Neil Gaiman on Thor, Loki and 'Norse Mythology'

Neil Gaiman stops by the WSJ Cafe to discuss his new book "Norse Mythology" and how his take on Thor, Odin and Loki is different from Marvel's comic book version. Photo: Getty Images
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[@LunaciaBooks]

I loved reading the myths I grew up with retold by Neil Gaiman. He's such a brilliant writer.

[@ItsEricaBeyetch]

I love this interviewer he asked such good questions

[@adambartlett6277]

The interviewer was really good here

[@greenmanofthewoods6060]

watched a few episodes of American gods.... couldn't wait another week so read the book in 3 days haha. then looking for the stories of norse myths and find he wrote another book just for me haha

[@s.asadeghi9612]

WHY SO MANY DISLIKES!!!

[@goodenergy11]

seyyed amir reza sadeghi Good question. I think those who know the mythology with great intimacy & personal knowledge, that they feel Niel doesn’t.

[@some1350]

@@goodenergy11 Exactly.

[@robpetoletti826]

👏👏👏

[@deepm0e]

Good interview, but so stiff!

[@some1350]

That's simply not true. You didn't need to go to Valhalla by dying in battle you got there by following Odin even if you didn't die in battle. Not dying in battle was not necessarily considered to be a bad death at all. Literially taking one reference and applying it to everything. Norse people were not actually obsessed with fighting and dying in battle, most people wanted to live in peace but because life could sometimes be violent being strong and brave was respected. Most people did not want to die in battle. Loki in Norse lore is evil period, what the stories tell you is to warn you against sociopaths and unfortunately either you know them and sometimes they are even part of your own family. I'm not sure if being evil is that interesting from what I read he was a weak and self-loathing person and that's why he trys to destory everything around him.

[@mattd8725]

The people chosen by Odin were people who he knew were willing to fight to the death because he only wanted them as an army to fight Ragnarok. He didn't love them or respect some sort of deal they made by worshipping, and he even tricked them into fighting each other to death just so he could add them to his collection. Good or evil, Odin was the god of the aristocratic war leader, or warmonger, and his values reflected their values. If you listen to War Pigs by Sabbath, it could easily be said to be about Odin. He is an evil character to modern standards.

[@eastsidedirtykid]

#WSJFakeNews

[@deepm0e]

Also the spinning of the political implications is awkward, trying to make an anti Trump statement at the end... I am familiar with these stories. I am Swedish and we learned about them in grade school, also i have learned more about them in adulthood. The moral with Loki (Loke in Swedish) is very much about the danger of letting in an untrustworthy stranger in one's midst, which is what Odin (Oden) does when making an blood oath with Loki, who is in fact a giant and not a real Asgardian! And the talk about the viking religion being a sort of cult of a glorious death in battle, SOMEHOW misses the obvious parallels with the jihadism that is rampant today... How very strange!! ;) Not very funny actually, but nobody likes a sad smiley, so it's winky smiling smiley anyway...

[@hoegild1]

Neil Gaiman doesnt understand Norse Mythology at all!! Valhal is NOT heaven, and Hel is NOT hell, and there is a lot of other places for the dead to go, if they choose to!

[@cha5]

Valhal?

[@AudibleFist]

That’s what the mythology says

[@h3lblad3]

If they choose to? What choice did they have? So far as I know, if the Valkyries take you away, you go to Freya so she can have first pick, then to Odin if Freya doesn't choose you. Everyone else, all those not going to Asgard, go to Hel in Helheim. Your bravery, and a little luck, decide which side of the war you're on.

[@Emma.Kassandra]

h3lblad3 there are several different places you can end up in when you die, there is helheim where you end up if your life was in eventful, valhal and folkvangr where you go if you die honourably in battle, there is nojords place where you go if you drown at sea. These are the ones I remember on the fly but the Wikipedia page has an ok list of the different realms of the dead.

[@leonevelake]

"if they choose to" I think you mean if Odin , Freja , Ran or a few other possibilities choose you

[@Steininger_Art]

Uh oh! It's a white guy talking about european ethnic heritage! STOP IT!!! SHUT IT DOWN!!!!

[@mateoscotti8438]

Bro I'm not sure if you're joking, but European is an ethnicity and Judaism is a religion so you can be both; besides the fact that Norse mythology is a dead religion that no'one believes anymore, so anybody can speak on it with merit.

[@mateoscotti8438]

You're either a real idiot or a really funny dude. Race is based on physical traits like skin tone, which obviously a religion is not.

[@mateoscotti8438]

The fact that you and your ten friends still believe in viking gods is proof enough that you don't do research on anything.

[@кварталБеларусі]

mateo scotti I still believe it's my religion I'm a lokean

[@lornadoucet9897]

Heathenism is very much alive and well! The old gods have never died. They breath life into me each and every day!

[@pumpkinslice1811]

Poor Loki and Thor being disgraced by WSJ! 😢

[@AudibleFist]

Pumpkin Slice in what way are they being disgraced?

[@Ravynwulf]

The interviewer with a speech impediment...As a Viking, I laugh at that. 😂

[@Belisimoo]

If you think that Vikings didn't have speech impediments, you are wrong. The way someone talks has little to do with how functional they are, and a strong person with a lisp is just as capable in battle as a strong person without one. Not only did most Vikings not get dental work during their lives, but a lot of them changed the shape or appearance of their teeth. Both of those things contribute to speech impediments. People didn't randomly start having speech problems after the Vikings died out. I can pretty much guarantee that there are warriors with speech impediments in Valhalla, but you will not be meeting them.

[@nicholaschiazza7926]

You're ready for the rubber room.