In a post I wrote on my own blog I noted that several prominent Biblical figures may have been the inspiration for characters in various science fiction franchises. Now I would like to delve into showing fantasy lovers the roots of other characters and even entire races which are traced back to the pagan legends and lore of ages long since past. For if you did not already know, many of the stretched-out epic yarns begun by people by died over a millennium ago are directly linked to some of your favorite novels, comics, and movies.
Many peoples and cultures have risen and died before present day, almost all of them holding to some sort of religious beliefs. But three different mythologies will be mentioned here, namely those of Greek, Norse, and even a little bit of Roman culture. (Greek myths heavily influenced the following Romans’.) The settings of these age-old sagas have been immensely supportive of today’s numerous fantastic realms as well as those of recent decades.
I will start off with Greek mythology. Aside from the plethora of “divinities” present throughout the classical ancient tales such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the stories bring in hosts of other lower life-forms such as the cyclopses. So, so many of these find their way into C.S. Lewis’ beloved Narnia series. Centaurs, satyrs, and dryads are among those whose titles Lewis did not even bother renaming or reclassifying.
Another species whose name underwent no change from Roman mythology to Narnian fantasy was the fauns, the peculiar people who possess a goat’s legs but a man’s torso. (This could be Roman mythology’s greatest influence on literary fantasy found in the 20th century.) But the ancient Greek concept of the Monocoli, or umbrella-foot people, may have also wormed its way into Narnia as their description is similar to that of the Dufflepuds, or Monopods, which dwell on an island that is visited in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
A contemporary, comrade, and personal friend of C.S. Lewis, Professor J.R.R. Tolkien shared many of the same interests. The author of such critically acclaimed works as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien drew his examples from all of history and from his own professional knowledge. Yes, he too built slightly upon the Greek myths. His Middle-earth in a few ways resembles Lewis’ Narnia. Dwarves, or perhaps dwarfs if you prefer, are common in both worlds. Being a philologist (one who studies linguistics and literary texts), this learned man knew well of the languages of Icelandic and Old Norse and roughly two dozen others, among them Latin and Greek.
He was enthralled with Norse mythology, and you can find blatant traces of it in his stories. For example, the name of Thror the Dwarf is the name of the Norse god Thor but with an “r” inserted. Likewise, Thror’s grandson Thorin could easily be taken as a mesh of Thor and Odin from Norse mythology. Although hobbits, ents, and orcs were his very own creation, Tolkien’s terrible trolls are accredited to the Norse as is the given name of the majestic horse Shadowfax, inspired by Goldfax – a horse of great repute who appears in Norse mythology. Both Tolkien and Lewis’ sagas have earned cinema adaptations. Norse mythology also inspired Marvel comic characters like Thor and Loki who obviously have gone on to make it to the big screen.
Turning the focus back to the Greek epics devised long before those of the Norse, we see that the characters of ancient Greece also help in developing more of our comic book and screen heroes. One of 2017’s best films, Wonder Woman, has mythology in its origins. Wonder Woman (Princess Diana), who first appeared in the comic books in 1941, is a member of the Amazonian people, a fantastical race of female warriors which has appeared in myths since ancient times. (One of the most famous of the Amazons noted in Greek mythology was Penthesileia.) All of these examples go to show you that many of the roots of our modern fiction entertainment are traced back to stories sometimes thousands of years old.
Nitpick:
Tolkien didn’t get Thror from Thor, or Thorin from Thor and Odin. He got most of his dwarf names (including Thor and Thorin) from the Dvergatal section of the Norse poem Voluspa (stanzas 10-16). Basically, the great Norse poem of the creation and destruction of the world breaks off randomly to list dwarves – and, interestingly, lists Gandalf as a dwarf name too. Tolkien took the name Gandalf (wand-elf) and figured that it could be a wizard name among a bunch of dwarves. Hence The Hobbit.
I heard the work was entitled The Elder Edda when published in English. Is it synonymous with Voluspa, or is Voluspa a part of the larger work? Howsoever, since Tolkien never fully admitted he took the names directly from the Norse saga, my concept is not entirely without merit. Though it is EXTREMELY likely he did take names from the poem, for over a dozen of his characters names are listed in those few verses including, as you stated, Gandalf! This was brought to my attention in the rather old but extremely delightful book Tolkien: A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings (1969) by sci-fi author Lin Carter.
The Elder (or Poetic Edda) is a compendium of Norse mythological poems – as distinct from the Younger (or Prose, or Snorri’s) Edda, which is a thirteenth century guide to writing Skaldic poetry that summarises background myths. Since the author of the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson, was quoting older poems in his work, there was clearly something older out there – and, sure enough, a bunch of ancient poems were uncovered in the seventeenth century (medieval Icelanders wrote everything down, thank goodness. It’s how we know about Norse myth at all).
The Voluspa is the first and most famous of the poems in the Elder/Poetic Edda collection. There are others, but they lack the sheer grandeur.
Enjoyed the post and comments. I think Norse is in our DNA – and in my own case, Welsh: the Mabinogion, which has echoes in Susan Cooper and Philip Pullman, too. It’s a great mash-up, like we are ourselves, I guess.