I've read a great theory that the jötnar, the gluttons/devourers/eaters, are symbolic of intertia, sloth and laziness can be a "consuming" force much like how we say "*insert emotion* is consuming you" in Modern English, and much like how ice also causes inaction or stillness. The reason Thor is the only god who can defend against them is because of his weapon Mjöllnir, representing the heart (thunder here is symbolic of the heartbeat), which beats (causes thunder) and pumps blood throughout the body when one moves/is alive.
In fact the Jotunns represent a force in its degraded state. Reread the Voluspa well, observe the different duels, note their order and meditate on the personality of the Gods and you will have the key to each Jotunn. ALU
Thoroughly enjoyed the video. A major reason I love the content on this channel is that the information presented isn't the same generic dribble spouted by every other generic mythology channel on this platform. There's real substance to the material. It's been well researched and it's inferred in a way that's genuine and entertaining. I find myself truly looking forward to new videos on this channel and that's rare nowadays. Flawless as usual my friend. 👍
In German we have the words "locken" (= to lure) and "verlockend"(= alluring). To me they seem quite similar to Lokis name, also considering that " to lure someone" means trying to create a bond with someone, probably against their will. You can also lure a person or an animal into a trap and force them to stay. Reminds me of the cobweb again. "Locken" actually has a second meaning which is "to curl". I can only imagine that in ancient times they mostly used braids (essentially knots in the hair) to get curls.
Warm greetings Kevin and fellow viewers. I've just finished a double-shift and am now blissing out on your newest compilation! From Cape Town South Africa 😎🌻🇿🇦🧙♂️
Unironically, you are one of the bests channels for a pagan of any stripe to watch. Some many channels get bogged down in explaining their own interpretations of what the Gods the Spirits and the Jotun are that they neglect to explain what we already know. I'm glad to count you as one of my favorite channels. Although you probably aren't a pagan yourself, I appreciate what your content brings to my faith incredibly.
i really like the metaphorical insight. the idea of loki and the ideas of tangledness and disentanglement is the kind of metaphor which would really give a faction in a fantasy story a lot of flourish. just swap out the idea of growth in our farce, with ideas like tangledment. it is in the reuse of a metaphor in one context in a inappropriate but similar context which creates a sense of channeling the cosmos. swapping in concepts from any grammatical category into phenominal labels which evoke specific aspects of perception and identification into a system of metaphor and labeling just seems so natural. it is a really great idea, and i thank you for it.
@@user-ze3tq9hf9i if you say so. Lol. The mythology of Genesis and the Serpent goes way way back to before both peoples. Its about different species and interbreeding, "Made in their image". Different Trees - different species. Half brothers. Neandertal - Horned Gods v Denisovans - Serpent Gods. We interbred with the Southern branch of the Denisovans c.38,000 years ago. We gained the MCPH1 allele that allows brain and skull size to enlarge. "For the EL'o'him do not want you to have it, as your eyes will be opened and you will know good from evil, just as the Divine" - the Serpent. "Ye are Gods" & "Everything i have done, you also can do and much more" - Jesus of Nazareth- the Morning Star, the light bearer - Prometheus - Osiris - En'Ki - Dagon - Oannes - Queztalacoatal - Nagas. Those that uphold the Horned Gods perspective call him the Serpent - Posoiden - Lucifer - Lo'Ki its all the same beings just different names.
@@user-ze3tq9hf9i En'Ki put his seed into 14 birth mothers and Inanaana gave birth to Adappa. Osiris was cut into 14 pieces which Isis collected and gave birth to Horus. Same story. Genesis is saying the same story too, different trees different species. Half brothers.
So I suppose trolls & jotnar ("giants") were primordial elemental forces of the earth & sea, imagined to be gigantic entities, similar to Greco-Roman "Titans"... also the ancestors of the "gods" (more humanoid)... Thank you so much for your wonderfully detailed research. Much more enjoyable than the basic dribble of most ancient mythological content on the net.
New to the channel, but will be studying it in the days ahead. Very much appreciate wisdom on folklore which inspires my own traditionalist writing. Good health!
Ymir, whom suckles the cow and is made into the world, is a very close myth to the original Indo-European myth, where Mannus makes the world out of Yemo after they both suckle a cow. Ymir is cognate to Yemo. Mannus seems to be missing, though. Anybody know where a Mannus figure would be present in Norse/Germanic myth?
That could be either Odin or Bor? (Bori?). Manu is the original archetypal man in Sanskrit which sounds a lot like Mannus to me. Odin builds the world as we know it after slaying Ymir. Borri (I believe that was the guy's name?) Was borne from the frost that the celestial cow was feeding from, but he was the first man in Nordic myth, as well as Odin's father. So I think a combination of Odin and Borri are is the guy your looking for.
@@samuelferrell9257 it would make sense because the Norse (and Germanic peoples in general) have a trend of splitting up archetypes. For example, instead of having one Sky Father figure, they have 3 deities that combined give that archetype: Heimdallr (knows all, sees all, is throned in the sky, father to all), Týr (Oaths, justice, victory) and Thor (sky protector, though he's obviously closer to Perkwonos than Dyeus). Although, Tacitus wrote that the Germanic tribes believed in a figured called Mannus (probably Mannaz in Proto-Germanic) whom he says the Germanic peoples believed birthed 3 tribes. He's the only known source of this myth but it does connect to Indo-European cosmology in the broader Indo-European community, something Tacitus wouldn't have been aware of. Óðinn might have taken the place of Mannaz at some point, just as he did with Jólfaðir and (mythologically speaking) Dyeus Phter. The Norse loved separating some archetypes and combining others. Makes me wonder if the Anglo-Saxons kept a Mannaz figure. They did keep Yule Father as separate from Woden. I'll have to research this more, thanks for your reply
Jötnar are sometimes the most clever beings in Norse mythology. Loki is a Jǫtunn through his father, Fárbauti. He is among the most intelligent of all beings. It's common for him to be called upon by the gods to solve various problems they face. Also, Loki often has to come up with clever schemes to rectify wrong doings of his own making.
Great video, as always. But I thought trolls were the dim-witted creatures that became stone after staying up all night arguing over the best way of cooking Bilbo and the dwarves.
That's from later and more relevant mythology. Even if correct the definition of troll in this video is misleading in that it leaves out centuries of later mythology where trolls are a better defined and specific type of creature in nordic folklore. This later concept is seen in some of the illustrations shown. From a modern viewpoint the beings discussed should only be called Jotun to avoid confusion, seeing how the modern meaning of troll now is from the mythology that inspired Tolkien. The definition used in the video has been outdated for about a thousand years and calling Jotun trolls now is nothing short of insulting even if it'd make sense to someone from the 8th century.
Jack & the Beanstalk. Swap your cow for magic beans (pastoralism to grain farming) cut the forests down and you come to the land of Giants. They fled and left behind the stone monuments. The Dagda went to the giants realm in the mountains (in the clouds) to fetch his golden singing harp. Our fairy tales tell our pre-history.
@@andreasnordon4484 didnt i just comment that old english term for Troll is Ogre... so swallow that bitter pill yourself. And Jack & the beanstalk is talking about the giants or the Jotun in Norse... so where the hell am i not talking about Trolls and the Jotun?
Jack & the Beanstalk. Swap your cow for magic beans (pastoralism to grain farming) cut the forests down and you come to the land of Giants. They fled and left behind the stone monuments. The Dagda went to the giants realm in the mountains (in the clouds) to fetch his golden singing harp. Our fairy tales tell our past pre-history.
I wish people would quit perpetuating the misconception that "Only" THORR battles the Jotnar and Trolls. He's certainly the preferred hunter; but ODIN slays 9 trolls at once, and with His Brothers: Slew Ymir, FREYR will battle Surtr. It's not as if The AESIR and VANIR are helpless. They were slaying giants, before the dwarves forged MJOLNIR.
Personally, I think Trolls or Giants are based something that was once upon a time, very real and very common thoughout iron/bronze/neolithic northern/western europe. Not any kind of primitive man or protoman but something else. If you listen to the tales told by natives of north america about what is called bigfoot now and the modern encounters they seem uncannily similar. Both Jotuns or Trolls and Sasquatch lurk in mountains and the deep forest. Both also huge in size compared to man and havr voracious appetites occasionally even eating humans. Both are said to have supernatural ability and can even change shape the Gods. I've even heard from some people in Scandinavia that study Scandinavian mythology that Giant/Trolls did not orginaly look that human at all. Instead they were big ugly and often very hairy things that you could not mistake for a man. They were also said to have often been known for living alone high up in mountains or caves and attacking people or livestock. That sounds very much like what is called a bigfoot I'm north america. Also when you consider most Germanic people back were anywhere from between 5 to 6 feet tall with outliers around 7 and bigfoot is often stated to be 8,9 or even 12 ft tall well... that would be Jotun or Troll to them relatively speaking.
There's still "trödeln" in modern German meaning essentially 'to slack'/ 'to slouch' or 'walking slowly'. So there's still a connection to laziness/etc...
I wonder what you think about the idea that Radagon on Elden Ring was inspired by Loki. It's mainly based on his children being the red wolf of Radagon, The lunar princess/snow witch Ranni and Rykard who fed himself to the serpent God Eglay, to join with her. However at least one ofther element that links him to Loki is his symbol. Radagon's symbol is a design that looks like it is heavily inspired by the Web of Wyrd. The web of Wyrd being like a net that binds fate.
@@dracodistortion9447 in Old English not modern or medeival English. In modern English parlance a Troll is someone anonymous on the internet who goes around slinging hate at others, baiting them into conversation and then just being vulgar and disgusting. A poisonous Troll.
@WilliamCelandine I was under the impression that the old pagan folk of Norway and far north Scandinavia had plenty of ancient folk tales of run-ins with these Troll creatures. But there is some cross-over going on with the tales of Giants or Jotunn having similar tales of them turning into stone if caught in the open when the sun rises. Many of the Stone circles in Britain and Ireland have accompanying stories of having been made by Giants or that they were the actual Giants who had been dancing through the night in a circle when they were caught by the rising sun and all were turned to stone where they danced. I think that Stonehenge itself may even have been known as the 'Giants Dance' in the times before Christianity arrived. It seems to connect these Troll/Jotunn/Giants as the builders of the early Neolithic stone megaliths such as the many Dolmens and Menhirs erected throughout the Atlantic western lands of coastal Europe, the British isles and the Northern Sandanavian wilderness. It seems to be a common tale of explaining where all these Stone building Giants had disappeared too when the early Neolithic farmers moved into lands that had been known as where Giants lived but all they found was the giant stone monuments the Giants had left behind. Which over many generations of time the folk tale of these Troll/Jotunn/Giants had them being turned to stone when caught out in the sun's light and that they had become the actual stone monuments themselves. It's quite a well spread and well known folk tale icon that has its roots far back in time to the early neolithic and the appearance in great numbers of all these Giant sized slabs of stone erected in a kind of stone walled and roofed shelter known as Dolmens as well as the miles long rows of standing stones of Carnac and many other stone megaliths found throughout the western lands of Europe, the British isles and parts of Scandinavia.
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings. In later Scandinavian folklore, trolls became beings in their own right, where they live far from human habitation, are not Christianized, and are considered dangerous to human beings. Depending on the source, their appearance varies greatly; trolls may be ugly and slow-witted, or look and behave exactly like human beings, with no particularly grotesque characteristic about them. Trolls are sometimes associated with particular landmarks in Scandinavian folklore, which at times may be explained as formed from a troll exposed to sunlight. Trolls are depicted in a variety of media in modern popular culture.
Not to sounds nuts although I probably will, if you look at legends around what is called bigfoot by the natives in North America and modern encounters, they seem to match very will in both behavior and appearance.
Great video! I love the story of Loki, and have even read the Edda. But what you said got me thinking. Yes, I know Loki to be a god of fire, and until now I've thought of him as an equivalent of Prometheus or Lucifer. Lightbringer, in that sense. Everything brightened the world of people. Both in the actual sense and in the figurative sense. The light they brought illuminated not only the darkness but also an empty mind. The enlightened people learned not only bliss longer, but also pain and suffering, but also love and curiosity. Therefore, I never saw them as truly evil, but as beings who can remind the gods of their own impermanence. Loki in particular, because he keeps showing them their shortcomings.
i find it interesting that in Norse mythology we have 3 groups of beings that seem to be of the same type, at least they do mingle and interbreed. the Æsir, Vanir and Jotnar. while in reality, between 4300-2300, there were 3 distinct material cultures that did coexist in Scandinavia and coalesced into the Battle Axe Culture. these were the Corded Ware culture, supposedly pastoralists and possibly of Indo-european origin. the Funnel Beaker culture, agricultural and Pitted Ware culture, hunter gatherers. in some ways the lifestyle of these 3 groups correspond with the 3 groups of god-like entities. the heroic warrior cult, the fertility cult and the wild and untamed others.
4:23 that sounds quite a bit like Japanese oni, who are sometimes described as "anti people" the opposite of what is considered human, people can turn into them if they persistently partake in violent and gluttonous actions.
I think it was the channel Viking Stories, that said the trolls and Jötan are the original Hunter/Gatherers that were driven from the homeland in southern Scandinavia to the north. And they would come down from the mountains to wreck havoc on the Proto-Germanic settlers
Love from under the bridge coming at ya! 😘 The only thing better than living under the bridge is being a Yooper! Hopefully some day I can move north and become a true Michigander👊
I like the theory that the myth of trolls were actually Neanderthals that early humans had to fight. There's crazy new information on the relationship between early humans and Neanderthals. Neanderthals were 6 times stronger than humans and were Anti social. They only stuck to small family groups and were pumped full of hormones. They never really developed ranged weapons and stuck to spears or clubs. Their intelligence was different than ours but similar. There was fierce competition between our species and Neanderthals definitely ate humans. They also had big nocturnal like eyes so it's likely they were active at night. If you look into this more you can make good connections between mythical creatures like trolls and Neanderthals that we competed with and at one point were basically prey of. We didn't out compete Neanderthals until we developed ranged weapons and stuck together in big tribes. They're facial features also would have been very troll like.
@@flintliddon as far as I know nothing of what I said was me making assumption other than equating Neanderthals to troll mythology. Which isn't even really my idea either. Pretty much everything I said is current scientific theory regarding Neanderthals and humans competing against each other and based off scientific theory... so if you want to say theory is assumptions go ahead
@@jhtsurvival what’s the word for where someone makes what on its face seems like a reasonable assumption but actually is wrong and just based on movie tropes and pop culture? A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Is another way of putting it.
I am a Norse pagan I have been a believer of the Norse god's my whole life I am fighting the hardest battle of my life but I can feel the hammer of lord Thor the thunder god guiding me and keeping me safe I can feel lord Odin guiding me with his wisdom peace people skal all I know is something inside me is changing
I am a Norse pagan lord Odin and lord Thor are my gods thankful I am going to rehab tomorrow to get help for alcoholism my gods have empowered me to do this all hail the Norse gods of Valhalla for giving me this opportunity for a better life
Trolls and thor share a root name due to their savage strength and endurance hence the Tolkien reference to helm hammerhand being known as the ice troll
I've often wondered if the legends of trolls, orcs, leprechauns, and other human-like creatures come from human memory of deep time. The times very long ago when there were several species of humans on Earth competing for resources. 100,000 years ago when there were battles between homo sapiens and neanderthals, and times earlier than that! Stories are passed from one generation to the next. We sapiens didn't just recently invent the telling of stories. I can imagine people sitting around the fire relating their encounters, violent or otherwise, with other species of humans. Perhaps it is the other species of humans who are the orcs and trolls. Through very deep time and the related experiences of humans throughout the story, the other human species became monstrous trolls. It is all speculation on my part. It is something that I'll probably never know the real answer to. The people who I might ask have been dead for a very long time.
I believe that these descriptions are not just or Our Gods and other “divine beings” but on a bifurcated thought this is describing cosmic interplay between planetary bodies and other cosmic materials.
After much research, I am of the belief that Trolls are the offspring of the Jötnar. Possibly the coupling of Jötnar and humans, much like a demigod. The Jötnar, in Norse mythology, seem to be a separate bloodline of gods. Similar to the Vanir, they have the ability to mate with the Æsir. So it would make sense that they can mate with humans as well. Just my opinion.
At around 7-minutes, you state that it comes to be that Thurs, Jotun and Trolls seem to point to the same class of being'...but the worlds along the Bifrost and each world's residents would instantly refute that. Jotunheim is 'the world of Giants'...some larger than mountains. Trolls, however, are large, but think more 'bigfoot' than 'skyscraper'...they were nasty, hairy, ogre-like...and these found residence on Niflheim (which is also the root source of the Niflhim or Nephilm of Christian lore)...and may possibly be also found in limited amounts on Svartlheim (world of the Dwarves). The 'Thurs' also 'Thor's Scourge' were greatly problematic in Midgard, Earth, for Thor deemed himself the 'defender of man'...and thus Thurs and Trolls differed just as 'Bigfoot vs Ogres' might today, in modern parlance. What connected them into common 'interchangeability'? Why, the Bifrost Bridge! It is then easy to understand how 'myth' could actually be old, but very real LEGEND...as the opening to the Bifrost upon each world would be 'a portal', or a place where 'the veil was thin'...
given the lack of distinction between trolls and giants they appear to be the European counterpart to the Japanese classification of mythical creatures the Yokai
Not really. Youkai is just the broad term for generic "physical monstrosities/ bizarre spiritual entities." Trolls/Jotun are more like the oni of Japanese myth... once invisible malevolent spirits, now imagined to be gigantic physical ogres (horns on their heads, tusks, unruly hair, brandishing clubs & wearing tiger skin pelts).
What if these are symbolic of things that happen in the sky/comets/asteroids ‘the wheel of heaven’ consuming the sun and moon affecting crops etc…? /wolves/trolls/giants They sound like they even have stories about what section of the sky they come from
I always figured they were just non-indo Europeans . Conquered peoples that weren't considered humans. Similar to the way the Lakota/Sioux or the Dené/Chippewa people's did not consider others to be Human beings
No. Basically I am really busy and haven't had time manage so many things. I put a lot of time into research, and beside the videos I am writing several books. I should set up something but I haven't got around to it yet.
Out of the cold reaches of dense snows of binary comes the howl of mystic beings. Timeless, pale, older than hourglass sands and rich in magic, they cause dim-witted reactions in all they touch. The internet troll is somewhere between the gods and mankind. They cannot be destroyed by fire nor thunder but only dismissed by the call of "dinnertime" by thine mothers to which they emerge from the basement.
The poetic Edda is the compilation of traditional Norse poetry on stories of the Aesir and Vanir, the Norse gods. The prose Edda is the poet and saga author, Snorri Sturluson's version of the gods done in story, i.e. the prose form.
@@eightness888 Yes. The poetic edda is just that, poems about the gods. Whereas, Snorri wrote the poems in story form, but with his own Christian interpretation of the gods. Both are readily available. The life of Snorri is just as interesting. He was a chieftain and a writer, plus he met a cowardly end to his life. His sagas are also available and given the right translation, quite readable. Hope that helped.
@@Getcakedieyoung23 well that's nice. Did you realize that the Ragnarok Event of Scandinavian Folk Lore is detailed as the Nephilim War in the books of Enoch & Jubilees ? And was fought on the Island Continent of the Antarctic , upon the 100 mile x 100 mile Vigard Battle Plain. Just imagine what could be laying on the Ground down there ?
Thanks! I am always striving to deepen my understanding of these topics. I believe in relying on primary sources almost exclusively and drawing my conclusions based on them alone in most cases.
@@FortressofLugh In both history and mythology topics, there are many creators who simply give their opinions and interpretations (often taken from other secondary source), It takes so much more effort and knowledge to go into the primary source in the primary language and unravel things. It is most appreciated and many of us recognize the difference.
I got to say Odin all-father really messed up by not just slapping the s*** out of Loki from day one why do they wait to the dude basically guarantees the end of the world and f**** everybody's lives before they finally kick his ass and take him out of the picture
@@ValiTheGawd plus the Egyptian mythology is far far older than Indo-European mythology. Odin is actually just a human shaman priest king who fills the role of Sky Father which is missing in Germanic/Norse mythology. Odin leads the 'spear dance' to whip warriors into a 'frenzy' to become 'wolves' or beserkers. His two Ravens denote him to be a powerful shaman who gained spiritual knowledge from the Vulva. The Neolithic Vanirs wise woman which Indo-Europeans will call a witch as they dont accept women in positions of authority unless they must be using witchcraft. Indo-Europeans have a steppe nomad mentality where women must be hidden else they get abducted, thats how a warrior claims his bride, so women have no say in the world of men. On the Steppe under the all encompasing sky father. In Europe its a different dark murky forested world. Neolithic peoples knew 'Earth Magic' or how to grow crops, linked to fertilty a feminine power. Odin the Wanderer. The Aesir - from Asia.
@@ValiTheGawd in Horus's story we gained wisdom but lost an eye, our third eye, the one that sees the spiritual realm of the Gods, cant see our immortality so we think our mortal lives are all we have. Its a deception but we cant see the spiritual realms to see through the lie. The pineal gland is the doorway. It looks like a pine cone. See the Anunaaki pointing pine cones out our heads? The Pope has one on his staff. Odin gained wisdom of spiritual powers, even though like all of us we lost our sight from our third Eye. A shaman can astral travel, said to be like a bird. So Odin can also do this. A priestKing elevated to 'God' status.