Pearlull

So I learned a fun tidbit the other day, I'm sure this is probably common knowledge to all the Norse mythology lovers out there but I recently discovered that Odin is the god of war, knowledge, and wisdom! I was curious and went down a little rabbit hole and started looking into why he's considered a "knowledge god", and I discovered this cool myth I wanted to share. (I'll leave my sources at the bottom but forgive me if I fudge up the details in my summary.)

Okay so, Odin is a relentless seeker of knowledge and wisdom; he was ready and willing to sacrifice anything for that pursuit. Odin is also one-eyed, that's cause' he sacrificed one of his eyes in exchange for cosmic wisdom. He ventured to the Well of Urd/Mimir's Well, there dwelled a being of shadows named Mimir. Mimir had unparalleled knowledge of all things, he attained that knowledge by drinking water from the well. Odin also wanted to attain such knowledge so he asked for a drink from the well, however Mimir refused unless Odin offered his eye in exchange. Now as mentioned before, Odin was willing to do anything to attain knowledge so, he gouged out one of his eyes and dropped it into the well.

Odin also once went to the great tree of Yggdrasil; it grew from the Well of Urd, cradled Asgard (the home of the Aesir gods and goddesses) and was said to hold a myriad of forbidden knowledge and powerful cosmic bring. Amongst those beings were the Norns (three maidens who created the fates of all living beings) they would carve runes into Yggdrasil's trunk, those symbols then carry the intentions throughout the tree, affecting everything in the Nine Worlds. Odin wanted to know those runes but they wouldn't reveal themselves to anyone least they prove themselves worthy of suck insights. To prove himself worthy, Odin hung himself from a branch of Yggdrasil, stabbed himself with his spear and peered down into the well's shadowy depths. He refused any aid, going nine days and nine nights without any water or food, he hung on the precipice of life and death. At the end of the ninth night, he was able to perceive the runes, he had been deemed worthy.

I've never been one for Norse mythology because my brain was enthralled with Greek and Celtic mythology but it's really interesting to see that Odin values wisdom and knowledge so much.

Honestly, those myths really inspired me to wanna write a HTTYD fic and include some tie back to Norse mythology. Side-note, from what I could gather in Norse mythology, there aren't any positive portrayals of dragons, their myths are all exclusively negative. Typically, dragons in Norse mythology are representative of immense greed, hunger, nature, and knowledge (in the myth of the dragon Fafnir, the hero, Sigurd slayed Fafnir and consumed it's heart, granting him knowledge).

I think that puts the story of the first movie into a more interesting perspective and I suddenly have the unquenching urge to write a fanfiction. Maybe a runaway Hiccup fanfiction? Not fully sure.