Episode 7 - Blood and Poetry Part I: The Æsir-Vanir War

Norse Mythology: The Unofficial Guide

This episode covers the very first war that ever occurred in the world. But why did it happen and who exactly is fighting who? Did the Aesir kill the goddess Freyja three times over? And who exactly are the Vanir? Are they original to the pagan tradition or did Snorri make them up to fill in some gaps? You might be surprised how hard some of these questions are to answer and you might be surprised at how weird modern scholarship can get sometimes.

Sources:

• “Dictionary of Northern Mythology” by Rudolf Simek, 2010
• “Gesta Danorum” Volume I, translated and edited by Karsten Friis-Jensen and Peter Fisher
• “Heimskringla”, transl. by Alison Finlay and Anthony Faulkes, 2011
• “In Defence of the Vanir” by Clive Tolley, 2011
• “Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs” by John Lindow, 2001
• “Relative sá and the dating of Eddic and skaldic poetry” by Christopher D. Sapp, 2019
• “The Role of Hostages in Roman Diplomacy with Sasanian Persia” by A. D. Lee, 1991
• “The Vanir: An Obituary” by Rudolf Simek, 2010
• “Vanir and Æsir” by John Lindow in “Pre-Christian Religions of the North” Volume III, 2020.
• “Verses versus the Vanir: Response to Simek’s ‘Vanir Obituary’” by Frog & Jonathan Roper 2011
• “The Poetic Edda”, transl. by Carolyne Larrington, 2014
• “The Prose Edda”, transl. by Anthony Faulkes, 1995

Contact:

• Write in: waelhraefn (at) gmail (dot) com
• Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/Nvw5hmkRsW

Music:

Celebration by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com). Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/