NorsePlay.

NorsePlay would like to take a moment this Yule to spot the influence of Frost Maiden turned Norse Goddess Gerðr within the figure of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale figure, The Snow Queen. The above Edmund Dulac illustration (1911 CE) found in Stories from Hans Andersen , features a regally divine lady, diaphanously dressed with her pallid arms bared, the Northern Lights encircling her head, perhaps projected or reflected from her physical presence. This presentation of comfort in extreme cold would suggest jötunness heritage given to her. Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale (1844 CE) also features heroine Gerda whose name may indicate a storyteller's easy choice of one degree of character displacement from Gerðr. The Snow Queen herself probably trickles down into C.S. Lewis' Imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, whom those thankless rebels impugn as "The White Witch". Gerðr's known for the feature of her shimmering arms, part of why G...

Detail from The Goddess Gerd by UK sculptor George Blackall Simonds (1847–1929 CE). Gerðr of The Shimmering Arms is her most-known kenning. This could be yet another attribute derived/associated with the Northern Lights as they shimmer across the sky, so the sculpture depicts the jotun maiden with her arms upraised, and a possible dawn-esque Goddess halo of radiance made of hair, so her shimmering epithet could also perhaps alternately be a Midnight Sun association, or more simply the sun's reflection dazzling one's eyes off of the ice , or all the above really given the polyvalent nature of the Norse Gods, but the beauty of the proverbial & ideal pale-limbed lovely is definitely at work. And when Freyr beholds this attribute from his sneaking a view from Odin's throne  Hlidskjalf , the D'Aulaires show the phenomena of her shimmering as the first thing of Gerðr he sees. #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in...

Bolverk, secretly Odin, runs serious game on Gunnlöd to score some quality time with her & win the ultimate in free drinks -- the Mead of Poetry. Note the huge Óðrerir vessel in the foreground from which we can infer where Thor gets his drinking skills from, since Odin is supposed to empty that in a single draught. [ Odin and Gunnlöd by Emil Doepler , 1900 CE] #    #    # 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 t hen 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 e mployment/ opportunities in  investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer,  do contact him .