Gone Medieval (History Hit)

Episode: Norse Mythology: Creation Myths

Date: October 3, 2025
Host: Matt Lewis
Guest: Dr. Eleanor Janega
Special Narration: King Gylfi (dramatic retelling)

Overview

This opening episode of a five-part series dives deep into Norse mythology, focusing on the Norse creation myths as told in the Prose Edda. Host Matt Lewis and medievalist Dr. Eleanor Janega explore the origins of the world, gods, and humanity according to Viking legend—interweaving narrative dramatizations, historical context, source criticism, and lively analysis. Listeners are introduced to the weird, wild imagery of Norse myth, the complexities of the sources, and why these stories matter culturally.

Episode Structure & Key Discussion Points

1. Introduction to the Series and Sources

• [03:28] Matt Lewis previews upcoming episodes: Odin and the gods, Thor and Loki, Norse mythology’s role in Viking life, and Ragnarok.
• [03:28-05:06] Dramatic monologue by “King Gylfi,” who frames the creation myths in-story, following Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda.

2. Dramatic Retelling: The Norse Creation Myth

Narrated by “King Gylfi”

• Realm Origins: Nothingness (Ginnungagap), with fire (Muspelheim, guarded by Surtr) and ice (Niflheim) on either side.
• First Beings: The collision of fire and ice creates Ymir, the primordial frost giant, ancestor of giants.
• Cosmic Cow & Ancestors: The cow Audhumla emerges, nurturing Ymir and licking salty ice blocks to reveal Buri, forefather of the gods.
• Lineage of the Gods: Buri’s descendants include Bor, Bestla, and their sons Odin, Vili, and Ve.
• Massive Creation Event: Odin and his brothers slay Ymir; from his corpse, they fashion the earth (flesh), oceans (blood), mountains (bones), rocks (teeth), and the sky (skull supported by dwarves representing the four directions).
• Creation of Humans: Odin and his brothers sculpt the first humans, Ask and Embla, from two logs on a beach.
• Setting the Cosmos: Celestial objects—sun, moon, stars—are set in the sky as chariots, driven by personified deities chased by wolves; night and day are siblings driving their own sky-chariots.
• Cosmic Structure: The gods build Midgard (human realm) and Asgard (home of the gods), connected by the Bifrost bridge (the rainbow). Central to the cosmos is the ash tree Yggdrasil, roots in multiple worlds, with wells of wisdom and fate beneath it.

3. Context & Critique: The Historical Sources

[16:31] – Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega begin analysis

The Eddas: Prose vs. Poetic

• Prose Edda—Written by Snorri Sturluson in 13th-century Iceland, as a compendium for poets to understand pre-Christian allusions.
• Poetic Edda—Anonymous collection of older narrative poems, also 13th-century Iceland, main source is the Codex Regius.
• Both texts written long after Scandinavia’s Christianization (~1000 AD), meaning stories come filtered through Christian perspectives.
• Quote:

  "Prose Edda is by a poet, a politician, a saga writer called Snorri Sturluson, who lived in 13th-century Iceland...he's shaping it...giving it a sense of narrative cohesion that might not necessarily be apparent in our poetic sources."
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [17:20]

Limitations & Value of Sources

• Acknowledge the gap between Viking Age myth-making and when sources were finally recorded.
• Christian influence possibly shaping Odin as “All-Father” and Loki as bringer of evil, mirroring Christian ideas of the Trinity and the Devil.
• Archaeological evidence for these myths is minimal; most knowledge is textual.

4. Analyzing the Creation Myth: Logic and Symbolism

[23:18 – 29:33]

Myth Recap & Interpretation

• Lewis: Notes how “balmy” the myth feels—voids, cosmic cows, worlds built from body parts.
• Janega:

  • The myth comes mostly from Voluspa, the poem of the Seeress, and Snorri's retelling.

  • Giants are not “literal giants” but supernatural races.

  • The process is delightfully absurd: “Ymir sweats the first frost giants out of his armpits...from his legs...other beings come out.”

    “Of course, I know.”
    —Matt Lewis, dryly acknowledging the surreal logic [27:53]

  • The dwarves start as maggots in dead Ymir’s flesh and become sapient by the gods’ intervention; four dwarves hold up the sky (North, South, East, West).

  • Sky is Ymir’s skull; clouds are brains; world enclosed by his eyelashes.

5. Comparative Mythology & Christian Influence

[29:33 – 34:38]

• Snorri uses “euhemerism,” interpreting gods as ancient kings/heroes, linking them mythically to Troy.
• Despite Christian context, myth preserves strongly pagan elements.
• Possible mythic parallels to Biblical themes: world-destroying flood, surviving giant in a “vessel” (cf. Noah’s Ark).

Quotes on Storytelling and Identity

• “It’s also this very strong sense, look, this is part of our heritage...this is who we are. So I think there’s a pride and a sense that this is still part of identity. Whether it’s part of belief is more up for debate, but certainly it’s like, yeah, this is us. Aren’t we cool?”
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [32:50]

6. Giants, Elves, Symbolism: Literal Belief or Allegory?

[36:56 – 43:41]

• Difficulty in knowing what pre-Christian Norse people actually believed; the world was big, diverse, and beliefs would have varied.

• “Giants = chaos, gods = order” is a tempting but not always accurate reading; gods themselves are chaotic.

  “The gods...are human on a larger scale, but prone to the same foibles and ridiculousness, you know. So I think if we...make it just an encyclopedia of different gods and goddesses and what everyone believed, we’re doing the material disservice.”
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [40:13]

• Norse worldview is complex—good and evil are fluid categories.

7. Violence, Identity, and Heritage

[43:41 – 48:39]

• Creation is inherently violent (fire vs. ice, gods slaying giants), but so are many other cultural myths.
• The “Viking = always violent raider” stereotype is challenged; most Norse were farmers/hunters.
• Nevertheless, sagas and fireside tales celebrate violence, warlike heroes, and blood feuds.
• Identity is partly built on the retelling of these glorious or grisly tales.

8. The World Tree (Yggdrasil) and its Meaning

[50:28 – 57:31]

• Yggdrasil, the cosmic ash tree, is central—holds the realms together, contains roots in several worlds.

• Descriptions from Voluspa and Snorri detailed: roots span Hel, Jotunheimr, and Midgard/Asgard; gnawed by the dragon Nidhogg and other creatures; squirrel Ratatoskr stirs up trouble among its inhabitants.

  "It’s described in Voluspa as a great ash tree sprinkled with white loam or white soil running, which I just think is the most amazing image to start with."
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [50:50]

• Possibly echoes older Germanic traditions of sacred groves; concept of land wights/spirits persists in Icelandic folklore.

• Despite Iceland’s sparse tree cover, Icelandic sources enshrine Yggdrasil at the heart of the Norse cosmos.

9. Oral Tradition and the Nature of Myth

[59:00 – 65:56]

• Norse myth was primarily an oral tradition—with runic inscriptions being brief and enigmatic.

• Literacy (as we know it) only comes with Christianity—hence myths are written down “after the fact.”

• Snorri and others are writing to serve a living oral, poetic tradition; what survives is only a snapshot of vast, living, variant storytelling.

  "I think what they [the inconsistencies in the myth] might be telling us is every bit as important, if not more important, than the bits that feel like, oh, yeah, OK, that feels logical as far as it’s ever going to be logical."
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [61:46]

• There was no single, canonical “Norse creation myth”—what survives is one (Icelandic Christianized) rendition among many local variants.

10. Final Insights & Personal Favorites

[65:56 – 68:52]

• Mythology as a polyphonic tradition, different “voices” contributing variations and subtexts.
• Dr. Janega’s favorites: Creation and end-of-world myths, for their drama and weirdness (“so epic and dramatic and weird...the weirdness of the Norse myths...speak to the weirdness of humans trying to make sense of something that we are not—our brains are not big enough to make sense of it.” [66:38])
• Poetic emphasis on the seeress who “speaks” the world into being (a powerful, oft-overlooked female role in the Poetic Edda).

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "You mentioned that yawning void, right? That's Ginnungagap. Let's start there...it was a void of yawning chaos with no grass."
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [23:56]

• "The gods are huge chaotic...they’re permanently getting up to some like ridiculous stuff...The giants, to take their side, could quite reasonably say, Wait a minute, we were all just getting on with everything very nicely, and then you decided to sort of kill the first being to have existed."
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [41:05]

• "There is this sense, I think particularly, it’s like if you don’t know this stuff, you can’t write poetry."
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [33:41]

• "I think the weirdness of the Norse myths of creation and destruction speak to the weirdness of humans trying to make sense of something that we are not—our brains are not big enough to make sense of it."
  —Dr. Eleanor Jaenega [67:00]

Key Segment Timestamps

• [03:28] – Episode introduction and series overview
• [05:06]–[16:31] – “King Gylfi”’s dramatic retelling of the Norse Creation Myth (primary myth content—highly recommended)
• [16:31] – Main discussion with Dr. Eleanor Janega begins
• [23:56] – Detailed breakdown of creation myth logic and sources
• [29:33] – Comparative mythology and Christian influence
• [36:56] – Do Norse people take giants, elves, and dwarves literally?
• [43:41] – Norse myth, violence, and culture
• [50:28] – Exploration of Yggdrasil (the World Tree)
• [59:00] – The oral storytelling tradition and myth variants
• [65:56] – Personal favorites and reflections on what myth teaches us

Conclusion & Next Episodes

The episode expertly balances evocative storytelling with scholarly analysis. Listeners finish with a sense of Norse creation myths as strange, enchanting, and deeply rooted in both poetic tradition and cultural identity—stories made to be performed and retold, not just pinned to parchment. Dr. Janega will return to discuss Ragnarok, while upcoming episodes will explore Odin, Thor, Loki, and the role of mythology in everyday Viking life.