Norse Myths Volume 1

Six of the most powerful figures in Norse mythology. Six complete novels. One volume.Odin — He gave one eye to drink from the well of wisdom. He hanged himself from the world tree for nine days to learn the runes. He knows Fenrir will swallow him at Ragnarok and prepares for it anyway. He worries about the ravens every morning. He walks among mortals in a grey cloak and wide-brimmed hat. He is the being who knows the future and who acts anyway — and the preparing is the only possible response to the knowing.Thor — He drives across the sky and the mortals hear the thunder. He kills giants in the east without strategy or irony, because the killing needs to be done. He fishes with Jormungandr and hauls the World Serpent to the surface and looks into its eyes knowing that at Ragnarok the serpent will kill him. He dresses as a bride to retrieve his hammer. He is the god the mortals love best — not because he is the most powerful, but because he is the most present and the most direct.Loki — He was the cleverest of all beings in the nine worlds and the most alone. He helped the Aesir obtain their greatest treasures. He organized Baldur's death. He refused to weep. He was bound in a cave with a serpent dripping venom on his face. Sigyn holds the bowl. He never fully belonged. The cleverness and the not-belonging organized each other. At Ragnarok the not-belonging will have its final expression.Freya — She came from the Vanir with the seidr magic and taught it to Odin. She obtained the Brisingamen at great personal cost. She searches for Od across the nine worlds under different names and weeps tears of red gold. She governs love and war with equal authority. She chose first from the battle-slain before Odin. She is the most desired of all possible divine beings and she desires only the one who wandered away.Baldur — He was the most beloved of all the gods and he dreamed of his death. His mother extracted oaths from everything in the nine worlds to protect him. The mistletoe was too young to swear. Loki found out. The dart struck. Everything wept. Loki refused. He did not return. He waits in Hel with Nanna for Ragnarok to end. He is the god of light in the dark. The dark does not change what he is.Tyr — He placed his hand in Fenrir's mouth as the guarantee that the binding was fair. When Fenrir found the binding was not fair, Fenrir bit off the hand. Tyr accepted this as the price of the necessary act. Justice sometimes requires a hand in the wolf's mouth. His name is in Tuesday. His name is in the word for war. His missing hand is the proof that justice is not merely philosophy.Six complete works of literary mythology fiction from I. Ioakim's Norse Myths series.