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The Norse Mythology is a collection of stories derived from Germanic roots, following the lives of the Norse gods -- the Æsir and the Vanir -- and the men whose lives they directly affected. At its height, the mythology covered most of northern Europe, much of modern Germany and Austria, and parts of the British Isles; it lasted longest in Scandinavia and Iceland, however, which produced most of its surviving texts. It is a branch of the Proto-Indo-European mythological tradition, which also spawned the Celtic, Greek, and Vedic pantheons; it's distinguished from those myths, however, by the fact that its gods are not only fallible but also all mortal. They could, and did, die. Like most traditional polytheistic systems, it has no set canon and in some ways resembles a body of customary beliefs more than a set religion. It has been speculated that only chieftains and other wealthy people held faith in the Aesir, while the common farmers believed in land-spirits such as trolls and giants.
 
Many texts describing Norse beliefs have come down to us, but, aside from a few runic inscriptions and similar fragments, all were written hundreds of years after the turn to Christianity. Consequently it's nearly impossible to tell which stories are [[Hijacked Byby Jesus]], or how much they are, although academic theories abound. Even ignoring this, another problem arises: since Norse myth has no definitive canon, the myths differ considerably from place to place, according to the time they were written and the purpose they were written for.
 
For most researchers the main source of canon is the ''Poetic Edda'', also known as the ''Elder Edda'' or ''Codex Regius'' (as it was originally known). This is a collection of both mythological and heroic poems; the most famous, the ''Völuspá'', relates the past creation of the world, the future [[The End of the World Asas We Know It|death of the gods and burning of the world]], and the beginning of the world to come. Others give pithy advice (''Hávamál'') or contain legends of the Æsir and the Vanir, while even more tell us about the heroic deeds of human beings. Perhaps the most important hero is Sigurd Fafnesbane, a man cognate to the [[Nibelungenlied (Literature)|Siegfried]] of German legend. The oldest surviving copy of the ''Elder Edda'' was made in the late 13th century, though many of its poems are much older than that; though how much is often quite unkown.
 
A secondary source of canon is the ''Prose Edda'' (a.k.a. ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' or just plain ''Edda''), a book that was written by the Icelandic historian and politician [[Snorri Sturluson (Creator)|Snorri Sturluson]] sometime around 1225 CE. It's difficult to accurately summarize his book; it's believed to have begun as a simple collection of skaldic poetry, but as Snorri wrote he's thought to have realized that most of his audience would miss many important mythological allusions. Drawing upon his vast knowledge of Norse mythology, therefore, he devoted half his book to retelling the myths in an educational manner, sourcing both older sagas and the ''Poetic Edda''. It's likely that Snorri didn't intend this mythological content to be taken at face value: the prologue and the end of the first section explicitly state that the work covers ancient, mythologized kings and heroes rather than true divinities. In fact, Snorri's not-at-all mythological book ''[[Heimskringla (Literature)|Heimskringla]]'' (which retells stories of the Norwegian kings) contains a similar prologue, and it even mentions the events of the ''Prose Edda'' in passing.
 
Various other sources exist, including [[The Icelandic Sagas (Literature)|The Icelandic Sagas]] and Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum'', a Danish work of history compiled in the late 12th century. All are, for one reason or another, generally considered less authoritative than the ''Eddas''. The works of the Roman ethnographer Tacitus touch on an earlier form of Norse myth, similar in many ways but dating to the first century CE. The current versions we have, however, are [[Older Than Print]].
 
It's important to note that the Norse gods are usually considered to be derived from the same ancestral Indo-European mythology as [[Classical Mythology|Classical]], [[Celtic Mythology|Celtic]], and [[Hindu Mythology]]. The mythology of Zoroastrianism is also similar, although with a monotheistic structure imposed on it.
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* '''Frigg''' (Frigga), the mother goddess, protector of women and wife of Odin. She can see the future, but all of her attempts to change it are subverted.
* '''Loki''', a mischievous giant/jotun (tolerated since he's Odin's sworn brother) [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|Shapeshifting]] [[Gender Bender]] [[Trickster Archetype]] who likes to stir up trouble for the gods and then get away with it, though he'll occasionally help out if he feels inclined to. Father of two daughters named Eisa and Einmyria by a jotun wife named Glut, two sons named Narfi and Vali by his Aesir wife Sigyn, and of Fenrir the wolf, Jörmungandr the giant serpent, and Hel the goddess of the Underworld by his jotun lover Angrboda. Also, he's the mother of Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Loki is credited with being the god of the hearthfire, and also inventing useful tools such as the fishing net. Was eventually tortured and bound by the other gods for his actions, in a fate reminiscent of that of the hero Prometheus from Greek mythology.
* '''Thor''' (Þórr), a sometimes naive, sometimes shrewd, god with a magical hammer which required special gloves to handle. Usually associated with Thunder, which is not too far-fetched considering that this is exactly [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|what his name means]]. Lightning is said to arise when he throws his hammer (called Mjölnir) after trolls and giants. More generally, he was a weather god and therefore, also a fertility god (because good crops depend on the right weather) and especially worshipped by farmers and seafarers. Though notoriously irascible, he is also one of the gods who are most benign towards the human race, and constantly strives to protect Midgard from monsters and giants. It probably goes well with this profile that Thor is NOT is a war god <ref>He seems to get falsely associated with that domain sometimes in modern descriptions, and in fairness, his Hindu cousin Indra ''is'' a war god</ref> -- that office goes primarily to Odin (whose attitude towards humans is much more ambiguous). He does ride in a chariot, though, drawn by his two goats Tooth-grinder and Tooth-gnasher. Interestingly, his other cousin is [[Anything That Moves|Zeus]].
* '''Sif''', Thor's wife, associated with wealth, family, and the harvest. Most notable in the surviving texts for having her famous golden hair cut off by Loki as a joke after he'd slept with her -- drama ensued.<ref>It has been suggested by scholar Alice Karlsdottir in her 1991 essay ''Loki, Father of Strife'', that the story of Loki sleeping with the harvest goddess and then cropping her golden hair down to stubble is highly allegorical. He ploughed the field and sowed the seeds, pardon the pun, then cut the golden (ripe) grain, thus ensuring a good harvest. Thor on the other hand was away killing giants, neglecting his marital duties. The story continues with Thor threatening to beat Loki up until Loki offers to persuade the dwarves to spin new golden hair for Sif from living gold.</ref> Her connection with the Earth suggests a link to Gaia or Demeter/Ceres, but she's married to the Zeus-equivalent Thor. Her name (which just means "married,") doesn't help matters.
* '''Tyr''' (Týr), Son of Odin, or the giant Hymir in some stories, whose right hand was bitten off by Fenrir while tricking the wolf into being chained with a magic rope. He also presides over the Thing, a Germanic governing assembly, which makes him a god of law and justice. He was the main [[War God]] and was prayed to by warriors before battle. Unlike Thor he didn't go off fighting giants, he instead preferred large battles (even after he lost his hand). He and Thor once had a competition to see who was the strongest of the Aesir, with Tyr falling out at the final test. Confusingly, he (like Thor), is ''also'' a cousin of Zeus and Indra.
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** He has been depicted with black hair in the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' Franchise.
** [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Thor.jpg Thor's Battle Against the Ettins] circa 1872.
** The 2011 movie ''[[Thor (Filmfilm)|Thor]]'' splits the difference and makes him a strawberry blond.
* [[The Ageless]]: The Aesir and Vanir are immortal in this way, so long as they continue to eat the Golden Apples of Idunn. (When the goddess and her apples were abducted by the Jotunn giant Thjazi, all the gods aged rapidly... except apparently for Loki, who was forced to go and steal goddess and apples back.)
* [[All Trolls Are Different]]
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** Tyr and Fenrir, the wolf that bit of his hand.
*** Most adaptations (probably thanks to Marvel) tend to set up Thor and Loki as arch-enemies. While they butted heads once in a while (Sif's hair was certainly a [[Berserk Button]] for Thor), they were more friends than enemies, and often traveled together.
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: The Ring Andvaranaut a.k.a. the [[The Ring of the Nibelung (Theatre)|Ring of the Nibelung]], from the ''[[VolsungaThe Saga (Literature)of the Volsungs|Volsunga Saga]]''.
* [[Back From the Dead]]: Baldur and Höder, after Ragnarök.
* [[Badass Normal]]: In the incident where Thor and his companions are tricked by the giant Utgard-Loki into competing in rigged contests of strength, one of those companions is a seemingly normal human who does fairly well in a race against a ''thought from Utgard's mind''.
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** The Aesir also enjoy screwing over dwarves. One such instance created cursed treasure; another, a pile of headless little bodies. It's even said that Thor kicked a dwarf into Baldur's funeral pire. No wonder Alberich was such a prick to the gods.
** And whenever the gods need to put the blame on someone, they grab Loki and threaten him with torture and death if he doesn't put the situation right. Granted, often Loki was responsible for or at least involved in the thing that went awry in the first place, but still...
* [[Contract Onon the Hitman]]: The dwarf Fáfnir [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|turns himself into a dragon]] to protect his cursed gold from his brother, Regin. So, Regin hires Sigurd to kill Fáfnir, but then Sigurd learns from the birds that Regin plans to kill him, too.
* [[Cool Boat]]: The god Freyr's ship Skidbladnir could fly and fold up to fit in his pocket.
** There's also the Naglfar, which is made of [[Nightmare Fuel|finger and toe nails of the dead]].
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** In some adaptations or retellings, Hel is quite attractive. In others, [[Squick|she's a rotted corpse]].
** Heimdallr's parents (all nine of them) are giantesses, which means that Heimdallr is a giant, and there's no indication that he's ugly. Considering that so many giants turn out ''not'' to be ugly, it almost comes off as their alleged ugliness being more trash-talking than truth.
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: The dark elves/dwarves originally weren't necessarily all evil, and Hel herself was neutral if not outright good. [[Hijacked Byby Jesus|Hijacking]] took place however. then again, if [[Protagonist-Centered Morality|the gods sound like assholes,]] most of the beings that are against them are good then.
* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Freyr fell in love with Gerd, a giantess. He eventually managed to melt her heart, albeit with he help of a lackey threatening her with a magic sword.
** In another instance, the frosty giantess Skadi demanded reparations of the Aesir for the murder of her father, asking for his eyes made stars in the heavens, a godly husband for herself, and asked that the gods make her laugh. Only Loki had the [[Naked People Are Funny|keen sense of humor]] to achieve that last one, resulting in a [[Defrosting Ice Queen|temporarily melted]] literally-minded giantess.
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* [[Elemental Embodiment]]: The jotnar. Just for a few examples, Loki is associated with fire, Laufey with trees, Farbauti with lightning, Jord and Gerd with earth, and Skadi with cold mountain streams.
* [[Elemental Plane]]: Muspellheim and Niflheim, they are the homes of Fire Giants and Ice Giants respectively with terrain to match.
* [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]]: Oh, yeah. Big time. Ragnarök (literally meaning "The Final Fate of the Gods," but famously mistranslated as "The Twilight of the Gods" by [[Richard Wagner]]). When it happens, [[Trauma Conga Line|war and chaos engulf the entire world, a winter three years long will be so cold that life will cease to exist, the sun and the moon will be devoured by wolves, Fenrir the Wolf and Jormugandr the World Serpent will be unleashed, the army of the Underworld will stream forth, all chaotic beings will engage in an epic battle with the gods and the warriors of Valhalla, everyone dies while the fire giant Surt engulfs the world in flames, the burning world will be buried by water and everything will collapse into Yggdrasil.]]
** Originally, Ragnarok was to be the end of all things but a few surviving monsters and the Sons of Muspell (fire Giants). However, in later versions of the myth, Balder (as a Christ-figure), Hod, and several other gods return to a new world along with a repopulation of humans. However, in that version, Nidhogg also still exists as a much more satanic and active being, so while things are nicer, conflict certainly isn't over.
* [[Everything's Better Withwith Rainbows]]: The rainbow is one of the roads to Asgard.
* [[Everythings Nuttier With Squirrels]]: Ratatösk ("Drill-Tooth"), [[Did Mom Just Have Tea Withwith Cthulhu?|the gossipy squirrel that flits up and down the world tree Yggdrassil.]]
* [[Evil Is Deathly Cold]]
* [[Exact Words]]: In one story, Loki makes a bet with some dwarves and offers them his head as a wager -- an expression for "my head's weight in gold" -- as his part of the bargain. When they win and claim his actual head, he argues that since they can't take that without also cutting his neck, the deal is void. The dwarves content themselves with sewing his lips together -- a consequence not mentioned in most of his other stories.
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* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: The gods can't kill Loki for what he did to Baldur on account of Odin having adopted him. Thus, they instead bind him in chains made from the entrails of his son, whom they murdered, and allow a snake to drip venom on his face for eternity. Loki's loyal wife Sigyn collects the venom in a bowl most of the time but she eventually has to empty it, allowing the venom to drip and causing him excruciating pain. His thrashing around caused earthquakes.
* [[Fiery Redhead]]: Thor ([[Did Not Do the Research|despite his Marvel Comics incarnation being blonde]]) is commonly described as having flaming red hair and beard and a temper to match.
* [[Final Battle]]: The battle of Vígríð, which is ''only one of the many events'' that compose Ragnarök (see [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]] above).
* [[Fingore]]: According to the legends, the nails of the dead were forcibly pulled off so they wouldn't be used for building material for the Naglfar. Yes, the Naglfar is a boat made of the nails of the dead.
** One added legend states that if you cut your nails they go to Naglfar, so to keep Ragnarök from happening you should only file your nails because Ragnarök cant happen before Naglfar is completed.
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* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]: Elves could interbreed with mortals.
* [[Hammerspace]]: Thor could make his hammer shrink to an incredibly tiny size, and be pulled out of seemingly nowhere, and is both the first user and [[Trope Namer|namer]] of this trope.
* [[Hand in Thethe Hole]]: Tyr and Fenrisulfr.
* [[He Who Must Not Be Named]]: Once Ragnarok is over, the world will be renewed and taken over by a new deity known as "The One". No one knows his/her name because he/she will only reveal himself at the end of days.
* [[Hell Hound]]: Garm, the guardian of Hel. He and Tyr end up killing each other when Ragnarök arives.
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* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Thor and Loki, at least in some stories. In others, not so much.
** Also Odin and Loki, who are blood brothers.
* [[Hijacked Byby Jesus]]: It's impossible to tell which myths are hijacked and which are not, since all of them were written down more than 200 years after the turn to Christianity. Even the ''Poetic Edda'' is not immune, since the oral stories the book was based on had 200 years to adapt some Christian ideas and values.
** Baldur may or may not be treated as a Christ figure. A better world emerges following the chaos immediately after his death. But that may also represent the old Norse people's wish of having their genes survive into the following generations, just as Baldur's rebirth ensured that Oden's, and the Aesir's, genes lived into the new world.
** It's kind of suspicious that the only stories we're told about Baldur are the ones about his martyry death. Apparently, only the wicked dislike him, everyone and every''thing'' else loves and weeps for him. And his listed occupation amongst the grisly [[Jerkass Gods|Aesir]] warriors? "God of Beauty" or "God of Light." ''Really?''
** The story of Loki getting Baldur killed is [[Hijacked Byby Jesus]]. Originally (as shown in ''Poetic Edda''), it was only hinted (in an insult of Frigg by Loki himself) that Loki was guilty. It was when he gravely insulted every single one of the gods they tied him down and fed him poison. The two stories were then merged and expanded by [[Snorri Sturluson (Creator)|Snorri Sturluson]] to make Loki look like a Satan figure.
** The myth of Freya's acquisition of the Necklace of the Brisings is recorded only in a Christianized version.
** There's also The History of the Danes, which was commissioned of Saxo Grammaticus, stories that depicted the gods merely as cunning wizards who tricked people into thinking they were gods. They were still pretty badass in it, though.
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** This one happened to Loki ''a lot'', even at the hands of other gods, and caused - among other things, the cursing of Andvarinaut, the creation of Thor's hammer, and later on its theft. Thor even did it to Loki over a [[Traumatic Haircut|cute little prank]] Loki pulled on Thor's wife.
* [[How Do You Like Them Apples?]]: The Golden Apples of Immortality, tended by Idunn; the gods literally need them to stay young.
* [[Human Popsicle]]: Ymir, Audumla the primeval cow ([[Everything's Better Withwith Cows|Yes, there was a cow]]), and Odin's grandfather Buri.
* [[Intangible Man]]: Elves could walk through any barrier
* [[Insubstantial Ingredients]]: [[wikipedia:Gleipnir|The sound of a cat's footfall]].
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** Some variants of the legend say that Fafnir was transformed by the 'Oegishjalmr,' a helmet that is basically a transformation-ray. Said helmet was part of Hreidmar's hoard.
* [[Kill the Cutie]]: Balder.
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: The light elves were originally quite unpleasant. Loki himself, besides being portrayed as an attractive young man, also became associated with fire as he was mixed with Logi, an actual god of fire. Also, Freya was a beautiful goddess not only associated with love and jewelry but also bloodlust and indeed was quite a bitch in most myths she appeared, while the idea that Balder was good seems to be exclusive to myths [[Hijacked Byby Jesus]].
** Aherm. Logi was never a god of fire, he was literally a fire construct created by Utgard-Loki in a one-off story just for the purposes of [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|beating Loki in an eating contest.]] <s>Loki was associated with fire because he was a [[Fiery Redhead]].</s> (But Thor matches the personality better.)
*** Loki's hair color is not mentioned in the Edda. But in the tale of Thor's and Loki's visit to the court of Utgard-Loki, Loki is refered to as the god of the hearthfire, making him a parallel to Prometheus, the Greek bringer of fire to humans, and also Lucifer (literally "light-bringer").
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* [[Noodle Incident]]: In the ''Lokasenna'', Odin says Loki went around disguised as a milkmaid for awhile, and according to both Odin and Njorth, he's given birth to multiple children. It doesn't get any more elaborate than that.
* [[North Is Cold South Is Hot]]: Probably the [[Ur Example|Ur-example]]. From [[Wikipedia|the other Wiki]]: "In the beginning, there were two regions: Muspellsheimr in the south, full of fire, light and heat; and Niflheimr in the north, full of arctic waters, mists, and cold."
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: The giant serpent Jormungand encircles the world, and is the son of Loki and the giantess Angrboda. The dragon Fafnir was once human, but was transformed by his ruthless [[Greed|greed]].
** [[Sea Monster]]: Jormangundr. Of the sea serpent type.
* [[One Steve Limit]]: Averted with Loki and Utgarda-Loki.
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** Don't forget Freyja's Brisingamen. It was said to actually enhance her beauty even further!
* [[Slasher Smile]]: Some tellings comment that after having his lips un-sewn, Loki was left with a "Glasgow smile" which in "Loki is evil" stories serves as his [[Red Right Hand]].
** ''[[American Gods (Literature)|"Mister World? What happened to your lips?"]]''
* [[Spell My Name Withwith an "S"]]: Norse, when written in Latin (rather than runic), uses two letters not present in English: Þ thorn (the "th" sound in "thing," usually transliterated as "th" or "t"), and ð eth (the "th" sound in "that," translated variously as "t," "th," "d," "dh," or "w"). It also uses the Æ and "oe" ligatures which are sometimes transliterated as "a" or "ae" and "o." Thus, "Odin" could be "Othin," "Odhin," or even "Wotan;" the gods could be collectively known as the "Aesir" or the "Asir." Further complicating things, the myths entered the English language at least twice: entering Old English during the Viking invasions of 800-1066, and entering early Modern English with the Prose and Poetic Eddas. And they were ''already'' in the English language, at least partly. The Anglo-Saxon mythology was very similar to Norse mythology. This is because they both have their roots in Germanic mythology. "Woden" was very similar to Odin, and that god is where we get "Wednesday" from.
* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Loki delivers one of these to the Aesir in the ''Lokasenna''. It does [[Fate Worse Than Death|not end well for him.]]
* [[The Stinger]]: Last part of Völuspá descript new world after resurrection of Balder, which sound peaceful enough. Then it end with description of Nidhoggr with corpse in his jaws, flying through the air...
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*** More of a chicken and the egg sort of thing. Fenrir was imprisoned because the gods ''foresaw'' that he would cause them trouble rather than because he actually was being a problem.
* [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth]]: Baldur. The only Norse ''god'' (the goddesses were all more or less decent people) that never did anything morally ambiguous. So of course he's the first one to actually die, and his death acts as a sign that the end times are approaching for the Norse gods.
* [[Tragic Bromance]]: Two minor figures from the legendary [[The Icelandic Sagas (Literature)|Norse sagas]], Örvar-Oddr and Hjalmar.
** [[Hey, It's That Guy!|Hey, it's that guy!]]
* [[Trickster Mentor]], Odin, occasionally.
* [[Trope Makers]]: Most of the standard "dragons and dragonslayers" tropes originally derive from either the ''[[VolsungaThe Saga (Literature)of the Volsungs|Volsunga Saga]]'' or ''[[Beowulf (Literature)|Beowulf]]''.
** And long after the first occurrences of dragons and their slayers: [[The Hobbit|Smaug]] is a Norse in-joke. It's also worth noting that the name the Norse gave to the world in which they lived, Midgard, literally means [[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)|"Middle Earth"]].
* [[Two-Faced]]: Hel. In many stories, the left half of her body is beautiful, the right half is [[Depending Onon the Writer|either aged and decrepit or skeletal]]. Could count as [[Fridge Brilliance]] as well: the decrepit side is the "this is the reality of death", while the beautiful is "it is nothing to be afraid of".
* [[The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter]]: The hideous Jotnar (giants) occasionally have beautiful daughters. Naturally in stories involving them they get seduced by Norse gods. Odin (or Thor) was the usual culprit. The guy really got around, though not to the same extent as [[Anything That Moves|Zeus]].
** That was more Thor's area.
* [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]]: Frey is generally not depicted as pretty, while Gerd is the most beautiful woman in the world.
* [[Vertebrate Withwith Extra Limbs]] - Odin's horse had eight legs.
* [[Volleying Insults]]: Two of the Poetic Eddas (''Harbardsljoth'' and ''Lokasenna'') consist of pretty much nothing ''but'' this.
* [[The World Tree]]: Yggdrasil, which is the [[Ur Example]] ''and'' [[Trope Codifier]] for it.
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* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Balder was invulnerable to everything except mistle. [[Rule of Cool|In the version recorded by Saxo, however, it was a sword named Mysteltainn (Mistletoe) that could only be found in the Underworld.]]
** Given that mistle is ''poisonous'', a sharp dart may well have been sufficient to kill him.
* [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?]]: Odin's brothers Vili and Ve helped in creating the world (ie, killing Ymir) and mankind then they just disappear.
* [[With Friends Like These...]]: You would think that, after a while, the Aesir would actually figure out that perhaps Loki could use some help. No ''wonder'' he turned against them eventually.
* [[Wizard Classic]]: Stories of Odin wandering the lands disguised as a simple traveller serve as an [[Ur Example]].
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