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By conducting a text analysis this study analyzes possible similarities in the portrayal of story characters between historical Norse myths and contemporary film productions. The chosen historical texts are two stories from Norse mythology which render a myth about Thor and a giant named Hrunge as well as the myth Trymskvädet. The selected movies are two of the comic company Marvel’s productions about super heroes – Thor and The Avengers. Different categories that this study compares are how the characters are defined by their possessions or artefacts, the actions and the choices which the characters make, and also how their relations, roles and origins are being portrayed. As the result of study shows, there are some similarities between the historical texts and the movies with regard to how the stories portray the characters.      According to cognitive theories, a story becomes more memorable if there is a balance between what readers intuitively expect and does not expect from the story while it unfolds in texts or multimedia productions. The reason for these similarities between textual and visual material created in different times may not only be that historical texts serve as the inspirational base for contemporary productions, but also relates to how myths have some unforgettable characters by striking a balance between intuitiveness and counter-intuitiveness features, and that the movies use character portrayals with a similar balance between the features.

This essay takes its start in the problematic situation concerning source material in the study of the Norse religion before the Christianization of Scandinavia. There is a lack of written sources from the time when the religion was still practiced. There are plenty of archeological sources economic situation than their religious beliefs. The Icelandic stories written in the 13th and 14th centuries give us a broad pictureof the Norse mythology, but the writers were Christians which makes their reliability questionable. The focus of this essay is therefore on two texts written during the time when the Norse religion was still in practice. The first source is the travel notes written in 922 by the Muslim scholar Ahmad ibn Fadlan who met a group of the Rus’ people. The Rus’ were mainly Scandinavians (possibly from Sweden) and their religious practices hence falls under the category of Norse religion. Ibn Fadlan showed a great interest in the Rus’ and describes their ritual sacrifices and a funeral of theirs in great detail. The second source is the description of the heathen cult in the Swedish town of Uppsala written in 1076 by the Christian scholar Adam of Bremen. He describes Uppsala as the last outpost of the religion and among other things he describes their practices, their ritual sacrifices and a golden temple. I’ve used a comparative method as well as a historical critical method in order to findcredible similarities between the two sources. The focus is placed on the descriptions of the ritual sacrifices in both of the texts and how they can be understood in their context. This is done to find a common ground within the religion in order to construct a framework from which further research may find its foundation. With the help from earlier research on these two texts, on other written material, such as thethe Icelandic stories, and on archeological findings I’ve found many similarities between my two sources which can be considered as real parts of the Norse religion. These are the sacrifice to images of the gods, the sacrifice of different animals, the sacrifice in sacred groves and the hanging of scarified animals in trees and on treelike poles, the central role of sacrificing heads of animals and different ritual practices in order to experience a higher reality. Human sacrifice can be strongly questioned and both of the texts point to hanging as a mean of execution instead of sacrifice.

This thesis investigates the representation of land and landownership in medieval Icelandic texts. I shall demonstrate that there is scant homogeneity in this representation; the variation between different narratives is startling and unusual. I seek to categorise this variability by identifying the lack of a secure tradition surrounding land and landownership, and exploring the possibilities open to the saga author to use land practices and myths as literary devices or to glorify the past. I also examine variability caused by the differences in the realm of 'actual' experience. I shall explore a range of narratives, from stories of the initial settlement of Iceland, to issues of inheritance, to conveyance and to dispute over territory. The last chapter takes a flip-side view of landownership to consider the representation of the landless of family saga narrative. The texts which I shall examine are the Íslendingasögur, Landnádmabók and Íslendingabók. Throughout the thesis I also make reference to Grágás for illumination and comparison. In the first and second chapters I also include archaeological evidence for discussion.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Laura Edmondson, Florida State University, School of Theatre. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 13, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains v, 67 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, 2002.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Some German text and bibliographies. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-63). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Some German text and bibliographies. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-63). Also available on the Internet.

The purpose of this thesis is an in-depth analysis of the Eddic poem Grímnismál found in the manuscript known as Codex Regius (GKS 2365 4to), located in Reykjavík, dated to c. 1270 and a fragment (AM 748 I 4to), located in Copenhagen, dated to c. 1300. While a great deal of work has been done on Grímnismál as part of the Elder Edda, there is yet no specific edition focusing on it alone. New studies on Germanic paganism and mythology show its shifting nature and the absence of specific tenets or uniform beliefs throughout the Germanic speaking world and in time. The relatively absent sources are similarly scattered. As such, the thesis suggests a new method of study, following a focused historical approach in which only Grímnismál is analysed in an attempt to understand the beliefs of the people that composed it. The nature of pagan belief itself prevents one from drawing more general conclusions on ‘Norse mythology' as a whole. Part 1 is divided into two chapters and deals with my approach, the nature of Germanic belief, and the sources available as well as techniques of interpretation for them, all relevant to the production of the arguments made in the thesis. Part 2 deals with Grímnismál itself: Chapter 1 provides an analysis of the manuscripts, Chapter 2 contains my editing notes and Chapter 3 analyses the contents of the poem, Chapter 4 consists of my conclusions to this study, focusing on the cosmology and the dating of the poem. Part 3 contains the edition of Grímnismál and is followed by Part 4 which is the commentary to the poem. The thesis is followed by two appendices, one containing a facing transcription of the manuscripts and the other being a glossary to all words used in Grímnismál. Finally, this thesis includes a digital edition worked on xml. This is available in the following link: https://starescomp.github.io/grimnismal/#idm140518410334752