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My favorite moment as a camp counselor for twice exceptional kids was when an autistic camper got into an argument with another counselor about the historical/mythological accuracy of this movie (camper insisted it was a terrible movie in mythological terms), and eventually the counselor got frustrated and said “fine, go write me a paper on it” and the camper went off to bed
About an hour later the kid pops his head out his door and asked how long he wanted the paper.
The same kid ended up eating a laundry pod later that summer.
Damn, now that’s a job I want to get. How do you find jobs like this?
Ha, this was a camp run through a local private university, so I’d check places like that
Huh. I live next to a public uni. I’ll see if they do something similar.
I dub that kid Anakin in Mustafar, the counselor clearly underestimated his power 🤣
As a Dane, I have had many a non Scandinavian try and educate me on Norse mythology too and their knowledge is based on those godawful Marvel movies and comics.
They usually get very confused when they learn that Thor and Loki aren’t brothers. That Loki and Odin are the ones who are blood brothers. It’s like it doesn’t compute in their heads. And for those who don’t know, blood brothers in old scandinavian culture was two men slicing their hands and clasping their wounded hands together to mix blood. That was a way to forge an alliance and an oath of loyalty as strong as if you came out of the same womb. I’m pretty sure it was still practiced in more recent times as well. Probably died out when AIDS became the big scary thing, but I dunno. I just have vague memories of older people telling me about doing the blood oath when they were young.
In any case, it is just super fun to have your culture reduced to a cringe American comic book where Thor looks nothing like Thor and Valhalla looks like ass and literally none of the gods look right according to their descriptions in mythology. Couldn’t even give Sif her golden hair, could they?
I am a bit surprised that the MCU is that far off. I thought they’d have a little more respect for the source material.
Add the ‘/s’ because it’s 2025 and sarcasm is dying.
Norse Mythology is absolutely sick.
Sick as in awesome?
Yes
It has its moments for sure. I still don’t know what mythology is more crazy, Norse or Greek. Probably Greek.
At least there’s Age of Mythology, no?
Had to look it up as I don’t really play video games. Based purely on the designs I saw of Odin and Thor, I’m not particularly thrilled about that one either. Maybe the games themselves are super faithful to Norse mythology and the designs are just an oopsie. I dunno.
Generally it seems like Americans interpret Norse Mythology in a very materialistic way. It is always to polished and over the top when they depict Norse gods. To most Scandinavians, Norse mythology and folklore too, is completely and utterly intertwined with nature. It is gnarled, ugly and brutal as well as delicate, beautiful and poetic.
Odin can be a bombastic god adorned in armor and riding Sleipner into battle, sure. But most depictions of him in Scandinavia is the unassuming cloaked stranger with the staff and the hat or hood.
And that is kind of how most gods and jotuns are for us. Everyday people with everyday problems that are just a bit more extraordinary than ours. It is easier to relate to and it is more authentic. I haven’t yet seen an American depiction of Norse mythology or culture that isn’t just complete and utter nonsense that only cares about looking cool. I think one of the best depictions of Norse mythology, culture and folklore are the ones done by Erik Hjorth Nielsen. That man gets it. Probably because it is his culture too.
I love the depictions of Odin as a wandering stranger. There was a creepypasta where anon was at a far out ranger station in the north and went through some shit. Towards the end, he’s thinking of just laying down and dying or killing himself or something and the old dude with an eye patch shows up and kinda like picks him up, dusts off his pants, and sets him on the path he needs to be on. That’s probably one of my favorite contemporary depictions of Odin.
Neil Gaiman’s book Norse Mythology, and especially the audiobook, is incredible. I’d venture a guess that it’s a fairer representation than, say, Marvel. I’ve also learned a bit of Norse cultural astronomy, and it’s hella cool. Like what we know today as Auriga was for the Norse “the battleground of the Aesir”, which is 1000x more dope than “oh, yeah, that circle is a, uhhhhhhhhhhh, charioteer”. Much of the other constellations they saw are lost to time and history, but it’s easy to start looking at the sky and imagining what they saw. Many cultures saw Draco, for example, and that may have been the world serpent. One wonders if, where the Greeks and Arabs saw a scorpion, the Norse saw a short-handled hammer, especially given their more northerly latitude which would have hidden the hook of Scorpius’ tail below the southern horizon.
It actually would be easier to list all the children Zeus didn’t have
I’ll start:
- Geryon
- Pegasus
- Bellerophon
- Genghis Khan
Now list the people who aren’t related to Genghis
Me
Isn’t that just an obvious joke told with a straight face for double effect?
Every time I think it’s an obvious joke and no one is that stupid I’m reminded that Trump won reelection after trying to overthrow (liberal) democracy.
Don’t forget about the ones he ate…
Wasn’t that Kronos, his father?
Yes, IIRC… Kronos swallowed a bunch of his children, except Zeus, whom Kronos’ wife Rhea hid from him… and provided Kronos a stone in the swaddling of a baby, which Kronos believed was Zeus, and swallowed that instead.
Then Zeus grows up in the wilderness with… some kind of entity aiding him, different versions of the story vary.
Grown up Zeus eventually gives Kronos a chalice of… magic poison, basically, and then Kronos vomits up all of his previously swallowed children… who are all basically fully functional adults now.
I’m definitely wrong. I was thinking of a painting, which is actually of Saturn. I think the myths are similar, but I’m not as familiar with them.
Saturn is… Hera, I think?
Zeus’ wife, whom he constantly cheats on.
Zeus = Jupiter Hera = Saturn
… I can’t think of a Hera story off the top of my head.
I… think Athena erupted out of Zeus’ forehead… for some reason, and that’s how she was born…
Uh… ok I am apparently kind of wrong?
Saturn is … apparently the Roman name for Kronos… and Juno is the Roman name for Hera… but at some point in history, Saturn started to be used to refer to… Hera, sometimes, by some people?
Somebody summon a classics major, I’m out of my element.
Anyway, this is probably the painting you are thinking of:
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son
In this painting, Saturn = Kronos.
That is correct in the Disney framework. Incidentally the ancient framework is not necessarily more correct because there’s no real Zeus.
This specifically referred to classical studies. Disney’s take is not a part of that.
But Hercules is a Disney classic!
Yes, but they only offer a degree in Disney Classics at Orlando University.
It seems like you are not very good at your classical studies.