Scandinavia
The following is excerpted from The Conversation essay Norse mythology brims with fierce, fabulous women. Here are 5 of my favourites by Lisa Bennett, Flinders University. It is republished under a Creative Commons license.
Skaði
At the dawn of time, Odin and his brothers killed the first giant, Ymir, from whose enormous body worlds were created. Ymir’s skull became the sky, his blood the rivers and so on.
Ever since, there has been animosity between giants and gods. Tension comes to a fatal head at the final battle of Ragnarök, when these two immortal factions face off and obliterate each other.
Given this, the figure of Skaði is fascinating. She’s a giant who becomes a goddess associated with winter, mountains, skiing and hunting, but who never quite feels at home in Asgard (the realm of the Æsir, the top tier gods). This position of being both/neither grants Skaði incredible freedom. She moves between worlds without interference and, significantly, she is in charge of her own life.
Sort of.
After the gods kill her father, Thjazi, Skaði travels to Asgard wearing a helmet, armour, and carrying “all the weapons of war” to negotiate a fair settlement for his death. Everything about this setup tells us Skaði is bent on revenge and this warrior attitude alone makes her story worth reading.
But if that isn’t enough, there’s a mystifying plot twist. Out for blood, Skaði instead winds up choosing herself a god-husband – based solely (no pun intended) on the look of his feet. She accidentally picks Njörd (god of the sea), thinking his lovely, white feet must belong to Odin’s golden-boy Baldr.
Disappointed, Skaði only agrees to this matchmaking farce if the gods can do something impossible, given her foul mood: make her laugh. Though Loki and a goat manage this feat, Njörd and Skaði’s marriage is short-lived.
Yet the strangeness of this myth – especially Skaði’s fury deflating into laughter – always draws me back to her story.
Yet She Lives: Fierce and Fantastical Women of Norse Mythology is published by Thames and Hudson
Lisa Bennett, Associate Professor, Flinders University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.