Miscellaneous Myths: The Great Norse Seal Fight

[@NotAnEldritchHorror]

Just the whole idea of Odin being shocked that Freya, a fertility goddess boned the dwarves, is funny in and of itself; but Red’s addition of Loki correcting him to “Fertility Human” is just A+ comedy.

[@Atle-ez7ir]

That whole segment with Odin’s many-formed shirt of I Swear I’m Not Actually A Pagan God tho.

[@FoxFireNaruto]

@@Atle-ez7ir And the tiny ones on the ravens!

[@idontknoq4813]

Ba Da Da dhamshaka

[@simonhamelink3590]

I mean, a guy who is shocked because her wife cheated on him isn't out of the ordinary.

[@NotAnEldritchHorror]

@@simonhamelink3590 Odin cheated on his wives more than they cheated on him

[@zxcxdr1]

Loki's description as "Not a god. sometimes a horse." is priceless

[@blacksage2375]

It might even be true...

[@thien0300]

We never gonna let the horse incident go are we...

[@vermilionrubin]

@@thien0300 well there is a tangible reminder in the form of a certain 8-legged Odins' form of transportation.

[@neko0my0cat]

@@thien0300 of course not it's way to funny

[@SpicyT257]

and sometimes a horse mother

[@lewisirwin5363]

"Give the necklace back Loki, else your fate is sealed." "You know what? You're right!"

[@Ra88ful]

I give you a SEAL of approval

[@eggsalad7091]

Thanks for last night man really appreciate it, your help is always welcome.

[@prakharshrivastava2874]

We do a Lil sealin

[@catalinaargyriou8603]

took me a bit to figure out...

[@WilczycaCzarownica]

Great joke. And Heimdall would say something like "Can you just stop take every words seriously?". XD

[@vladimirenlow4388]

It's one thing to retell a myth, but Red outdid herself here, reconstructing the myth as far as she could get it based on primary sources. In doing so, Red may have created the most comprehensive and authoritative version of the story that exists... all for an excuse to draw some seals.

[@Noble6Espeo]

He mad genius she is. Many often confuse the two, and many more forget they're often related

[@agenttheater5]

Which is an excellent excuse to do anything - drawing seals that is.

[@Styphon]

Well, that certainly seals the deal.

[@johnnygyro2295]

@@Styphon XD

[@vladimirenlow4388]

@@Styphon Is it possible to upvote a comment more than once? 😆

[@samueldixon9028]

I would definitely buy a “not a god, sometimes a horse” t-shirt and a “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my mead of poetry” mug, just sayin.

[@logancurtis8029]

I feel the same about the "If found return to Huginn/Munin" shirts.

[@jennhaych]

Yeah and a totally not allfather t-shirt

[@mamiyonnaise]

Okay somebody make this already and tell me where to buy 😂😂😂

[@quillsoul]

Same

[@Some_Siren]

Me too

[@CatholicDragoon]

Makes a certain amount of sense, Loki likely tried to disguise himself as a seal to escape and Heimdall called him out on it by doing the same thing. They probably went through several animals knowing myths of this type.

[@benikujaku4567]

Shapeshifter duels are fun

[@crafted_myth2392]

@@benikujaku4567 I understood that reference

[@matterhorn731]

Makes sense. Heimdall's the divine watchman, if anyone has keen enough senses to see through Loki's ruse it's him.

[@bluelfsuma]

I'm guessing Loki turned into a seal to escape, Heimdall turns into a seal to catch up, does, fight, wins. Mostly basing that on how Snorri seems to think they fought as seals. I would guess that the original tale could've come from a guy who watched two seals duke it out, and figured it had to be Loki and Heimdall, and his brain filled in the blanks from there.

[@lincolnexaron864]

Right the fight between Er lang and the monkey king was basically that

[@eliburry-schnepp6012]

Wow, the Norse myth books I read as a kid really made this sound like a much more substantial story. That's fascinating.

[@89Crono]

That's the thing. It might be, we don't know

[@Bluecho4]

It's like those books took whatever material they had, and made up the rest.

[@DarkestElemental616]

Did you read D'Aulaire's collection as well?

[@notoriousgoblin83]

@@Bluecho4 To be fair, legends change from person to person. This slight elaboration is generally fine, unless you're using added details as historical ones (cough cough tumblr Greek gods).

[@Alice-gr1kb]

@@notoriousgoblin83 Mesperyian is a totally real goddess (/j)

[@timothymclean]

1:11: To be fair to Snorri, that probably didn't seem like a very important story at the time. It's just Loki stealing something from Freya again. It's only important _to us_ because we know _just enough_ to know how little we know.

[@crickett3536]

Totally! And some of those stories were probably soooo common that it seemed too obvious or ubiquitous to NEED details. It's like us going "and then there's the story of Beauty and the Beast. No need for details, we all know the story!"

[@MyShadowstrike]

@@crickett3536 Reminds me of Nowe Ateny: "Horse: Everyone knows what a horse is".

[@alyssahallister]

@@MyShadowstrike "Everyone knows where Punt is!"

[@TooSickToDressVictorian]

Or like in old sewing guide books: „And now we will do this in *the usual way*“

[@griffenspellblade3563]

@@TooSickToDressVictorian Or the same thing in cookbooks with the normal amount of indigents cooked in the usual way with the usual prep.

[@ikebirchum6591]

The bird shirts are the best part. Imagine a raven like, walking into the DMV or something wearing a little "extremely human person" shirt and everyone is just like "yeah that checks out"

[@dylandarnell3657]

"If found return to Huginn" / "If found return to Muninn"

[@tortis6342]

There is a type of crow called an African Pied Crow that looks like it's wearing a little shirt or vest.

[@ag-13studios51]

@@dylandarnell3657 Wait a sec, is that a RotTMNT reference or is that just me especially since I haven't been in the series all that much?

[@dylandarnell3657]

@@ag-13studios51 Huginn and Muninn are the names of Odin's ravens, which predate TMNT by well over 1000 years. If you mean the "If found return to _" paired T-shirt thing, I'm pretty sure that still predates TMNT. Though not by as much.

[@the-letter_s]

@@dylandarnell3657 now i want to know if some equivalent to those shirts existed in medieval times. matching pendants with that message, or something.

[@Mornathel]

I love how you artistically deal with christianization of the myths. A “fertility human” is the best thing I’ve heard all week

[@tiyenin]

*I* love that Red's finally covered "Kiss from a Rose"!! 🌹

[@templarw20]

"Not a god. Sometimes a horse."

[@sytritewarum5720]

@@tiyenin She's... definitely done it before... I'll get back to you when I figure out which video it was, if I manage to remember to do so...

[@heiditronic2182]

@@sytritewarum5720 Ya find it yet?

[@sytritewarum5720]

@@heiditronic2182 I forgot

[@d3vos_the_god]

Red: *goes on huge speech about how little we actually know about ancient mythologies* Also Red: Loki and Heimdall fought as seals, no actually you gotta believe me here's the proof

[@bimyouna]

Except it's not even remotely "here's proof"; it's "literally only Snorri says this but it's the version I'm going with because it makes me happy, so there."

[@SomeGuy1117]

@@bimyouna Which is probably the way mythology evolved while it was still oral. A person either misremembered, embellished, modified a story to fit an audience, or changed a story to fit a historical narrative each time it passed on to a new person. Which is interesting because it makes you wonder how many different versions of the same story existed alongside each other. The versions we have are just the versions that got written down but there were probably many different ways to tell and interpret the same story at any given time and in any given region.

[@SwedishDrunkard5963]

Loki and Odin might have been the same god in the begining evan that later got divided into two gods.

[@kbye2321]

I mean, I think it's clear Red just wanted to share this "story" for her enjoyment and for sh°ts and giggles. She did repeatedly mention constantly in this video and other Norse myth videos about how thin on the ground Norse mythology is so we should take it with a grain of salt. She'll share it regardless cause she wants to just show this cool thing and as long as she cites her sources and differenciates between the guesswork and the extant myths, I'm sure it's fine. We anyway also need to be handling this carefully and be media-smart about it (being careful about truth vs. fiction, citogenesis, etc. etc.)

[@mobgabriel1767]

​@@bimyounato bê Fair "snorri says so" is like half of our norse myth sources

[@Sea_Leon]

You forgot the best part about all this: Heimdall as a seal was able to get the neckless back from Loki. Think about that for a second, let it percolate. Heimdall beat Loki while both of them were seals.

[@pepi7404]

I really hope they exchanged one-liners with seal puns during their battle. That would be so damn choice.

[@8D2BFREE]

I really want to see a seal try to pick up a necklace

[@blarg2429]

neckless

[@blarg2429]

@@pepi7404 It'd really _seal_ the deal. In fact, I'd give this idea my _seal_ of approval.

[@CulixIII]

@@blarg2429 If someone goes blubbering about what you've done, don't let it get ya down: they're just bein' seal-ly. ^_^

[@bdletoast09]

It's cool to finally hear Red sing Kiss from a Rose after she used it so many times in her past Miscellaneous Myths videos... Also, it's a song from Seal. Very clever pun there.

[@TimRrstrm]

I'm convinced the Seal song is the entire reason for this video. 🤣🦭

[@anonymousfellow8879]

I can’t ever hear this song without the tumblr post + (possibly context removed) twitter receipts theorizing that Seal wrote the song…about seals. It’s w i l d.

[@zidaryn]

"The stranger it gets ooOOoo" This myth got strange alright.

[@Vilexxica]

Yeah dang can we buy this song plz, this is great

[@GalileoAV]

I almost missed that

[@floataway3]

Loved all of the human T-shirts, but the absolute adorableness of "If found please return to Huginn / If found please return to Muninn" on both of the ravens just got me.

[@worldweaver2691]

So thats what they said

[@Sirhc_B8207]

One of the ravens actually changes shirts because at 4:05 the BIRDS shirt is labeled "Extremely human person"

[@daviddaugherty2816]

@@Sirhc_B8207 Wait, that was a bird? I just saw a human perched on Odin's arm.

[@kaptinkookie6403]

I swear this whole story just sounds like the “filler” of mythology and I am all for it

[@vermilionrubin]

Beach Episode!

[@craytherlaygaming2852]

@@vermilionrubin ... I swear something like this actually exists in norse mythology

[@WilczycaCzarownica]

Well, when I watched The Wild Hunt by OSP I was surprised that due christianization they change Nordic Gods to The Wild Hunt. I wonder how many myth was changed due that times.

[@CollinMcLean]

@@WilczycaCzarownica Given how widespread the tradition of the Wild Hunt is From Scandinavia, to Germany, to the British Isles (along with variations going into other continents entirely) it may actually be older than christianity, perhaps having an Indo-European root.

[@Phantom-qr1ug]

Let's have a moment of appreciation for Loki's "Not a God, sometimes a horse" T-shirt.

[@meredithhoward2]

Also the "Extremely Human Person" t-shirt on the bird.

[@Glitch_Man42]

This is honestly one top tier Miscellaneous Myths episode. Seal Fights, Freya's human woman hat, Mythological conspiracies, and a touch of existential horror. Great episode.

[@VerrouSuo]

Loki: *steals Brisinga-men* Heimdall: “and so your fate is Sealed.”

[@ilovethelight777]

"I'd be (sea) lion if I said I wasn't going to kick your blubbery ass."

[@fullmoontales1749]

Consequences 'bearing' down on Loki

[@Talonistrying]

Kiss from a Rose will forever be "that one OSP Aphrodite song" to me just because of how Red used it to cue Aphrodite in so many past myth videos lol, glad she finally covered it herself! Also that seal fight drawing was totally worth all the thumbtacks and string-

[@Coleo20]

I love that song! Who originally sang that, btw? ;)

[@Talonistrying]

@@Coleo20 Seal, I think, though I'm honestly not 100% on that lol

[@themannerchannel784]

@@Coleo20 Seal, that’s the joke at the end

[@Madkap42]

"Kiss From A Rose blaring in the distance", second only to "Careless Whisper blaring in the distance"

[@AnimeSunglasses]

I feel like "Crazy" would have fit this story even better, though perhaps it would be harder to clip in for the short credits...

[@HaydenX]

It's official...Freyja wearing a baseball cap that says "Human Woman" is absolutely deserving of an art print, t-shirt, or something in that vein. That had me in complete stitches.

[@scarlett6015]

I can absolutely believe Loki turned into a seal for kicks during a fight. It's bound to throw _someone_ off.

[@justinalicea1590]

And of course Heimdall, given he will be the man to kill Loki at Ragnarok but at the cost of his life, knows the perfect response to Loki's trickery of becoming a seal is to become one right back.

[@liamwhite3522]

Heimdall: I didn't expect that. But I expected not to expect anything, so it doesn't count.

[@1Cr0w]

Maybe Loki, as a seal, also then sung about a rose on a grave, to throw _someone_ off.

[@Bluecho4]

In this case, Red. Loki messing with people even a thousand years later, and in Real Life.

[@DarkestElemental616]

*turns into a seal* STREET SMARTS

[@unicron3000]

Not gonna lie, a world ending slap fight between two powerful beings, over a necklace, in the forms of seals is pretty goddamn hilarious lol. My morning started rough, so thanks for continuing to brighten the day OSP 😊❤️

[@AxxLAfriku]

GAGAGAGAGAGA!!! I want to cut my toenails... NEVER! I am the feet KZbinr. Thanks for being a fan, dear uni

[@TITAN_101]

Yah gota agree, a god-tier slap fight might not always be entertaining but it will make me laugh every time due to shear silly factor

[@virginiarailfannoah5415]

I hope the rest of your day was OK.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

...Honestly, considering Loki's sense of humor, he's probably the one who suggested that the fight be done in seal form, and I would not be surprised in the slightest if a bunch of other members of pantheon showed up to watch the specticle

[@frankspick7544]

hiemdall:stop running way and fight me for the necklace, coward. loki:find but only if we fight in a form i choose. heimdall:find what form do we fight in? loki: seals 🦭 heimdall: really not sea serpents or giant birds. loki: you heard what i said. hiemdall: find. loki:YES

[@zimattack9994]

You make lost Norse mythology sound like a class at miskatonic university.

[@catherineblack2438]

Maybe it is.

[@WolfBoy-om6dw]

What does miskatonic mean?

[@nps86]

@@WolfBoy-om6dw Tis a reference to H.P. Lovecraft

[@mitchellneu]

Dude yes 😂

[@juanfranciscovillarroelthu6876]

imagine Red giving clases on Miskatonic University... we need a Call of cthulhu campaign video series NOW!!

[@sorenkazaren4659]

And the truth is that Loki and Heimdall finished their fight and said “this was silly, let us never ever speak of this again.” Can you imagine if half the myths we never heard about were because the gods spent time trying to erase the things they’d done. And the myths we have are just the ones they failed to hide 😂

[@infiniteoctopaw]

Omg YES, Canon!

[@hybridtheory9938]

The mythological version of erasing your Facebook posts.

[@krankarvolund7771]

I remember one of my favourite authors of webcomics, Gaumeo, wrote a totally new myth in one of her stories so at the end Hera is like "We can't tell that to the mortals, tell the Muse to write about Apollo's conquests one more time instead" XD

[@craytherlaygaming2852]

Dude... Odin and Loki would have teamed up to burn down all written records just to fuck with future generations

[@positivelink6961]

I love it when Red gives us a glimpse at the insanity that is mythological research. Thumbtacks, corks and string is fun.

[@blubistheword]

1) I absolutely love how the “definitely human and not at all pagan gods” are drawn 2) I really enjoyed hearing abt the research rabbit hole and how these different versions come together

[@Deadxman616]

we need "difently Human and not a ....... " shirts and hats in the merch shop.

[@shadenox8164]

Did you read the shirts on the ravens? Extremely human person.

[@ghostcassette6012]

@@Deadxman616 I want Freya's hat

[@helenl3193]

@@shadenox8164 first in a new line of pet clothing?

[@Mad_Scientist_IRL]

Honestly, I'm curious how the Loki vs Heimdall seal fight would have looked. Fights between elephant seals can get pretty brutal.

[@vel0xraperio]

Perhaps it was watching one such fight that inspired an ancient Norse poet to conceive the story in the first place. The sight of such massive creatures beating the absolute cheese out of each other has got to leave an impression.

[@Schlaym]

NOW IT'S FAIR MISTER TUSK

[@bskec2177]

@@vel0xraperio Sorry, but Northern elephant seals are Pacific Ocean animals only, and the Norse were stuck in the Atlantic. Atlantic seals all tend to be much smaller. Seeing a walrus fight might be possible, but unlikely, and I don't see anyone who is familiar with both seals and walrus thinking they are the same animal.

[@Derkosson]

@@bskec2177 Knowing how zoology was done in the past... Some greek: Yes of course, lions can't have s*x with each other.

[@CrownofMischief]

@@bskec2177 look up medieval descriptions of animals and tell me those guys knew their zoology

[@minercrafik]

I love the "totally a human" section. The characters in myth are often absolutely brilliant yet stupid at the same time. So I can't help but imagine that gods disguising themselves as humans could possibly be just them wearing a shirt with "I am not a god" printed on. (Even though it doesn't make sense from the historical context)

[@bluwasabi7635]

Loki: "Hello fellow human. I am not a shapeshifter"

[@LoremasterYnTaris]

@@bluwasabi7635 What-ho, fellow humans! Are you enjoying being mortal today?

[@Icebuerger4016]

Odin: “Hi babe yes I am real man. Hey wanna go skateboards?”

[@danieloceansmith3156]

It would honestly make it better cus they have a future tee shirt just over their normal clothes and no one even questions it when it says “not a god” … even tho they be wearing literally nothing they’d ever seen before

[@equidistanthoneyjoy7600]

tbf, if you saw some dude walking around wearing a shirt that said 'not a god' on it, would you think they're a god?

[@gwenward2141]

I really appreciate how as Red starts going into less well-known myths and spends more time in the research phase, she's taking the time to explain what her thought process during the research was. Most of us would probably say "cool story about seals, to bad we don't have the full story" and leave it at that, but instead she's explaining all of the primary and biased sources she hunted down for this stuff. This dose two things: 1. Let's us appreciate how complicated and difficult it is to dissect these old myths and scholars STILL aren't sure about everything 2. Shows people how to do research, and that going down the rabbit hole of "Oh, I wonder where this comes from" can have some cool results. Sure some of it may be to pad out the videos as she starts using the dregs of mythology barrel, but it it really informative and I find really cool

[@pyrosianheir]

I love the tiny "If found, return to Huginn/Muninn" shirts Odin's Ravens have. Super adorable.

[@fionagibson7529]

I mean, Loki turning into a seal is far from the weirdest thing he’s become, so it’s definitely plausible.

[@indeepjable]

loki horse

[@MySerpentine]

@@indeepjable PREGNANT horse

[@MercuryA2000]

@@indeepjable *pregnant* horse. Can't forget that.

[@josephperez2004]

@indeepj Specifically FEMALE loki horse. Loki is canonically Sleipnir's MOM, not Dad.

[@indeepjable]

i didnt want to mention that it was pregnant horse but yes they did indeed reproduce and pregante

[@deargodwhatamidoing1122]

The funny thing here, is that not only do we get a fun myth, some cool drawings, and a look into reds research methods. We also learn about reds priorities

[@GoErikTheRed]

You mean our priorities as a fan base?

[@pleaseclap7890]

So Red made a myths video where there is barely a myth at all just so she could draw two Gods transformed into seals fighting over a necklace? Valid.

[@stevenrahman8972]

With great power must also come great responsibility...

[@CrimsonBlasphemy]

Are we sure that this wasn't also Snorri's angle? Maybe he too, really just wanted there to be a canonical Loki Seal.

[@liamwhite3522]

And also to cover Kiss from a Rose.

[@PartigradeCannon]

Dr. Strange: That feels weird but I'll allow it.

[@leecrumpler77]

I love that this is barely about one myth, and really about the process of researching forgotten tales. Honestly, I think it’s more interesting

[@illegalmemedealer3549]

4:51 love the implication that Freyja pegged the dwarves, queen shit

[@apjtv2540]

"Just" so you could draw two seals of god like power dueling in the middle of a raging sea while one claps the necklace of a powerful Goddess? 1. That scene sounds awesome as hell And 2. We need more divine seals. So I am 110% cool with this

[@hansakkerman2611]

Well there is the Inuit retelling of the "Lamb of God" as the "Seal of God"

[@stevejakab274]

There are lots of seals-as-gods-or-other-mystical-beings myths in North Atlantic cultures. Look up "selkie".

[@georgeuferov1497]

Somewhere in the Arctic ocean Sedna felt a disturbance in the seal force

[@farresalt4381]

@@stevejakab274 It doesn't mean we don't need more of them! :D

[@peterpathos4313]

I think Inuit mythology has some of those.

[@alecLogan]

Get the impression there was a mistranslation when Snorri was taking things down in writing, and when proofreading, he just went “… Sure, they both turned into seals and fought, this is far from the strangest sentence I had to write in all this. I can believe it.”

[@donanthebarbarian5177]

You know that does make a certain amount of sense... Also the fact that the seal version of the myth happened due to a mistranslation/misspelling of a correct translation and got past the proofreading because "that is by far the most normal sentence I've encountered in the last 30 pages". Is just hilarious to me.

[@sarahgent2674]

Like how the glass slipper in cinderella was originally a fur slipper (they're similar sounding words in French, possibly homophones?) but like she got it by magic so sure, screw it, glass shoe

[@BlueTressym]

@@sarahgent2674 Yup, 'vair' (fur) vs. 'verre' (glass).

[@therudecanadian8068]

Considering Loki bangs a horse and ends up pregnant? Yeah turning into seals for mortal combat is 100% believable

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

"Okay, so all those gods and demigods you worship? Yeah, they were just totally normal human beings. Totally normal humans, like you and me. Just in the past." "No, no, I get that. My question is about the dwarves?" 'Oh no. Those are totally real."

[@rubyrangitsch5248]

The Bible says no other gods, nothing about other magical beings (at least I don't think so.)

[@strongfish9198]

All this just so she could draw heimdall and Loki as seals. What an absolute legend.

[@lobokujo7825]

I love the the fact that a cover of "Kiss from a rose" is uses so often on this channel for romantic moments to the point of it being a signature joke for them, But THIS, of all the legends you have covered, the one that gets the "Kiss from a rose" outro by Red is the one with Seal on Seal violence. All because of the singers name.

[@GarryDKing]

it's even more hilarious when you consider some seals fight by body slamming each other fave first, and their blubber jiggles throughout the fight. Now imagine that on a godly scale XD

[@thornangel16]

Even better, seals slap their bellies when threatening each other. Now try to imagine which of these all powerful gods started slapping first.

[@starmaker75]

Now I’m imaging epic music of 2 kauij size seal doing their fight

[@Tsuruchi_420]

Godly scale blubber jiggling

[@asonounds1862]

Modern Historians: Cool story norsemen, can you tell us your sources? Old Norsemen: My sources are that my friend said that his friend said he saw some cool carving in a bar somewhere, where he was quite possibly drunk Modern historians: ...this is why I both love and hate my job

[@Ludohistory]

Hey y'all - Red consulted me on the video, to see if there were any other sources (lol), and I'm glad it turned out super well! I do want to highlight again that this is *one* reconstruction of a myth. That doesn't mean that Red uncovered "the true story" or that these sources all were derived from a single even slightly coherent oral tradition. Honestly, looking for a single 'original' myth in the context of Old Norse is kind of a fool's errand. This is just one (and imo the most) plausible narrative that can be drawn from the surviving evidence.

[@stevejakab274]

Yes, but this version comes with funny illustrations of the gods wearing t-shirts insisting they're not gods, which automatically makes it better than any other version.

[@jennymckenzie5304]

Huginn and Muninn having their lil "if found return to the other one" shirts is just the cutest

[@kala_asi]

I wasn't really into Norse mythology before, but this one seals the deal

[@hope1447]

punny, very punny

[@merrittanimation7721]

Sometimes the deep well of lost knowledge reveals ancient lore man was not meant to know. Other times it’s about seal thievery

[@starmaker75]

It goes to show that the most important and mystic sea animal is the seal/sea lion.

[@sting13rules]

Some things in history and mythology were meant to be sealed away.

[@diegomartinezquezada4797]

@@starmaker75 Nah, the goatfish is a way more mystical sea animals than a _seal_

[@jamiee7367]

This comment has the same energy as "and sometimes you go to Cracker Barrel"

[@ashtasheran6970]

@@starmaker75 nah it's the icefish those fuckers are planning something down there

[@bassgebrummel9048]

God I love the “totally human person” bit but especially she shirts the ravens are wearing “If lost return to Huginn” and “If lost return to Muninn” ( 4:17 ) just perfect

[@kyledabearsfan]

Red completely researching, connecting pieces, and then attempting to fill in the strings of a missing story just so she can draw seals, is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. Don't you dare change.

[@perrisavallon5170]

THANK YOU FOR THIS! As a kid I had a mythology project, and I did it on this myth because I found it in a Norse mythology book I had as a kid, and for the life of me I haven't been able to find ANY account of this myth since. I was wondering if I made it up or something, lol

[@TheOneHistoryGuy]

I love the amount of research that went into what is basically an excuse to draw two Norse gods as seals while also aware that this short summary belies what I suspect was hours and days of researching, fact-checking, corroborating and figuring out what is 'canon'.

[@Ludohistory]

Also messaging me to go "are there any more sources for this? Please tell me there are more sources for this" and me going "nope! Have fuuuuun :D"

[@dracodis]

Love the human "disguise" clothing, especially changing the text on Odin's shirt! And Freya reclining on her throne, wearing a baseball cap, saying "Very reasonably priced" is pure hilarity! That illustration should be a pin or sticker or something.

[@musearrives2am]

I wonder if the seal part has to do with Selkie mythology from around that time, the women who can turn into seals with skins that regularly get stolen. That seems up Loki's alley.

[@klickonthat5244]

Funnily enough, that's the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the thumbnail.

[@Ludohistory]

Unlikely - there aren't really any mentions of selkies in the Norse tradition until the early modern period! And while they're very widespread across the Norse sea, which may indicate an ancient origin, there are no structural similarities to suggest the Prose Edda and selkie-wife stories are in any way related.

[@CatholicDragoon]

Now you got me wondering if there's some lost myth of Loki wooing a Selkie girl.

[@dandelion_16]

@@CatholicDragoon knowing Loki he probably WAS the selkie girl

[@bskec2177]

Although the stories of selkies all center around women, they often mention that these women have selkie husbands and families, meaning that there are male selkies.

[@HailTheRegent]

Since there is no context for why Heimdall and Loki were seals, I'm choosing to believe that Snorri was at the coast one day, possibly drunk off his ass, saw two seals fighting on a rock out in the ocean and thought "of course! They had to have been seals!" Also Huginn and Muninn's "Return To" shirts for each other is adorable

[@Bootlock]

So I actually grew up with a book that has a version of this myth. The book is called Vikings: Myths and Legends, and was published by Cherrytree Books. I... May or may not have borrowed it from my primary school library as a child and forgotten to ever give it back. Anyways! There's a short story in the book called The Guardian of the Rainbow and mostly is just a story about Heimdall being great at being Heimdall, but in the latter half it mentions Loki stealing the goddess Freya's necklace(no name given to the jewellery or why he did it) and changing himself into a great white seal, running off across the western ocean to hide his stolen treasure upon a rock there. Sadly, Loki forgot the whole "Heimdall is Heimdall" thing, as Heimdall jumped on his horse, who then in a single leap landed upon the far shore. Then basically went "No way, two can play", turned himself into a seal as well and chased Loki through all the waters to the end of the world, then to the deepest abysses of the ocean, and then finally back to the surface upon a reef... Where he whupped Loki's backside until he gave the necklace back. Loki crept off sulking up a new revenge plot, and Heimdall went back to Asgard to give Freya back the necklace, was offered a massive feast as a reward and went "No thanks, just doing a drop-off" and went back to doing Heimdall things.

[@OhMercyMe]

I feel like Loki in particular would have a lot of fun watching monks try their absolute hardest to characterize him, in all his horse-boning, shapeshifting glory as "just a dude".

[@iknowisuck6587]

It’s really nice to see the STEPS you go through to actually piece together an actual myth! This is really interesting!!

[@galenwilds3273]

I'd definitely be down for more conspiracy board myths.

[@starmaker75]

Seal in land: funny round dough animals with cute puppy eyes that will derp around Seal in the sea: apex predator with razor scary teeth that will continuous hunt prey down.

[@rachelvelander5377]

Finally, we get to hear Red singing that goddamn rose on the gray song she kept using in the form of a piano cover for literally any romantic scenario in her summaries ever. I can now rest in peace

[@Kikalenew42]

The "you're welcome!" and all the energy it has alone is why I adore Red

[@HeyItsVayy]

Gotta love the presence of a question mark in the thumbnail title. I can only imagine how Red must have felt putting that in addition to “Great Seal Fight”

[@עומרשרייבר-ל4ר]

So much digging for ancient unknown lore just to find a story about two gods having a slap fight as seals. Gotta respact the dedication.

[@user-it5wu5iv1w]

Swedish person here, I definitely remember learning about the necklace during my many norse mythology phases but the seals were new. The necklace is a very significant part in the first book of one of my favourite fantasy trilogies, Sagan om Gudagåvorna by Gull Åkerblom. To my knowledge there aren't any English translations though, since the books are pretty old

[@ohno6919]

Just gotta say I love the phrase 'my many norse mythology phases'

[@user-it5wu5iv1w]

@@ohno6919 haha yeah xD I've had several

[@bunnywaffles1190]

I love the implication that Red is simply incapable of drawing a fun picture unless she has several historical sources to back up the legitimacy of what it is meant to represent.

[@CloTheVA]

It never ceases to shock me when you have these long very deep intros and then some how completely shift into talking about Loki throwing hands as a seal

[@SouthernGothicYT]

LOVE these kinds of "wait wtf?" stories/myths from history. They're so out of nowhere but if you dig into it, there's a hint of context that's just been lost to time. Ah, the known unknowns are fun, weird and kinda freaky.

[@Robynhoodlum]

The sheer amount of wtf stories from Norse mythology make me want to invent a time machine just so I could go back and meet the original storytellers!

[@ThinWhiteAxe]

Hello there

[@Opal_Dragond]

Thank you for drawing the seals! The seals are so cute!! It was worth the wait! Never thought I would hear a myth about seals fighting.

[@timothymclean]

Technically about -gods- ordinary humans turning into seals _to_ fight, but that sounds even more ridiculous.

[@Bob-lr2xp]

The Inuit have a myth where seals come from the severed fingers of an immortal sea witch.

[@Opal_Dragond]

@@Bob-lr2xp but "gods" turning into seals to fight, never heard of that in a myth

[@Opal_Dragond]

@@timothymclean lol it does

[@VikingFyre]

If I recall, the “arrangement” between Freya and the Dwarves for the necklace was less than pleasant for her. Like, they just beat the tar out of her to humiliate a Vanir who tried to flex her authority where she had none. I also think this happened after the war of the Aesir and Vanir, because I distinctly recall this happened after Asgard had its walls constructed. Either way. Yes. I want to know about how Loki and Heimdal battled as seals. I must know more

[@lissaquon607]

I've also read a version - not a academic source to be fair - where it was ASSUMED she had sex for it. But in the end she gave drops of blood or something. But it was a more general audience retelling (sex was allowed but in like - less transactional scenes) so it might have just been cleaned up.

[@isaacgraff8288]

Please don't break the Divine Seals.

[@anuragyadav2086]

it would hurt her authority as fertility god or something to refuse ig (if it wasn't pleasant for her)

[@VikingFyre]

@@anuragyadav2086 I think for Freya is a mix of obsession and pride. Around this time in the myth gold was cursed to be coveted and the necklace was also said to carry that same curse. Plus, Freya is so prideful that she would do anything to possess something she deemed at beautiful as herself, even if it means being demeaned by the ugliest creatures of the 9 realms.

[@anuragyadav2086]

@@VikingFyre and demean they did :(

[@mizu7662]

Thank you very much, I did not know I needed Loki and Heimdall fighting as seals over a necklace until I saw this video. Did also make me sad at the thought of how many equally awesome stories have been lost to time because people couldn't be bothered to write this shit down, though.

[@jonathan10597]

You know what you guys should make that I would absolutely buy: Graphic Novels of all the myths Red covers on this series and the hilarious history stories Blue does on his end! Your art style and humor work so well together in your summaries that I really wanna see it play out in entire stories!

[@AskMia411]

Oooo that’s actually a really good idea!

[@GreenKnight41]

I remember reading a version of this, probably a more modern retelling of it I don't fully remember where and not helpful as far as discerning this one goes, but in it the two were shapeshifting into all kinds of different animals with Heimdall trying to catch Loki (like Loki being a fly so Heimdall became a bird to eat him, then Loki turned into a cat, etc.) that then devolved into the seal slapping fight. So in my mind it was like the Norse Myth equivalent of Merlin vs. Mad Madam Mim, with the exception that it ended with two seals slapping each other. Absolute comedy gold!

[@Zeronigel332]

That sound more like the Idunn tale where Loki turn to a fly to get Idunn back then get chased by a giant who transform to a bird to catch Loki.

[@Nimelennar]

I think the end song might be even more relevant: what if, instead of turning into seals, Loki and Heimdall turned into Seal, and did a musical smackdown of each other, Lokasenna style? Flyting fighting, so to speak.

[@unknowguy9642]

Do you know what the name of that song is ? I cant see it in the description

[@Nimelennar]

@@unknowguy9642 Kiss From a Rose

[@pharaohalhotep9559]

You should do more Celtic mythology. I am of Celtic decent and all I know about the myths of my ancestors is what you talk about

[@pharaohalhotep9559]

I am sad I do not know more

[@elizabethb4168]

I'd love to see them do more Celtic mythology

[@medb1996]

@@pharaohalhotep9559 theyre. Not so good at it,

[@starmaker75]

I would to see Slavic mythology as well(give my Eastern European heritage).

[@alienembers8166]

Same

[@thevalarauka101]

I've got this big Norse mythology book at home and one whole chapter is filled up with basically the narrative presented in this - complete with seals.

[@SwedishDrunkard5963]

fun fact, Frigg and Freyja has been ditermend to be an exact copy of each other and there for is the same person.

[@GamerAJ-1025]

Red finally sang Kiss From A Rose after using it so often in her videos. And it sounds so good. Also, am I the only one who loves listening to her "thumbtacks and string" process of deduction? Her commentary along the way is great.

[@guggelguggel7491]

OH I KNOW OF THIS HECK YEAH!! Also loving Odin's "totally not Allfather", "totally not Lord of the Hanged", "totally not Father of the Slain", "totally not Glad of War", "totally not the Enemy to Wolves" (I'm assuming it's Fenrir specifically, but don't Odin have two wolves following him similarly to Hugin and Munin but less famous?) shirts, his mug "don't talk to me before I've had my mead of poetry" Freya's "human woman" hat, Loki's "not a god, sometimes a horse" shirt, Hugin(or Munin?) Littol bird version of the "very human person" shirt! And the matching couple shirts of "if found return to Hugin/Munin" New merch drop when? 👀

[@danielmclellan1522]

100%

[@timotheebrasseur6188]

And the "Not a god, sometimes a horse" for Loki

[@coregoon]

Pretty sure the wolves thing is just a minor mistake. Two of his recorded kennings (nicknames if you will) translate as "Enemy of Wolf", and "Foe of Wolf". So it's clear they refer to a singular wolf, not wolves in general. They're often translated with a "the" in there, but it's technically not in the original.

[@starkilr101]

Whenever Red breaks out the thumb tacks and strings, you know it’s gonna be a good day

[@xavierfrendick6581]

It shows just how much I watch and rewatch all of Red’s videos that when she started singing, my immediate thought was “What the hell does Aphrodite have to do with any of this!?” Then I got the joke. But still!

[@Nerd1090]

I hope Red knows how much we appreciate that she like, tells these myths academically and looks at the meta angle. Really interesting and not a lot of other places really talk about that

[@thehalfnegativeoptimist4578]

You guys are seriously underestimating just how much I’d pay for a “Definitely a human and not a Norse deity” shirt

[@Ajzan1]

If I recall, there is also a version in which, after it is discovered how Freya payed for the necklace, she gets punished, her husband (named Oddr) leaves for a while and she looks for him while crying golden tears. Also, deep dive into Freya's lore in general could be interesting. She's another example of the goddess of both love and war, and yet in almost every known story she's treated like a shiny trophy for other men to fight over. Not to mention she's often merged with or raplacing Frigg as Odin's wife. There's even vague theory about both of them being originally one and the same goddess.

[@Ludohistory]

That's not.. actually a "separate version" - that's just tacking on a different bit of the Prose Edda, explaining the kenning "Freyja's tears" (meaning gold) to the end of the story.

[@CollinMcLean]

Yet as we see from some myths and cultural practices Freyja is very clearly important and pretty powerful. She was a goddess of some of the most important things form fertility to war to love to magic. She’s the daughter of Njordr who is a nobleman. She’s able to wrangle and herd cats, an animal which is supposed to be impossible to herd. And in the myth where Thor dresses up as her, when she gets angry it puts off even Thor who’s a god synonymous with strength and who fights monsters the size of mountains on a routine basis. This in of itself could speak to the more elevated position women held in pagan societies while her portrayal as a concubine by 14th century monks could be a reflection of the more regressive attitude that Christianity held of women.

[@coregoon]

Minor correction: The modern Scandinavian spelling of the name of Freyja's husband is Od, from the Old Norse name Oð(r), which doesn't mean anything in Old Norse, but further back it comes from a word (same word as Odin comes from) meaning something like manic inspiration, or just "mad" with the same double meaning as in English. The common name Odd comes from the Old Norse word odd(r) which means a sharp edge.

[@Odinfrost]

So, I took a looksie in Peter Madsens Valhalla comic, due to remembering Heimdallr and Loki fighting for some reason, and true enough, the 8th issue is based on this story. Unfortunately the "seal" fight is only 2 pages, and Heimdallr is a walrus.

[@RavnVidarson]

I also thought about that comic as soon as I saw this video, so I had to come down here to see if anyone had mentioned it. I spent a ton of time reading those comics as a kid.

[@henrywong2725]

I like how the crow also has the “extremely human person” shirt

[@mythicalgirl2005]

It's a raven not a crow

[@Wertsir]

@@mythicalgirl2005 Actually I think you’ll find it’s a human person.

[@mythicalgirl2005]

@@Wertsir Ah, of course. A human person. The kind with wings. As an extremely human person, I too have wings.

[@quillsoul]

Red taking a deep dive just to draw seals fighting over a necklace. I love it!

[@GrouchierBear]

The secret lost to the ages is that Loki and Heimdall didn't battle as Seals, but they both turned into Seal, and resolved the conflict through a singing duel.

[@curiousKuro16]

THANK YOU RED! This is something I enjoyed about Neil Gaiman's mythology collection, because he implies this Deep Distrust between Freya and Loki, possibly because he steals her stuff. So even when he politely returns her stuff on time she's super angry about it? I love it so much

[@redwitch12]

I feel like a lot of people have That One Friend/Family Member who's always acting kind of shady, borrowing money and never paying it back directly "but I'll cover dinner or something, okay?", borrowing your stuff and never returning it...so when you loan them something, you're already working up to a good mad-on over them never bringing it back, and the one time they DO bring it back, you're stuck with all that pissed-offedness and nowhere else to aim it. ...I just woke up, sorry if this made no sense :D

[@curiousKuro16]

@redwitch12 No I totally get it and I like this explanation a lot!

[@CJCroen1393]

Shapeshifter battles are always fun (Madam Mim vs Merlin is a prime example), but this one would just be straight up hilarious if we had the full context XD

[@Emily-ye1rj]

I love that fight 😂

[@3amench]

“So that’s how I broke out the conspiracy-board and burned a week, all so I could draw this!” The best of motivations.

[@253LMMusic]

RED YOU ROCK AT THE GEETAR. I love seeing your progression through the years, even though it's in the background of the rest of the amazing talent on the channel, not even really attempting to be the center stage. I still totally look forward to your videos specifically for your wonderful over-the-credits cameos. Also you have a great taste in music! I'll go simp in the corner of the fjord now. xD

[@EllpaFox47]

4:05 I love that the raven is wearing a shirt that says “extremely human person”

[@_pitako]

I absolutely wasn't expecting to ever hear Red sing Kiss from a Rose, despite the fact she uses it regularly in previous videos, but I'm not complaining. Also clever pun, very nice

[@Gekster55]

Honestly, two gods fighting as seals is more than enough justification for this video. Also, I'm surprised you hadn't done a cover of Kiss from a Rose until now.

[@alyssagass146]

I love that Red did an whole rabbit-hole research and entire video just to explain the backstory of a picture she really wanted to draw based off of a tiny snippet from Snorri's work. And I also love that she felt the need to share that fact with us.

[@glentaylor71]

That had to be one of your best song covers, Red. You rock.

[@brittkelly877]

The use of a song popularized by Seal as the ending music is a beautiful touch, great work as always Red

[@Dribbleondo]

*Raises hand* _You had me at seal fight_

[@Felissan]

4:04 is definitely one of the best out-of-context frames in a while.

[@Beryllahawk]

Sometimes there are references in the Eddas that mystify us now, but I can't help feeling like some of them aren't elaborated on because "everyone knows what I mean." The whole "turning into seals" thing might have been part of the body of folklore that was extant to Snorri's own time, and one that was so popular that no explanation was needed for the allusion. There's also the VERY fun (and confusing) practice in Norse storytelling of using anything BUT the actual name of a thing, person, god, place, etc. But it's still fascinating, still well worth a rabbit-hole research journey, and still epic AF -

[@stspeight]

D-d-did you really use Kiss From a Rose just because the song was done by a guy named Seal? Your pun game is on fire.

[@invaderjp1984]

A couple of videos back in marathoning miscellanous myths list, I was thinking, "oh boy, I wonder if red ever sang kiss from a rose as one of the endings or should I ask for it?" and behold here it is

[@DarkExcalibur42]

I would watch an entire series of conspiracy board mythology reconstructions. More, please