Old Norse mythology greatly influenced J. R. R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel), the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. His ideas for Middle Earth, the dwarfs (or dwarves in his...

Norse Paganism and Christianity are often at odds. Pagans are polytheistic (they worship many gods), while Christians are monotheistic (they worship just one god). When Christianity landed in the...

A drengr was an Old Norse masculine noun meaning “a gallant or chivalrous man.” Calling a person “drengr” was the highest compliment you could pay them in the Viking age. It would mean the...

We all think of Vikings as warlike people, but most of their time was spent working the land and building and repairing homes, ships, and farming implements. Everyday Viking dress reflected that and...

The Gylfaginning is the very first book of the Prose Edda and sets up the retelling of Old Norse sagas of the Æsir gods of Asgard. The Gylfaginning follows the king of Sweden, Gylfi, as he travels...

We’ve all heard of Ragnar Lothbrok and Ivar The Boneless, but many other well-known Viking rulers will sound familiar. Not all of them were rulers of Scandinavia; Leif Erikson was in a party of...