The Nornir

Discussion

Going into this project, we weren’t entirely sure what we were going to uncover, it was unclear as to why people talked about fate so much in their respective mythologies.  

Drawing from our findings, we see that fate was talked about so much because some people from these chosen time periods believed that fate was something you couldn’t alter. Some even seemed to fear it. As mentioned in the “Findings” section, the beings that represented fate were more powerful than even the gods. People were known to fear the gods, as they were viewed as “all-powerful”, but knowledge of the fact that these beings had even more power must have caused more fear in their hearts. This could be a reason as to why fate was talked about so much in mythology, keeping in mind that what we consider to be myths in the present day were a religion to some people. Fate was a concept that they seemingly had no control over.

Three fates depicted in a play

According to the lecture from the University of Western Georgia we discovered, “Some Ancient Greeks (mostly the lower, less-educated, common people) would’ve believed fervently in the Olympian religion, and thus regarded the Fates as quite real” (pg 1). The professor mentions that self determination of fate was a concept used in Socrates’s method, which a few people studied back then. So, fate and other aspects of mythology weren’t as widely discussed in Greek culture as we had believed it to be, because some people were challenging those prior beliefs. This was shocking to us, as we hadn’t thought of another side to the whole discussion of mythology. It makes sense, as there are a multitude of belief systems in the present day.

In Norse myth, there isn’t an optimistic outlook on one’s fate. Everyone knew that their fate was sealed in Ragnarok, or when the universe was inevitably destroyed, so heroism and brave deaths were acts one strived for only. In the Poetic Edda, there were different perspectives surrounding the Norns, focusing on their perceived malevolence or benevolence. After learning about Ragnarok, we were confused as to how possibly the nornir could be viewed as an even remotely kind group of supernatural individuals. One poem in the Edda says, translated of course, “the nornir settled it right”, in regards to someone avenging another person’s death. It seems like although this is a mildly positive view of their work, the act of vengeance is still an iffy one.

Shai in snake form

Unlike in Norse mythology, Greek myths were a little bit more positive about fate. They didn’t have a doomsday like Ragnarok, so it wasn’t viewed so grimly. However, the Fates still weren’t seen as benevolent. Despite the wild inaccuracy of Disney’s Hercules, they did get one thing right, and that is that the Moirai were basically creepy old hags. Not all myths portrayed them as old and creepy, but the majority did. Hades, being the god of death, would seem to be an obvious villain, but the real MVPs when it came to terrible trios were the Fates. People thought they were evil because they took people’s lives, some even “before it was their time.” Which is kind of makes sense if they were the ones who controlled people’s fate, but also poses the question “if it wasn’t their time, why did the Fates kill them?”

Shai’s role in Egyptian mythology is quite different from the first two. Unlike the Norns and the Moirai, Shai was generally viewed as benign. The myth that follows him is that he stayed with each mortal throughout their whole life, kind of as a guardian, and decided when the best time to end their life was. He was almost a comforting figure, especially when contrasted with the Norns and the Moirai. It’s very interesting that Shai is the only male god of fate that we found, and that his persona is also very different. One has to wonder whether gender had to play into why he was viewed benevolently. It could also have to do with the Egyptian culture, and how society viewed gender.

The Moirae

Drawing from all three mythologies, we see the underlying theme of powerlessness and fear driving these people to discuss their fates. People seem to have this obsession with their lives and how they moved forward, but all-powerful forces were believed to be able to control them, so they had no choice but to fear these deities. The reason why fate was communicated in mythology so much was because they were terrified of the beings that were able to manipulate them.