Snorri Sturluson

I always like to put this little note in there.

The Prose Edda was compiled by an Icelandic scholar named Snorri Sturluson around 1200 CE, roughly 200 years after Iceland's conversion to Christianity.

It is our most detailed source for Norse mythology, but it was written by a Christian author attempting to preserve and systemize the older oral tradition of these people.

This context does not invalidate the sources.

There are several Which goes for most of, of the ancient mythologies.

But the most elaborate one is one, uh, told by, uh, the Icelander Snorri-

Mm.

Uh, who was originally from Norway, I believe.

Like, it only looks bad if you assume that Valhalla is a reward rather than an outcome of leading a particular kind of life.

This is also not helped by that this whole reward-punishment frame that exists in larger society has in many ways been read into the Nordic source material, and particularly is quite present in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, which also gives us some of the best direct descriptions of Helheim and the Goddess Hel.

That said, we do have evidence that whatever it is that Snorri is describing here is not fully and all-encompassing, because we do see references to hell as well as similar root words that trace back to the Old Norse word for the grave that pop up in many different places.

In short, what seems to be the pattern that exists also in grave goods and other material is tends to be more one that suggests rest and preparation for a different kind of existence, rather than expecting reward or punishment upon arrival.

So let's talk Helheim for a minute.

Helheim itself sits across that river Gjol, and crossing the river requires first confronting the great giant Mogud, who stands guard over the bridge and can either grant passage or deny it to any who seek it.

Once one crosses Mogud's bridge, they come upon Helgrind, the great gates of Helheim, which then stand open before all those who come and seek its shelter.

Here Snorri gives a bunch of interesting details about Helheim, although I think that these particulars may be more reflections on the way one reaches the realm of Hel, rather than necessarily this is what awaits one in the realm of Hel.

Today's story comes from Norse mythology, the tales of the gods of the Viking world.

It was written down in 13th century Iceland by Snorri Sturluson in the collection that we now know as the Prose Edda, drawing on older poems and oral tradition.

Two small details come from elsewhere in the same tradition.

Tyr's title, Fosterer of the Wolf, from the part of Snorri's Edda written as a guide for poets, and Tyr's reply to Loki from an older poem called Lokasenna, found in the Poetic Edda.

Before we get into the story, I want to name where it comes from, because it matters.

Most of what we know about Mimir comes from two collections, the Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic Christian in the 13th century, and the Poetic Edda, which is a collection of older poems that were written down around the same period, also in Christian Iceland, though the poems themselves preserve much older oral material.

That does not make any of these stories false, less valid.

It means we are reading pre-Christian belief through a Christian era lens, written down generations after the tradition that it describes was actively practiced.