Jöthunheimr: A (part)complete guide on Norse Mythology

This project was originally named “Jötunheimr” or Jotunheim, meaning the snowy land of the giants or Jötnar in Norse Mythology. However, Jotunheim that I have depicted has no snow, it is depicted that way because I want to express that the myths, creatures, and lore of the Norsemen(Pre-Christian Scandinavians) are not real, yet these myths, how absurd or over the top it maybe, are very real to them.

The Scandinavians during that era (roughly 700- 1100 AD) does not have access to technologies as others in this case, ink and papers (except for their ships). Even though some Scandinavian can carve and read runes (Younger Futhark); to carve into solid objects like rocks, wood or ornaments takes much more effort and time than utilizing the paper. There are only approximately 6000 runic inscriptions that scattered in Scandinavia, and most of them are short. Therefore, we can conclude that they were an oral society, rather than written society.

For that reason, we can infer that all they had were stories, from one to the other, which means that it could be a lie or an interpretation of something unknown. When stories are told there are bound to change, significant or not, this always happen. For instance, some researchers believe that sometimes mythological creatures, for example, dragons were created because they didn’t know that there were animals that roam the area long before they do, and most fossils only left fragments behind. Which means that people who discovered it will have to imply what is was, and they will definitely tell others regarding the discovery; and these stories get passed down generations. The creatures and characters in the art are fiction for us, but remember that these are quite real to them.

In the past there have been many disturbing acts, for this context: Christians. Worst act that had been done in the God’s name was the Salem witch trials. They persecute people who have been accused for witchcraft and that the Devil have corrupted them, without little to no evidence. There are evidences which suggest that the reason for the trial is a Fungus called, Ergot. This fungus grows quite well in cold and wet climate, but more importantly, they can cause paranoia and hallucinations. This are the fact, yet for them, these are demonic and evil forces that were bestowed before them.

It is not just one event that inspired me to do this, it rather gradual shift in interest. Notable ones are: playing Skyrim, a Norse inspired game when I was juvenile; the Vikings TV series, love for the Scandinavian art; being very detailed and yet simple to look at, since they are very expressional, they tend to decorate most things with not for just fashion but also function.

Additionally, I always enjoyed the ecstatic of Christmas despite not being a Christian, later, I learned that Christmas isn’t actually a Christian festival, originally it was called Yuletide, a pagan tradition that went under Christian Influence after the Viking Age. Another reason for me to do this art is that most art inspired by Viking culture are bland and dark, and I want to make and vibrant and energetic art. I have read and listen to many books and opinions about their traditions, history, mindset, tools, beliefs and art. Some of more well-known sources are; The Prose Edda, Poetic Edda, The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok and The Sagas of Icelanders.  I have some experiences with this form of art; however, never something this degree.

The Artwork

I created the piece by using an art technique called photo manipulation; to use photoshop or any other photo editing programs to edit, merge, change, or improve the quality of 2 or more pictures. For this, I make use Adobe Photoshop to manually create and or draw to blend in pictures. However, I couldn’t find landscape picture that I had in mind, so I had to create my own; World Machine to create and generate 3d terrain, exactly how I want. For accuracy I watched many YouTube videos and researched; videos of British Vikings Museum tour and Professor Neil Prince, an archeology from Uppsala University, giving Vikings lectures at Cornell University.

For me, when I interact with these ideas it feels engaging as if it is another world, completely dimension with many things to discover. What intrigues me the most is that the many information about the Scandinavian cultures were written only after they adopt the Christian Latin alphabet. Plus, there are many sources that contradict each other. The only data that we can be sure of are the remains of the settlements. In other words, there is a base-line where the facts are and then there is a grey area where some may or may not believe in it, making this subject different to each individual but also going together.

Personally, it gives me room for me to imagine and piece together this big puzzle that no one knows whether it is true or not. To be able to make this art gives me an opportunity to share what I think and for others to have a glimpse of how big their universe is. It holds psychological value; it is for people to ponder on it and go with the flow. If I were to publish it, it would be “name your own price”. The goal is to let other people have the same feeling as I am and not to make money. Although, this could lead to confusion if they had never been exposed to the Viking culture.

Appendix

Each and every detail in depth and their origins.

Each element in the art that I have put in, I have studied and carefully detailed it. Every detail that is there has meaning to it and the reason for it. With that in mind, all the information regarding how each component has come to be are beneath this.

The main character is from the TV series: Vikings depicted from real life legend and son of the infamous Ragnar Lodbrok, King Björn Ironside, who was famous for going into many war such as, commanded raids in the Mediterranean, attacked the Franks (modern day France), was one of the leaders of the great heathen army against the Saxons(British) for murdering his father and more. The chaotic appearance in this art represents the obstacles that he has to face as well as the great prophecy, Ragnarök.

The world tree, Yggdrasil, is the foundation and the only thing that connect all of the 9 realms together (except Bifrost). In essence, it is connected to everything in the cosmos. Even though the glowing plants they are not in the myths, I illustrated it to show that the Yggdrasil is connected to the world itself. At this very tree, Odin the All-father, hung and stab himself with a spear to make a sacrifice to learn the secrets of the Runes. At the root of Yggdrasill there exist Mimir’s well, containing the divine water that fed Yggdrasil. The well that Odin sacrifice his eyeball and drank from the well to obtain the knowledge and the greatest wisdom in all the realms.

Those lines on the terrain are supposed to be fjord, but there is no water. The reason for its absence is that; the Northmen are heavily dependent on water. There are many evidences that suggests this such as; the longship and their architectural choice to make their roof slope like a upside down boat. I portrayed it this way to emphasize that the most essential part of their life is gone.

On to the creatures, the crows in the sky are Huginn and Muninn, meaning thought and memory respectively. They are a source of knowledge for Odin. For this, that is why when they kill one the battlefield, it is considered a sacrifice to the ravens, or Odin.

On the right is Fenrir, the great wolf. Odin prophesied it himself that he will be eaten by it when the events of Ragnarök comes. Since I see it as a good matchup, I placed Odin on the other side on the 8-legged horse, Sleipnir, the horse of Odin. It is said that the horse can travel the 9 realms at light speed and also can fly. However, most depictions of Sleipnir as not having wings, but I intend to let it have wings. This prevents the misinterpretation of falling instead of flying. Besides, people recognize the Pegasus more than Sleipnir.

A chariot can be seen pulled in the sky over the Bifröst; this represents Thor god of thunder. The chariot gets pulled by his goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr. Bifröst is the bridge that connect each realm together. The Valkyries roam the battle field to choose the fallen warriors into Valhalla and fight alongside them. Also, the most important; it can’t be called Jotunheim without the Jötunn (Giants).

In front of the giant is a Shield Wall, in this case; a dome for protection. Normally, when the Northmen go to war, they use this tactic. It involves warriors lining up and put shields on top of each other to create a wall that is hard to break, and if they want to go offensive, they would open a section of the wall and use sharp weapon to strike. The weapon to use in this tactic are mostly seax (hand knife) or blade, but not an axe; weapons that require swinging.

Finally, the importance of symbol, runes, items and others that have symbolic meaning. This use specifically Elder Fuþark (Futhark) instead of Younger Fuþark; the Elder are believed to possess magical powers,and Younger Fuþark are just alphabets. Björn’s sword, does not actually have magical powers but I put it there because their belief in rune’s magick.

The symbol in the sky that were created by stars’ alignment, was originally intended to be the Valknut symbol. It is believed that it represents Odin, sacrifice and death. However, there are no real evidence to what it represents. Its meaning derives from Stora Hammars stone by modern archeologist. In contrary, runes have documented meanings. Thus, I changed it to a bind-rune (combination of multiple runes). Specifically, Jera(ᛃ); cycle and Dagaz(ᛞ); new day or dawn. This is to symbolize that every destruction, comes creation. Similar to how after the Ragnarök, the great destruction of the world, humans will start to populate yet again. As for the, glow rune stone. The rune is called Ehwaz (ᛖ), it means trust or relationship. However, the reversed Ehwaz means conflict or bad change.

As for the bowl with blood in it, this is the way to appeal to the gods; Blót or sacrifice. Initially, it was supposed to be a decapitated animal and bleeds to the ground, but it may be too gore to some.