Norse Mythology Sources
Mat as Odin
Mat as Loki
Perrin as compared to Thor and Fenris
The Last Battle as compared to Ragnarokk
The One Power as compared to Seid, the magic of the Norse gods
Horn of Valere as compared to the Gjallahorn
The Einherjer and the Heroes

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Norse Mythology Sources: Books and authors that contained these parallels originally


Snorre Sturlason: "Konungasogur", "Gylfaginning"
Author unknown: "Hávamál", "Voluspá"

Konungasogur is the saga of Norwegian kings. In the first chapter Snorri deals with his theory of Odin as a king worshipped after his death.

Gylfaginning is a script where Snorri deals with old Norse mythology. It is composed as the vision of a fictual king named Gylfe.

Hávamál is a set of verses on ethics and behaviour in general. It is atrributed to Odin, and in a verse he recalls his hanging.

Voluspá is a prophecy about the end of the World. It also contains an account of its creation. Influenced by Christian theology.

Trymskvida is a poem that tells the story of how Thor loses his hammer and how he regains it with Loki's help.

Loketretten is a poem where Loki comes uninvited to a feast at the residence of the sea-god Ćgir. He starts to quarrel with all the gods, and we learn that he and Odin were blood brothers. Shortly after the gods chain Loki.



Mat as compared to Odin, the God of the Gods


The most striking similarity between WOT and Norse mythology is the Mat-Odin-parallel. Odin was the Norse god of war and death, and also chief of the gods.

To gain wisdom Odin had to sacrifice an eye to the jotun Mimir to be allowed to drink from his well of wisdom. From then on Odin was the wisest of all and knew everything about past, present, and future. Odin, during his wanderings, used his hat to hide his missing eye. We know from viewings and dreams that Mat will at one point lose an eye, and furthermore that he will give it up willingly, to sacrifice half the light of the world to save the world; he is also seen to sometimes hide his eye or eyes in these viewings.

Odin had two ravens, Hugin and Munin--their names signify thought and memory--on his shoulders. These ravens would fly all over the world and tell all they saw to their master. Two ravens are also portrayed on Mat's spear, and the inscription on the medallion reads "thought is the arrow of time, memory never fails." In one of Egwene's dreams Mat had ravens, the mark of a Seanchan imperial da'covale, on his shoulders. There are also ravens on the signet ring he bought in Ebou Dar.

Odin was, as recorded, the god of the dead. Upon his bidding Valkyrjene, female deities, would decide which warriors would fall in battle. These fortunate ones would come to Valholl to fight all day and feast all night. Odin needed the dead warriors, Einherjer, in the last battle at Ragnarokk. Odin also received human sacrifice in the form of hangings. In the Norse poem Hŕvamŕl, the Speech of the High, Odin tells us that he hanged himself in a tree for nine days and nights, wounded with a spear as a sacrifice to himself. We see a clear parallel to Mat who was hanged by the 'finns in The Tree of Life. It has been speculated that the tree in which Odin hung himself is supposed to be identical with the Norse Yggdrasil, the Tree of the World, but this is not recorded in any sources that have survived to this day. Because of his association with hangings, a name for Odin is Hengedrottin, the Lord of the Hanged.

Odin was the god of war. The Icelandic writer Snorri Sturlason tells us in his great work Konungasogur of Kringla Heimsis, that Odin was really a king and a great warrior who was worshipped as a god after his death. His men, Snorri tells us, thought they could never lose a battle as long as Odin was with them. Indeed, some of them thought that they were invincible as long as Odin gave them his blessing before they went to war. It doesn't take much imagination to recognize the Band's almost blind faith in Mat's luck.

Odin had a magical spear that would never miss; he had a ring of gold, Draupnir, which produced eight identical rings every ninth night. He had an eight-legged horse called Sleipner who ran fastest of all horses, he had two wolves who sat at his side and ate for him--he only drank wine himself. He was called the father of the gods and father of all. The spear can be a parallel to Mat's spear, but I can't see much WOT-related in his other possessions.

At the last battle, Ragnarokk, Odin would lead the forces of gods and Einherjer. He was killed by the great wolf Fenris, and avenged by his son Vidar. This subject will be dealt with in detail further on.



Mat & Loki


This is a parallel I have seen on other WOT-sites. Personally I don't buy it at all, but since my friend Dragon Thief wants to fill up his site, I will try to discuss it below.

Loki was kin to the jotuns, a kind of troll and evil Chaos-forces, but lived in Ásgard among the gods. In the poem Loketretten, he is said to have been Odin's blood brother. Loki was a trickster; he often got the gods into great difficulties, only to solve them with his slyness. In Trymskviđa, a quite comic poem, Thors hammer is stolen by the jotun Trym. He demands the goddess Freyja's hand in marriage to give back the hammer. Freyja, of course, refuses, so on Loki's advice Thor is dressed up as a bride and goes to Jotunheimen. It all ends well; Thor gets the hammer and kills Trym and all his relatives. This is quite typical of how Loki helps the gods. It is quite possible to see a parallel to Mat here, but Loki's other sides are too sinister: Mat is predominantly good.

The final break between Loki and the gods comes when he causes the death of Odin's son Baldr (Balder). Baldr was the kindest of the gods, loved by all things and beings. One day he started having dangerous dreams, and told the other gods. They were all worried, and decided to make all things swear they would not hurt Baldr in any way. They made one oversight, however; the little plant mistletoe did not swear, because Frigg, Odin's wife and Baldr's mother thought it was too young. Anyway, when the other things had sworn, the gods amused themselves by throwing spears, axes and the like at Baldr, because he could not be hurt. Loki however made an arrow of mistletoe and had the blind god Hoddr shoot it at Baldr, who died. The gods were stricken with grief, but Baldr's brother Vidar goes to the Netherworld to ask Hel to let Baldr go. Hel agrees on the condition that all things cry over Baldr. The gods sent emissaries all over the world and all things wept, except one old woman named Ţokk, who later turns out to be Loki in disguise. Baldr stays in Hel and this is the worst disaster to gods and men.

Later the gods catch Loki and chain him until Ragnarokk. Is Mat Loki? Hardly. First of all Mat is Odin, and whereas I do agree that one WOT-character can be the rolemodel for more than one mythological figure, I find Loki and Odin to far apart to be represented by one person, however much the trickster Mat can be. Odin also amused himself with tricks on his wanderings.



Perrin as compared to Thor and Fenris


Perrin's most striking characteristics are his wolfness and being a blacksmith. Some see parallels to Norse mythology in these traits.

Perrin as Thor


Thor was one of the major gods in Norse mythology. He was the son of Odin and the goddess Earth. He was the strongest of all the gods, but is often portrayed as a bit slow. With his mighty war-hammer Mjřlnir he relentlessly fought the evil jotuns. The hammer, his strength and his somewhat slow mind have made many draw a parallel between Perrin and Thor. There are, however, differences; Perrin's hammer is the symbol of his peaceful occupation as blacksmith whereas Thor's hammer is a weapon. In Ragnarokk Thor kills the great serpent Midgardsormen, but is mortally wounded by its venom.



Perrin as Fenris


Perrin's wolfness can at first glance resemble the great wolf Fenris. Fenris was the son of the evil Loki, who was kin of the jotuns, but lived among the gods as an intrigue-maker and trickster, and the jotun-woman Angerboda, She Who Brings Grief. His brothers were Midgardsormen and Narve and his sister was Hel, ruler of the Netherworld. Fenris lives at Ŕsgard with the gods, but they were afraid of him and decided to chain him. They took him to an isolated island and told him they wanted to test his strength. They chained him twice with two great chains, but he broke them both easily. The gods then had elves make a great chain out of the footsteps of the cats, the beards of women and some other items that no longer exist, and told Fenris that they wanted to see if he could break this chain. Fenris was suspicious, but because he didn't want them to think him afraid, he told them he would let himself be chained if one of the gods would place his hand between his jaws as security for his release. Ty agreed and lost his hand. When Ragnarokk comes, Fenris breaks free and devours Odin in the last battle, whereupon he is killed by Odin's son Vidar.

Is Perrin Fenris? Will he kill Mat/Odin at Tarmon Gaidon? Will he cut off Rand's Hand? I don't believe so. The wolves are generally thought of as evil in Norse tradition and Fenris certainly is. If anything Fenris resembles the DO who might break free at TG or the Forsaken who are freed before him. Loki, Fenris's father was also bound until Ragnarokk.



The Last Battle as compared to Ragnarokk


The Norse religion had a circular view of the world. The ages came and went each ending with the destruction of the world and starting with re-creation. Christianity had a profound influence on the pagan faith in its last centuries, so what the pagans originally believed in is hard to ascertain, but here follows summary of what the thought of the end of the world as recorded in the prophecy Voluspa, (circa 900 AD).

Great omens would accompany the coming of Ragnarokk: first there would be a remorseless winter for seven years. We see a parallel in the climatic disturbances resulting from the DO's touch on the World in WOT. Then the pair of wolves that always chases the Sun finally catches up with it and swallow it (Solar eclipse? "Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed...") Fenris and his father Loki break their chains, parallel to the Forsaken and the DO. The god Heimdall blows the horn Gjallarhorn--clear paralell to the Horn of Valere--calling the gods and the dead warriors to the last battle. Odin leads the forces of gods and Loki leads the Jotuns. All the gods die, Odin is killed by Fenris, Thor dies from the venom of the great serpent, etc. Finally the world ends. A man and a woman survive, a younger generation of gods come, a New World emerges, and the cycle starts over.

A circular view of time is nothing especially Norse, the ancient Greeks shared this view, and so do the Hindu today.



The One Power as compared to Seid, the magic of the Norse gods


The seid was Norse magic. It seems to have been a form of shamanism; the performer would have visions, could take an animal's shape and travel with it while his body lay lifeless at home. With certain rites you could also harm your enemies and even kill them. Odin is said to have been the inventor of seid and also its greatest master. Most magicians were women, as it was considered a task unfitting for men. Some have suggested it included homosexuality, but the evidence is not conclusive; there are records of Seidmen being married. In Snorri Sturlason's Konunagsogur, King Harold Fairhair of Norway (dead circa 933 AD) is said to have ordered one of his sons to be killed because he performed seid. Seid was largely frowned upon, but only male performers would be held in contempt. During the Christianization of the Nordic countries, (completed circa 1015) seid was outlawed altogether. Is seid the model for the OP in WOT? There is much that suggests this, no man is supposed to touch the OP, but the DR himself does so, just as Odin used seid.



The Horn of Valere as compared to the Gjallahorn


Gjallarhorn and the Horn of Valere
This is a fairly obvious parallel. Gjallahorn was a sacred horn owned by the god Heimdall. When the Last Battle was imminent Heimdall would blow the horn and summon the gods and the dead heroes, the Einherjer, to fight against the Jotuns. The Horn of Valere comes to mind.



The Einherjer and the Heroes


The Einherjer were those who had been chosen by the Valkyrjer to fall in battle. Odin wanted the bravest and strongest warriors on his side when the last battle came, and had the Valkyrjer bring them to Valhňll where they would fight all day and drink all night. Those who weren't killed in battle went to Hel's realm in the Netherworld. This was not a place of punishment and is portrayed differently in various myths, but it was certainly better to be in Valhňll. The parallel to the Heroes in WOT is at least fairly clear.