Tolkien and Norse Mythology

[Lalwendë]

Feeling very sleepy as ever this afternoon I had a poke round in me files and had a read of the Voluspa.

So, I've spotted some more interesting bits and pieces following on from the discussions about Turin and Ragnarok.

Mim:

I know where Othin's | eye is hidden,
Deep in the wide-famed | well of Mimir;
Mead from the pledge | of Othin each mom
Does Mimir drink: | would you know yet more?

This whole business of Odin giving up an eye in return for knowledge of his fate is most interesting in comparison to the symbolism of Sauron's 'eye', especially if you set it against the idea that aspects of Odin come to the surface in both Gandalf and Sauron (Gandalf of course being the name of a dwarf in Voluspa).

Eru is also known as the Allfather, uncannily similar to a title here:

On it there pours | from Valfather's pledge
A mighty stream: | would you know yet more?

Course we also have the Gods being referred to as the Holy Ones, much as the Ainur are referred to in The Sil. The Sun is male and the Moon female.

The following excerpt about the early days of creation is rather nice too. Ymir the giant and the Gods live in what seems to be a Void of some kind, at least it is similar to the 'place' (if you can assign it a temporal, spatial kind of definition) in which Eru and his Ainur dwelt. Plus we also have Mithgarth, or Middle-earth, one of the nine worlds, the world of Men; I can imagine a young Tolkien being stirred by first reading of Middengeard and then rifling through texts to see if he could find other references, much as we rifle through texts to find things which appear in his work.

Of old was the age | when Ymir lived;
Sea nor cool waves | nor sand there were;
Earth had not been, | nor heaven above,
But a yawning gap, | and grass nowhere.

Then Bur's sons lifted | the level land,
Mithgarth the mighty | there they made;
The sun from the south | warmed the stones of earth,
And green was the ground | with growing leeks.

Now on a side note, completely un-Tolkien related - I find it interesting that Mistletoe is singled out not to harm Baldr and thus must ahve been significant to the ancient Norse, and the ancient British also revered the plant!

Some intriguing word correspondences:
Brimir - Boromir?
Nastrond - Nargothrond?

Then there is Fenris/fenrir who bites off Tyr's hand, rather like Carcaroth bites off Beren's hand.

With all of this to be found and yet more, how disappointing it is that Tolkien did not write of his own Ragnarok?