The Poetic Edda in Skyrim
\ So there I was, trying to enjoy my weekend, forgetting about my worries as I delved into the embellished world of Skyrim. The last thing on my mind at this time was my Vikings Sagas class (no offense, Doctor Blake). But as I was playing, the NPC’s started talking about a book called the Poetic Edda, and I literally did a double take. Literature from class was the last thing I expected to see in Skyrim, but it actually makes a lot of sense knowing that Skyrim is heavily inspired by Viking culture. In fact, there are many parallels in the things we’ve read about and the popular video game, one of them being the Poetic Edda.
In real life, the Poetic Edda is a medieval collection of Viking poems that tells us a lot about Viking culture and mythology. In Skyrim, the Poetic Edda is literally the same thing, just written completely by wandering bards about the Nords and their culture and mythology. Clearly we see some parallels here; the Nords are supposed to be the Vikings and both have an old text telling of their cultures.
Other parallels have much to do with culture and government. In Skyrim, each city has a Jarl (the old Norse term for ruler) and there is a god named Talos who can be compared to Odin. There is also an after-world called Sovngarde that is nearly identical in description to Valhalla.
There is a legendary ax named Wuuthrad that is shattered and has to be remade, paralleling Gram, a shattered sword that is inherited by Sigurd in one of the Viking Sagas.
Alduin, the big bad dragon in Skyrim, is a clear representation of Nidhogg, the dragon that is prophesied to destroy Midgard and Asgard in the cataclysmic event of Ragnarok. Even the regions of Skyrim are inspired of Scandinavian/Viking countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Honestly, from top to bottom, Skyrim is completely and wholly inspired by the Vikings and their culture. One of the clearest examples of that and its relevance to the class is the Poetic Edda.
ReplyDeleteEnemies like the draugr are also from Norse mythology, and I didn’t know that until I took this class. I thought that it was something that the developers came up with. Other Elder Scrolls games, like Morrowind and Oblivion, don’t seem to borrow from Viking folklore as heavily as the Skyrim game. The developers probably based the realm of Skyrim on Scandinavia and Iceland, with its vast mountains and wintry climate. Because of this, I think it would be a logical next step to implement facets of Viking history and mythology into the lore of the game, to create a “parallel universe”, so to speak.