The Magical Races of Norse Mythology (aren't what you think)

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Thanks to Adam B from Ludohistory for helping me with my research. Check out his channel!!
#NorseMythology

[sigurdjensen]

Fun fact. In danish there is a leftover from the word elf: Alf. Which in general means some small magical being, usually with the intent of mischief or bringing gifts. The modern elf is translated as elver, which is a wholly different being (the typical fantasy kind).
Alf while not interchangeable with "nisse", serves a similar role, though a "nisse" seems to be bound to specific locations like human settlements.
The general catch-all term for these beings in danish is "vætte"

[morganschoff]

So the real Dark Elves were the Dwarves we met along the way?

[Dunklesteus]

3:30, to this point about ugliness being associated with evilness, this is actually a VERY strong theme throughout Norse mythology and folklore. Beauty, wealth, goodness, class, strength, height, etc. are all often associated with each other. If a character is evil in Germanic folklore, they will be ugly, stupid, and short. Characters that are good are tall, handsome and wealthy. We still see a trace of this in English: the word "Villain" literally comes from a word meaning "someone who works on a villa", aka a peasant, and we use the word "noble" to mean good or morally just actions when in reality is just means born into the nobility. The reason we say the these actions are "noble" is this association between goodness and status.

[JazzJackrabbit]

The word 'troll' is also used in modern Swedish to refer to magic.
A "trollkarl" (wizard) practices "trolldom" (enchantment), and can either "trolla bort" (banish) or "trolla fram" (conjure).

[raymondwhatley]

I feel like the Jotnar fill a similar role in Norse mythology as the Titans fill in Greek mythology. They are simultaneously the same sort of "thing" as the gods and some of them marry into the ranks of the gods or are made to be honorary gods and all that, but they also have a sort of primordial, chaotic aspect as opposed to the gods who are more of a representation of order and humanity. Like the titans in Greek mythology some of them are downright monstrous and some are more or less indistinguishable from the gods and the gods descend ultimately from these beings. So personally I wonder if we wouldn't be better off just translating "jotun" as "titan".

[mateuspedrosadasilva]

It's really fun to see how much we take for granted on the modern takes on ancient folklore, like things weren't strickly defined as we see today, elves were just some dudes, the frost giants were neither frost nor giant, and the note about how we tend to see the villains as having physical attributes that set them apart, like in size or having deformities is a really good note to add to this, bc we do have this idea of "othering" the villains on mythical and fantasy settings, that some physical qualities on the heroes and villains will set them apart into well defined roles, and that's just really interesting to analyze

[Youngapollo]

i think things like this occur because we want mythology to be super rich and feel like a whole different distinct world with its own strict rules and differentiating parts that work harmoniously together, when it was really just the religion of past peoples; stories to try to explain the natural world around them. they were thinking in terms of creating a cohesive fictional universe, it’s just a cacophony of oral traditions sewn together over many generations

[milkhandler]

Great video!
Can you like, explain the nine realms next? they can get really confusing since svartalfheim and nidavellir can be interchangeable, as well as a a bit of niflheim and helheim.

[TheKolboShow]

One thing I have always disliked is when people call Jötnar "frost giants". It's just weird. Why not call a bunny a dog while you're at it? As much as I love Neil Gaiman, this was one of my major pet peeves with his Norse Mythology book.

[safe-keeper]

Thanks for clarifying. I know mythologies evolve over the centuries, but I feel Norse mythology has been so thoroughly appropriated and twisted by western media that it's good to get these reality checks.

[r.i.p.plegaming]

Ymir is the weirdly most humblest and dare I say, cutest grampa

[sejsuper]

fun fact: in scandinavian languages troll is used as a prefix to words to generally describe something magical
(this is danish btw)
troldom (magic)
troldkunst (witchcraft)
troldkone (hag/witch)
troldman (wizard)

[SagaDraws]

Its always so interesting seeing videos about norse mythology and reading the comments as a danish person who grew up with norse mythology. Norse mythology in media produced outside of the nordic countries is most of the time so way off its hilarious. Marvel especially comes to mind xD

[anyderrosek]

This actually helps my D&D homebrew a lot, thanks!

[videogollumer]

The whole idea of the term "troll" being broad actually makes sense considering how wildly different trolls as monsters have been depicted. Some look like goblins; others look like ogres. Some are short and have wild hair and big, disgusting looking feet; others are tall, lanky, and have a nose shaped like a pickle. Some use magic; others are more warlike. Some eat people; others just like to pull nasty pranks. Some are slow minded brutes; others are smart enough to spin complex riddles. Some are friendly; many are not. Trolls are just so broadly defined that what they are depends on the setting.

[dylansearcy]

4:49 elves were described as being more attractive than the average person or more beautiful than the sun to look at. It's safe to say they would have luminous, flowing, gorgeous hair. They could inflict diseases to those who wronged them and heal those who offered sacrifices to them. Humans could interbreed with elves and produce half-elven children, who look like humans but possess magical powers. There is one elf we know of named volundr, who shares traits with dwarves in metallurgy.

[psykodactyle]

I had literally never heard Jotunn being described as "frost giants" until like a month ago and was super confused at why English speaking people would describe them as such. That's like describing someone living in a cold place as a frost person.

Also as for their size here in Norway we generally think of them as pretty big but we also occasionally think of the gods as pretty big, like I feel like I've seen Tor described as mountain sized more than once

[Bill_Door]

Jake's got himself a sponsor, they grow up so fast

[mrstarnation]

I am actually suprised GoW actually paid attention to the Jotun size thing. I just thought that was an artistic thing. While they weren't making things mythologically accurate, this was neat

[rogerweeks]

2 hours left Bois when this thing releases I can guarantee hopefully that this will be the best video ever