Norse Mythology: The Unofficial Guide

About Norse Mythology: The Unofficial Guide

What makes Norse mythology "norse"? Why does Thor kill giants? What do the myths tell us about Loki's gender identity? The world of popular media is always happy to provide a modernized re-telling of ancient stories with a heavy scoop of creative license, but on "Norse Mythology: The Unofficial Guide", we'll dive into the original tales directly from the sources and learn together from experts in the field about what these stories really mean and how they would have affected the lives of the ancient people of the pagan north. Contact me any time at waelhraefn (at) gmail (dot) com!

Publisher

J. G. Harker

Category

history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Jun 2022

Latest episode

16 May 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 45 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   16 May 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Episode 39 - The Worship of Good and Evil

   Host Wael Hraefn explores the complex Norse perception of gods and giants, examining the duality of good and evil through surprising historical evidence.

2. 

   18 May 2025

   Episode 38 - Eating Hearts and Drinking Blood

   This time we dig into a rarely discussed aspect of Norse mythology: stealing your enemy's power by eating their heart or drinking their blood. But just who's power can be stolen by way of this gory ritual? Animals? Monsters? Humans? Let's find out together. Sources: “Heimskringla Volume 1, The Beginnings to Óláfr Tryggvason” transl. by Alison Finlay and Anthony Faulkes, 2011 “Gesta Danorum” transl. by Karsten Friis-Jensen and Peter Fisher, 2015 “The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki” transl. By Jesse Byock, 1998 “The Dating of Eddic Poetry: Evidence from Alliteration” by Haukur Þorgeirsson, 2016 “Dating the Old Norse Poetic Edda” by Christopher Sapp, 2022 "Eaten hearts and supernatural knowledge in Eiríks saga rauða" by Andrea Maraschi, 2018 “The Poetic Edda”, transl. by Edward Pettit, 2023 “The Prose Edda”, transl. by Anthony Faulkes, 1995 Contact: Write in: waelhraefn (at) gmail (dot) com Join the Discord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/Nvw5hmkRsW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://discord.gg/Nvw5hmkRsW) Music: Celebration by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

3. 

   13 Jul 2024

   Episode 37 - Dead Women in Black

   After a nice, long break, NMTUG is back to cover a relatively obscure topic in Norse mythology: the dísir. What makes the dísir distinct from valkyries, norns, and other death-entangled women? Let's fin Sources: “The Merseburg Spells” by Joseph S. Hopkins, 2023 “Dísir” by John Lindow in Pre-Christian Religions of the North volume III, 2020 “Dictionary of Northern Mythology” by Rudolf Simek, 2007 “Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs”, by John Lindow, 2002 “The Poetic Edda”, transl. by Carolyne Larrington, 2014 “The Prose Edda”, transl. by Anthony Faulkes, 1995 Contact: Write in: waelhraefn (at) gmail (dot) com Join the Discord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/Nvw5hmkRsW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://discord.gg/Nvw5hmkRsW) Music: Celebration by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Inside a recent episode

Episode 39 - The Worship of Good and Evil

Published 16 May 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] There were, of course, shades and degrees of bad, just as there are today, but ancient Norse society certainly did have a sense of moral good and moral bad. It's just not a situation where exercising brotherly love for all your fellow humans across the planet is going to get you into a paradisiacal heaven. The system is different... But the concept still exists. But let's get back to this idea that all the families of the Jotunar are always, quote, too fierce, or that all of Ymir's kinsmen are evil. The problem with these statements is that they are generalizations that don't always match the details. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

14,065

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

124 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

2,211 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 64 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

67

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

76

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