10a. Viking Mythology

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Across
  1. 2. “born from the sea” to nine mothers, who personified the waves / kept watch over the Nine Realms of Norse mythology / known for his keen sense of sight and hearing / resided in a castle in the sky that sat on the Bifrost, the magical rainbow bridge that connected Ásgard with Midgard, the world of humans
  2. 5. magical ________ of Iðunn that kept the Norse gods youthful and prevented them from aging - notably, the Norse gods were not truly immortal / when Iðunn was kidnapped by the giant Þjazi, the gods rapidly grew old until Loki rescued her and returned the ________ to Asgard
  3. 6. god of thunder and lightning / wielded Mjölnir, a devastatingly powerful hammer that could slay giants and smash mountains / rode a chariot drawn by two massive goats called Tanngniost and Tanngrisnir / regarded as the strongest of all the Norse deities since he was tasked with safeguarding Asgard, the stronghold of the Æsir / Thursday stems from the Old Norse meaning "________'s Day"
  4. 7. trickster god, equipped with the ability to shapeshift into a multitude of different forms / more mischievous than pure evil, but still capable of causing great harm - engineered the death of Baldur by carving a dart out his only weakness, mistletoe
  5. 12. magical rainbow bridge connecting Midgard (the world of humans) w/ Asgard (the realm of the gods)
  6. 14. monstrous wolf and child of Loki and the giantess Angrboða / during Ragnarok, it was foretold that he would swallow Odin and bring destruction on the gods / bound by the magical ribbon Gleipnir, which was crafted by the dwarves from impossible ingredients - included the sound of a cat’s footsteps and the beard of a woman, among others
  7. 17. belonged to the Vanir pantheon of gods, who at one time were mortal enemies of the Æsir / god of the seas and everything associated with it – fishing, wind, coasts, seafaring, as well as wealth / lived with his two children, Freya and Freyr, both born from a relationship he had with his sister, Nerthus / brokered the peace that ended the animosity between the Æsir and the Vanir
  8. 18. poet and storyteller in Viking society who composed and recited poems celebrating kings, warriors, and legendary deeds / preserved Norse history, mythology, and genealogy through oral tradition before many stories were written down / highly respected members of
  9. 19. the traditional polytheistic religions of Germanic peoples before the spread of Christianity / practiced across a vast area that encompassed Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germany, the Netherlands, and other parts of Europe / has a chronological range of over one thousand years
  10. 20. goddess of love, beauty, fertility, war, and magic / member of the Vanir and ruled over the heavenly meadow of Fólkvangr, where half of all those who died in combat would go, whilst the other half were guided by the Valkyries to Valhalla which was ruled over by Odin / rode a chariot drawn by two cats and was often accompanied by a boar called Hildisvíni / practised Seidr, a form of magic that gifted her with the ability to control and manipulate the desires and prosperity of others
  11. 21. subregion of northern Europe / geographically ________ consist of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
  12. 25. home of the humans in Norse mythology
  13. 29. alphabet used by Germanic peoples for writing inscriptions before and alongside the widespread adoption of the Latin alphabet / believed to possess magical and symbolic powers in addition to their practical use / carved into stone monuments, weapons, jewelry, and everyday objects throughout Scandinavia
  14. 31. closely linked with peace and good harvests / son of Njörðr and brother to Freya / also the god of fertility
  15. 32. often depicted as luminous and beautiful beings / associated with the gods, particularly Freyr / believed to possess magical powers - capable of both healing and causing illness / known for their ambivalence towards humans (indifferent to human concerns)
  16. 33. great hall in Asgard where Odin received the souls of warriors killed in battle
Down
  1. 1. daughter of Loki / ruler of the Norse underworld, a place where all those Vikings who didn’t die in battle went / half of her body was flesh and blood, the other half was just bones
  2. 3. location associated with the gods in Norse mythology
  3. 4. child of Odin / known as messenger of the gods and gifted with speed - often equated to the Greek god Hermes
  4. 6. one of the oldest Norse deities / god of war and bloodshed - the patron of warriors and mythical heroes / also the god of justice and order / belonged to the Æsir clan of gods who resided in Ásgard / son of either Odin or a giant named Hymir / had his hand bitten off by the monstrous wolf Fenrir, who was a child of Loki
  5. 8. god of light and purity / praised by others for his mercifulness and considered the epitome of all things wise and good / though seemingly invulnerable, he was prophesied to die
  6. 9. the end of the world / a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which many of the Norse mythological figures would perish / entailed a catastrophic series of natural disasters, including the burning of the world - which would culminate in the submersion of the world underwater / after these events, the world would rise again - cleansed and fertile - and the surviving and returning gods would meet / the world would be repopulated by two human survivors - Líf and Lífþrasir - who are analogous to Adam and Eve
  7. 10. ________ Realms - the ________ interconnected worlds of Norse mythology that were all linked by Yggdrasil, the World Tree / included Asgard (gods), Midgard (humans), Jötunheim (giants), and Hel (underworld)
  8. 11. also called the Midgard serpent or “Earth’s serpent” - child of Loki and the giantess Angrboða / greatest enemy of Thor - the two killed each other at Ragnarok, showing even the strongest gods could not escape their fate / represented the destructive forces of nature, as it grew large enough to encircle the world and bite its own tail
  9. 13. courts, though mocking a ruler through poetry could be dangerous
  10. 15. skilled craftsmen and blacksmiths who dwelled deep within the earth / exceptional craftsmen responsible for creating many of the most famous items in Norse mythology, including Thor's hammer, Odin's magic ring and spear, Freya's golden necklace, and the rope used to bind Fenrir, among other items
  11. 16. King of the Æsir clan and known as the 'father of the gods' or the 'Allfather' / often depicted as a one-eyed, bearded old man wearing a hat and cloak / rode a flying eight-legged horse called Sleipnir / helped slay the primordial giant Ymir, whose body was used to create the world
  12. 20. even the Norse gods were subject to ________ - the concept of destiny or predetermined events
  13. 22. lived beneath Yggdrasil and determined the destinies for both gods and humans - their power explains why Ragnarok cannot be prevented / represented principally by Urd (past), Berdandi (present), and Skuld (future)
  14. 23. “choosers of the slain” closely linked to fate - female warrior spirits who served Odin by choosing which warriors would die in battle / escorted the bravest fallen warriors to Valhalla while others were taken to Freya's hall, Fólkvangr / often depicted riding through the sky in armor on horseback, though they had individual names and personalities / their famous winged helmets are mostly a modern invention, as Viking helmets did not have wings
  15. 24. the weapon that, through the machinations of Loki, caused the death of the god Baldur - Loki tricked the blind god Höd into hurling the ________ at Baldur / subsequently, it became a symbol of love and peace, with Frigg vowing to kiss anyone who stood beneath it
  16. 26. resided in Ásgard, a celestial fortified realm surrounded by a great wall / can either refer to the Norse pantheon of gods in general, or specifically to one of the main families of gods - in contrast to the Vanir, with whom they waged war before the joining of the two families
  17. 27. wife of Odin / queen of the Æsir gods and goddess associated w/ marriage, motherhood, and foresignt / blessed with the power of divination and known for her fiercely protective motherly instincts
  18. 28. in contrast to the more war-mongering Æsir, this group of gods was associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future / one of the two groups of gods
  19. 30. an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology / known as the 'World Tree' / connected the Nine Realms in Norse mythology and symbolized the interconnectedness of the cosmos, with its roots and branches reaching into various worlds