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"
There's something similar in German. The term "Elfen" traditionally refers to what in English would be considered "faeries", little, often winged creatures that go by night and live in meadows and forests. The term "Fee", which shares its origin with "Faerie", referred to usually inhuman women with great magic powers, similar to nymphs or sorceresses. So when Tolkien's works were translated into German, his elves became "Elben", which is a medieval version of the word also used by the Grimm brothers. However, many modern fantasy elves get referred to as "Elfen" as well, which can lead to some confusion when going back to older works.
YESSSS!!! im danish and i love studying the folklore and mythology of vætter so its nice to know im not the only being ithe universe who knows abt them lol
There were other sources saying that the concept of Light and Dark Elves are products of Christianization. Before Christianity was introduced, many legendary creatures were just seen as whimsical: they can help and hurt you simotaneously.
The writer got dark Elves and Dwarves races mix up. But technically dwarves and Elves are related anyway. Technically all these races are human and not monsters.
@@Tribrid-zv3nq Dwarves and Elves are different races of people, they're not imaginary creatures they are people , like little people are The Descendants of Dwarves. I've seen hobbit bones, very tiny people fossil, pygmy bones, fairy fossils that have been discovered by archaeologists in documentaries that are real. Dwarves are just little people that made advance weapons and armor for kings and queens, gods and nights. Is it so hard for people to understand that Dwarves are short people, that still exist now!!! some them Act like Dwarves in Lord the Rings and other medieval movies. Dwarfism was named after their ancestors. Also, hear tiny Elvies live in Iceland, or so the locals believe.
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.
This is that same energy modern conservatives have when blaming all the ills of society on those with the least agency in it. Funny how deep that goes. I never knew villain meant "working class" lol. Thanks for that.
@@SPOOFY_D You're projecting, villain. Conservatives are the ones who say things like "don't judge by skin color" while leftists suddenly decided that MLK Jr's "I have a dream" speech is bad (they pretend otherwise on the surface but try quoting it at them and see how angry they get; indeed, I bet the absurd notion of "cultural appropriation" or similar nonsense hopped into the head of the leftist reading this, and that's not just a guess but based on experience with them). They've inexplicably decided that the ideal of "colorblindness" that everyone basically universally agreed was good is now suddenly "racist" and if you dare point out how absurd that is, well, that must be because you're a racist!!1!
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".
That's actually a very good comparison, you have your Surts and Coronoses, who are all about bringing down the gods, and you have your Aegirs and oceanuses who don't really care about the gods, and also your Utgard Loki's and Prometheuses that mess with gods, but aren't actively bring them down.
Yes, such similarities are pretty common, because most of the pagan gods descended from similar belief systems. It's why you usually see a 'giant' race of enemy gods, harvest/earth goddess, a sky god and a goddess with either three aspects or three members. The vast majority of European pagan gods came from the first Caucasians migrated westward out of what is today Siberia and Mongolia, bringing myths and beliefs with them that morphed into different religious systems over many thousands of years.
I think I read that that was an indogermanic thing all major indogermanic derived pantheons have more or less the same set of gods. Be it germania Greek roman celtic or slavic or even baltic
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).
The female equivalent to the 'trollkarl' is the 'häxa' - pronounced similarly to the German 'hexe'. However, if you are referring to a 'troll' in Swedish, it definitely is about a non-human supernatural being, with or without magical powers.
The danish word for a wizard is a "troldmand" and "trold" means troll and "mand" means man so a "troldmand" means troll-man so that's the as "trollkarl" ps we also use the "trolldom" just spelled "trolddom"
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
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.
@@JakeDoubleyoo Sorry to disturb your glorious mind. I don't want to be one of those fools who correct you with dumb information. But a quick read through the verses tells that there are a few worlds listed, so there is a list. Though all made by Snorri, so it's a little dubious. My Icelandic isn't super sharp, but I'll try to translate from the danish source as well. Völuspá 2: "Níu man ek heima, níu íviðjur, mjötvið mæran, fyr mold neðan."
@@sigurdjensen195 I think what Jake means is that while we have allusions to the nine realms and some of them, e.g. Midgard and Asgard, are definitely on the list, nowhere does someone go, "Alright, here's all nine realms listed with neat bullet points:" We can make some educated guesses, but the issue with that is that if you go with anything that could possibly be listed as a separate realm then... you end up with far more than 9. So which of those actually count is difficult to pin down. I don't have any specific sources myself, but on a recent God Of War stream by Ludohistory (a frequent reference on Jake's Norse videos), he and his guest, Red, list off more than 15 possible contenders for "The Nine Realms"
@@iout Interesting. I didn't realize you could count upwards of 9 realms. My count has always been around max 11 and minimum 3. Do you know which stream? I am very interested in hearing other lists
@@sigurdjensen195 I’m not going to post the link, ‘cause UA-cam’s fussy about that stuff, but the stream VOD is on Ludohistory’s YT channel under “Ludohistory & OSP Play God of War Ragnarok ft. Lynn Shoenbeck, Iron Age Archaeologist (Twitch VOD)” The entire segment starts at about 57 minutes and goes to about 1:11:30 when they start talking about the (excellent) show, Hilda. The stream chat counted their final list as 18 out of 9 realms.
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
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.
Admittedly and in all fairness, it's not exactly easy to pinpoint what *exactly* the jötnar are. Some of them are giants, some of them are not, their abilities vary from myth to myth, and so on. But calling them "frost giants" is just bizarre and annoying.
@@TheKolboShow What confuses me most, is that there were no giants to my knowledge from Niflheim. So why frost (Jake explained it, I know). It's just plain confusing. There were however giants in Muspelheim, where Surtr is from. So fire giants exist, but not frost giants.
THIS!!! i don't even get why they are called giants because only some of them are literally giant in size. most of them just look like the average human
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)
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.
@@mahman1565 You know that Marvel is based in New York, right? Hence why so many of the heroes are based there, because it's the city that Jack Kirby and Stan Lee knew best.
@@tudoraragornofgreyscot8482 not exactly no. Most of Western culture is filled with Greco-Roman poetry. Dabble that off with Christianity you get what we have today. Norse mythology was just taken and appropriated into this culture without the Norse' genuine consent.
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
I dont think marvel never said they were true to the myths. From the start it was known to be fiction, and people who take it as true info its their fault not marvels (i dont like marvel eatheway)
@@fabijanbaric9816 The Marvel-versions of norse mythology were based on an idea Jack Kirby had that old mythologies of earth are actually powerful, ancient alien beings. He had a thing for playing around with gods and aliens, as can also be seen in his work with DC where he created the ancient, powerful alien race called the New Gods (Darkseid, Orion, Big Barda etc.)
@@NeroIML Well, either way from the start of marvel it was a divergion from the orginal myths, and a good one I it when people get inspiration from history. The problem is people don't know that it "inspiration" and take the marvel info from granted. I study archeology and history and I heard many people quote marvel stories as "real myths" so it's a professional defect 😅
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.
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.
Saying they're more beautiful then the sun can't be logically tied to having luminous flowing hair. They're not in active contradiction obviously but don't support each other either.
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
This was really great! Your videos are always so informative & entertaining, which I say as someone who studied mythology academically. When I read the title, I was so afraid you were going to be one of those people who says "actually Norse dwarves were huge!"
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
I like Norwegian Trolls. They are large humanoid creatures, and their first major visual depictions were meant to be a primal version of a Norwegian man Edit: I didn’t do strong research on this, so don’t quote me; I got this from an artist UA-camr who was painting a troll, who had a strong interest in European folklore
I applaud you for pointing so many misconceptions about Norse mythology in pop culture that's always peeved me as a Scandinavian with a childhood obsession on the subject, but there are two things I have to clarify, because they still slightly peeved me. Troll isn't a broad term for ugly monster or evil (though that does sorta include it), troll, or trold as it's spelled in danish, is more akin to "magical", as there exists Troll-women and troll-men, which are basically nordic versions of Witches and Wizards. This has been pointed out in a few comments though. You also see this Troll = magic connection in scandinavian languages with "trolddom" often equating to sorcery, like saying "What sorcery/Trolddom is this!?" while "Trylleri" is more like magic tricks. The other thing... Brokk and Eitri don't actually have a third brother named Awl who is an awl, that's just them being coy, smug, and condescending towards Loki as they pull it out to enact their punishment on him for weaseling out of their deal. It's similar to a mobster going "lemme introduce you to my pal crowbar, boy he sure seems to like your kneecaps, how about they hug and really get to know eachother?"
Excellent video! Its so good to see someone represent the 'eh maybe?' Nature of all this. Something that may be of interest you in the future, perhaps as a video subject or just personal research. Have a look at Etruscan mythology, language, and script/writing. It would be fascinating to see what you made of it
He probably wouldn't like that Time travel is a literal thing in Norse mythology And the more you travel the closer the two wolves chasing the sun and the moon get to starting Ragnarok
I suspect that the alfar and svartalfar are literally the same beings. Not the same type of beings, but literally the same beings. There’s a pattern in northern European religions where you flatter a potentially dangerous being by using their “good name” to avoid being cursed by them, but if you’re already dealing with their enmity you might call them by their “bad name.”
HOW DARE YOU GUSSE WHAT IM DOING! I'm making my own campaign, and it's norce mythology. You're the only thing getting me through it. This is for dnd but I'm trying to get more of a general idea.
I think the modern conception of elves is very strongly influenced by the British merger of elves and faeries and the British folklore about them, perhaps somewhat similar, but not too similar, to the Nordic folklore about the Hulderfolk (the hidden folk) and perhaps the Vittra.
In dutch Feeen (fairies) and Elfen (Elves) are aside from modern interpretations seen as the same thing, Just a blanket name for many magical humanoid species that we see as the ''other folk'' These can be anything from dwarves to magical light beings.
As a Norwegian it’s kinda our fault with the misconception of trolls in Norse mythology as the modern troll creature comes from Norway as well but in the case of the modern troll it wasn’t a part of a religion or Norse mythology but rather superstition and stories from the mountains.
Something I find telling of the nordic 'troll' is how wizard translated to modern swedish is 'trollkarl' literally troll-guy. And wizardry/trickery is 'trolleri' litterally troll-ery.
Hi Jake, I know you probably won't do this, but still I would like to see a video on Slavic folk lore, as I come from a Slavic country myself. Thank you for reading and have a nice day.
Great video! I like that the giants do not have to be giant, just like the giants in Greek mythology, where they are sometimes depicted as being the same size as the gods they are fighting, but with snakes for legs. You focus in this video on the literary sources, are there also no visual depictions of the jotunns having monstrous traits? I don't know anything about Norse mythology in the visual arts actually, is there something of an equivalent of the Greek pottery and sculpture?
Yes slay Jake knowing what kurzgesagt is… probably my second favourite channel (yours being my favourite, sounds dumb since they’re both education ones but it makes my brain happy)
My DnD setting, Orangerosatespoonbill (Greyhawk was taken) is actually the setting created by characters in a fantasy-adjacent story I'm writing, which then spiraled off into me really liking it. I thus need to reverse engineer fantasy tropes in order to make their progression of myth to fantasy creatures make logical sense from their world, so this helps a lot!
Those aren’t canon to actual Norse myth. They are all Jotnar. There are no species of giants. There were Jotnar who were giants but there were never giant species. Surgut was a Jotnar who was a fire giant. So were some other unique jotnar
The elf-dwarf taxonomy is how any fae or fairy-folk are categorized they are either separate beings with similar abilities or the same creature with different names. In one lore fairies/elves can look beautiful or ugly depending on the season and time of the year making them look more like the other creatures associated to humanoid fairy creatures like goblins. The size and shape can also be one of their defining factor even though they are all the same creature just tall or short. Trolls are creatures that can shapeshift which can be as ugly or as beautiful; be as small as a pebble or as great as a mountain.
I can't wait for your next video on Norse Mythology. It could be the one where Thor gets defeated by an old lady, or the one where Loki pays a ransom with cursed gold, or the one where Odin wins a riddle contest, or the one where Frey falls in love with a giant, or the one where Skadi becomes the Goddess of Winter. There's also the one where Loki gives birth to the first trolls.
The old lady is actually an incarnation of the ageing process itself. It’s part of what makes the story interesting; it contains a critique of the religious & culture norms in the story itself. It shows how the perception of the Norse people has loud, angry louts is bunk. They could be just as philosophical as anyone else.
Another odd thing, while in older Norse texts the realm of the dwarves is referred to as "Niðavellir". While later they call it "Svartalfheim" or "Land of the Dark Elves". While "Álfheimr" is still "Land of the Elves". While the Elves have genuinely no description. But none of this explains why the dwarves would hate the Light Elves so much. Although it was said when Ymir was killed by Odin, maggots came from his body, these maggots became the dwarves. The majority of these maggots became craftsmen, while some "went to the mould" and no more was said of them. So, it's possible that the Dark Elves are a kind of dwarf that is in some way different. And these who went to the mould grew to despise the light so much they became enemies with the Light Elves. While.. on the other hand.. Light Elves may be a 4th clan of gods. If this is true, then dwarves would be competing directly with this 4th clan, by proxy possibly making them the 5th clan. So it may be possibly all of these groups are different kinds of gods in Norse myth. Sidenote: We conflate these modern fantasy ideas with those of the Norse too much. They didn't have these conceptions with the exception of maybe the dwarves, and even then it's very different.
You know, for as many times as Jake reminds us that we have actually very little tangible records on the mythology of the Norse people, he'd realize that we have no evidence they DIDN'T have wild drunken DnD parties. I think all that viking raiding and pillaging was just a couple of LARP sessions that got out of hand. Who hasn't burned an entire village to the ground after some pretty intense 4th edition?
One cool idea I came across years ago is that the elves under Freyr are kind of like a combination of ghosts and angels. They’re like divine souls who started living long before the worlds became fully formed, and since they were lesser than the I’d like beings of the vanir, jotunn and aesir they were kind of pushed around u til Freyr was given their spirit world to rule. Something that’s a lil more substantiated is that the Jotunn are in some ways echoes of the first gods of the people groups that would eventually become Germanic tribes and Norse people. They can be so weird in appearance and varied because they’re remnants of nature worship, the weirder ones being so half remembered that the poetic reason for things like hundreds of heads is forgotten. Kind of cool, the vanir are fertility deities and the aspects of nature worship that got carried over and the jotunn are the uncontrollable part of nature, to be battled by the gods of civilization aka the aesir
I mentioned Dadauvins( prehistoric humans that were bigger) are the Giant humans that existed before neanderthals and humans, probably saw them, and started to worship them like the Titans, and Giants are based off of them. But archaeologists thought they went extinct during the Ice Age, but they’ve been mention in pretty much every culture Norse ,Christian ,Egypt, Greek ,Rome, India I think in Japan, but I’m not sure. I think they went extinct during medieval times, because at that time when everyone reached the modern day, the giants, gods and other mythical creatures disappeared into history. Meaning they went extinct , cause I noticed a pattern, mythical creatures and animals and people are extinct pretty much dead. The main reason they’re myths and legends. It’s because their dead and giants are prehistoric humans, it makes sense to they when extinct eventually. Because they’re real giants, real people I mean that are 8 to 7 feet tall, but the problem is they all had heart conditions, and most of them have died. I think the main reason Giants went extinct. is because they had heart conditions and couldn’t live anymore that being killed by a cannonball doesn’t help either.🤔🤔🤔🤔🦕🦕
In relation to giants not being monstrous, on the Kirkby Stephen stone in England Loki is shown with something that looks like a horn, but I also think that is from after Christianity took over. And if you say that it is Loki and not Odin who is on the Mask Stone, then they also look as if he has horns, but it is difficult to see, but of course it is also from around the 10th century. The Kirkby Stephen Stone: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki#Archaeological_record The Mask Stone: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_Runic_Inscription_66 I hope it is interesting😁
There's good evidence then Norse culture prior to the emergence of Odin used horned helmets and hats on it's priests. So having the chief god depicted with horns fit existing cultural practices.
I thought troll just referred to any being with magical powers. Not necessarily a bad characters. At least that is what the term has morfed into in modern Scandinavian languages.
As i was born from icelandic heratige, the things i was most scared of was huldufólk, which could be looked at from the point of being darkelves, all togeather, they are creepy as s***
The association with evil and ugliness is definitely problematic altho beneficial to bitches like me. I'm something I would call average-attractive-boring, something no one would notice walking by but would also never consider ugly. Ppl look past me and often even chastise me if I bring up my less socially acceptable tendencies, not bc what I do is bad (I actually self-identify as evil) but bc they could just never see me as doing such things and tell me "no you r not a bad person", even if said person was present as I committed something evil. It's bizarre what ppl will let us get away with only bc we don't "look evil". And then they turn around and refuse to employ a person with facial disfigurement bc "uhhh they look uhh unsettling" which is just, may I say, evil. I dread and honestly do not want to know what truly pretty ppl can get away with solely due to their looks. Just think of the ppl who stan cereal killers.
This is just theorizing as I do not know the origin but in swedish folklore we have these creatures called "Tomtar", one tomte many tomtar. They are described as short man-like being that hide in houses or gardens (funnily enough the word for garden is tomt) and help out with the busy work and cause some michief here and there, unless they are offended in some way. If they are they will be very violent. Now, back to the theory bit, maybe these creatures are some kind of evolution of the dwarves. That probably isn't true, but hey, food for thought.
The dwarves are primarily craftsmen in Indo-European mythology. Smaller house spirits existed alongside that all along. It's quite possible they intermingled as an idea but they started as separate concepts found in many European cultures.
Can't almost everyone transform to animals in Norse mythology, if they wear some sort of animal skin? I don't know if "skin" is the right word for it though, but it's called "dyre ham" in Danish. It would be nice, if you would mention something about it, because it has confused me in your other videos. Thanks :D
History is the worlds longest repeating game of Telephone, you can either get annoyed at how much the original wording has changed, or take great amusement or even inspiration from how things shifted into something more interesting. After all when you compare reality to fantasy, Reality (while often strange) will always disappoint in comparison to the infinite possibility of imagination and blending that in with our history and beliefs is part of what makes our continued existence so awe inspiring, how we can make so much from so little.
I think you can infer a lot of the meaning behind the words when looking at the language and Norse myths who came after but before books and modern stories
It's not just some scholars interpretation that relates to Jötnars size. It's also younger folklore. The Norse people didn't vanish they are the ancestors of Scandinavians (and Icelanders, Faroese, Orcadians etc.). And there the Jötnar evolves and merges with Riise and Trolls. They can be both big and normal sized. Dumb and smart. So there is a lot more context to why they are referred to as "Ice Giants."
Fun fact I learned recently, Nazi commanders often had facial scars because in the upper echelons of society of Europe at that time dueling was popular and participants would suffer wounds from this activity. In China it was common for the women in the royal courts to bind their feet. All across the world in various cultures initiation into warriorhood involved ritual scarring or tattooing. It makes me wonder if the uglification of your enemies wasn’t just exaggeration of their foe’s beautification of ugliness?
3:19 unless they were not seen similar, and the aesir and vanir are like viltrumites when it comes to them breeding and the god side is always the strongest side
God of war and Ragnarok does a really good job of taking norse mythos and making it a strange as it was but also makeing it kinda make sense. Kratoses wife is a giant but human sized but there are other giants who are big af. And how dwarves are the little smiths but also just concepts. Like the wind.
First of all, I really like your videos. But it seems to me that part of the modern interpretation of elves, trolls, dwarves, giants and all kinds of other magical creatures is also related to Gaelic mythology... I'm not 100% sure but worth checking isn't it?
to me there seems to be a cross over between the concept of “Elves/Alves” and the greek concept of “Nymphs/Satyroi”, and maybe even the Islamic/Arabic concept of “Djinn”. Divine creatures that are either closer to the gods, more god-like than humans, or are invisible from us. Even in christianity, angelic beings are arranged on a hierarchical structure. I think there is this common trait in most religions to “taxonomize” and have spaces filled between the highest beings and the very lowest. After all, wouldn’t stories and folklore eventually fill in a space between the highest beings and ones significantly lower on the totem pole.
Elves are closer then Daemons then nymphs probably but it's a good connection. Satyroi though most likely originate from outside of Greece. Either Thrace of the Italian peninsula.
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"
Well, now I'm imagining small fey creatures to look like Alf from the old show A.L.F.
There's something similar in German. The term "Elfen" traditionally refers to what in English would be considered "faeries", little, often winged creatures that go by night and live in meadows and forests. The term "Fee", which shares its origin with "Faerie", referred to usually inhuman women with great magic powers, similar to nymphs or sorceresses.
So when Tolkien's works were translated into German, his elves became "Elben", which is a medieval version of the word also used by the Grimm brothers. However, many modern fantasy elves get referred to as "Elfen" as well, which can lead to some confusion when going back to older works.
YESSSS!!! im danish and i love studying the folklore and mythology of vætter so its nice to know im not the only being ithe universe who knows abt them lol
Interestingly, in Danish, an "alf" and a "fe" are more or less interchangeable. "Fe" of course comes from European fairy/fae/fey/fairfolk/faerie.
@@sejsuper4660 There are dozens of us!
So the real Dark Elves were the Dwarves we met along the way?
There were other sources saying that the concept of Light and Dark Elves are products of Christianization. Before Christianity was introduced, many legendary creatures were just seen as whimsical: they can help and hurt you simotaneously.
@@Tribrid-zv3nq doesn't matter uncle ben, god of war is better
The writer got dark Elves and Dwarves races mix up. But technically dwarves and Elves are related anyway. Technically all these races are human and not monsters.
This is brilliant I hate you
@@Tribrid-zv3nq Dwarves and Elves are different races of people, they're not imaginary creatures they are people , like little people are The Descendants of Dwarves. I've seen hobbit bones, very tiny people fossil, pygmy bones, fairy fossils that have been discovered by archaeologists in documentaries that are real. Dwarves are just little people that made advance weapons and armor for kings and queens, gods and nights. Is it so hard for people to understand that Dwarves are short people, that still exist now!!! some them Act like Dwarves in Lord the Rings and other medieval movies. Dwarfism was named after their ancestors. Also, hear tiny Elvies live in Iceland, or so the locals believe.
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.
Guess I’m evil
This is that same energy modern conservatives have when blaming all the ills of society on those with the least agency in it. Funny how deep that goes. I never knew villain meant "working class" lol. Thanks for that.
That's what happens when the wealthy people get to make the language.
@@SPOOFY_D You're projecting, villain.
Conservatives are the ones who say things like "don't judge by skin color" while leftists suddenly decided that MLK Jr's "I have a dream" speech is bad (they pretend otherwise on the surface but try quoting it at them and see how angry they get; indeed, I bet the absurd notion of "cultural appropriation" or similar nonsense hopped into the head of the leftist reading this, and that's not just a guess but based on experience with them). They've inexplicably decided that the ideal of "colorblindness" that everyone basically universally agreed was good is now suddenly "racist" and if you dare point out how absurd that is, well, that must be because you're a racist!!1!
@@TuhljinTampergauge
Okay lol
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".
Same thing applies to the Yokai in Japan
That's actually a very good comparison, you have your Surts and Coronoses, who are all about bringing down the gods, and you have your Aegirs and oceanuses who don't really care about the gods, and also your Utgard Loki's and Prometheuses that mess with gods, but aren't actively bring them down.
Romans be like:
But I mean yea but calling them Jotun is better
Yes, such similarities are pretty common, because most of the pagan gods descended from similar belief systems. It's why you usually see a 'giant' race of enemy gods, harvest/earth goddess, a sky god and a goddess with either three aspects or three members. The vast majority of European pagan gods came from the first Caucasians migrated westward out of what is today Siberia and Mongolia, bringing myths and beliefs with them that morphed into different religious systems over many thousands of years.
I think I read that that was an indogermanic thing all major indogermanic derived pantheons have more or less the same set of gods. Be it germania Greek roman celtic or slavic or even baltic
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).
Makes sense so a troll is more akin to a "warlock" or the German "Hexe".
The female equivalent to the 'trollkarl' is the 'häxa' - pronounced similarly to the German 'hexe'.
However, if you are referring to a 'troll' in Swedish, it definitely is about a non-human supernatural being, with or without magical powers.
@@JazzJackrabbit "trollpacka" not "häxa". While sometimes used interchangibly they arent the same thing.
Trollpacka is closer to seeress than witch.
its also used for that in danish! it'll be used as a prefix for words associated with magic and stuff
The danish word for a wizard is a "troldmand" and "trold" means troll and "mand" means man so a "troldmand" means troll-man so that's the as "trollkarl"
ps we also use the "trolldom" just spelled "trolddom"
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
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.
I probably will, but the short answer is we have no idea what the 9 worlds are because they're never listed.
@@JakeDoubleyoo Sorry to disturb your glorious mind. I don't want to be one of those fools who correct you with dumb information. But a quick read through the verses tells that there are a few worlds listed, so there is a list. Though all made by Snorri, so it's a little dubious.
My Icelandic isn't super sharp, but I'll try to translate from the danish source as well.
Völuspá 2: "Níu man ek heima, níu íviðjur, mjötvið mæran, fyr mold neðan."
@@sigurdjensen195 I think what Jake means is that while we have allusions to the nine realms and some of them, e.g. Midgard and Asgard, are definitely on the list, nowhere does someone go, "Alright, here's all nine realms listed with neat bullet points:"
We can make some educated guesses, but the issue with that is that if you go with anything that could possibly be listed as a separate realm then... you end up with far more than 9. So which of those actually count is difficult to pin down.
I don't have any specific sources myself, but on a recent God Of War stream by Ludohistory (a frequent reference on Jake's Norse videos), he and his guest, Red, list off more than 15 possible contenders for "The Nine Realms"
@@iout Interesting. I didn't realize you could count upwards of 9 realms. My count has always been around max 11 and minimum 3. Do you know which stream? I am very interested in hearing other lists
@@sigurdjensen195 I’m not going to post the link, ‘cause UA-cam’s fussy about that stuff, but the stream VOD is on Ludohistory’s YT channel under “Ludohistory & OSP Play God of War Ragnarok ft. Lynn Shoenbeck, Iron Age Archaeologist (Twitch VOD)”
The entire segment starts at about 57 minutes and goes to about 1:11:30 when they start talking about the (excellent) show, Hilda.
The stream chat counted their final list as 18 out of 9 realms.
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
We are spoiled by the Greek Mythology
@@tudoraragornofgreyscot8482 and even greek mythology by a degree is confusing but it's less bad since we have greek stuff
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.
Admittedly and in all fairness, it's not exactly easy to pinpoint what *exactly* the jötnar are. Some of them are giants, some of them are not, their abilities vary from myth to myth, and so on.
But calling them "frost giants" is just bizarre and annoying.
I know it's not justified but it does sound cooler
Because we associate jötnar with the more modern mythical giants or jättar, which are clearly derived from the jotnar in post christian scandinavia.
@@TheKolboShow What confuses me most, is that there were no giants to my knowledge from Niflheim. So why frost (Jake explained it, I know). It's just plain confusing. There were however giants in Muspelheim, where Surtr is from. So fire giants exist, but not frost giants.
THIS!!! i don't even get why they are called giants because only some of them are literally giant in size. most of them just look like the average human
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)
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.
marvel norse gods make me wish calfornia would sink into thw ocean
Norse IS Western Culture, ya knob
@@mahman1565 You know that Marvel is based in New York, right? Hence why so many of the heroes are based there, because it's the city that Jack Kirby and Stan Lee knew best.
@@mahman1565 I don't think they've ever cared about being accurste though, it's a loose adaptation
@@tudoraragornofgreyscot8482 not exactly no. Most of Western culture is filled with Greco-Roman poetry. Dabble that off with Christianity you get what we have today. Norse mythology was just taken and appropriated into this culture without the Norse' genuine consent.
Ymir is the weirdly most humblest and dare I say, cutest grampa
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
What do you think of the new God of War games?
I dont think marvel never said they were true to the myths. From the start it was known to be fiction, and people who take it as true info its their fault not marvels (i dont like marvel eatheway)
@@fabijanbaric9816 The Marvel-versions of norse mythology were based on an idea Jack Kirby had that old mythologies of earth are actually powerful, ancient alien beings.
He had a thing for playing around with gods and aliens, as can also be seen in his work with DC where he created the ancient, powerful alien race called the New Gods (Darkseid, Orion, Big Barda etc.)
@@NeroIML Well, either way from the start of marvel it was a divergion from the orginal myths, and a good one I it when people get inspiration from history. The problem is people don't know that it "inspiration" and take the marvel info from granted. I study archeology and history and I heard many people quote marvel stories as "real myths" so it's a professional defect 😅
This actually helps my D&D homebrew a lot, thanks!
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.
some are homest
@@diab0licalfunnies *honest?
Just like the gods...
@@damenwhelan3236 In pop culture more so than mythology, yes.
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.
Saying they're more beautiful then the sun can't be logically tied to having luminous flowing hair. They're not in active contradiction obviously but don't support each other either.
@@mormacil no but they could
@@dylansearcy3966 lots of things can. It can also mean they're actually all girl lions. Unlikely but could be.
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
I learn something new every vid. Keep up the good work !
Hey Jake! Love your videos I always watch them every day, super informative and funny you’re doing an amazing job
This was really great! Your videos are always so informative & entertaining, which I say as someone who studied mythology academically. When I read the title, I was so afraid you were going to be one of those people who says "actually Norse dwarves were huge!"
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
Unfortunately it deprived us of hot steamy Kratos-on-giantess action
@@cartoonishidealism582 🤨
@@cartoonishidealism582 There's always Kratos and Gaia.
I like Norwegian Trolls. They are large humanoid creatures, and their first major visual depictions were meant to be a primal version of a Norwegian man
Edit: I didn’t do strong research on this, so don’t quote me; I got this from an artist UA-camr who was painting a troll, who had a strong interest in European folklore
I applaud you for pointing so many misconceptions about Norse mythology in pop culture that's always peeved me as a Scandinavian with a childhood obsession on the subject, but there are two things I have to clarify, because they still slightly peeved me. Troll isn't a broad term for ugly monster or evil (though that does sorta include it), troll, or trold as it's spelled in danish, is more akin to "magical", as there exists Troll-women and troll-men, which are basically nordic versions of Witches and Wizards. This has been pointed out in a few comments though. You also see this Troll = magic connection in scandinavian languages with "trolddom" often equating to sorcery, like saying "What sorcery/Trolddom is this!?" while "Trylleri" is more like magic tricks.
The other thing... Brokk and Eitri don't actually have a third brother named Awl who is an awl, that's just them being coy, smug, and condescending towards Loki as they pull it out to enact their punishment on him for weaseling out of their deal. It's similar to a mobster going "lemme introduce you to my pal crowbar, boy he sure seems to like your kneecaps, how about they hug and really get to know eachother?"
I agree, I think assuming Brokk and Eitri have a third brother who is literally an awl based on just that passage is a bit too speculative
Troll is a broad term for evil and ugly monsters in non-Scandinavian Germanic cultures.
2 hours left Bois when this thing releases I can guarantee hopefully that this will be the best video ever
Watch it be 3 minutes long
@@FlyingNova223 oh I did not think about that still entertainment regardless
Excellent video! Its so good to see someone represent the 'eh maybe?' Nature of all this.
Something that may be of interest you in the future, perhaps as a video subject or just personal research. Have a look at Etruscan mythology, language, and script/writing. It would be fascinating to see what you made of it
Jake's got himself a sponsor, they grow up so fast
This would be a good reason for a time machine, just go back in time with a recorder and ask people to tell you about Odin and stuff, sneakily.
You would have to learn old Nordic language not actual Nordic language but archaic nord language
He probably wouldn't like that
Time travel is a literal thing in Norse mythology
And the more you travel the closer the two wolves chasing the sun and the moon get to starting Ragnarok
Fat thanos, Legolas, emo elf, ice king from adventure time? Nice
And also the little green goblin
Can you make a video like that with Greek mythology
You probably wouldnt actually be able to communicate with anyone. Nordic languages have evolved A LOT over time.
Let's see.......light and Dark elves, jotuns,giants, and dwarves, nice
Thank you now I can separate my dwarves for my Isekai novel
Thank God another isekai, I've been missing a new anime from this genre for a while now
I like the idea that dark elves and light elves are both just the same thing with different ideals
The Dark Elves are called Svartalfar in old Norse, which literally means swarthy elves.
I suspect that the alfar and svartalfar are literally the same beings. Not the same type of beings, but literally the same beings. There’s a pattern in northern European religions where you flatter a potentially dangerous being by using their “good name” to avoid being cursed by them, but if you’re already dealing with their enmity you might call them by their “bad name.”
@@DneilB007 I mean that's one way to look at it, gets the brain gears moving thinking who they might've been referring to in that case
@@videogollumer swarthy meaning what? that's a word I surprisingly haven't heard before.
@@Nami8302_OwO It means dark-skinned.
HOW DARE YOU GUSSE WHAT IM DOING! I'm making my own campaign, and it's norce mythology. You're the only thing getting me through it. This is for dnd but I'm trying to get more of a general idea.
Yay! Thank you for more Norse stuff! ❤
I think the modern conception of elves is very strongly influenced by the British merger of elves and faeries and the British folklore about them, perhaps somewhat similar, but not too similar, to the Nordic folklore about the Hulderfolk (the hidden folk) and perhaps the Vittra.
Ymir seems to be a chill man
You are one of my favourite UA-camrs
Yos
Here I was thinking I would see a video on some wacky races but in Norse mythology
In dutch Feeen (fairies) and Elfen (Elves) are aside from modern interpretations seen as the same thing, Just a blanket name for many magical humanoid species that we see as the ''other folk'' These can be anything from dwarves to magical light beings.
Toverfee is an old word for a sorceress.
Trolls could also elemental forces of nature, similar to in Shinto, which were generally amoral.
0:46 dang it
Keep up the awesome content! 👍👍👍
As a Norwegian it’s kinda our fault with the misconception of trolls in Norse mythology as the modern troll creature comes from Norway as well but in the case of the modern troll it wasn’t a part of a religion or Norse mythology but rather superstition and stories from the mountains.
Those superstitions are derived from mythology and religion though.
Something I find telling of the nordic 'troll' is how wizard translated to modern swedish is 'trollkarl' literally troll-guy. And wizardry/trickery is 'trolleri' litterally troll-ery.
"You're a troll, Harry!"
0:37 that slimes eyes look kinda . . .
suspicious
Somehow it makes me comfortable seeing how vague these descripions are.
Hell yeah, another upload from one of my favorite channels. 😎👍
Soon at 200k Congrats!
Friend: Why do you call them Jötnar instead of frost giants?
Me: IT'S THE LAW!!
Hi Jake, I know you probably won't do this, but still I would like to see a video on Slavic folk lore, as I come from a Slavic country myself. Thank you for reading and have a nice day.
I don't think he can do it without any written sources
0:29 Took me a second to realize this was talking about four creatures instead of a single giant-troll-elf-dwarf.
When will you do part of the story like ragnarok, but you got my answer for the creatures and I love greek and. Norse mythology
Great video! I like that the giants do not have to be giant, just like the giants in Greek mythology, where they are sometimes depicted as being the same size as the gods they are fighting, but with snakes for legs.
You focus in this video on the literary sources, are there also no visual depictions of the jotunns having monstrous traits? I don't know anything about Norse mythology in the visual arts actually, is there something of an equivalent of the Greek pottery and sculpture?
Having seen the wonderful animated series "Hilda", this explains a lot of things, thanks
Yes slay Jake knowing what kurzgesagt is… probably my second favourite channel (yours being my favourite, sounds dumb since they’re both education ones but it makes my brain happy)
My DnD setting, Orangerosatespoonbill (Greyhawk was taken) is actually the setting created by characters in a fantasy-adjacent story I'm writing, which then spiraled off into me really liking it. I thus need to reverse engineer fantasy tropes in order to make their progression of myth to fantasy creatures make logical sense from their world, so this helps a lot!
I neeeeeed it now
You should do a Yule Lads episode during the Holiday Season some time
Frost giants weren't the only Jotnar in Norse mythology. There were mountain giants, fire giants, and trolls were sometimes considered jotnar
Those aren’t canon to actual Norse myth. They are all Jotnar. There are no species of giants. There were Jotnar who were giants but there were never giant species. Surgut was a Jotnar who was a fire giant. So were some other unique jotnar
@@thedelordhimselfgokublack The texts do sometimes call them fire and frost giants, however.
The elf-dwarf taxonomy is how any fae or fairy-folk are categorized they are either separate beings with similar abilities or the same creature with different names. In one lore fairies/elves can look beautiful or ugly depending on the season and time of the year making them look more like the other creatures associated to humanoid fairy creatures like goblins. The size and shape can also be one of their defining factor even though they are all the same creature just tall or short. Trolls are creatures that can shapeshift which can be as ugly or as beautiful; be as small as a pebble or as great as a mountain.
someone had fun naming two important binary file formats elf and dwarf.
Norse is my second favorite mythology due to the world imagine setting an MMO RPG in the 9 Worlds (like the game Yggdrasil from Overlord)
I can't wait for your next video on Norse Mythology. It could be the one where Thor gets defeated by an old lady, or the one where Loki pays a ransom with cursed gold, or the one where Odin wins a riddle contest, or the one where Frey falls in love with a giant, or the one where Skadi becomes the Goddess of Winter. There's also the one where Loki gives birth to the first trolls.
The old lady is actually an incarnation of the ageing process itself. It’s part of what makes the story interesting; it contains a critique of the religious & culture norms in the story itself. It shows how the perception of the Norse people has loud, angry louts is bunk. They could be just as philosophical as anyone else.
Thanks for the video
Another odd thing, while in older Norse texts the realm of the dwarves is referred to as "Niðavellir". While later they call it "Svartalfheim" or "Land of the Dark Elves". While "Álfheimr" is still "Land of the Elves". While the Elves have genuinely no description. But none of this explains why the dwarves would hate the Light Elves so much. Although it was said when Ymir was killed by Odin, maggots came from his body, these maggots became the dwarves. The majority of these maggots became craftsmen, while some "went to the mould" and no more was said of them. So, it's possible that the Dark Elves are a kind of dwarf that is in some way different. And these who went to the mould grew to despise the light so much they became enemies with the Light Elves. While.. on the other hand.. Light Elves may be a 4th clan of gods. If this is true, then dwarves would be competing directly with this 4th clan, by proxy possibly making them the 5th clan. So it may be possibly all of these groups are different kinds of gods in Norse myth.
Sidenote: We conflate these modern fantasy ideas with those of the Norse too much. They didn't have these conceptions with the exception of maybe the dwarves, and even then it's very different.
You should do a video comparing the Jotunn to the other "big evil gods" in other mythologies- like the Titans and Fir Bolg.
i mean the titans weren't really ever mentioned to be specifically big either
you mean the fomorians? because last time i recall, the fir bolg were a tribe of humans
Could you do a video bout cool Greek artifacts
You know, for as many times as Jake reminds us that we have actually very little tangible records on the mythology of the Norse people, he'd realize that we have no evidence they DIDN'T have wild drunken DnD parties. I think all that viking raiding and pillaging was just a couple of LARP sessions that got out of hand. Who hasn't burned an entire village to the ground after some pretty intense 4th edition?
One cool idea I came across years ago is that the elves under Freyr are kind of like a combination of ghosts and angels. They’re like divine souls who started living long before the worlds became fully formed, and since they were lesser than the I’d like beings of the vanir, jotunn and aesir they were kind of pushed around u til Freyr was given their spirit world to rule. Something that’s a lil more substantiated is that the Jotunn are in some ways echoes of the first gods of the people groups that would eventually become Germanic tribes and Norse people. They can be so weird in appearance and varied because they’re remnants of nature worship, the weirder ones being so half remembered that the poetic reason for things like hundreds of heads is forgotten. Kind of cool, the vanir are fertility deities and the aspects of nature worship that got carried over and the jotunn are the uncontrollable part of nature, to be battled by the gods of civilization aka the aesir
Are you sure they didn't play dnd?
Are you going to do another video of Egyptian mythology
I mentioned Dadauvins( prehistoric humans that were bigger) are the Giant humans that existed before neanderthals and humans, probably saw them, and started to worship them like the Titans, and Giants are based off of them. But archaeologists thought they went extinct during the Ice Age, but they’ve been mention in pretty much every culture Norse ,Christian ,Egypt, Greek ,Rome, India I think in Japan, but I’m not sure. I think they went extinct during medieval times, because at that time when everyone reached the modern day, the giants, gods and other mythical creatures disappeared into history. Meaning they went extinct , cause I noticed a pattern, mythical creatures and animals and people are extinct pretty much dead. The main reason they’re myths and legends. It’s because their dead and giants are prehistoric humans, it makes sense to they when extinct eventually. Because they’re real giants, real people I mean that are 8 to 7 feet tall, but the problem is they all had heart conditions, and most of them have died. I think the main reason Giants went extinct. is because they had heart conditions and couldn’t live anymore that being killed by a cannonball doesn’t help either.🤔🤔🤔🤔🦕🦕
can we just talk about how cool it is to call something a frost devouerer?
4:19 it also describes a being that uses magic
In relation to giants not being monstrous, on the Kirkby Stephen stone in England Loki is shown with something that looks like a horn, but I also think that is from after Christianity took over.
And if you say that it is Loki and not Odin who is on the Mask Stone, then they also look as if he has horns, but it is difficult to see, but of course it is also from around the 10th century.
The Kirkby Stephen Stone: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki#Archaeological_record
The Mask Stone: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_Runic_Inscription_66
I hope it is interesting😁
There's good evidence then Norse culture prior to the emergence of Odin used horned helmets and hats on it's priests. So having the chief god depicted with horns fit existing cultural practices.
I thought troll just referred to any being with magical powers. Not necessarily a bad characters. At least that is what the term has morfed into in modern Scandinavian languages.
i think it came into that use in the medieval ages but before that it probably just meant something harmful? thats just speculation on my part though
the way you draw ymir is so adorable for some reason
I desire more!
As i was born from icelandic heratige, the things i was most scared of was huldufólk, which could be looked at from the point of being darkelves, all togeather, they are creepy as s***
The association with evil and ugliness is definitely problematic altho beneficial to bitches like me. I'm something I would call average-attractive-boring, something no one would notice walking by but would also never consider ugly. Ppl look past me and often even chastise me if I bring up my less socially acceptable tendencies, not bc what I do is bad (I actually self-identify as evil) but bc they could just never see me as doing such things and tell me "no you r not a bad person", even if said person was present as I committed something evil. It's bizarre what ppl will let us get away with only bc we don't "look evil". And then they turn around and refuse to employ a person with facial disfigurement bc "uhhh they look uhh unsettling" which is just, may I say, evil. I dread and honestly do not want to know what truly pretty ppl can get away with solely due to their looks. Just think of the ppl who stan cereal killers.
The only thing that I think of when I hear frost giant are the huperborians from Greek mythology.
Nice vid can you do a metamorphosis greek myth next time?
This is just theorizing as I do not know the origin but in swedish folklore we have these creatures called "Tomtar", one tomte many tomtar. They are described as short man-like being that hide in houses or gardens (funnily enough the word for garden is tomt) and help out with the busy work and cause some michief here and there, unless they are offended in some way. If they are they will be very violent.
Now, back to the theory bit, maybe these creatures are some kind of evolution of the dwarves. That probably isn't true, but hey, food for thought.
The dwarves are primarily craftsmen in Indo-European mythology. Smaller house spirits existed alongside that all along. It's quite possible they intermingled as an idea but they started as separate concepts found in many European cultures.
Video begins at 2:06.
Thanks king/queen 👑
Can't almost everyone transform to animals in Norse mythology, if they wear some sort of animal skin? I don't know if "skin" is the right word for it though, but it's called "dyre ham" in Danish. It would be nice, if you would mention something about it, because it has confused me in your other videos. Thanks :D
Not just the skin; Freyja has a necklace that can transform the wearer into a bird.
@@DneilB007 brisingamen? I don't think it transforms people, but boosts her power. Maybe she has other necklaces?
@@DneilB007 No she has a cloak, her necklace grants no shapeshifting powers to my recollection but Loki borrows her cloak to fly once.
ik it's kinda off topic but a video on apollo and his awful love-life would be cool! great video btw!
History is the worlds longest repeating game of Telephone, you can either get annoyed at how much the original wording has changed, or take great amusement or even inspiration from how things shifted into something more interesting. After all when you compare reality to fantasy, Reality (while often strange) will always disappoint in comparison to the infinite possibility of imagination and blending that in with our history and beliefs is part of what makes our continued existence so awe inspiring, how we can make so much from so little.
Thanks Jake!!!
I think you can infer a lot of the meaning behind the words when looking at the language and Norse myths who came after but before books and modern stories
Hey Jake can you cover Slavic Mythology please!
It's not just some scholars interpretation that relates to Jötnars size. It's also younger folklore. The Norse people didn't vanish they are the ancestors of Scandinavians (and Icelanders, Faroese, Orcadians etc.). And there the Jötnar evolves and merges with Riise and Trolls. They can be both big and normal sized. Dumb and smart. So there is a lot more context to why they are referred to as "Ice Giants."
1:35 I’m German and that is actually not how you say it
Yes, I don't blame the youtubers for it but Google for giving false information
Can you do this video again but with Greek myth,Also don't forget to mention that Satyrs have Woodland or Nature Magic.
Fun fact I learned recently, Nazi commanders often had facial scars because in the upper echelons of society of Europe at that time dueling was popular and participants would suffer wounds from this activity. In China it was common for the women in the royal courts to bind their feet. All across the world in various cultures initiation into warriorhood involved ritual scarring or tattooing. It makes me wonder if the uglification of your enemies wasn’t just exaggeration of their foe’s beautification of ugliness?
Ymir looks so nice when Jake draw him
3:19 unless they were not seen similar, and the aesir and vanir are like viltrumites when it comes to them breeding and the god side is always the strongest side
can you explain japanese or chinese mythology next?
God of war and Ragnarok does a really good job of taking norse mythos and making it a strange as it was but also makeing it kinda make sense. Kratoses wife is a giant but human sized but there are other giants who are big af. And how dwarves are the little smiths but also just concepts. Like the wind.
First of all, I really like your videos.
But it seems to me that part of the modern interpretation of elves, trolls, dwarves, giants and all kinds of other magical creatures is also related to Gaelic mythology... I'm not 100% sure but worth checking isn't it?
to me there seems to be a cross over between the concept of “Elves/Alves” and the greek concept of “Nymphs/Satyroi”, and maybe even the Islamic/Arabic concept of “Djinn”. Divine creatures that are either closer to the gods, more god-like than humans, or are invisible from us. Even in christianity, angelic beings are arranged on a hierarchical structure. I think there is this common trait in most religions to “taxonomize” and have spaces filled between the highest beings and the very lowest. After all, wouldn’t stories and folklore eventually fill in a space between the highest beings and ones significantly lower on the totem pole.
Elves are closer then Daemons then nymphs probably but it's a good connection. Satyroi though most likely originate from outside of Greece. Either Thrace of the Italian peninsula.