Thurisaz

General Discussion
1

So, last night, someone tried to tell me that the Old Norwegian and Old Icelandic rune poems were tainted by the tendency for humans to perceive giants as malicious and evil. When I read the poems and studied them, i never once got that impression. The way I read them is the struggle between overly expanded ego and tightly controlled ego, and the effects each has on others.

I want to ask the expert, am I way off base here? Do I need to reexamine the poems? I don’t see the giants in Norse myth as malicious or evil, but through their own perspectives as beings. I mean, its like calling a demon evil, it seems.

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2

I can see that. Giants, while the antagonists of the Eddas, are gravely misunderstood. Often being tricked by the gods. Used and thrown away. Like the giant hired to rebuild the walls of Asgard after the war. Promised the goddess Freya as his wife, but tricked by Loki and killed by Thor when he was almost finished with the building. Just as with the gods, there is much to learn from the giants. More so in their adversity. But there is a moral to it all. Due to the gods treatment of the giants, the giants vengefully play a huge role in Ragnarok.

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