The Prose Edda is an anthology of myths shared and believed in by the Nordic people. The Prose Edda was compiled in Iceland during the Middle Ages, awhile after the Nordic people were Christianized through force. However, their myths lived on through oral tradition, and survived long enough to be adapted into literature. The Prose Edda is our most important resource for understanding the Nordic culture of war, and their waste not, want not society. Included in this is their creation story, which has many stages, and is not simply brought into being by a god. The struggles of the Aesir, the gods of Norse mythology, must go through in order to bring the world into being, define the culture and set it apart from all other creation myths. For an element of the world to exist, there must be a conflict to set it in motion.

For example, before there was the earth there was a world where Frost Giants roamed, inhabitable due being in between Niflheim, a cold, frosty realm, and Muspell, a land of fire. Ymir is the primordial frost giant, from which all other frost giants were born. The frost giants also had a cow that fed them with its milk, sustaining itself by licking salty blocks of ice, soon thawing out the first non-giant creatures, not quite men, but something greater. It is the man and woman that are thawed from the ice that have children, and those children have children of their own. It is three men in this family, Odin, Vili, and Vé, who slay Ymir and build the world from his body, including mankind from the trees that they had created before. While other myths, such as the Babylonian creation epic, requires a sacrifice to create mankind, this is different, as war, conflict, and death is all necessary to create the entirety of the world. It is these Aesir who slay Ymir, and then forge the land from his body, using blood, sweat, and tears, and speaks to the Nordic work ethic.

Another major example of necessary conflict for creation in the myth is the legend of the Sun and Moon, and why they cycle. The sun and the moon are both Aesir on chariots who ride them around the earth, however, they only do so because they are being chased down by two wolves, Skoll and Hati. This all connects to Ragnarok, the greatest war of all, which will include Skoll and Hati catching the sun and moon and consuming them. It is Asgard where Odin, Thor, and the other Aesir,  alongside all ascended men, train to battle in Ragnarok against the forces of Muspell, that will burn the earth to cinder with a being named Surt commanding the Muspell forces. It is said that in Ragnarok all of the Aesir will die to Surt’s forces, however, the sons of the Aesir will take charge and the world will be reborn under their reign.

The Nordic people’s waste not, want not culture is also represented within their mythology. All material in the world is recycled, just like the body of Ymir itself. The ship known as Naglfar, for instance, is made out of the fingernails of the dead, and during Ragnarok sails the hordes that will do battle with the gods. Víðarr is Odin’s son, and associated with vengeance, and his shoes are composed of the leather strips that cobblers cut from the shoes they craft at the toe and heel. During Ragnarok, when his father Odin falls to the wolf, Fenrir, he avenges him by stabbing Fenrir through the heart. Víðarr is in the pantheon of gods mentioned before that survive Ragnarok unharmed, and go on to create the world anew. This is representative of their culture because even if you weren’t in battle, you were still contributing to war, whether it be crafting swords, armor, clothing, shoes, it was all necessary for the warriors to strive and conquer. Thus, their contribution is even recognized in the ultimate war: Ragnarok.

Ragnarok is the true symbol of Nordic culture, a culture which revolved around their warriors boating around Europe, conquering anywhere they landed for resources. Meanwhile, with their friends and families back home in a frozen land, scraping by on what they could muster, working to support the efforts of their society’s warriors. All efforts were in support of war, as opposed to other cultures where peace was seen as the ideal, the Nordic people were never at rest. Even when they ascend, it is their purpose to battle, and in their eyes, it is conflict that not only drives them, but drives the universe.