Story 94: The Bifrost is Burning (This is Fine)
“Hymir, Gam Gam’s not doing so hot.”
Did you know the Bifrost is ON FIRE? We certainly didn’t.
Other topics include the lack of time spent beyond the walls of Hotel Valhalla, Asgard definitely not being Troy, scholarly speculation on the long lost legacy of Tyr, the true classes of humanity, Heimdall being weird (not for the reasons you think), and another rant about Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (we were due).
For legal reasons, comments about grave robbing in this episode are all in jest. Don’t rob from graves, kids.
Spoilers for SMITE, Thor, Thor Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, and Thor Love and Thunder
Content Warning: This episode contains mentions of and conversations about death, dismemberment, intercourse, class systems, and imprisonment.
Moss Lawton’s Hellaween: Spellbent Patron-Voted Bonus Episode available now on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/musesofmythology
About Us
Muses of Mythology was created and co-hosted by Darien and DJ Smartt.
Our music is Athens Festival by Martin Haene. Our cover art is by Audrey Miller. Find her on Instagram @bombshellnutshellart
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Find us @MusesOfMyth on Instagram. Find all of our episodes and episode transcripts at MusesOfMythology.com
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DJ (00:00.172)
Music of Mythology is a spoiler-heavy podcast.
That's an understatement.
Darien (00:15.928)
swallowed wrong.
I saw somewhere
Go ahead, keep going.
you
DJ (00:38.126)
Welcome to Muse is a Mythology, a podcast where you explore how ancient myths become part of modern pop culture through the lens of a guidance Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard. This is story 94, Asgard. I'm your co-host and podcasting muse Darian Smart. Joining me is my co-host and brother, DJ.
How's everybody doing today? I'm DJ The Muse and I am exhausted.
Well DJ, respectfully, what else is new?
I mean, what's new is I didn't take my Adderall today. running low and I expect a text for when it's like, oh, you know, your prescription is ready. I didn't get that last month. Uh-huh. And now I'm down to my last one. Oh, fuck. It's crazy. It affects my mood like a crazy amount. I'm like, wow, did I really do the shit with it? It's nuts. Oh!
Check.
DJ (01:17.03)
Yeah, it's we need to go muse around in the garden about this for a minute
DJ (01:30.2)
DJ, I would say this is a big one. It is, yeah.
It is a task. Assume being the fact that you say you would say there's not a lot of it in the Edda.
No, okay, so I'm realizing now that the way I worded that was kind of weird. Like, I would say, because it is the big one, it's Asgard, I don't know, I was trying something and it just...
Maybe next time, I want to say this is a big one. I'll say this is a big one.
I want- that's- Yeah, that was right. It was really my inflection.
Darien (01:58.196)
it's like I want to say it's a big one or it's like
I'm gonna say this is DJ this is a big one. Yeah. Okay. Can we just pretend I said that? Yeah, go ahead. Great. Okay. DJ is the big one.
Okay.
Darien (02:09.133)
Crazy, it's Asgard, so I assumed.
Yes, it is Asgard. And okay, but as you did say, it's simultaneously a big one and also, spoiler, only mentioned in the Eddas twice. Well, the poetic Eddas. But before we get into that, DJ, what do you remember about Asgard in the Magnus Chase books?
It's empty because all the gods fled, also arguably because Rick didn't want to have to come up with a bunch of noise guys. You typically just hang out in Hotel Valhalla, which is in Asgard.
Damn, fired!
DJ (02:47.278)
Yeah. No, yeah, that.
kind of this kind of because it's like Gunhelda brought him up. It's like, do you see anything out there? And he's like, well, it's a lot, but I don't see any people. And she's like, yeah, all the gods left. Yeah, scared of Ragnarok.
Yeah, and then that just doesn't get revisited.
It never does. We never touch down on that again. But again, I assume it's solely because Rick probably really didn't want to come up with a bunch of gods.
Yes, but it's like when they're in like Mount Olympus, they just mentioned that they see a lot of like gods and nymphs and like demigods and stuff. Like you don't have to name them.
Darien (03:28.32)
One could argue that being how vast Greek is, yeah, of course. could at the very least think, there's probably this stupid esoteric or niche fucking god or muse or nymph that's just running around. I can't really tell it. Because we also know typically the different like...
Magical creatures don't intermingle. They don't cross over worlds, so it would only be populated by God.
Yeah, that's the end.
DJ (04:04.942)
That's also true. Yes, the realms are very distinct whereas we can see we can believe that Mount Olympus
There would be like nymphs and shit because they like help their servants of the gods
Basically, yeah. exactly. That's yeah. No, that's exactly it. That's a really good point. I hadn't considered that. It's also but the thing about that is not wanting to think of a bunch of gods is that he does that in Nine from the Nine when Alex sneaks into Musphelheim and listens to Sirt's meeting. There's like a ton of like weird, obscure gods around.
So it's definitely- They're also, I don't know if, are they Norse? Yes. they like- are they-
They're all really weird, obscure nurse.
Darien (04:43.374)
I thought I was just really weird obscure other pantheon guys that starts grabbing. We're gonna make our own
He's not there yet, no cuz they all reference
No, we're waiting for that big one that's going to have Kane, Magnus, and Roman, or like heroes, all come up.
As Erika from Seaweed Brain refers to it as Rick Riordan's multiverse of madness. The bar is literally buried in hell, so...
Hopefully it's better.
Darien (05:12.568)
Yeah, for that. But it's not a multiverse because it's not a multiverse.
It is distinctly not a multiverse. You're absolutely right. It's not you know, it was great Agatha all along I'm not gonna talk about that right now But you know what and also the great thing about Agatha all along is I can just put in my head can about what actually happened in multiverse of madness and then just Get what I want and it completely continues It does not matter what actually happened except for the fact that Wanda dies or is no longer in the game I haven't watched the last few episodes at this point, but
That's the only thing that matters between WandaVision and this one.
fucking multiverse Wanda. Like you already established that. Why did it have to be the one from the cinematic?
because the writer really just wanted to write an evil scarlet one.
Darien (06:01.038)
Yeah, you could've. You still could've! Anyway, no, we're good to go.
No, can't do this. I think you're totally right about rec writing just not wanting to mess around in Asgard because Valhalla is in Asgard. So we can't say that we never go to Asgard. But even in Nine from the Nine, the...
But it's more along the lines of you're allowed to go to New York, but you're actually stuck at their art museum. The only place you can go to. I was about to say that I'm like, that's in Europe. That's like, that's not.
Yes, it's as if it's as if we were in the met the whole time.
DJ (06:35.982)
No, but yeah, but it'd be like if you went to France and then if your book was set in France But the characters were only ever in the Louvre. it wouldn't be incorrect to say the book is set in Paris, but The characters never go anywhere else
Yeah, it's a murder mystery in the loop, which I'm like into, but...
Okay, that's also I think not entirely true. They do go to Thor's house to see Sif and that
Wasn't that like through the elevator of Hotel Valhalla though?
I think so. And that is also in Asgard. Just like Valhalla is technically in Asgard. we never go, but also when Gunilla shows him, is like that is Asgard. so it does kind of.
Darien (07:26.126)
It's pretty much just like Boston again, like footage of Golden.
Yeah, just, it does suggest there's like a separation between Valhalla and Asgard. And it is weird that even in Nine from the Nine, it still is only in Valhalla. We don't go to like, well, Valhalla is Odin's hall. I was about to say Odin's hall. Valhalla is Odin's hall. like, any- Well, the hall is the house.
We don't go to Odin's house. Well, does Odin live there? Yeah. Because I wouldn't live in my hall.
That's what Hall is. That's what the Hall is in North Germanic culture. The Hall is the home. It's the palace, basically.
What?
DJ (08:03.784)
the gods being all gone? Are we left? and then even at the end when we go to that place that they're not in Asgard at the end on the boat ride either, they're somewhere else. So it's not to say they all end up back in Asgard at the end, but that's not true either. That's somewhere else.
They're in that island between.
Yeah, that play for the final battle will be, yeah. And it is odd that there's just no...
Yeah, they just don't go to Asgard. we also don't ever, like, after they solve...
It could have been really cool to have like a scene a la Percy Jackson and the last Olympian where they're just walking through Mount Olympus or they're just walking through Asgard.
DJ (08:47.852)
Yeah, and the difference is they would be just allowed to do that. They just do that. live there. yes, their home is the hall, but there's no reason they can't go hang out. And that would be kind of cool if you got to expand the world a little bit more. what does it, I don't know, all their needs are met in the hotel, so they have no reason to. But I don't know. It is an odd thing.
There
Darien (09:10.04)
So why does all their needs need to be met in the hotel? it's like, well, I can't get that. They go to Boston for fucking pizza. You're telling me Asgard doesn't have a specific food that the hotel doesn't offer?
Well, Kazoody
DJ (09:25.486)
I know it's weird, right? It's not I mean, I think it's it's funny that we got it Boston like we got to go to Boston get pizza Like I love that and then go hang out there. I don't know. don't know. It's weird. It's just kind of weird I don't know and we never circle back to the whole gods being gone thing Like are they gone until the end of the third book? Are they gone after we deal with the fingers thing like
Is like Ragnarok just truthfully so fucking close that the gods never want to return to Asgard?
Where are they gonna go? Nowhere. You all know your fate. Like, why would they leave when they're all so willing to embrace what their fate will be? Like, leaving and acting like they're scared of it.
Maybe it's only like the ones we meet are like ready to accept that fate, everyone else like, don't want to fucking die. Are you kidding?
Very interesting. That'd be a very interesting concept that we don't ever see. that's really the weird thing that I noticed when I was reflecting on it, is that we're there in Valhalla, but we never go to Asgard. And the gods thing just kind of gets dropped. Or the gods not being there gets dropped. OK. Etymology of Asgard. It's very similar to Midgard, where it like, know, middle yard, middle enclosure.
Darien (10:32.526)
Yeah.
Well, specifically, it's enclosure of the Aesir. home, like, yard of the gods, home of the gods. And I thought it was really interesting how those two words, like Midgard and Asgard, are so similar. But none of the other ones have that same, like, enclosure. And that kind of just ties back
We were made in God's image.
I mean, yes. And Sindarin Snor give us a lot of this, for sure. But it also kind of goes back to what we talked about in the Jotunheim episode, where that's where you go to adventure. That is the wild, the untamed. Midgard is literally like enclosed, it's yard, it is civilization. So the gods would also have that. Like you don't have giants attacking and monsters rampaging here because this is safe. This is civilization. It's a threat that that
could happen if we lose the order and stability we have. But I thought it was interesting that those two, the poem of the gods and the home of like mortals, have such a similar connection and are distinctly set apart from everything else. I think it like indicates the relationship the Nordic people felt that they had to their gods in a very distinct way, where they are separate but inherently connected, especially when we get to talking about the Bifrost, which we'll get to.
DJ (11:52.746)
As I said, Asgard, specifically the word Asgard, is only mentioned twice in the Poetic Edda. In the Poetic Edda gives us lots of names and places where the gods dwell or meet. In the Sibyl's prophecy, twice it's said that the Aesir meted a place called Eidevall. We hit it first in the very beginning of the poem.
where it's the place where they meet right before that woman shows up who dies and then comes back and then the wars. We talked about that in the Veneer episode. And then at the end, after Ragnarok, the surviving Aesir, including Baldr and Hod, meet again at Eidewall. Nice. So, and then another poem, Grimir Sayings, gives us like a lot of locations. Specifically, it just cites like...
all of the grand halls that the Aesir dwell in. we get like Thor's hall and Baldr's hall and Nord's hall and stuff like that. None of them are said to be in Asgard, but they're just places. Now, the only places that we get Asgard mentioned is first in Himir's poem, which is quote, a badly preserved manuscript. So we actually don't have the full thing.
And this poem is about the Aesir deciding they're going to have a feast and then deciding that a giant named Aegir is going to prepare it for them. And in the version of the poetic edda we reference by
Real quick. Eir is the name of the sea god in Easten. I've already beaten it. That's it's not in the living room.
DJ (13:41.902)
Have fun playing the new East game. Oh you're gonna be in a I didn't notice that the the tower wasn't down
I it. I 100 % at it on the hard difficulty. like, I don't need to do New Game Plus. I don't want to do Nightmare. I'm going to go play Zombies now. Nice. Fucking great game. Highly recommend the Ys game, fellas. Nice.
So, and the translation I have by Caroline Larrington notes that the tradition of like the Asgard, the AC are showing up and like making this giant make him a feast may actually reflect like an Icelandic tradition where the king would show up to like the hall of one of his subordinates and they would be expected to provide a feast for the visiting king. So it's not quite so like, this is super weird.
They're just showing up at this guy's house and demanding they cook for him. Like, that might just be the way things were. The king rolled up and you prepared a feast for the king. Aegir doesn't super love that, and he does agree, but on the grounds that they have to provide a kettle big enough for him to brew beer for everybody. So it's a massive kettle, and everyone's like, no one has a kettle this big. And actually Tyr recalls that the giant Himir owns such a kettle, and then he and Thor set off to go pick it up.
Shout out to you, easy go.
DJ (14:52.974)
Mm-hmm. It's actually, him here, you may recall, is the giant that Thor goes fishing with when he catches the Midgard serpent. And that story is relayed within this poem. It's like a side part when they talk about how this happened. And so we know-
I'm gonna be right back. They say I got a bone. I got a bone to pick. I'll be right back
Yeah, and as you recall at the end of the poem of the story where Thor goes fishing, he throws the giant into the water and then storms home. Apparently the giant survived in order to be in this kettle retrieving story. So in that poem, it says, journeyed hard that day and far from Asgard until they came to Egil. He secured their goats with splendid horns and they headed for the hall which Hymir owned. So just literally that's it. They leave Asgard and go.
They just show up to me and I was like, hey man, you want to cook for us?
Hey, man, we just need to borrow your giant cat
Darien (15:51.49)
It's just they're in this predicament because they demanded some that. They want to cook for us. But it's just like, it's like, yeah, after they get the feast, they're like, okay, we need a bar your kettle. Well, it's like these two are going out.
That's no, he mere would be what do you mean you know, but it's dirty now. I have to wash it
Yeah, well, like, you know, we just did this whole, like, greetings and, you know, stuff at another place and he demanded a kettle big enough to serve us all and there's like 30 people back there. So we need your big fucking kettle.
And then thanks for providing sandwiches.
We appreciate you for cooking for us, so we're gonna go have another dude cook for us and 28 more people.
DJ (16:30.902)
And everyone's still waiting on for us to show up with that kettle. So that's the first time Asgard is mentioned in the prose edit. The second time, and I say first and second because like that's the order in which these poems appear.
Yeah
Darien (16:43.746)
But it's arguably not the order that they're actually
Yeah, right. Like the way the poems are collected or the way they were collected within the Codex Regis, right, which is where we get the pros at pros at poetic eda, excuse me. And the that's just the way the order is. But it doesn't like we can tell some are super important, like the Sibyl's poem, that first one is like has so much about the cosmology and the history. And so we can like extrapolate that that was probably considered super important. But when I say first and second, that's really just the order in which they appear in this book, but not necessarily like
maybe the order they would have been known. I don't know. I just felt like I needed to mention that. So the second time we find it in the Poetegada is in Thrimir's poem. And this is where we get the story of Thor's hammer being stolen by the giant Thrimir and him and Loki having to dress up like a bridal party to go retrieve it. And Heimdall is actually the one who suggests, hey,
next.
DJ (17:42.286)
after Freya refuses to participate in the shenanigans. He's the one that suggests, well, why don't Thor, why don't you just dress up like Freya and her bridal stuff and then you can sneak in and get your hammer? And initially Thor is like, absolutely not. The AC will call me perverse if I let you tie a bridal headdress on me. Then Loki and Lofi's son said, be quiet, Thor. Don't speak these words. The giants will be settling in Asgard unless you get your hammer back. And essentially like, Loki's being like, my guy.
You really need to- the most important thing right now is you getting your hammer back or we're gonna have-
You gotta fucking swallow that pride, bud.
Do you want giants moving in? Settling in Asgard? Which raises a little xenophobic to me, but... It's not even invading, just...
Well, mean... You know, it's giants though. We don't want that.
DJ (18:33.832)
In swinging over to the prose edda in the Gilf and Ingening, Snorri describes how the gods made the world. And we discuss this in the Midgard episode about Ymir and how his skull and Asgard was created on the brow. And in that episode, we talked about how Midgard was the center. But Snorri actually goes on and says that Asgard was actually built at the center of the world. And to either
Snorri is providing an additional cultural context for what Eidevall is, or he made this creative decision to basically coalesce these two ideas of Asgard and Eidevall. He says that Eidevall is at the center of Asgard. So the place where the gods meet, Eidevall, is the place within Asgard. In the Gilfunding inning, we get another interesting story about Asgard. And it's after Midgard was created.
And then after Valhalla was created, a talented smith arrived on a horse, offering to build a walled fortress for the Aesir in just three seasons. Incredible. What a deal. In exchange, he wanted to not only marry Freya, but also he wanted the son and the
Sol's her own person, she don't need that.
She don't need that. and apparently Loki was put in charge of negotiating and he,
Darien (20:00.042)
He's like, yeah, okay. You get everything you want. don't I don't give a shit about these people.
No, what he said was, OK, deal. But you have to complete it in one season. You have to complete it by the end of winter. If anything is unfinished on the first day of summer, no deal. And no one else can help you. And the Smith thinks about it. He's like, OK, deal if I can use my horse. My horse has to be able to help me. And Loki thinks about it. He's like, yeah, absolutely. Like, a horse is not going to. You're not getting it done in one season with just a horse.
It's fucking ridiculous.
Yeah, so Dio, go for it, man. Anyways, so this horse is crazy strong and like super fast. So it is very obvious that this Smith is going to get the job done on time. Absolutely no problem. And the Aesir are like, okay, hey man, who, not only is Freya gonna have to go off with this stranger, but also all of heaven and earth are gonna be thrust into chaos because this dude's gonna make off with the sun and the moon. Who the hell agreed to these terms?
Thank
DJ (21:05.45)
and Loki caused this problem, so now Loki has to fix it. He's like, okay, okay, I'll fix it. And so we get Loki turning into a mare, distracting the stallion for a day. And just that one day is enough to set off all of the, not all the progress, but puts the timeline way back and it becomes instantly obvious that he's not, now he's not gonna make it. Yeah, no matter what.
goes. It's like one day gets fucked and you're like, God, there goes the whole fucking thing.
Exactly, like now he will not get even with the horse back, he will not get it done in time. So the Smith flies into a raid, reveals he's a mountain giant, and the Aesir all go, deals off, they call off Thor. Thor deals with the problem by just killing this guy.
You lied.
He did lie, he did hide the fact, he had him swear oath but did not, you know, reveal that he was a mountain giant, which, okay.
Darien (21:54.218)
start giving all the details up front that's not cool
Exactly, exactly. So Asgard is actually never mentioned in this story, but scholars generally take it to be like, this is the fortress he's building, like this enclosure. Yeah, enclosure of the Aesir. He is building Asgard.
I just contacted other people, was like, can you guys finish what it was?
That was like another thing I was gonna say is that it also nowhere states whether or not the building ever got finished. Which I think would have been a very very funny thing for Rhyrden to like play with if they ever went into
There's just like half of Asgard like bricks cement bags fucking just unfinished untouched like yeah the guy I was doing it
DJ (22:32.6)
Not even half. Like, let's say like it's fifth, like there's a part of the wall and there's just like a mile worth of wall that never got finished and they're just like, or like a hundred.
The dude that was building it just like died.
I know, it's crazy, yeah. It never got finished. Weird. Wait, wait, what? That's why all the gods skipped town in Asgard, because it's not actually as well defended as you think it is. The building never got done. In the Skaldskaparmal, which is another one of the pros eddas, Asgard is also cited as being home of the Aesir. And in this same collection, it's where Thor is given the title Defender of Asgard.
thing about Snorri is that he says Asgard is built in the middle of the world. But he also says it's like, yep, in the heavens, connected by the Bifrost. And so this is a thing that scholars have had to try to figure out what cosmologically the realms these worlds looked like to the Nordic people, which is something we've talked about before, how it's like the realms may be a misnomer or this or that, or was Snorri relaying
various beliefs that were shared at the time, or was it more he was being influenced by his own Christian beliefs and writing things to really reflect? Yeah. And so other scholars have said that like it trying to create a map of the realms is basically kind of silly. would kind of be like trying to create a map of what like earth, heaven and hell would be.
Darien (23:48.554)
Mix of everything it sounds like.
Darien (24:06.882)
map to the realms is just a little hand turkey I don't what you guys want from me it's the South Park joke I already explained it once on the vodcast I don't remember what episode it was but I did explain the whole like because it was like a pilgrim thing it was really
What?
DJ (24:14.088)
I do not remember. It's somewhere else. do not remember.
DJ (24:22.503)
I remember, okay, I do remember this now, where it's like the idea of like, well, it's at heavens in the sky and hell's under the earth, except we know it's like folks who, like Christians who believe this, no, that's not, they aren't tangible locations.
You say up in heavens, but it's not like actually
You're not gonna get there with a rocket ship, right? And you're not gonna dig down into the earth, like, it's...
You'll get something akin to hell if you dig down though. It gets fucking hot down
And so it does have to be kind of like we would say these terms and say these places but simultaneously understanding that that's not a physical location you could reach by traveling except when sometimes people just walk to Helheim so I'll say souls would travel to the underworld like it is Layers, it's pieces.
Darien (25:01.261)
Okay.
DJ (25:09.504)
a little ethereal and trying to create a hard and fast rule like this is what the world looked like to the Nordic people. It's a fruitless endeavor. Now another thing that Snorri said, and this is something I mentioned way back in when we talked about the Eddas episode, is that another people knew Asgard by another name, Troy.
And he said that the Aesir came from Asia. And they were all known by the great halls and stuff. And this great city of gods was really just Troy, you know, from the Iliad. And it's like, why?
Why are we tying it to this? What the fuck?
Two, In Story does this, we believe, for two reasons. First, because he really wants you to remember that these are not gods, capital G god. These are just like, hey, these stories are cool. but they're not really gods and they're not really deities. So like, don't forget, there's only one capital G god. I talked about him all up in here. And secondly, it is to anchor his cultural stories and traditions.
with that of the European classics. This is not the only time this has been done. In the Aeneid, which is this story like Virgil wrote of Aeneas who was of Troy and founding Rome. The idea that you could anchor the city of Rome to this great city of Troy and this great epics by Homer and stuff like.
DJ (26:47.352)
That was a specific thing to try to elevate your own cultural identity by anchoring it to that of the ancient greats. So that is what Snorri is doing when he says that Asgard is also Troy.
Nuts. Insane.
Kind of... Listen.
I don't know if it worked the same way that the Aeneas pulled it off. I'll have to do a little bit more digging, but yeah, seems like kind of wild.
trying to say Asgard is Troy's little nuts. crazy.
DJ (27:21.88)
DJ, what do you know about the Bifrost?
I know in the original texts it only connects to Asgard and Midgard, but when it's used it's of just as used to go anywhere.
It is a rainbow bridge.
DJ (27:38.53)
Yes, yep. Snorey again, he shouts out that Asgard is above Midgard in the heavens attached by the Bifrost. Etymologically, there's no concrete agreed upon translation for what Bifrost means. Scholar Andy Orchard has suggested it may have meant like shimmering path, suggesting the fleeting nature of a rainbow.
And, but another scholar, Austrian-Germanist Rudolf Semmeck, who we've mentioned several times, has said that it either means the swaying road to the heavens or that it was perhaps the fleetingly glimpsed rainbow, which I thought was interesting and wild because I never really thought about Bifrost.
could just be a, what is it people call it? could, it probably could just mean rainbow. Right? And just like they saw a rainbow after it rains and like, the B frost.
Probably.
DJ (28:41.398)
The B-Frost. That's interesting. I always say Bifrost, but...
I've heard B-Frost be used recently in other media. Not in Ys, maybe in Ys. I think they said B-Frost, but in something else, they said B-Frost, and I'm like, okay.
What does it say in East?
DJ (28:58.422)
I think there is this interesting, silly juxtaposition of the idea of the Vikings who are this like warrior, raider, tough, violent people, appreciating a rainbow, being like, you'll cross the rainbow to get to where our gods live. And that feels very like leprechauns and...
I always appreciate a rainbow.
Darien (29:23.122)
Silly! It's just like the afterlife is supposed to be a happy thing even for this warrior race and the rainbows are always nice to see.
So gonna read to you a stanza from Grimir Sains, which is the first reference to the Asgardian or the Aesir's Bridge that we get in the Poetic Edda.
Hormt and Ormt and the two kurglar, these Thor must wade every day when he goes to give judgments at Yidrisil's ash, for the Aesir's bridge burns all with flames, the sacred waters boil.
to HotBridge.
a hot bridge. then later on in the same poem, I've mentioned this stanza where we just cite like here are all the best things. the best things being Yidrassil's ash is the most permanent of trees, as is Skinna Blarneir of ships, Odin of the Aesir, Slipnir of horses, Bifrost of bridges, Bragi of poets, Hawk Bork of hawks, and Garm of dogs. So the general consensus is the Bifrost bridge named in this stanza.
DJ (30:28.05)
is what is referencing the Aesir's burning fire bridge mentioned earlier.
I gotta say it's so strange to me that Marvel decided to also turn the Bifrost into like a weapon
Well, we get to that. Pin in that. You can't just do that at the-
Every time I think about what Loki's playing for that, I'm like, why was that even an option?
Well, it's a warm hole connecting two points in space. creates the area around it to be very unstable if it's opened for too long.
Darien (31:05.934)
Here it was acting like a space drill.
Well, was like causing the point of contact to become unstable and things were breaking around it. Yeah. It is ridiculous.
I don't understand it. Why was it freezing?
It was Jotunheim, it was called.
As for this freezing the lightning coming off this fucking thing and tendrils of ice. No. It's it's dumb. I like it. thought it was visually great, but it's just like you think about like they just they just don't ever use it again because. They made it again. The pie frost showed up again, I'm pretty sure.
DJ (31:29.481)
That's the problem you have with it.
DJ (31:40.46)
He broke it! Thor had to break it!
DJ (31:46.542)
I think Heimdall was using his power specifically to transport
I'm talking now activate the bifrosted Wilton fucking goofy
I think it was his sword. OK, so one more time when the Bifrost is named in the Poetegara is in a poem called The Lay of Fafnir. And this is that dragon. Fafnir. That we talked about. In this poem, it is actually when the hero Sigurd kills Fafnir. But that just happens at the beginning, where he just stabs him in the stomach. And then we get a chunk of the poem where they're just talking to each other.
He says, Sigurd says, tell me Fafnir, you are said to be wise and know a great deal. What is the island called where Surt and the Aesir will mingle sword liquid together? Fafnir said, not yet made it's called and there all the gods shall sport with their spears. Bifrost will break as they journey away and their horses flounder in the great river. So we get that the story of like how Surt and the soldiers of the sons of Muspelheim will march.
all across the bridge on Asgard, here we get to the part where it will break beneath them, which is something that Snorriet for explores further in the Gelfeningening, which has its own little chapter by Frost, the Rainbow Bridge. And DJ, do you remember what the setup of the Gelfeningening is?
Darien (33:10.478)
Odin's talking to his three selves.
Darien (33:16.942)
A dude is talking to- Nice! It's also funny to think that- Oden is talking to- It's Oden is the king and he's talking to his threesau-
Baby. So then Gangleri asked, what is the path from earth to the heavens? Then Snickering High answered, your question shows little knowledge. Haven't you heard that the gods built a bridge from the earth to the sky and it's called the Bifrost? You have seen it and possible you call it a rainbow. It has three colors and great strength and is made with more skill and knowledge than other constructs. Sturdy though it is, it will break when the sons of Musful ride over it at Ragnarok.
Their horses will swim great rivers and so they will advance." And he says, look, it must not be so great if it's going to break. Hyre replied, the gods deserve no blame for the construction. Bifrost is a sound bridge, but nothing in the world can be trusted when the sons of Misfal attack.
Hey dude, it works great, but you you wanna crash a fucking boat into it, it's not gonna stand all too well. I use it as function, it's gonna be great, but you exceeded its weight limit.
What?
DJ (34:21.303)
What I think is super interesting is that line about it having three colors.
yellow and blue and it just
I mean, yeah. The thing about color.
Or what was it? It's like teal, magenta, and yellow. Like the true primary colors or some shit like that.
I think so, yeah.
DJ (34:41.323)
Yeah, yeah, because the, the idea.
For a long time, orange wasn't
But it existed!
It was a red color. Yeah, or you may say red yellow, right?
And then we got the fruits, called those oranges.
DJ (35:01.15)
because they're named after a place in France. The color orange comes from the fruit because the fruit became popular and so then it became a specific name.
Give me that orange colored marker. And I was like, OK. Here's that orange colored marker. And everyone's like, it's just orange now.
Yes, exactly. And then in other places, blue and green are like that. You can find, etymologically, colors becoming their own distinct color, when for the longest time, you would have just called orange red, or green blue, or pink red. It happens with time. And so the idea that this line of the rainbow is made of three colors sounds odd to our ear when we are like it's made of s-
It's a rainbow, but it's it's because it's red yellow and blue and those are the primary
Yeah, we identify the color we identify the colors in between or like in the terms of like purple indigo going past blue as Being distinct in a way that we can see the Icelandic people at the time just wouldn't have yeah, and I thought that was really cool Another thing that's actually really cool about the the bifrost if you skip ahead a couple chapters snorri discusses it again and mentions how
DJ (36:19.854)
because Gangleri, they talk about like the Bifrost and all the worlds again. And he asked, does fire burn over the Bifrost? Hai replied, the red you see in the rainbow is the burning fire. Frost giants and the mountain giants would scale heaven if the Bifrost could be traveled by all who wanted to do so. Not just anybody can use the Bifrost and also it's on fire. And that's a thing I don't think we get enough of is that
It is on fire. This is a burning fire.
The red part is fire. What's the yellow and blue part?
Is fire. Yeah. It's probably the path. Or it's probably the yellow is the actual path and the blue is the river that Thor wades through. And you ask, why is Thor wading through? I say, I'm not entirely sure.
Because he's going to Jotunheim.
Darien (37:13.016)
Well, he wades through a river to get to Yoten.
He does. Henry Adams Bellows commented that the stanza mentioning Thor wading to the river could mean that Thor has to go on foot in the last days of destruction when the bridge is burning. Another interpretation, however, is that when Thor leaves the heavens, i.e. when a thunderstorm is over, the Rainbow Bridge becomes hot in the sun.
But the way Bella's words that implies that the bridge isn't always on fire or is only on fire when Thor is gone. And it sounds like the bridge is on fire all the time. I saw somewhere where it said that Thor can't cross it because he's so like heavy and strong he could break it. But I couldn't find that replicated in any of the texts or any of like scarlerly interpretation. One less Bifrost fun fact is that the scholars John Lindow and Rudolf Samek have both suggested that the Bifrost may have been the Milky Way.
Which, if you've ever actually seen the Milky Way without light pollution, you can believe it's a path traveled by the gods. And then maybe you can see more colors in it, but it does sound like rainbow, red, blue, like I guess we're saying red. Like there are colors in it. I would wonder if that's, is there red in the Milky Way when viewed without light pollution? And that could be pretty cool.
I've I mean, like maybe you'd be able to see, you might be able to see like red stars, but I feel like I've seen pictures of the Milky Way in every picture I've seen, even ones taken from like space, know? The Milky Way's not red. It never really hits red notes in my mind. But they might also be saying that the purple part of it could be red, but maybe that's also where they're saying it's blue, I don't know.
DJ (39:04.824)
Yeah, I don't know. But that is the Bifrost. Now I want to get into a couple ACers who are...
main noted thank you noted especially in the Magnus books but not enough that I think they could have carried their own episode so and they're also two that I've already mentioned in this episode and I'd like to start with tear okay DJ what do you remember about tear from the Magnus chase book
No.
Darien (39:35.214)
TJ's dad, bashful.
Bashful.
good with humans. Yeah, he's a little bashful when he's approaching when he's approaching TJ he's like
Well, bashful is such a sweet way to put that. I like that. That's such a great like adjective.
Well, that's what he is.
Darien (39:54.599)
He's like proud of his son, but he doesn't know how to like express it. Yeah, that's exactly what it was.
I challenge you to shake my hand.
Very good. Yeah, I like that. Do remember what he's the god of?
Darien (40:09.71)
He's the law. I think he's like the law bringer. Is what is at the very least the title he gets in smile.
think at some point in time TJ says that he was like a war deity, but that kind of got usurped by like Odin and Thor a little bit.
Well, you know.
and that...
The lawgiver is what he is in Smite.
DJ (40:35.342)
Do you remember anything otherwise notable about Tyr specifically?
Are you trying to get me to bring up the fact he doesn't even got a hand? Yes.
I am trying to get you to mention the whole one hand because the wolf ate it.
Yeah, he put his hand inside Fenrir's mouth so that Fenrir would stop moving for a little bit while they tied him up. And when Fenrir realized that these chains actually couldn't be broken, he took Tyr's hand.
Yeah, that's exactly it. Absolutely. So here's something super, super interesting about Tyr. He was a super ancient deity. ancient in a way that might predate other, yeah. And I think we talked a little bit this about...
Darien (41:15.425)
Norse.
DJ (41:22.4)
Nord?
The ocean guy.
Yeah, we went back and he may have had a twin sister at some point in time. That kind of proto-Indo-European thing. These proto-Norse versions of his name literally translate to deity or god. And there's an idea that this tier may have been an epitaph for a god and that we have lost that god's name.
like to time we just don't have what this god's name actually was beyond the epitaph. And that the also like the the inclination of the name associated with war or thing. DJ you reminded me of this the other night. What is thing in the context of Norse culture? Meeting. exactly.
Meeting. Because hey guys, in East 10, the Jarl of the Nordic representation called, they're actually the Normans. Yeah, the Jarl is like, I gotta call a thing. I'm like, oh yeah, that is what they call meeting.
DJ (42:20.386)
Ha ha!
DJ (42:28.776)
Tribal council assembly of the free people of the community kind of what you'd have like a town hall It's a thing and so there's a day that this deity was likely really associated with those The what is called the tea room. It's that room that looks kind of like an arrow Is also associated with this deity is named tear and we also Then the day of the week Tuesday is etymologically related to this version of tears name. Yep
Yeah, yeah.
DJ (42:58.071)
And so.
Just the basic fact that this word means God gives us an inclination that like, this deity is lot older and maybe was a lot more.
DJ (43:14.604)
weighted culturally at one point in time because we don't really get like, Tyr is mentioned, right? Like he's around the way like gods are around, but he...
He doesn't do much. Like, his hand gets bitten off by Frenris Wolf. That's the one. That one we get is mentioned in Snorri gives us that from the Skaldskaparmal, where he's mentioned as the one-handed or feeder of the wolf battle god, son of Odin. All these different things. Tyr also calls out Loki's shit in Loki's quarrel, as does, you know,
That's it. That's kind of what he's got.
DJ (43:59.518)
everybody. I think we've cited his passage a couple times because he's the one that steps in and like stands up for Frey when Loki starts talking shit about him and he's the one that says like you know he would never make a girl cry nor any man's wife like he's he's a great dude and Loki says be silent Tyr you could never deal straight between two people your right hand I must point out is the one which Fenrir tore from you. Tyr said I've lost my hand but you've lost the famous wolf evil brings pain to us both.
It is not pleasant for the wolf, who must in shackles wait for the twilight of the gods. To which Loki says, be silent here, it happened that your wife had a son by me.
I fucked your girl. Cuck.
Yeah, and you know what's super interesting is that when I was like digging through and doing like all this research on Tyr, like nowhere did it actually say, and also Tyr's wife had an affair with Loki and had a child.
Yeah, yeah, he's just like I yeah, and I fucked your bitch. Yeah, he's just straight talking shit that whole fucking time. It's not true
DJ (44:58.53)
Yeah.
DJ (45:03.246)
And it's circling back to how for some reason we decide that Loki must be telling the truth about Freya and Freya's parentage and them hooking up with each other. But like any other time he talks shit, it's not true. Like it's not treated as if that's legit. So that's just another thing I'm like, wait, nowhere does it deign to mention that except for this one. Anyway, I've already I will have plenty more to say about it when we get to the Loki episode because what the hell?
Because you'd think that the one time where Tyr gets his hand bitten off, he'd be like a big player in that poem. And he's like, not though. That's like the one thing that happens. He's the one brave enough to put the hand in the wolf's mouth, which is, so that's a big deal about him. But the poem in which Tyr actually is like the main protagonist is that one we mentioned earlier, where they're going to go get the kettle from Hymir. Because in this poem, Tyr's the one that's like, hey, Hymir has a big kettle we can use.
And when he brings that up, his exact wording on the matter.
So his dad is him here? Mm-hmm.
And then we get, as they travel, him and Thor go together, as we said earlier. The lad found his grandmother, very ugly she seemed to him, 900 heads she had.
Darien (46:28.878)
Why?
And then later on they get to him years place when he entered the icicles.
GamGam's not doing so hot. Maybe you should go check on your mom.
A woman greets them and says, Himir comes in, Greetings, Himir, be of good humor. Now our son has come to your hall. He whom we've expected on his long journeyings. Hod's adversary accompanies him. Friend of warriors, Vior is his name. And... I don't know, man. Like, just don't worry about it. So anyway, the giant's not pleased and he throws some shit around. Thor and Himir hide in a kettle. Not Himir.
of your.
DJ (47:14.094)
Thor and Tyr hide in a kettle. The kettle is fortunately very strong and survives this. And then we get into the whole Thor and Ymir go on a fishing trip story in this back and forth. And Tyr isn't mentioned again in his poem until the very end where he fails to pick up the kettle twice and then Thor carries it home.
DJ (47:41.496)
So here's what's interesting.
He does a really cool thing and then it's like
Yes, and actually he may not-
DJ (47:52.216)
Yeah, and actually that may not have been him. So scholars are really like the fact when he mentioned that Himir is his father and his grandmother has 900 heads, like we know so little about Tyr that like, yeah, maybe. But scholars actually think that maybe he wasn't the original protagonist of this poem. And that it was actually probably Loki, who usually is the one going on adventures with Thor into giant land.
Ha ha ha ha.
Darien (48:19.798)
makes sense.
And so is Loki, Loki, whose father is a giant.
Yeah, father's giant sword makes sense that his grandmother would have 900 heads.
Yeah, and so it's the idea is that like, also the version of like the text we have is unfinished. It just stops. Like that's why do I meant like badly preserved. We don't have the whole thing. Like I read in the translations, there are like lines of dots that indicate where we just don't have whatever was going on there. So we don't know, but there's idea that's like, yeah, this is like the one poem where Tears like one of the main characters.
Tear brings up he knows who has it. And then it's a, like we just know it's two guys. One of them is at least Thor going on the adventure. So we gotta assume it's Tear, right? No, why not assume it's Loki?
DJ (49:03.054)
Because usually it's Loki. actually, after Tyr says, yeah, my father, they just travel. And Tyr's name isn't brought up again until the whole he can't lift up the kettle at the very end. Weird. So that's the thing. Like, is just interesting. It is weird. Tyr's name occurs in what's like a caning element, which we've talked about. It's just like this poetic device in the Skaldskamparmo in reference to Odin.
Like he is called like warrior Tyr, god Tyr, god Tyr, like leader Tyr, things like that. Like the idea that Tyr is being used in that form just to mean God. But this is like Snorri didn't know about him. Like he has a chapter in the Gil-Phaning-a-Ning where he said that he's just asked like, well, Ganglirri says like, what are some other Aesir? And Hai answers, Tyr is the name of another Aesir. He is the boldest and most courageous and is very much up to him who wins the battle.
The actions of men he is good to invoke. The expression goes that a man is tear courageous if he is the type who advances out into the front never losing courage. He's also so wise that a clever person is said to be tear wise. Then he goes on to talk about the ace here trying to lure Fenrir in and him putting his hand in getting this. Because of this, is one handed and men do not think of him as a peacemaker.
So there's this, him being mentioned, like belief of being very wise and very like courageous in battle, very noble. There's kind of an idea that like Odin, this figure may have been like far more prominent and Odin as he gained popularity, kind of usurped the position and elements of this original tier deity figure, whatever he was at his fullest like concept. We just don't know that anymore. And speaking of things that we don't know.
Let's talk about Heimdall. Because DJ, you're gonna be surprised to know, we don't know fucking shit about Heimdall. And not in the whole he's only mentioned twice and we don't know what's up. Like we've had figures that's like, yeah, so and so's brother and they're never mentioned again. Like Heimdall's mentioned. We know things about him, but we don't know or understand why though. So DJ, to start, what do you remember about Heimdall from the Magnus?
Darien (50:58.318)
What's up?
Darien (51:23.618)
You had a high pitched voice and a phablet. Remember when phablets were about to be a thing and then everyone's like, this is too big. Yeah. And phones got like a touch bigger, but they're not like, but they're not like phablet big.
Yeah, and then phones just got a little bit
Usable No, no, no, no, no, but they became the because you want a fabulous like well phones are just a little too small to do what we want them to do so we just made them
For those of you who don't know how big a phablet was, it's about as big as a Kindle.
Yeah.
Darien (51:49.838)
It was like a Kindle but with phone functionality. I can't believe it. was ridiculous.
And he wants to take selfies with all of the world. And he turns his horn into a selfie stick.
Yes. No, his sword.
right, yeah, it's a sword, it's selfie stick. so funny. Yeah, this is, of all of the characters who are very, very silly in a Ryordan version, I think Heimdall is the silliest. And at one point, Samira declares that she will only ever, like, Amir, because Heimdall is associated with vows and marriage. I guess.
goofy.
Darien (52:32.28)
Due to his nine mothers? I think it was.
Yes, he does have nine mothers. So here's the thing.
The only thing we actually see is that he's in charge of the Biodifrost and he's got nine mothers. Those are only two facts we actually know about him from the Eddas.
Yeah, and one of those things, and both of them perplex scholars to no end.
Why? What the fuck? You're mine, moms?
DJ (52:53.878)
Yeah, every time we get a fact about him, they're just like, but what does this mean? And I was going to save the nine moms thing, but like, yeah, let's talk about the nine moms thing. It's on the fucking table. So let's just get at it. So the nine moms thing comes from a line in the pros eda where Heimdall is mentioned.
He just pulled this shit out of his ass like, yeah, he's got nine moms!
Nine moms no, so actually so this is this follows two chapters after mentioning tear He's just listing off like different gods, right? So Heimdall is one He is called the white god and is powerful and sacred nine means all sisters gave birth to him as their son Talk about a fucking group projects his teeth are gold. He has a horse called Galtrop He lives near the bifrost at a place called him in de Borg
He is the watchman of the gods and sits at Heaven's Inn where he keeps watch over the bridge against the mountain giants. He needs less sleep than a bird and can see equally as well by night or day at the distance of a hundred leagues. He hears the grass growing on the earth and wool on sheep, as well as everything else that makes a noise. He has a horn known as gallerhorn and its blast can be heard in all worlds. Heimdall's sword is called a head. And the freeze of that. But the... the nine moms thing.
is
Darien (54:21.858)
Jell-O-Hole.
DJ (54:38.134)
Because Snorri just so happens to be the only place where this is preserved. Because we don't have the rest of that poem. Like, you know how we talked about this sometimes, where sometimes there's just a passage and we're just like, where the hell is this coming from? This time he actually mentions, he actually happens to cite the name of it himself. We don't have that poem. So that's what perplexed scholars, because they're like, what does that mean?
Why couldn't you fucking write this shit down, snort? Where's this at?
so there's, so there's another fragmented poem and it's called, Volspa Hemskama, where the names of his nine mothers are mentioned. I'm not going to list them. That's not interesting. It's just, and wouldn't that be interesting? Little do you know. It's a, this is the Multiverse of Madness. So you have these names. They're in Norse mythology. There is actually a group of nine women that is pretty
I'm the name users.
DJ (55:40.366)
prominently known, and they are the nine daughters of Aegir and Ran, the personifications of the waves. And so scholars have suggested that if, as it says, they're like the son of nine sisters, this would make him essentially the son of the waves, a child of the ocean. Now the names of these three, the nine daughters, don't match the names that are in this poem.
So there's an argument that like, no, it's not them because they don't match. But John Lindow has actually proposed that there may have been two different traditions regarding Heimdall's parentage. One where here are these women, they're listed to the nine. And then another where it's like, yeah, here are the nine sisters. So that doesn't necessarily means it wasn't the nine daughters of the sea gods. It just means in some traditions it was, in some traditions it wasn't. But.
Mm-hmm.
why and what that has to do with anything and why that was important enough for snorri to mention but not to extrapolate on because it was so well known. Okay, man, you want to know some other weird things that we know but don't understand about Heimdall? He's associated with rams. Why? No idea. Just none. He can't hear their wool growing. maybe another idea that's like
Because he can hear their wool grow.
DJ (57:05.368)
kind of perplexing is that the him having a horn? Maybe he's not a thing.
Gallerhorn's not a thing
It could be a thing. Like there is a Gjallarhorn, but it's that it's kind of maybe associated with rivers of an underworld where you gain wisdom from. And in the Sibyl's prophecy, there's a stanza that with the word that's being used can be translated by scholars as horn or as hearing. so Henry Adams Bellows' translation of the stanza is, I know of the horn of Heindel.
hidden under the high-reaching holy tree, on it pulls from Vaffather's pledge a mighty stream. Would you yet know more?" And then in Caroline Larrington's translation, she knows that Heimdall's hearing is hidden under the radiant sacred tree. She sees pouring down the muddy torrent from the wager of the father of the slain. Do you understand yet or what more?
It could be a context-based thing because, I mean, the hearing doesn't make any sense. the little I know of Korean context is like matters a lot, like for sentence structure, depending on how you're using a word and like what comes after it. It's like, it's how that word is actually supposed to be translated.
DJ (58:22.862)
That's a really good point. And so what's interesting is that scholars have speculated on that it's the Heimdaler Hilljord. And the thing is that like Hilljord. Thank you. Heimdaler Hilljord. so Snorri mentions it in the pros etta, but there's idea that maybe he's confused it with the Gjallarhorn because there's no other use of the word Hilljord.
J's are pronounced like yuh.
DJ (58:52.974)
being used in the sense of horn in Icelandic. So it's actually maybe more likely to be hearing and that when it's translated as horn, it's those who are being influenced by snorey. Larrington has actually said that if it is hearing rather than horn, as it appears in the stanza, it could indicate that Heindel, like Odin, left a body part in the well, like the Mimir's well where Odin left his eye.
Left in the air.
He left, he potentially left an ear and that may be why he can hear so well and maybe see so far. Like he sacrificed something to gain this thing. And we don't know, but that's pretty cool. And the other time Heimdall's mentioned is when he literally does blow a horn and it starts the battles. That might be why horn is being used in that earlier stanza when it could actually be referring to his hearing, just conflating the two.
Another time he is mentioned is Loki's coral again. Loki's just being a dick again, ruining the party because...
Lucky you're
Darien (01:00:00.524)
He's just mad.
People are having a good time and he's just pissed about something. I don't know, man. We used to all be friends. We used to hang out.
You step back and just pull like pranks on Thor. It was good fun.
No, he would roll up in health for. Heimdall says, drunk you are Loki so that you're out of your wits. Why don't you stop speaking? Far too much drinking affects every man so he doesn't notice his talkativeness. Loki said, be silent Heimdall for you in bygone days a hateful life was decreed, a mucky back you must always have and watch as the guard of the gods. Like implying that this position Heimdall has is disgraceful.
Yes, why would it be?
DJ (01:00:41.75)
I, exactly, why?
That guard has never been disgraceful in almost anything.
Yeah, Loki's just a dick. So that line of like a mucky back, it implies that like maybe Heimdall has to sit under Yggdrasil. And so he's often sitting.
He's often sitting and just not doing his job, probably.
no, I don't think it is. It's he just implies, like, your back's always dirty because you just stood against the tree. It's just...
DJ (01:01:09.39)
We're pretty far into this at this point, and he is just fucking pulling at straws. actually, yeah, because the Thor shows up not long after. But the regards to Heimdall guarding the bridge is another thing he's associated with that scholars find fascinating and can't really pinpoint down. before I get too far with this, Heimdall and Loki kill each other in Ragnarok. We know that. We've mentioned that. I just need to decide it. That's Heimdall's fate. Tyr's fate is he gets swallowed by Garp, the Hound of...
Hell, we've talked about this. I think I mentioned that this beast may have one point been just Fëanorys Wolf again. There's this passage at the top of the seer's prophecy. It's super weird. Heimdall is weird because of things like this. Here I ask from all the tribes, greater and lesser, the offspring of Heimdall, father of this lane, you wish for me to declare living beings ancient stories, those I remember from the furthest back. So that line about offspring of Heimdall,
also stumps scholars because they're like, what the fuck does that mean? mean offspring of Heimdall? Are you referring to humanity? It sounds like you are, but where does that come from? This comes from, they believe, a poem called The List of Rig in which a quote, old and wise, mighty and strong god named Rig travels around sleeping with human couples. The wife gets pregnant and he fathers three sons who become the three classes of humanity.
Don't ask me what those classes are. try to figure out one of them becomes a king, one of them is a warrior class. I don't understand. This was weird.
It's a mage, roguin, Or I guess mage, ranger, and fighter. Because a ranger could become a rogue or an archer. That's just the three classes of humanity.
DJ (01:02:56.174)
So, this is weird. And there's a prose introduction.
Report tanking damage.
Three classes, are you supporting? Yeah, those are the three classes when you boil them down to their core elements. you support? Are you tank or are you damage? So there's a prose introduction of this poem that cites Heimdall as being the true identity of Rigg. And so this reference of like, Heimdall's offspring kind of cites him as like he is the father of all humanity because he created the classes that we operate within today.
Yeah.
DJ (01:03:32.546)
But that's also super weird because this poem we have is yet another incomplete text specifically written in the 14th century, which is pretty late in the game for all of these texts. so scholars, including a gentleman named Finner Johnson, but probably not pronounced that way. And Rudolf Semmecke again have noted that the role of Rigg in this poem is like way more in line with the shit that Odin does.
like running around in disguise and like shaping the way humanity operates. Like that's his whole thing. And so they've actually suggested that the, because Heimdall is not mentioned in the poem anywhere. The only way we know quote that this is Heimdall is from that introduction. And so they have actually suggested that the prose introduction naming Heimdall was meant to just like conform with the stanza.
of the, Sybil's prophecy. We're like, someone's trying to figure out, what does it mean? What does that Sansa mean? well, it must reference, he just must be the figure in this poem. But there of the belief that it was far more likely Odin. So that's, that's the thing is that like, he is weird. It's just weird. He's just related with liminal space and boundaries and borders and transitions, but has nine
moms and they're all sisters and is the offspring of humanity but isn't and is associated with goats but why and can't hear but sometimes it's a horn like that's the thing about hindal is that we know things about him way more than we know someone who's only named like once right yeah but like the things that we know about him are just so perplexing because the scholarship we don't have the cultural context yeah for any of this and i didn't
I this when I combined these three figure like Asgard, Tyr, and Heindel. I just figured this will work. But they all ended up really underlining something that we've mentioned and danced around, but haven't spent a long time reflecting on. How we don't know anything about Norton.
Darien (01:05:49.902)
We had that one episode explaining everything. Yeah. Editing the edits. Yeah.
We editing edits where we acknowledged that this thing we have is not what it was. But like...
The more we've dived
really don't. Like, the fact that scholars are like, what do mean you have nine moms and you're the son of nine sisters? Like, what does that mean? And it's like, I don't know. But Snorri says it with such confidence and sights of home that it must have been known. Like, and Tyr being a name that just means God and now is like this pretty minor figure that can't have always been the way. And like Asgard is only mentioned like three times and isn't even the same place as Eidenhall. And is it actually where Odin's hall is at? Like, we don't know.
honestly, we'll probably never know. Like we can still find archaeological stuff. Like there was this really cool artifact found in like 2015 that has like, was found in England and it had old Norse on it. And it was this like spinning pool thing, which was like a device you'd use when spinning yarn to just help you spin it or like weave it. And it has like Odin, Heimdall and some other name that they're not sure what it means, but like calling.
DJ (01:07:02.562)
them to help with this task. And that's cool, but why? And it's like, we don't know. And we're never gonna know.
I wonder if we just like somehow manage to get those like radio the way we can like see deep into the earth. Just start doing that all throughout Europe. Just just just all throughout Europe, you know, find every fucking thing that's like not a rock, like not just a fucking rock. Rock. It's rock. Carved rock. it's like.
and just find all this.
DJ (01:07:36.366)
What the are you
Darien (01:07:41.65)
If we can find anything larger. And you're like, wow, this is, this is like a fucking, I don't know, sword, just some shit like that. Just buried. Just start, just start doing it all throughout Europe. Just randomly. enough with this. I think it's over here. Bullshit. Just like, I'm going to check middle of Germany, some crazy fucking forest. That's kind of a clearing, but you know, maybe, maybe it's, maybe it's a natural clearing. Nobody's ever fucking been here, you know?
to all the
DJ (01:08:12.75)
I mean, there's parts of the world and there's archaeological discoveries and anthropological discoveries that we'll still make that could help shine more light on these things. And maybe that poem that Heindel mentions having nine moms, maybe there's a copy out there somewhere. Like maybe we will find it written in Old Norse and know more about what this meant.
I say grave robbing.
Say Grey Friar! You know, it's okay if it's European Grey Friar.
I think it's okay period. I say we go down to our local cemetery. Shut up, okay? Who's taking care of those unmarked graves anymore? Fucking nobody. They've deteriorated so goddamn much.
No!
Darien (01:09:00.098)
There's moss growing on that grave. There's no more name. It's withered away. Who knows who this bastard was? Let's see what he's got.
Just here in your local town. Just see what he's hiding. my god, it's the Ark of the Covenant.
You're right. Like, what is he doing with like a full copy of the Poetic Etta? Like, this is ridiculous. What the fuck are you talking about? Perfect copy.
Here in Texas, crazy! It's got poems we never even had before, crazy! All right. So yeah, that's just something that really hit me a lot researching this episode was like, wow, we really don't know anything about this. And the more we dig into it and the more we discuss on this podcast, damn, the less I know, the less I know about any of this.
What was Tyr the god of? That's an interesting question. And what did Heimdall do? That's an interesting question. But you know what we can talk about? DJ, tell us about Tyr and Heimdall in Smites.
Darien (01:09:58.87)
mate.
Darien (01:10:04.0)
So, obviously they got lore. is an older god, so his lore is a little different than what we've been seeing. yeah, I think he was like a season one or two. That's an interesting- Tyr, the embodiment of mankind's impossible ideas, ideals. Man is a malleable creature, but a god is stone, shaped only by the harsh weather of expectation, and none have greater burden than-
Yep.
DJ (01:10:13.067)
they've been around for a while.
DJ (01:10:17.134)
Yeah.
Darien (01:10:32.822)
and none have a greater burden of expectation than Tyr. For he is courage, he is honor, he is justice. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the will to face the frightening. Fenrir the mighty wolf was foretold to wreak such devastation on the gods that they sought to bind him. Tyr clothed in courage, brought the beasts to their prison where the gods prepared shackles. Honor is not a stubborn oath, but the integrity to uphold what is right, even when it is not easy.
Under the guise of a test of strength, twice the gods bound Fenrir, and twice he broke free. On the third attempt, Fenrir sensed a trick and demanded one of the gods place their hand in his mouth. If the binding proved to be magical, Fenrir would take the hand. Tyr agreed. Justice is not adherence to the law, but a code of fairness and morality. Bound by the magical ribbon, Fenrir devoured Tyr's hand. It was a price to be paid, and Tyr paid it willingly. Even Fenrir deserved justice.
One handed, is worshiped as a pinnacle of righteousness, called upon for valor in battle, balance in law, and the fortitude to face the impossible. As the cloud of war blackens the world and fear grips the people, Tyr is stooped by the weight of expectation. With blade in hand, he takes the field, for he is courage, he is honor, he is justice. That's really cool.
I that. think that does a lot of filling in the spaces with Tyr and what we have and what he represents.
He is a warrior. has an interesting kit because he's technically got a stance change and typically with a stance change that kind of changes. I guess not really. It changes how the abilities function but doesn't change the ability entirely for most stance changing gods. I guess for like three or four. But for Tyr, he's like got a swipe and his two stances are attack. So he does more damage and attack and defense and he'll get like more defensive attributes in defense obviously. Nice. Yeah.
Darien (01:12:32.28)
and he's got like a swipe where he just swipes a sword in front of him. He has a dash where when he's doing an attack, it pulls people along like it. pushes people with his dash, knocks them up and he can swipe again to like knock them up again.
Knock him up at time dusting.
I mean, Hamdol also knocks people up. In defense form, his dash just like knocks people to the side, but doesn't pull it with him in front of him, you know? And his swipe heals for the like a certain amount for how many people he hits. Nice. And then his ult is like he jumps and when he's in defensive, it stuns. And when he's in attack, it does more damage. Nice. He's fun to play.
Sorry, go on, go on.
Darien (01:13:13.716)
annoying to deal with but not like the most annoying to deal with like
most annoying to deal with.
He's tanky, he's damaged, he's got it all except for range. He's Hercules, it's ridiculous. I cannot believe that they did not change that main from season one. And then yeah, Heimdall is in Smite too. Yeah. I'm in Smite as well, not Smite.
Really? What makes Hercules the most annoying?
DJ (01:13:29.142)
He's Hercules.
DJ (01:13:40.019)
I know we have to specify homonyms homophones homonym
Alright, so we're gonna do this.
Darien (01:13:48.047)
homophones. Phones is the sound. Nim is the... meaning.
Go on.
Yeah, words that are different with similar meanings, I think. No, that's synonyms. I think that I think read in red, it's words that sound the same but are different. Fuck, I don't know. All paths have their guardians and no guardian is more steadfast in their duties than the than keen-eyed Heimdall, sentinel of the B-Frost.
Read and read.
DJ (01:14:08.664)
Okay, now what this episode is about.
Darien (01:14:19.96)
The Watchman of Asgard is a sentry without equal in the Nine Realms and he maintains his internal watch where the Rainbow Bridge meets the sky. With sharp eyes and keen hearing Heimdall stands guard over the Halls of the Gods, alert for the approach of any enemy as well as the first stirrings of Ragnarok. It is said that Heimdall requires less sleep than a bird
and can see hundreds of leagues. His hearing is so sharp that he can perceive the soft whisper of growing grass and the murmur of the dead. His trumpet, Gjallarhorn, can be heard across the nine worlds when blown, but it is not only senses which make Heimdall a superb sentinel. He also possesses the gift of foresight, allowing him to predict his opponent's movements before they occur and to sense the approach of inimical forces. As befitting one of the Aesir,
He is a masterful combatant, his foreknowledge gives him an edge over all but the most unpredictable or skilled of opponents. Two, it is whispered that Heimdall has some connection to Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Some insist he is fashioned whole from a splinter of the Great Ash Tree, while others believe he is bound to it in some fashion, not like Rattatoskere.
Whatever the case, is known that Heimdall takes a dim view of any who might threaten Yggdrasil. Thus, when his keen gaze settled upon the creeping tendrils of Persephone's minions, drawing ever closer to the World Tree, Heimdall moved instantly to confront them. Powerful as she was, even the Queen of the Underworld could not hide her intentions from the watchmen of the Asgard.
You talked about that. How Ragnarok.
Darien (01:16:05.282)
I think obviously I'm pretty sure Persephone showed up before, like the update before.
That's cool. I will say that being able to hear the dead, cooler than hearing a wool grow on a sheep. I, because they were like, oh, the bird, the grass. can, let's change this line to make it a little cooler. Hey DJ, how much sleep does a bird need? Don't Google it, just guess.
No, like here's the thing, when you said that I'm like, a bird probably needs like a standard amount of sleep it feels like. Maybe like a touch more, they're like, sure they got small bodies, but.
According to birdsupplies.com, most birds need about 10 to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, and the exact amount depends on the species. So what we have here is a lack of zoological knowledge.
my god, it's all mine.
Darien (01:16:52.642)
Maybe it's because a bird could probably fly in immediately. Even if you startle a bird awake, it could probably immediately take off.
Go from dead asleep to.
DJ (01:17:05.388)
just assumes they need less sleep. Although this website, Science of Birds, instead of sleeping eight hours at a time, birds only sleep a few minutes at a time, but they often do repeatedly. And then here's another thing that says, parents need 10 to 12 and researching this subject. So, you know what? Maybe birds only need a couple minutes of sleep, but they needed a lot. Either way, it sounds like birds need a fair amount of sleep.
Yeah. Heimdall sends people to Mostphalheim and Niflheim with his ult. That's cool. He just like, he goes up. pick? No, no. So it's a, he, he, it's a dash. And if you get hit by the dash, he fucking smacks you with his big ass axe. Nice. Which he's a, he's a hunter. So he throws that axe and it does chunky damage. But yeah, he smacks you with it and he sends you through the Bifrost to, and you, it, it's actually kind of like your
That's really good.
Darien (01:17:58.99)
breaking through the walls of reality to get through these things. Cause it's like, then you're in the most behind that's fire, right? That's the fireplace. It's you go. Yeah. He's like to Muspelheim with you and he fucking sends you through it. And then you crash through into Neffelheim and then you crash.
Yeah, most home is fireplace.
DJ (01:18:16.044)
You told me about that. That's really cool.
Super dope. It's such a cool asshole. And so it's just like fully remove somebody from battle for like two seconds.
big chunk of time for that. I mean, the only example of Heimdall I could think of was from Marvel 4. I don't actually think I've read a comic with Heimdall in it. So I do only have MC Uther with Idris Elba, who is great and brings like the deepest gravitas and the gold eyes and he fights Loki. Yeah. When Loki
He's wonderful.
DJ (01:18:53.836)
In the end of the first movie, he's like, have to serve the king. And Loki's trying to throw his weight around. And Heimdall's like, fuck this shit, I'm not playing this game. Because he's refusing to open the Bifrost for him. And Loki freezes him. But it's cool. Heimdall's great. Getting killed by Thanos was a big bummer. Like, wow, that let you know Infinity War was not going to be a fun movie. Like, you really broke
I'm also fun. fan of that man.
Darien (01:19:20.93)
That and Loki's death, dude. Yeah.
Sorry, it gets fucking thrashed by Thanos Thanos isn't here to fuck around. Yeah, he's here to get he's here to get his will done
We just took like we just took down three like eight eight tier S tier fighters right here like yeah Loki doesn't usually go front but like that was crazy. Yeah. But I also did like at the end of Thor Love and Thunder after Jane Foster dies she wakes up in Valhalla and Heimdall is the one that greets her. I'm gonna say Heimdall's son running around.
Yeah, I No, I'm kidding.
but he's got his dad's ability to see it. I'm like, that's, shit, that's like real cute. I like that. that's so sad, but yeah. Anyway, Idris Elba is always great.
Darien (01:20:12.238)
Good I still need to see the sonic 2 Knuckles
yeah. He is knuckles. That's so funny. I'm just, and then we already talked about the Bifrost being a wormhole, which I really like. think that's
I think it definitely they could have just had it in magic though.
It is magic. It's just magic with the science word attached to it. That as guardians are able to open a magical portal from one place to another, what we identify as being a wormhole or an Einstein Rosen bridge. And I thought that was really cool. I also like how it looks. That like swirling rainbow because it's Yeah, get that cool. Yeah, that's always really good. I don't have a lot to say about it usually. And I think that's something that they really leaned into for the movie.
Yeah.
DJ (01:20:59.566)
because I think usually it's just like a legit rainbow bridge. Like it's not, like they could really walk on it and stuff. It's not quite this like portal thing. And DJ, you were saying earlier, you don't like the fact that it can destroy places, but it's a wormhole. If you just open up a wormhole somewhere, it's gonna suck everything into it if it's open for too long.
I'll have to look at the movie again, it doesn't look like it's sucking anything into it. It literally just looks like it's drilling and destroying everything in its path. It looks like a fucking orbital space laser.
Okay, think you are right. It's just drilling deeper in.
And it's just cutting through the plant and I'm like... What?
And his white's only open for a second. Because it'll just keep driving forward.
Darien (01:21:41.294)
Anytime I think of them traveling through it in in a rag rock it's Their Loki and Thor going through and Thor looks down. He's like Loki and Hella's you know behind them, right? There's a there was a meme where it was instead of Hella. It was Master Chief I can't remember what game was because I don't play these games But it was there's a game where he is flying through like a blue portal style thing that looks like that so but it's just
yeah.
DJ (01:21:58.53)
Why are you gonna-
Darien (01:22:10.092)
Loki! And it's just like Loki looks back in Master Chief and the fucking Halo theme plays and it's really funny.
That is funny. That's some absurdist stuff. I don't like Heimdall in Magnus Chase, I think.
I it.
Darien (01:22:28.128)
Yeah, I think the problem is, just like set the standard.
And that's, and that's, you know, slip sign, I like Loki, even though I love Tom Hiddleston's Loki. I like Thor, even though I like Chris Hemsworth. I like, like other characters.
Give him a high pitched voice and be like addicted to vine
Yeah, that was so funny. I don't know. It's not bad. I think it's silly. It's one of those things where it's like, well, it's memorable for the kids. But it's just like, I don't know. It just feels like the only thing here is a joke, and there's no character. And then he does see the bridge. We didn't talk about the bridge so much in the Magnus Ones, where it's Because it's just a rainbow bridge. Well, he described it as like, it's not like a rain. It's a rainbow, but it's like an atomic explosion. Doesn't there on it at one point in time? And I'm like, this is fine.
I cross it with a big neon sign.
DJ (01:23:20.384)
Yeah, there's a neon sign that they can cross to because it's the light. And I do like the scene where Magnus helps open Amir's mind by having him look up at the Rainbow Bridge and is like actively healing him and keeping his mind together while his like reality is being unraveled. That's a good scene. Heimdall is really silly, but you know what? That's a-
It's a great scene, but yeah, if you give Heimdall just a little more like guardian energy.
That's the other thing. Maybe it's the juxtaposition. You're expecting like a noble guardian. And so you get someone like.
Hey! I like doing vines. I'm like, fuck me, dude. Okay. Yeah, actually.
You'd be doing TikTok dances now. Would be funny. I know the idea of like being seen and seeing all the things and like social media being that window. It is. That's right. It's there's something there. I just I think it just is a joke. And we don't get it.
Darien (01:24:06.936)
Yall are horn is the phablet.
Darien (01:24:16.448)
Arguably didn't even land when it was fucking. Yeah.
No, I read that when it came out. Like, yeah, I think there's an interesting idea in that, but I think it is one of those times where it's just we only did the joke and there was no character here. And not that Heimdall does a lot, but I don't know. And maybe just going through it where it's like, don't know, damn, this is weird. We don't even know what the hell's going on here. So just here, that's all I got for you. I guess, whatever. But yes.
This episode is just a fun reminder that we don't know anything about Norse mythology, so don't worry about it, it's fine. DJ, what should our listeners do now?
Not at all. it's, it's whatever. This should go over to patreon.com forge slash muses of mythology. got a bunch of wonderful content. We have just as much bonus content as there is main feed episodes. So you quite literally get twice the amount of content that we have. Five bucks and you get even more for 10. Access to a discord that is quite active.
This is for $5 a month.
DJ (01:25:12.96)
yeah.
DJ (01:25:16.96)
Lots of fun exclusive pictures of the cats, of Cash the dog.
which he's moving around right now.
It's okay, he doesn't have his collar, he's naked, so he's not gonna distract anybody. Also, we are less than 40 days from MuseMist returning.
Muse Miss is gonna come back. I am so excited. We got a ton of really cool episodes for you guys. It's gonna be wonderful.
12 back-to-back daily episodes about A Christmas Carol. It is the weirdest thing we do all year. And I look forward to it so much. Get more muses by checking that out. You can also hit us up on Instagram. Follow us on X, Twitter, see DJ stuff. You can also follow us on YouTube, if that's what you want to do, or TikTok. I don't think I ever mentioned. We're actively there, too. I actively. I post stuff there. I don't engage there. like...
Darien (01:25:47.532)
be such a blast.
Darien (01:26:03.726)
I was about to say shorts because I'm on YouTube
It is shorts. It's the shorts, the TikTok. They're all the same. And if you follow us on Instagram, you'll see them. So wherever you want to go, I've made it so listen, I've made it so easy for people to consume the podcast in other ways. So.
Yeah, you'll see them all over the
Darien (01:26:19.704)
We'd to see you on all of them.
or whatever your favorite one is, hit us up. We will be back in your ears on Tuesday, November 19th to talk about the Einherjar and the Valkyrie. Ooh, do it again. Finally getting to the episode in which that almost broke the podcast.
You know, it took a bit. We're very excited for it.
Then until then, don't be like Zeus.
Tim O'Connor, The Crystal Conman, Nicholas Miller. Our music is Athens Festival by Martin Hayne and our cover art is by Audrey Miller. You can find her on Instagram at Bombshell Nutshell Art.
DJ (01:27:04.534)
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