It would be a hilarious joke if he wasn’t being serious.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
I have to ask: wasn’t Hercules Roman? I thought the Greek equivalent was Heracles. Thus Hercules is actually the son of Jupiter, no?
Pretty much yes. Hercules is the Latin name for Herakles.
The average person thinks Heracles is a mispronounciation of Hercules
Just had a chance to look it up and yes, Heracles is the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and Hercules is the son of Jupiter and Alcmena. So Disney was wrong too as it turns out, and the Xitter OP should have known better.
Well, if you are in a greek setting and are using the greek names for every other character, it makes more sense to use the greek name, but Hercules is just a latin adaptation of Heracles, so no big deal I suppose.
Jupiter and Zeus are the same god. Jupiter is latin, Zeus is greek.
hercules is the greek hero, and heracles is that beetle pokemon
I can’t tell if you’re trolling or not, but that’s a nice joke if you are.
no heracles is that beetle pokemon
It actually would be easier to list all the children Zeus didn’t have
I’ll start:
- Geryon
- Pegasus
- Bellerophon
Me
- Genghis Khan
Now list the people who aren’t related to Genghis
- Zeus
- Zeus’ mother
- Zeus’ father
“Just you wait 'til I do some time traveling shenanigans!” - Zeus
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.
I dub that kid Anakin in Mustafar, the counselor clearly underestimated his power 🤣
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.
Google “camp counselor job”
glad to help 🤙
ah, the American education system…
There is no such thing as ‘the American educational system.’
Each state makes its own rules, and each town has its own board of education. One place may decide to spend $5 million building a football stadium and not spend anything on new books; the town next door might have college level labs.
I attended a top 100 public high school in America, where we were taught Greek and Roman mythology. The problem wasn’t that the subject wasn’t offered, it was that a sizable portion of students weren’t paying attention. Even among those who did, few retained the knowledge beyond the next exam. The real issue with American education isn’t just what’s being taught but how it’s being taught. Subjects aren’t presented in a way that truly engages students or encourages long-term retention.
And collectively, that’s the American system
Suns and sunflowers are exactly the same because they are both made of atoms, right?
I’ll add that this is a sarcastic response.
the only real things are in disney movies. anything that’s not in a disney movie is not real
I get a similar tick when some people claim that The Little Mermaid takes place in Denmark because it was written by HC Andersen. No, it literally doesn’t. We don’t have palm trees and mountains like the ones in the movie. And even in the original fairytale from the 1800s, it is very heavily implied that the prince lives in a fairytale country that borrows from the Mediterranean, Middle East and India. Even in the original illustrations for the story, there are palm trees and a arab looking palace in the background of one of the illustrations.
HC wanted to put the reader in the mermaids place. Give them the same longing for another world that she had. If he had set thr story in Copenhagen it wouldn’t have captured the imagination of 1800s Dane the same way. He managed to make these gorgeous descriptions of the strange and beautiful country the prince is from. There is a reason why Edmund Dulac designed the prince the way he did in his illustration work for the story in the early 1900s.
Zeus is a shapeshifter, you can never be certain someone isn’t his son.
Well. They might be his daughter
Like Melinoë
Anyone know if hades ever knew Zeus was her real father?
Does it matter? Hades would take care of her regardless, he is the responsible Olympian.
You are right, again it’s Disney who made did a character assassination of Hades.
I want to comment that James Woods did an impeccable performance, I don’t think he would fit if Hades was portrayed differently, but as he was there.
If you want a good depiction of Hades, Kaos is fantastic. Great depiction of Zeus too, fuckin asshole that he is
Disney wasn’t the first, similar to Loki Christians in the 1800s needed a devil figure and the Lord of the underworld was a perfect step in. Christian interpretations of non Christian mythology in the 1800s is wild due to the amount of bias they tended to have. A good example is comparing modern Norse neo pagans to Viking leagues of the early 1900s which are still steeped in that analysis.
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.
damn imagine being eaten by your father because your mom hid you from him, the same happening to almost all your brothers, and you just grow up inside your father with your brothers
and then after many years the one brother who wasnt eaten makes you and the rest of your brothers be vomited out
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.
Fun fact: we don’t know that painting was actually depicting “saturn devouring his son” it was found painted on a basement wall when Goya passed and they named it that and just really really hoped it wasn’t a pickman’s model situation
Totally forgot about that story.
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.
Saturn is cronus
Mainly yes, but Zeus also ate pregnant Metis. Athena was born inside him and cut his forehead to get out.
I thought Hephaestus split Zeus’ head open to release (a fully grown and armored) Athena, who has been hammering in his head building the armor and causing him terrible headaches.
That’s one way to resolve your father issues
Patron god of recycling!
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.
*earnestness*
What was your degree in again? Oh.
Well.
Can we stop nitpicking shit like this like it’s some kind of gotcha? It’s ridiculously easy to make small fuckups when writing casually, especially if you’re typing on a small screen. She could’ve originally been writing “all in earnest” and forgotten to make the phrase agree after shuffling some text around.
I have a lit degree and still have tons of typos and errors from autocorrect or whatever simply bc I don’t care all that much that a simple social media post is perfect.
“all in earnest”? Really.
Well, if that pumps your nads, then the morose the marrier, I say.
Dude, i’m ASD and saying dial it back.
Oh, sorry.
I’m a pedant. But man is this pedantic. Her point still stands perfectly fine and communication was achieved
O sure conbitextual cues abound lemnding informatics to the subjected matter. I’m bust saying if’n your a academician typo you should not be unright in the wordering of punts.
Oh sure contextual cues about lending informatics to the subject matter. I’m just saying if you’re an academic you shouldn’t be putting typos into the wording of your puns
Communication still happened. Typos aren’t that big of a deal, relax.
So longing as there ain’t no pernt in standartizaton. Like when your a researches and the output is bespanked its ain’t good for eveythang.
But jest, ifn its just a bout, like, talking at a box of frogs, for nothin, thats perceptble. But then if hes like all me so HAWNY, I SPEEK GOOD HAWN hay’better be down to sniz, ma git?
Do you honestly believe that what you’re writing is the equivalent of the typo in the post? Like look at what you’ve just written, look at the post your mocking, and really ask yourself “am I picking the right battle?”
Oh, of course note.
That is correct in the Disney framework. Incidentally the ancient framework is not necessarily more correct because there’s no real Zeus.
yeah but that’s like going up to someone and making fun of them for being bad at geography for thinking the continents split millions of years ago, because you watched ice age and believe that’s when the continents split because that’s what appears in the movie
But that actually happened
This specifically referred to classical studies. Disney’s take is not a part of that.
wait its not? so that’s why all my grades are so bad…
Me fail English? That’s unpossible!
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.
