Norse Mythology
Norse Mythology originates in Scandinavia, more specifically in the Iron Age, if not even in Scandanavian Prehistory. Many fundamental roots were formed long before the use of reading and writing, and continued to do so. This may be attributed to the orally transmitted nature of Norse Mythology - and the little evidence of Norse as a Mythology thereof. Up until Tomb Raider: Underworld, the Tomb Raider Franchise barely touched on Norse Mythology. Occasionally there were references. See Tomb Raider. However, Norse Mythology features heavily in Tomb Raider: Underworld, and a very broad and accurate understanding can be gained.
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Appearences
Norse Mythology has continually cropped up in Tomb Raider. Popular incarnations include the Thor Room from the original Tomb Raider, St. Francis' Folly, a room which embodied all of Thor's godlike powers in a puzzle to collect four keys to unlock the door that leads to the Colosseum. The name caused minor amounts of confusion; St. Francis' Folly is based in Greco-Roman land, and Thor is a Norse God.
This was cleared up in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, where the room was changed to Hephaestus.
Another appearance which is worth noting is the Kraken, which features in the Mediterranean Sea level of Tomb Raider: Underworld. The Kraken is depicted as a large, sprawling octopine creature which poses as a huge obstacle Lara must pass. To do so she must initially persuade the Kraken to move it's enormous tentacles, but ends with Lara dropping an ornate ceremonial place laiden with spikes onto the Kraken, ending in its death.
Norse Mythology plays a massive role in Tomb Raider: Underworld, acting as the most accurate plethora of Myths and Legends to reality, and as a vessel which all other religions and myths descend from and therefore can be explained and traced. It is there for deducted as a monomyth, relating even back to the events of Tomb Raider: Legend.
Many Nordic Figures, Objects, Realms, Places, Concepts and Icons were detailed in Tomb Raider: Underworld.
Tomb Raider
Norse Mythology was included only very slightly in Tomb Raider 1, but it is still worth mentioning. In the Greco-Roman levels, situated somewhere in eastern Europe, Lara visits St. Francis' Folly in search of the second Scion Piece. In her search, she must delve into the bowels of the Monestary, to gain access to the Colosseum, which leads onto Palace Midas, which in turn leads to the Cistern and the Tomb of Tihocan. To firstly gain access to the Colosseum, she must open a door which has four locks and four corresponding keys - each of which have their own "Challenge Room" counterpart, each being dedictated to some form of deity, in which one of the four keys are hidden in. Various tasks must be performed like evading traps, killing enemies and racing against time to stop oneself drowning, but one of the Rooms is dedicated to Thor, his strength and his power over thunder and lightning. Lara has to evade lighting bolts and the deadly strike of Thor's hammer to reach the key.
It should be noted that Thor is a Norse God, yet his name appears in a Greco-Roman Monastery. It has been the subject of speculation.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
In Tomb Raider: Anniversary, the Religious Wrangles had been sorted out. The "Challenge Room" originially dedicated to Thor is now dedicated to Hephaestus, the God from the correct Pantheon and ruling over similarly Thunder, Lightning and Storms.
The Room, however, is very similar in design and concept, if not slightly condensed down. For more information, see St. Francis' Folly.
More hypothetically, the Next Generation counterpart of the original Tomb Raider's game Atlantis bears very similar runic markings on walls, floors, ceilings, doors blocks and almost every conceivable location to those that feature in Tomb Raider: Underworld, in Scared Mythical Sites . The intricate architecture also bears a resemblance to that of Helheim, Niflheim and Xibalba. Perhaps this denotes a civilized connection.
Tomb Raider: Underworld
In Tomb Raider: Underworld, Lara Croft persues the whereabouts of her mother, Amelia Croft. The plot picks up where Legend left off, but many omissions have been made.
Underworld begins four years after Legend leaves off. Lara has visited Professor Eddington, a former friend of Richard Croft, and detailed of an underwater expedition in the Mediterranean her father was considering to journey. She picks up where her father left off, and begins a dive that will eventually lead to the discovery of the Norse Underworld, Niflheim.
Lara is initially astounded to find Norse-like runes and architecture down so deep and so far away from any Norse connections. In the words of Lara herself: "Incredible. The carvings are clearly similar to early Germanic design, but this is far older than the 5th century, yet, strangely enough, more sophisticated. Proto-Norse runes? Let's see... "World of Mist." That would be Niflheim, the realm of the dead. Not Avalon, exactly, but the Norse equivalent..."
The arcitecture is very uniquely stylised, yet also very non-descript, and at the same time thousands of years old. All this leads Lara to believe that this "Niflheim" was here many thousands of years before Nordic stories entailed it. Lara is tempted to believe it is all connected with the Monomyth theory she coined in Tomb Raider: Legend.
On a side note, Niflheim in Norse Mythology Niflheim is one of the nine words around Yggdrasil, the world tree, and was one of the two very first primordial realms, in which it was described as being extremely icy and cold. The other was a fire realm, Muspelheim, and between which creation was formed.
There, she finds Thor, to which she is quite surprised. Her words, ("Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. Whatever you are doing down here in Niflheim? According to the Eddas, Thor needed special iron gauntlets to wield his mightly hammer Mjolnir... Could it be?"), say that she believes to have found the first of Thor's Gauntlets, or Jarngreipr.
A bonus to the Norse Mythology in the game is also the Kraken. Its origins come from Scandanavia and is purported to eat ships whole.
Moving forwards in Underworld, Lara visits Coastal Thailand in hopes of finding more clues. To be continued at a later date.
Guesswork
Many key facts and details have been omitted from the Crystal Dynamics trilogy. Therefore, much assumption and guesswork has to be made if one desires to fully understand the concepts entailed in the three games Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary (a retelling of the original Tomb Raider) and Tomb Raider: Underworld, a vessel that ties up all loose ends from both Legend and Anniversary.
It should be noted that although there was monomyth like assumptions made even early on in Tomb Raider: Legend, nothing in the aforementioned game relates to anything even remotely Norse in nature. However, it should also be noted that the monomyth happened to never actually mention any specific myths or legends, just a combination of them all. Analogies Lara and her team-mates, Zip and Alister, make include the similarities between the stories of Queen Tiwanaku, King Arthur Pendragon, and numerous other powerful prehistoric rulers; the many depictions of a great flood in different cultures, very similar stone Daises dotted all over the globe with seemingly other-dimensional properties which purportedly send the activator to Avalon, or Helheim.
These Daises and the travel network they therefore make, and Natla's extensive knowledge on the subject, leads many to believe that the Anciencts, and race detailed to have made the Underworld-like sites which inspired the mythology of many cultures, and the Altanteans, a race with building style and runic writing similar to that of the Anciencts, to be the same.
The flood that many cultures mention also could be attributed to the Cataclysm of Atlantis, the disaster that sunk Atlantis deep below the sea, and many similar gods and goddesses can be attributed to those in the Norse Mythology. For instance, Odin with more wisdom and age than Thor, would appropriately place Odin ad Qualopec and Thor as Tihocan - and possibly, due to the very nature of her, Hel as Natla herself. However this is pure guesswork and speculation.
Ragnarők
Mythology
Our knowledge of Norse mythology comes mainly from two sources: the Poetic Edda (a.k.a. the Elder Edda), a collection of old Norse poems found in the Icelandic medieval manuscript called Codex Regius, and the Prose Edda (a.k.a. the Younger Edda), written by Snorri Sturluson from Iceland around the year 1200. The author of the Poetic Edda is unknown.
One of the main features in Norse mythology is The Nine Worlds. Those worlds are Asgard, Vanaheim, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Alfheim, Svartlaheim, Nidarvellir, Midgard and Muspelheim.
Völuspa
The first poem in the Poetic Edda is called "Völuspa" and it includes the story of the creation of the world and the prophecy of the end of the world.
Yggdrasil
Main article: Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil was the tree of life in Norse mythology. It was an eternal green Ash tree, its branched streched out over the worlds and its roots went all different directions: the first root went to Asgard, the second to Jotunheim and the third one went to Niflheim. By every root was a well. The tree was not only a place where gods held their meetings and court but also a residence for the eagle, the gossiping squirrel Ratatosk and the serpent named Nidhogg. The eagle and the serpent could not tolerate each other, and the squirrel took pleasure in keeping the hostility alive. Among the branches of Yggdrasil lived also four stags, who represented beauty and harmony. Yggdrasil is also known as the three where Odin, the chief god in Norse mythology, hung himself once for nine days to gain power over the runes and all their secrets.
Figures
Thor
Main arcticle: Thor Thor is the god of thunder, lightning, war and strength. He is also the son of Odin, the chief god. Even though Thor is known as an angry god who caused the rolling thunder with the rumble of his fiery chariot and lightning's flash with his mighty hammer Mjolnir, he was also the one who brought spring and the god of the household and the common people. He protected humans against the giants of underworld. His main possessions were his hammer Mjolnir, belt Megingjörð and the gauntlets Jarngreipr.
Odin
Hel
Others
Valkyries
Jormungandr
Related: Jormungandr Mechanism
