Harry Potter and Norse Mythology (warning: spoilers if you haven't read the Half Blood Prince, if you haven't read it yet, and I'm sure you have)

You know, I was pondering the other day, how many similarities there are with the Harry Potter books and Norse mythos.

Firstly, Snape kind of has a resemblance with Loki, and, obviously, Dumbledore with Odin. Dumbledore trusts Snape as did Odin, Loki, and as the trust remains, nobody in either story knows exactly why. Dumbledore has both his eyes, however he does consult his "Pensieve", and Odin consulted Mimir's Well for wisdom.

In the Half Blood Prince, it was Draco, and Snape, who brought about the "Ragnarok" of Hogwarts. In Norse myth, it was Loki and his children (his daughter Hel, and his two sons: the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jormungand.) Of course we do have the werewolf, also named Fenrir (Greyback), although he didn't swallow anyone whole, but he did maul Bill Weasley pretty bad.

There is no World Tree (Yggdrasil) in Harry Potter, although there is a pretty mean Whomping Willow, and if I had to, I would say Hagrid and Thor have a good resemblance to each other considering both are half-giant, and both are pretty dang good at brawling when they need to (although I can't see Hagrid in a dress, actually yeah that is pretty humorous; Thor had to dress up in drag as Freyja to get his hammer back from some Etins, giants, who swiped it). Harry could also have some relation to Thor (thunderbolt scar).

Another similarity, Dumbledores Army, and of course Odin's Army (the fallen warriors, the Einherjar), and the Valkyries. One thing though, Odin had two Ravens (Huginn, and Muninn, thought and memory respectively) instead of owls who relayed messages to him of the 9 worlds, and Odin had the eight legged horse Sleipnir, whereas Dumbledore has a nifty phoenix, which rises from its own ashes.

As for the Snape/Loki thing, Snape is a double agent, and Loki hangs out with both the Gods and the Etins, Loki brought a lot of grief to the Gods, but always managed to make good on his practical 'jokes' by having the dwarves make Sif gold-spun hair after he chopped it all off as a joke, and getting Thor his hammer, the gloves to wield it, and the girdle of strength, and of course the nifty folding ship for Frey, and a bunch of other things that were pretty cool. As for Dumbledore's demise, I kind of have to agree with something I read on Mugglenet.com (good snape vs. bad snape) that perhaps Dumbledore was asking Snape to kill him with Avada Kedavra, instead of pleading for his life. IMO he isn't worth much to Voldemort dead, but he would have been tortured beyond his worst nightmares had he lived in his his current condition. I still think Snape is a good guy, he did take an unbreakable vow, so it was justified. I guess we will have to wait anxiously and see..

Anyhoo.. I think I'm done rambling for the moment.. comments anyone?

-Berta

As a side note here is an editoral from Veritaserum applying similar comparisons to Nordic Myth and Harry Potter:
www.veritaserum.com editoral