this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2025
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To be fair, all knowledge of norse mythology is rather sparse, given that there are very few surviving texts and much of our understanding of norse mythology comes from later writers who were christians and probably tried to reconcile norse and christian mythologies (both the Elder/Poetic Edda/Codex Regius and the Younger/Prose Edda, two massively influential artifacts, were written (or at least compiled) in the 13th century and the latter makes a lot of use of the former).
Fun fact though: while Odin and Freya oversaw those who fell in battle and Hel took care of those who died of illness and old age (and also oathbreakers and murderers who had a special place in or by Hel called Náströnd (Corpse Shore, very metal)) there were also Rán and Gefjon, goddesses who watched over those who drowned at sea and died a virgin, respectively.
To be honest a goddess of those who die a virgin sounds like a much healthier approach than our current incel culture(s)!
That's not an excessively high bar though.