Logi (wildfire)

• Thailfi’s Race

• He could outrun anything and anyone in the wild but not Hugi (Thought)

• Thor’s Three Challenges

• Draining the giant drinking horn (lower ocean levels)
• Lift the giant housecat (the Midgard serpent; and with moving it, he moved the earth)
• Wrestling one of the giants, the Old Woman Elli (old age: as you get older, you get weaker till you die. Thor is fighting old age)

• All these challenges show that even the greatest of men have limitations; they can’t defeat the forces of nature (natural disasters, the essence of thought, and old age)
• Another constant theme: Hubris leads to one’s downfall (as seen with Icarus when he chose to fly closer to the sun even after his father’s warnings)
• But the illusions that were used against them caused the three of them to push themselves harder, and in doing so to change the world.

        

The Apples of Immortality:

• Summary:

• Idunn, the goddess of spring or rejuvenation, is the wife of Bragi, the god of poetry.
• Idunn was the keeper of the magic apples of immortality
• Gods would eat the apples to preserve their youth
• One day, Loki passed by Idunn and told her that he

• needed one of her apples of immortality because he feels age upon him.
• When Idunn gives Loki a golden apple, Loki responds that he thought that Idunn would have better apples than that.
• Normally gods talked about the perfection of flavor and how good it was to feel young again.
• Loki convinced Idunn that there were apples in the forest that was finer than her apples.
• As they walk into the forest to compare those finer apples with her own apples, Idunn realizes that there is only a tall pine tree with an eagle in it.

• It was no eagle, but rather the giant Thiazi in eagle shape to claim the beautiful Idunn. It soon seized Idunn and her box of apples.
• As the gods began to age, they forced Loki to retrieve Idunn back with her apples
• Thiazi chased after Loki after realizing that he had taken Idunn, but he flew into the flames prepared for him and Thor’s hammer parted Thiazi from his life.
• Skadi went to Asgard to avenge her dead father. To which they compromised that first Skadki would be given a husband (Balder), second the gods would make her laugh again, and finally, the gods would make sure her father would never be forgotten.

• Group Discussion: 

Why did Loki trick Idunn to go into the forest to meet Thiazi? Do you think his reason justifies his actions? Explain

• Before Loki deceived Idunn, Loki struck Thiazi in the form of an eagle almost killing Loki. The eagle replies saying that he might just kill Loki. In order to save his life, Loki says that he’ll do whatever just for him to be let down. The eagle replies “Idunn. And I want her apples.”
• Loki only does things for his own benefit

Connection to the Real World:

• The Apples of Immortality:

• This myth can be connected to the religion of Christianity as both have a somewhat similar representation of the apple.

• When Christ is portrayed holding the apple, he represents the Second Adam who brings life. It is similar to how the apples allow the gods to preserve their youthful appearance.

• The Vikings formulated their views on the gods based on how they saw divinity (what specific things they do/have done,

• instead of how they are a god)
• They also have physical attributes like humans:

• Hunger, pain, death
• Physical weakness
• Determination, Hubris
• Deceit

Lessons Learned:

• Thor’s Journey to the Land of the Giants:

• Nothing is as it seems
• Continue past the belief of defeat
• Fire destroys everything in its path
• Thought is always faster than action
• Old age weakens everyone eventually
• You should take a humble approach to everything
• Even gods have limitations (can’t beat nature, can’t outrun thoughts or old age, they are not the strongest beings in the world and get tired/weaker)
• Determination has its rewards (the miracles of Thor’s three challenges because of his resoluteness: 1. He was able to drain most of the ocean even when it was impossible to clear the horn with two attempts  2. He was able to move Jormungandr and loosen his coil around the world allowing it to shift   3. Thor stayed standing when he wrestled Elli because she makes everyone weaker)

• The Apples of Immortality:

• To not be too greedy

• In the beginning, when he meets Loki, the eagle takes too much food and even after taking the food he still wants to keep Idunn and her apples to himself. As he is chasing Loki after Loki recuses Idunn, he flies straight into the fire the gods have placed for him and leading to his death.

• Laughter is a better solution than anger and violence

• When Sadki comes to take revenge for her father’s death, the second compromise was to make her laugh. When Loki makes her laugh, her anger is replaced with satisfaction and she makes peace with the gods instead of furthering the conflict.

Graded Quiz:

1. What did the family do to prevent Thor from destroying the farm and killing them?

Offered their children to be Thor’s servants

2. What happens when Thor strikes Skrymir’s forehead with his hammer?

Both A and C

3. What is Loki’s special talent?

The fastest at eating

4. What is Thialfi’s special talent?

Fastest runner

5. How did the King of Giants greet his guests?

He gave him 3 challenges

6. Who competed against Thialfi, Loki, and Thor? (In the same order)

Hugi, Logi, Elli

7. How many sips does it take Thor to finish the drinking horn?

He never finished

8. What color is the apple of immortality?

Golden

9. Why did Loki trick Idunn for Thiazi?
           To save his life
10. Who is Sadki and who did she marry?

        Thiazi's daughter, she married Balder

Reflection:

From the story of Thor’s Journey to the Land of the Giants the main themes or lessons that can be seen is that everything is not as it seems., you should take a humble approach to everything, even gods have limitations, and that determination has its rewards (Ms. Peterson put is best when she said perseverance in the face of adversity). From the story of  the Apples of Immortality, the main lessons or morals that can be seen is that to not be too greedy, and laughter is a better solution than anger and violence.