Northern Myths and Legends Final Exam Study Sheet: texts, terms, topics & themes
Know dates for the final exam
Oral literature and its transformations
Modern reception and adaptations
New genres and new media
Njals saga
Goði and Goðard
Lawspeaker
Hrut and Unn
Gunnar
Hallgerd
Thjostolf
Thorgerd
Thráin Sigfusson
Njál and Bergthora
Skarphedin, Grim, Helgi
Hoskuld Hvitanes-goði
Mord Valgardsson
Hildigunn
Kári Solmundarson
Flosi
Missionary Thangbrand
Thorgeir the Goði
Themes
Vengeance and/or Compensation
Weregild
Honor and Prestige
Public reputation
Jesse Byock and feud culture
Courage and Fearlessness
Self-reliance and Violence
Law and Legal Systems
Lesser and Full Outlawry
Obligations to Family and Clan
Jealousy and Envy
Memory and saga storytelling
Christian missionaries
Heroic vs. Christian Ethos
Social order in oral societies
Society and history
Transition from oral to literary
Transition from public to private
Transition of belief systems
Conversion to Christianity
The Volsunga Saga Old Norse
Odin and Sigi
Volsung and Hlod
Sigmund and Signy
Sinfjotli and Helgi
Sigurd the Dragonslayer
Regin and Fafnir
Brynhild and Gudrun
Gunnar, Hogni and Guttorm
Atli and the Huns
Svanhild and King Jonakr
Hamdir, Sorli and Erp
Scenes: Otter’s ransom
Sigurd kills Fafnir
Sigurd tastes dragon’s blood
Dispute of the Queens
Betrayal of Sigurd
Hogni’s heart cut out
Gunnar in the Snake Pit
Gudrun kills Atli’s sons
Failed vengeance for Svanhild
Themes: The Doomed Hero
Mythological Ancestry
Werewolves & Transformations
Valkyries / Shield-Maidens
Ale of Forgetfulness
Jealousy, Pride and Status
Magic Sword, gift of Odin
Vengeance and Honor
Legendary Sagas and History
The Cursed Ring
Nibelungenlied
Middle High German
Germanic epic elements
Medieval courtly elements
Minstrels and courtly verse
Legends and historical elements
Burgundians and Huns of history
Scenes: Courting of Brunhild
Gunther’s wedding night
The Quarrel of the Queens
Hagen crossing the Danube
The Death of Siegfried
The Death of Rüdiger
Deaths of Gunther & Hagen
The Death of Kriemhild
Characters: Siegfried
Gunther, Gernot and Giselher
Hagen von Tronje
Fall 2016
Kriemhild and Brunhild
Volker "the Minstrel"
King Etzel
Rüdiger of Pöchlarn
Dietrich and Hildebrand
Themes: Revenge and Honor
Images of the Knight
Duty and Obligation
Gifts and Alliances
Pageantry and Celebration
Treachery and Murder
Epic Tragedy
Romantic Love
Gold (the Nibelung Hoard)
The Táin Bó Cuailnge. Old Irish
Cúchulainn
Warp Spasm
Ogham script
Tuatha De Danann
People of the Sidhe
Pagan Holiday Samhain
Sámi Myth and Folklore
Languages and cultures
Naoidi, and drum divination
Saivo spirit world
“The Pathfinder”
Shamanistic magic
Magical transformations
Doctor Faustus New High German
Folk Culture / Low Culture
Johan Spies, editor/author
Christopher Marlowe
Elizabethan Theater
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The historical Faust
Volksbuch– folk book/ chapbook
Protestantism; Age of Discovery
Scenes: Pact with the Devil
Theology and Modernity
The Rejection of Academics
The Pranks pulled on the Pope
The Summoning of Alexander
The Affair with Helen of Troy
Faust’s Damnation and Death
Characters: Faustus
Mephistophilis and Sweet Helen
Emperor Charles V.
Benvolio
Themes: magic and sorcery
quest for forbidden knowledge
good and bad angels
temptation or divine devotion
desire and gratification
Sin and salvation
Till Eulenspiegel
Herman Bote, author
scatalogical humor
Schwank medieval jest
Owls and long-tailed monkeys
Richard Wagner
das Rheingold, die Walküre
Siegfried, die Götterdämmerung
Gesamtkunstwerk
Leitmotiv
Liebestod
Fairy Tales
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Kinder- und Hausmärchen
Grimms’ Scholarly Works
Romanticism and Nationalism
Cultural Identity & National Unity
Fairy Tales and Folk Tales
Oral tales and Written Literature
Aarne-Thompson Classifications
Propp, Morphology of Folk Tales
Be familiar with all the fairy tales
assigned on the reading list.
Themes: Victimization
Childhood Oppression Complex
Animal Bridegrooms
Peasant Context of Oral Folk Tales
Neglect, Abuse and Abandonment
Sexual Jealousy
Oedipus and Electra Complex
Family Romance Fantasy
Work, Diligence and Obedience
Revisions: Sex, Violence and Virtue
Female Virtues – Desirability of Labor
Male Virtues – Luck and Wealth
Stupidity and Laziness
(Step)-mothers and Stepsisters
Children’s Literature
Walt Disney, Snow White, 1937
Tangled (2011)
Norske Folkeeventyr
Asbjörnsen and Moe
Askeladden and trolls
‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’
‘East of the Sun & West of the Moon’
Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search
for the lost husband
Troll Hunter (2011)
Slavic Myth and Legend
Divinities in Primary Russian Chronicle
St. Cyril, conversion, Cyrillic script
Dual belief system
Domovoi, Rusalka, Leshii, Vodianoi
Fantasy Literature
Popular Images of the Norse and Vikings
Entertainment and Escapism
Industrialization and Capitalism
Individualism, Democracy, Self-reliance
Utopian Literature
William Morris, Lord Dunsany
Robert E. Howard, Conan the Barbarian
“The Frost-Giant’s Daughter”
Conan films (1982 and remake 2011)
J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
Jim Butcher, Dresden Files, "Heorot"
Peter Jackson, LOTR and The Hobbit
Kevin Hearne, Iron Druid Chronicles
Neil Gaiman, American Gods,
"The Monarch of the Glen"
Greg van Eekhout, Norse Code
Kim Wilkins’s Giants of the Frost
Markus Heitz, Dwarves
Stan Nicholls, Orcs
Philip Pullmann, His Dark Materials
Brian Wood, Northlanders
George R. R. Martin, Song of Ice and Fire
Pagan Festivals and Christian Holy Days
Saturnalia and Jule
Mistletoe
Christmas trees
Odin, St. Nikolaus and Santa Claus
Ostera or Eostre