Map Of Midgard Project update: 700 mappoints completed & counting!

 I've successfully plotted 700 mappoints for my Map Of Midgard Project!

This is the sixth update since the initial blog post, the first update, the second update, the third update, the fourth update, and the fifth update.

I'm still working on the remaining backlist of mappoints that weren't as easily findable during the course of my research. This list, originally of 360 candidates, is now down to 248 possible additional locations.

[yes, this is a for-real one-off promo Map Of Midgard t-shirt, because it's only getting closer with each of these posts!]

While I expected to take on a more mercenary & expedient approach to this final list to get to a publication point, such an approach doesn't respect the value of the data, so even though this lengthens the timeline of the project, I'm giving these the time they deserve.

For example, no respectable Norse Lore map wouldn't include a speculative mappoint for Jotunheim, but that's a "somewhere over there" beyond-ish locale. There are, however, legendary sagas where heroes do conventionally travel from Midgard to there, and give (very) general directions, so I've collated the ones that most agree and picked a remote point to extrapolate it as spot on the map relative to the mentioned known places before the heroes get there.

Plus during this process of back catalog research I'm incidentally discovering more mappoints for inclusion as I go (which was always happening even before this last  backlist), and that also extends the working time, and needfully so. For instance, even though we have on the backlist just one Thor's Well in Torsås, Sweden, we then discovered three more Thor's Wells (in Öland, Vallentuna, and Hebden), which when geographically collated & culturally examined speaks of a spread of similar practice from Sweden to the UK in terms of these Thunderer-specific sites. Yes, there's an unexpected wellspring of data happening that must be respected & included, which will only make for a richer Map Of Midgard when completed.

Conversely, I'm finding this backlist contains redundancies of same sites from differing sources that inconsistently named them different things, and also some factually errant locales. Both of these aspects are filtering the list as I source check and go forward, but this whittling down is less so, though this trend could otherwise change given individual circumstances of the locations that are left to map.

We now suspect around 900 mappoints by time of publication, so this update puts the project at the 7/9th's mark, if our estimate is correct.

Hit that blue follow button & stay tuned to NorsePlay for more updates & announcements about my Map Of Midgard Project.

DescriptionLandvættir. 

"There must be ready and generous cooperation between experts in different fields of knowledge if we are to make profitable use of the wealth of new information piling up concerning the pagan religion from which the myths emerged." 

~ H.R. Ellis Davidson

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.