1/9/20 Winston Lee Period 8

Aim: How do the Norse display human nature in their mythology?

Thor’s Journey to the Land of the Giants

Utgardaloki and his tricks:

•  Utgardaloki is the Ruler of Utgard in Jotunheim
• Utgard is the land of the giants (enemies of the gods)
• His name means “Loki of the Outyards”
• He disguised himself as Skrymir by changing his appearance and growing bigger; his illusions were enough to trick Thor and Loki
• Logi means “fire,” Hugi means “thought,” and Elli means “old age”

Discuss: Why would Utgardaloki trick Thor, Loki, and Thialfi?

• Utgardaloki, being a giant, would want to humiliate the gods and humans, therefore he deceived them. He may have also wanted to see their strengths in order to know how to defeat them in the inevitable Ragnarok.

Connection to the Real World:

Loki represents our ego and Thor represents our will. Odin could represent our morals. In this story, only Loki and Thor were seen. Our own pride/ego could blind us of the obvious. This could make us end up living in a world of bliss due to turning a blind eye to many things we aren’t able to “see.” There are also many times that obstacles push us to do even better than what we could before. When Utgardaloki reveals his admiration toward the three for their abilities and willpower, we see that his illusions pushed them to their limits and resulted in their best results. We usually think of obstacles and hurdles as something that is in the way and we allow ourselves to be brought down by it. However, when looking at it from this perspective, we see that obstacles push us further than our limits. The only true obstacle would be our own thoughts. 

• Thor, Loki, and Thialfi all somewhat possess hubris, where they let their pride feed their ego and confidence to the point where they thought they could easily beat Utgardaloki’s challenges. When they realize that something was wrong because they were getting easily beaten, they didn’t let then obstacle deter but instead motivate them to do better, even if they weren’t able to live up to expectations. This somewhat relates to Norse myth and specifically the concept of Ragnarok, where although they knew doom was inevitable, they still gave it everything they had and that’s what Norse values more, the effort over the outcome. The attempts that the three made to complete the challenges greatly impressed Utgardaloki especially since he knew they couldn’t win. Basically, all of these stories tell us how the Norse valued staying humble and that they saw obstacles as motivation and not setbacks, where the only true setback was self-doubt.

The Apples of Immortality

Discuss: Why would the Norse make it so that their gods could age? 

• Easily relatable to us as humans; we also grow old and age, but the prospect of eternal youth (like how great warriors go to Valhalla) is very promising
• Ties back to the idea that death is inevitable (Ragnarok), but they still fight against it anyway; in modern times, many men/women buy products to stop the showing of age. Some men get anti-balding treatments, women use makeup, plastic surgery, or anti-wrinkle creams

Thiazi and Skadi

• Thiazi and Skadi are both giants. Skadi is the daughter of Thiazi.
• Thiazi is capable of shapeshifting into a giant eagle.
• Skadi loved and admired her father greatly.
• Thiazi “Water” is a very rich and stingy giant.

Discuss: What was Thiazi’s motive in wanting to capture Idunn and her apples?

• Idunn is the goddess of eternal youth and is the sole possessor of the apples of immortality, which is crucial since the gods are not immortal and cannot remain powerful and youthful without it. As a greedy giant, he wants the goddess to be his wife and for the gods to lose their powers.

Idunn

• “The Rejuvenating One”
• Goddess of eternal youth, spring and wife of Bragi, god of poetry 
• Keeper of the apples of immortality; when one of the gods/goddesses was starting to “look old,” they would obtain and eat one of her apples to regain their youthfulness 
• Since the gods are not immortal, her golden apples keep the gods youthful

Discuss: Why would the keeper of the apples of immortality be female?

• Females would generally have the role of a carer at home, but they were also capable enough to fight and protect: the Norse respected them more than other cultures did
• Women give birth to children therefore all living things came from some sort of mother

Connection to the Real World:

Loki’s rashness and self-interest causes him to “sell out” Idunn to Thiazi. Ultimately, this lead to him getting in trouble with the rest of the gods and him having get Idunn back. Many times, our emotions get the better of us and we say/do things that we wouldn’t do in a normal situation. Skadi also shows her human side by coveting that which she cannot obtain. We’ve all experienced a time in which we wanted something but we were unable to obtain it. Our pride and ego are essential as humans, but they overpower our common sense if we aren’t careful.

• The story shows the importance of resisting temptation because of how your own self-interest could cause you to act on impulse, which can end up causing harm to others or even yourself. In Loki’s case, he risked the safety of Idunn as well as the sake of the other gods. In Thiazi’s case, his unwillingness to give up Idunn made him lose his life. 

Discuss: What do apples represent? What other stories that we learned about does this one relate to?

• Apples represent the sustenance for immortality and life but at the same time sins
• Relates to Eve and the forbidden fruit, which represents the knowledge in Christianity

Assessment Question: Overall, how do the Norse create their own values and code of ethics for living, based on Norse mythology?

• Their values and codes are created upon the stories of the gods from Norse mythology. As seen in past lessons and this one, we can clearly see the “rights” and “wrongs,” just based upon the description of stories. For instance, we see that valor and bravery are two of the most important characteristics to have. Warriors are awarded in the afterlife because they are allowed the enter Valhalla. It is the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon them. Bravery was an important characteristic to have because without it, the Norse would not have been able to raid and conquer the cities they encountered. From these raids, they are able to find shelter, food, and other supplies they may need. From this lesson, we can see how the Norse viewed challenges and obstacles. They saw that without them, they would not be able to achieve greater things in life. Challenges are motivators to push the Vikings to become a better warrior, or to become stronger, mentally, or physically.

Reflection

The purpose of today’s lesson was to learn about the connections between the Norse gods and humans. These two stories seemed to show more of a human side to the gods and giants compared to the other stories that we’ve read before by demonstrating the flaws of them and how they affected not only themselves but other gods. Through the stories, we learn more about human emotion and the importance of controlling it. For example, in the first story, we learn about the importance of determination and how excessive pride could lead actually lead to humiliation. In the second story, we learn about the importance of resisting temptation. Self-interest can lead to impulsive actions, which can harm others, yourself, and sometimes even both. The lessons we learned today could be used in our everyday lives to help us improve ourselves as well as help others.