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From: jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Re: Thor (spoiler)
Message-ID: <119@hadron.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 24-Feb-85 23:57:33 EST
Article-I.D.: hadron.119
Posted: Sun Feb 24 23:57:33 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Mar-85 09:18:23 EST
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Organization: Hadron, Inc., Fairfax, VA
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> [Tiwaz ...]					...  Is there *any*
> mythological basis to this?

When I pulled out the Prose Edda, I realised I hadn't looked through it
in a dozen years.  (Fie, for shame, etc.)  Snorri Sturlson has a good
Christian prologue reminding the reader that these are just stories,
and that one should worship God rather than these pagan gods.  He goes
on to trace the Aesir's descent from Troy (!), saying that they are also
called Asians (!).  Contemporary experts suggest that this material was
original to Snorri (he made it up), and that the rest of the material
does not follow exactly the earlier songs (cf, e.g., the Poetic or
Elder Edda).  But, just for fun:

Snorri says that in Troy, Munon or Mennon married a daughter of Priam
(and, presumably, Helen) named Troan.  Their son was Tror, or Thor (!)
who took over Thrace, or Thrudheim, at age 12.  He married Sif, and
17 generations later came Finn, his son Friallaf or Fridleif, and his
son Voden or Odin whose wife was Frigida or Frigg.  And so forth ...
Supposedly all the "gods" were these almost-magical and praeternaturally
handsome Asians who came to live in Scandinavia.

Now the first part of the Prose Edda, after this Prologue, is called
The Deluding of Gylfi.  Gylfi supposedly was a good but slightly
simple king of Sweden.  He gets told all the old myths, by spirits
who are supposed to be deluding him.  Among them is the story of the
primeval frost giant, Ymir.  In his time, before Earth and time, some
of the frost thawed and became the cow Audhumla.  She licked a salty
ice block, and formed Buri.  Buri's son Bor married Bestla and got
Odin, Vili, and Ve.  Odin's sons include Thor, Baldr, and (?) Loki.

This story is sometimes confused with Odin's search for knowledge,
in which he traded his eye for much.

In the proper names above, all the 'd's are really thorn's, except in
Baldr where it really is a d.  Accented letters are drawn without
accents 'cause y'all have widely divergent special character sets or
none at all.

Joe Yao		hadron!jsdy@seismo.{ARPA,UUCP}