Top Violent and Bloody Executions in Norse Mythology
The ones who could laugh at someone's death and welcome the death with both arms could only be the Vikings. This spirit of the Vikings might have been ingrained from the Norse mythology which once became the spine of their whole community. In this blog post, we discuss 4 Violent and Bloody Executions that happened in Norse mythology which could somehow affect the Viking attitude toward life.
Mimir was beheaded and the head was sent back to Asgard
Mimir was quite an obscure figure in Norse mythology. When the war between two god tribes (Aesir and Vanir) ended, Mimir and Hoenir were sent to Vanaheim (land of Vanir gods) as a peace treaty. In the meantime, Njord, Freyr, and Freya came to live in Asgard (land of Aesir gods).
The problem aroused when the Vanir gods realized that Hoenir wasn't as good as they used to think. While the Vanir gods sent the most important gods of theirs as hostages, the Aesir sent an indecisive and somewhat dunderheaded man who was Hoenir. At first, Hoenir appeared to be a wise man. But it was because Mimir was nearby and whenever the Vanir asked something, Mimir would tell Hoenir the answers. One day, Mimir was not with Hoenir and all the secrets were revealed. The Vanir took this seriously and considered this an insult to their clan.
The Vanir decided to behead Mimir and gifted the head of Mimir to Odin the Allfather indicating that the peace treaty was no longer. When seeing the head of Mimir, Odin knew that Mimir could still be helpful to him. That's why Odin kept the head of Mimir with him and consulted Mimir's head when he needed help.
A drawing illustrating Odin found out the headless body of Mimir
Kvasir's blood was stored to brew mead
Kvasir was considered to be among the wisest beings in the cosmos. He was literally made from the strawberries that the gods chewed and spat into a vessel. It was after the war of the gods that they decided to seal their peace treaty by Kvasir.
Kvasir then took up the life of a wanderer to travel around the Nine Worlds and to offer his knowledge to the world. On one occasion, he happened to come into the house of dwarf brothers who turned out to be greedy and violent. When Kvasir was sleeping, the dwarves killed Kvasir and drained his blood out of his body. They stored the blood of Kvasir into three vessels which they mixed with honey. There they brewed the Mead of Poetry which was later retrieved back to the gods by Odin the Allfather. It was believed that anyone who drank the Mead of Poetry would have the power of eloquence and the ability to compose poems and persuade others.
The dwarf brothers killed Kvasir and stored his blood in three vessels which they used to mix with honey to brew the Mead of Poetry
Narfi Son of Loki was killed and his entrails were used to bind Loki
The death of Baldur was the last straw to the gods. They could no longer tolerate what Loki had been doing, especially intentionally murdering Baldur. Blood for blood, to punish Loki for killing the beloved son of gods, the gods punished Loki's children as well.
After capturing Loki, gods took him to a cave where he was destined to be bound until the day of Ragnarok. But it wasn't simply bound. Narfi and Vali sons of Loki and Sigyn were brought to the cave too.
Gods changed Vali into a wolf and made him kill Narfi. Vali tore Narfi apart and the entrails of Narfi were used to bind Loki to the rocks. The entrails that bound Loki to the rock quickly turned into iron.
The punishment of Loki. He was bound to the rock with the entrails of his son, Narfi. A snake was placed just above his head and the venom of the snake would drop on his face
Thor slaughtered Thrym's family for stealing his Mjolnir hammer
Everyone in the cosmos knew Mjolnir was the life of Thor. Thor would not go out without the Mjolnir hammer in his hand. But one day, Thor woke up and the Mjolnir hammer was nowhere to be found. Loki was the first to be blamed for the absence of Mjolnir. But the Norse trickster refused to even touch the Mjolnir hammer, let alone to steal it. After discussing, the gods found out that it was Thrym the frost giant who stole the Mjolnir hammer.
With all peace-making attempt, Thor demanded Thrym to give back the Mjolnir hammer before too late. Thrym in return demanded that in order to give back the Mjolnir hammer, the Aesir had to give Thrym Freya as his bride. This was obviously impossible. Freya was angry and so were other gods.
Then Norse gods came up with an idea that Thor would dress like a bride (in disguise of Freya) to come to Thrym's home. Thor didn't agree with this because after all how could a god like Thor could wear a dress?
But then to retrieve Mjolnir hammer back, Thor had to dress like a bride. And on the wedding day, Thor disguised as Freya the bride and Loki the bridesmaid.
Thor slaughtered Thrym who stole the Mjolnir hammer and Thrym's family as well
After some wedding rituals, Thor (fake Freya) demanded Thrym to place the Mjolnir hammer in "her" lap as a gift for the bride. The moment Thor felt Mjolnir hammer in his lap, he grabbed it summoning his power. On his wedding day, Thor smashed the groom's skull and killed all the family members of Thrym.
