Tolkien and Norse Mythology

[Lalwendë]

Good stuff, Legate! The odd thing is it's not just sauron who bears resemblances to Odin, but someone who Tolkein seems to set up as his opposite 'power', Gandalf.

Sauron shares those aspects of Odin which are darker: the one eye (though this is more of a symbol for Sauron, I don't think he's actually one-eyed); the ability to see everything in the world; blood sacrifice; the gold Ring Draupnir which spawns eight gold rings every nine days; he is master of wolves and of ravens.

Gandalf on the other hand shares those aspects of Odin which are good: he is 'sacrificed' upon Yggdrasil and returns for 'death' much stronger, much more knowledgeable; he rides the magical eight legged horse Sleipnir, the master of all horses; he wears a wide brimmed hat, has a long beard and a staff.

Tolkien in fact said of Gandalf that he was "an Odinic wanderer". I love this combination of aspects of one Norse God into two Maiar!

And just to add to this, the runic symbol of Odin is the Valknut, three interconnected triangles, rather like the Celtic Triquestra (a symbol shared by both Pagans and Christians) and the rather eerily, co-incidentally named interconnecting triple circles, the Borromean Rings.