These are the epic Icelandic poems that have influenced both the Norse and modern world.
Like all mythologies, the Norse sought to provide explanations for the world around them and the world itself. These etiological tales play out throughout the Eddas, such as explaining how the world and the stars were formed, why earthquakes happen, and where poetry comes from.
The names of the gods, kings, warriors, maids, and creatures are evidently unique to them, but also the objects, such as the kettle used to make the meals of Valhalla. There is also a sense of poeticism within the cognomens given to a particular concept or object. Poetry is referred to as Kvasir\’s blood and to be exceedingly brave meant to be Tyr-strong, after the Norse god of war. Another feature of language in the Eddas is the use of cataloguing the descendants of a particular family or race.
The information is not even given as though it were in a non-fictional form, rather it is told indirectly to the audience through the people within the Eddas who have some form of prominent position, either prophetesses or kings. It is a very clever way of establishing a story while also educating the audience who may have heard the Eddas related to them in the Icelandic fire-gatherings.
Though the narrators do not claim perfection in their narratives, which would have been taken with precaution. The final narrator of Gangler even stated that he does not know what would happen after humanity is reborn after Ragnarok:
\”If thou hast any further questions to ask, I know not who can answer thee, for I never heard tell of any one who could relate what will happen in the other ages of the world. Make, therefore, the best use thou canst of what has been imparted to thee.\”
Between the gods and the nations of men, either the Saxons or the Goths, they are both very similar since they deal with interfamilial drama and engage in bloody wars. Among the family of gods are also personifications of concepts that appear to be more powerful than the gods themselves, which include night, death, old age, thought, and hunger. Among the other races, they also play a role in shaping the mythologies and indeed our modern fantasy, such as dwarfs, light elves, dark elves, and giants. Included in modern inspiration and the shaping of the mythology are dragons and serpents.
Although eight-legged horses do not figure in modern inspiration, it can be safe to say that the Eddas are undervalued in a society whose fantasy works are direct descendants of them.