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Every single one of your posts is amazing! I’m having a bit of a fangirl moment. I love mythology (I can only assume you have a lot to say on Joseph Campbell and myth in culture etc...). The comment section truly isn’t a long enough place to go on about it...but I am very excited to follow this account. Ha.

The thing I take away from this is that the Æsir were just as cruel and backward as the giants.

Thor and Odin kill plenty of the giants without much reasoning and this is odd seeing as many of the Æsir have giant parents, siblings or spouses.

There is no actual distinction between the Aesir and Jotun. They're all Jotun essentially. The reason the Aesir, such as Thor, kills so many Jotun is to protect Midgard from them who wish to destroy humans. This, in many ways, can be seen in Greek Mythology between the Olympians and the Titans.

Yeah I noticed the parallel.

Do you know why both those cultures have a similar concept? Are there other mythological concepts that do the same thing?

Chances are that it's due to meshing of cultures, along with travelers and merchants who may have introduced various cultures to different people. Can't be sure, though.

I think Sumerian mythology shares this concept as well.

These are very informative. I like them much more than the Wikipedia entries, because they are better written. A question about giants. Is the word equivalent to the Germanic Riese, or is there a better word?

Thanks! On the word, I don't know, haha. The Germanic names for the Norse gods differed, for instance Odin is Wotan. Perhaps there is some correlation. Though the word "reise" can also be used for "large" as well as "giant".

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