Tolkien and Norse Mythology

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

The interesting thing about Hel for me is that it is both. Some people go there after death, if they have broken oaths ect. But you can also enter as a living, granted with some major dificulies. I think Davem points this out earlier, atleast that Odin passes throught the gates of hel.

As such hel is a mix for me, but I still wiev it more as Angband than Mandos, althought Wiki seems to disagree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel_%28realm%29

There's an interesting line in the wikipedia article you linked to that says "In fiction, the Norse Hel inspired the Halls of Mandos in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium". I wonder if that's true or could be supported? I don't know anough about Hel to say!

Originally Posted by davem

The major Christian journey into & return from Hell is, I suppose, Dante's, though I vaguely remember accounts of various mystics & others who were shown visions of both Heaven & Hell. Yet it is clear that Dante's experience is a dream, not an actual descent into Hell.

I'm not sure if davem is referring to Blake here, who certainly had visions, though I can't remember if he had any of Hell; I'll have to ask him seeing as he won't now be able to post about them. If other mystics had these visions its possible Tolkien had heard about them in church sermons or maybe in discussion. Though his vision of Hell seems, so far, to be unique to me.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

There's an interesting line in the wikipedia article you linked to that says "In fiction, the Norse Hel inspired the Halls of Mandos in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium". I wonder if that's true or could be supported? I don't know anough about Hel to say!

That was indeed why I linked to it, I was just looking for refreshing my memories about hel and there it was.

[Lalwendë]

well, I might have some more to add to this so long as I get on with a bit of reading () as the new book davem gave me today, The Real Middle Earth, by Brian Bates, looks to have a fair bit in it about Viking culture, myth and belief as it was when brought over to British shores. It generally examines Celtic, Saxon and Viking cultures in Britain, not as they appeared in Tolkien (so its not yet another 'source book'), but inspired by his own love of Tolkien to go looking for the kind of things he wrote about in our history. Ronald Hutton recommends it so that means to me it must be good!