View source for Norse Mythology/Shout-Out

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Next to the [[Shout-Out/To Shakespeare|Shout-Outs to Shakespeare]], (if not surpassing it) are the [[Shout-Out]]s to the [[Norse Mythology]] as a whole. Maybe because everything sounds [[Badass]], [[Rule of Cool|cool]] or just [[So Cool Its Awesome|awesome]] by naming someone/something after a Norse deity such as Thor, Odin or Loki. Whatever the case, we've [[Seen It a Million Times]].

If several people or things in the same work are all named in reference to Norse Mythology, it's [[Theme Naming]], not a set of shout-outs.

See also [[Religious and Mythological Theme Naming]].

The [[Valkyries]] have their own page.

There's a [[wikipedia:Norse mythology in popular culture|huge list]] in [[That Other Wiki]].

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== Multimedia ==
* "Mistilteinn" (or variations thereof) is a popular name for a weapon in various anime and video games. It's usually used [[In Name Only]], since the original was a small dart – the dart that killed Balder – while the references tend to be swords, spears or lances.

== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' features the Norns. Whether they're the actual Norns or Norns [[In Name Only]] depends on how one reads both the eddas and the manga. (The various anime tend to [[Flanderize]] Verthandi/Belldandy.)
* ''[[Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok]]'': Loki [[In Name Only]].
* ''[[Slayers]]'' has "Ragna Blade" spell. Appropriately enough, it invokes the power of the creator deity living in primal Chaos and as such can harm or kill anything in the world, including Gods and Dark Lords providing "lesser" spells of [[White Magic]] and [[Black Magic]]. The [http://kanzaka.wikia.com/wiki/Ragna_Blade#Incantation incantation itself] fits well too.
* ''[[.hack]]'' in Liminality mentions the ''[[The Ring of the Nibelung]]'' from Wagner's opera as the source of the power of the World.
* Among the [[Crossover Cosmology]] members in ''[[Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?]]'' is Freya, who is shown to be the most beautiful of the goddesses in the setting, being able to enrapture followers of other pantheons' goddesses of beauty with just a glance.

== Comic Books ==
* The [[Marvel Comics]] characters Thor and Loki. Thor is [[In Name Only]] - they didn't even get his hair colour right - while Loki has his evil side turned [[Up to Eleven]] and his good side minimized.
* Bill Willingham's ''[[Elementals (comic)|Elementals]]'' also had a Thor, who was portrayed as being closer to the Eddas than Marvel's Thor was. It was also mentioned that this Thor survived Ragnarok, which humans called [[World War II]]... and he was quick to explain to the team's Jewish member that what his worshippers did had nothing to do with him.
* The Danish series ''[[Valhalla]]'', which uses the Eddas as starting points for the story arcs.

== Fan Works ==
* Asgard and the Norse pantheon are the sole real heaven and deities in ''[[Undocumented Features]]''.  One of the [[Next Gen Fic|children of the original self-insert characters]] is actually the Norse god of ''Mecha''.
* Valhalla and the Norse pantheon have been confirmed (to readers, at least) to exist in [[The Teraverse]].

== Literature ==
* ''Norse Mythology'', by [[Neil Gaiman]] - a remarkably faithful retelling of the eddas.
* ''[[American Gods]]'', also by Neil Gaiman. Its protagonist undergoes a quest remarkably similar to one of Odin's, and [[In Name Only]] versions ([[justified]] in-story; Gaiman knew exactly what he was doing) of two of the Norse gods appear as major characters.
* In [[John Myers Myers]]' ''[[Silverlock]]'', the tramp freighter Shandon is traveling on at the very beginning is mentioned in passing to have been named the "Naglfar". When it sinks, his adventure begins, and it's the first of dozens, if not hundreds of references to literature and mythology scattered through the book.

== Live-Action TV ==
* A Thor who was about as divorced from his mythological roots as he could possibly be and ''still'' be a vaguely [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] property appeared in the 1988 [[TV Movie]] ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|The Incredible Hulk Returns]]''.

== Music ==
* ''[[Ride of the Valkyries]]'', from ''[[The Ring of the Nibelung]]''

== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[In Nomine]]'' has various non-Abrahamic gods in The Marches (an ethereal area that is not Heaven, Hell, or the mortal realm). The Norse pantheon is described as surviving heaven's attempt to destroy the "pagan" goods relatively intact - of the major deities, only Thor is listed as having been vanquished. The ''Ethereal Player's Guide'' states that the game's version of Odin is more powerful than any celestial being short of an Archangel or a Demon Prince.

== Theatre and Opera ==
* ''[[The Ring of the Nibelung]]''

== [[Video Games]] ==
* Two of the heroes in ''[[Gauntlet (1985 video game)]]'' are Thor the Warrior and Thyra the Valkyrie.
* ''[[BlazBlue]]'' has Ragna the Bloodedge. There's a very good reason why his name derives from Ragnarok, the death and rebirth of the world.
** Noel Vermillion from the same game has a [[Gatling Good|Minigun]] named Fenrir and a rocket launcher named Thor.
* In ''[[Touhou]]'', the two vampire sisters each have a spellcard named after the weapon of a Norse god. Remilia has Odin's Gungnir while Flandre wields Lævateinn. It's unclear whether or not they're actually wielding them as weapons though, or just fanciful names given to magical energy attacks.
* Two of the attacks in ''[[Phantom Dust]]'' are called Thor's Hammer and Gungnir. Bonus points for Gungnir being one of the most accurate attacks in the game, as never missing was an attribute of its namesake.
* ''[[Max Payne (series)|Max Payne]]'' and ''[[Alan Wake]]'' both have elements, the first having a psychotic boss being obsessed with mitology, and the second features a heavy metal band composed by two wacky old men also revolving around Norse mythology. Sam Lake sure loves vikings.
* ''[[Valhalla (video game)|Valhalla]]'' was set in Asgard and Midgard.

== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has some elements named after terms from mythology, including a character named Sleipnir.
* ''[[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]]'' is based largely on [[Norse Mythology]], so naturally has plenty of references, some more obscure than others.

== Western Animation ==
* ''[[What's Opera, Doc?]]'', at one remove via its homage to ''[[The Ring of the Nibelung]]''.

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