Norse Pantheon Mythology Guide
Includes 3 files in a Zipped Folder: 1 Copy with Deities Colored by Archetype (i.e. Sun Gods, Sea Gods, etc), 1 Copy with Deities Colored by Dynasty (i.e. AEsir, Vanir, etc), and 1 Copy in Grayscale Optimized for Black & White Printing.
I (Joshua J Kes) am passionate about mythology and anthropology. I have a B.S. in Geography and Sociology; the study of places and people, respectively. I've been working on a database for comparative mythological studies for a few years now, and thought I'd put together some slick informative charts/posters of family trees for various pantheons.
I also produce YouTube videos on this subject @Sapienite1, with episodes on individual motifs and pantheons. If you like what you see, you may check them out for more details! Here's my video on the Norse Pantheon:
The aspect of Norse mythology that most fascinates me is the classification of different sub-pantheons within it: AEsir, Vanir, Jotunn, Elves, etc. To me, these represent different waves of migration and integration of different cultures. This pattern can be seen in many pantheons throughout the world that have evolved over time. The AEsir, for instance, tend to have a mix of largely Indo-European influenced deities, whereas the Vanir likely took after a less well-attested Neolithic influence.
Another aspect of these charts that needs to be said, is that I've made certain conflations between deities that, while informed by a philological comparison between differing sources, ultimately comes down to a subjective interpretation of similar motifs. Therefore, I am putting this out there as a hybrid of artistic and academic intentions. I put out YouTube videos on every chart, and can explain more of my reasons for certain decisions there.
For example, I conflated Freya with Nanna due to what I believe to be their common roots in a Neolithic Mediterranean Dawn Goddess similar to Inanna, Ishtar, and Aya (these being Sumerian and Semitic deities). It is widely accepted that Early Farmers from the Mediterranean region (including Cyprus and Anatolia) eventually settled Jutland and Scania (Denmark and Southern Sweden) during the Neolithic. The general consensus is that these people mixed with local Western and Eastern Hunter-Gatherers and were ultimately mixed with incoming Indo-Europeans from the Eurasian Steppe. My hypothesis, as it relates to mythology, is that the deities of these Neolithic peoples coincide with the remaining Vanir, including Freya and Nanna. Aspects of Nanna's descent into the Underworld and resurrection of Balder resemble the Sumerian story of Inanna and Dumuzid, or the Egyptian story of Osiris and Isis. Freya, likewise, was a dawn goddess of love and feminine power, like Ishtar and Inanna. Despite her name likely stemming from Indo-European sources (i.e. Hewsos, Eos, Eostre), certain characters of Indo-European mythology were likely also inherited from earlier Neolithic sources from Anatolia, Cyprus, and the Levant. Since agriculture and cattle culture were both inherited by the Indo-Europeans from Neolithic Anatolians, it's safe to say that mythological motifs - especially in relation to agricultural topics - were also inherited from Neolithic Anatolians.
My methodology of comparison for mythological motifs (the first copy) usually involves planetary or astrological associations, but this time, I used a simple coding system including 17 motifs/archetypes/codes, each color-coded and in order from left-to-right:
1. EARTH - Earth Deities like Gaia or Mother Earth.
2. SKY - Sky Deities like Uranus or Sky Father.
3. SEA - Sea Deities like Neptune and Poseidon.
4. CHTHONIC - Underworld Deities like Pluto and Hades.
5. WILD - Wilderness and Hunting Deities like Pan or Orion.
6. LUNAR - Moon Deities like Luna or Diana.
7. SOLAR - Sun Deities like Apollo or Helios.
8. DUSK - Dusk or Fatal Deities like Morrigan or Odin.
9. MESSENGER - Messenger Deities like Mercury and Hermes
10. TRICKSTER - Trickster or Chaotic Deities like Set or Loki.
11. STORM - Storm/Thunder Deities like Jupiter and Zeus.
12. WAR - War Deities like Mars and Ares.
13. DAWN - Dawn, Love, or Justice Deities like Venus, Aphrodite, and Ishtar.
14. HEARTH - Hearth or Smithing Deities like Vulcan/Hephaestus and Vesta/Hestia.
15. FERTILITY - Fertility or Agricultural Deities like Ceres and Demeter.
16. VITAL - Vital or Festive Deities like Bacchus and Dionysus.
17. FORTUNE - Fortune or Mountain Deities like Saturn and Kronos.
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