Nordic mythology has been generally portrayed as moody and depressing, with evil defeating Asgard during the Twilight of the Gods. According to Padraic Column the battle was a draw with the Giants and their allies being destroyed as well.
Column also begins his account with the aftermath of the battle with a new world springing from the old, a much better world.
For me, the most impressive aspect of Column's book is the fallibility of the Norse gods. Odin cheats the builder of the wall around Asgard out of his payment. Loki kills an otter who turns out to be a blacksmith's son. Odin pays him a bounty by stealing a dwarf's treasure, which leads to the eventual destruction of Asgard. (One of the rings has a curse on it.)
I was also rather surprised by the Loki character. I had always thought that he was more mischievous than evil, similar to Coyote in Native American mythology, but in Column's account, after the theft of the treasure, Loki deteriorates into a truly evil entity, marrying the witch Angerbora who gives birth to Fenir the Wolf, the serpent Jormungand, and a third entity called Hela, the withering of all life.
But they are all destroyed and in the end we are left with Lif and her mate Lifthrasir, Adam and Eve characters, awakening in the forest where Odin had hidden them. There is a new son and a new moon and new gods, Vidar and Vali, sons of Odin, who find tablets the older gods have left, telling of all that happened before the Twilight of the Gods.
Dave Schwinghammer's unconventional mystery, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available at Amazon.com, new and used. Thank you. Click here to post or read comments.
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