Hi everyone, we are very excited
to bring you a whole new season of "Fate and Fabled."
Hang tight to the end of this episode
where we'll be revealing a fun surprise
for the upcoming season, stay tuned.
Gather round, ye nerds and weirdos, to hear this epic tale
of a godly war where each side goes,
"I think we just might fail."
(host 2) In old Norse lore, a witch was burned,
not once, nor twice, but thrice.
On her behalf, the war tide turned
and each side paid the price.
Cue years of war before a fragile peace could be agreed,
till one side's anger was unleashed, misunderstood indeed.
But wisdom won, did Odin roar,
"Hey, spit in this cup here,"
and thus added the vicious war
between the Aesir and the Vanir.
[mystical music]
How do you end a war between gods?
With spit, of course.
In Norse mythology, two competing groups
of gods called the Aesir
and the Vanir fought a devastating war
until they combined their saliva
to cement a remarkably unique truce.
Divine wars aren't rare.
They can be found in most mythologies
from around the world.
The Greek Olympians fought and defeated the Titans.
The Hindu Devas were able to banish the demonic Asuras
to something that resembled hell.
And Christian angels cast the rebellious demons down
into actual hell.
These conflicts usually end with good triumphant over evil,
a reminder to us mortals of what happens
when you stray from the righteous path.
But the war between the Aesir and Vanir is different
because it doesn't impose a moral hierarchy.
Instead, the two groups combined
into a single united pantheon.
Maybe the Norse just like some different story tropes,
but some scholars think this myth
can provide insight into the actual history of Scandinavia.
How about we tell you the story
and then you can decide for yourself what it means?
To understand the Aesir and Vanir,
let's take a closer look
at how Norse mythology is structured.
The universe, according to Norse mythology,
is split up into nine different worlds,
resting in the roots and branches
of the Great Tree Yggdrasil.
Each world is inhabited by a different race,
like the giants on Jotunheim
and the dwarves on Svartalfheim
and the wee blue folk of Smurfheim.
Okay, I made that last one up.
But we humans lived on Midgard
and worshiped two other races as gods,
the Vanir of Vanaheim and the Aesir of Asgard.
The Vanir used their powerful magic to help humans prosper
in agriculture, wealth, and fertility.
They were wise, thoughtful,
and wielded a coveted magic called Seidr,
which could foresee and shape the future.
The Aesir, on the other hand, were more interested
in violence and war than their magical counterparts.
For them, brute strength, bravery,
and loyalty were valued above most other traits.
[soft music]
Hail, nerd, whatcha doing?
I'm gardening, meathead, I'm a Vanir.
I inspire the humans on Midgard
to grow crops and gain more wealth.
Well, I am an Aesir
and I incite the humans towards violence and war.
Weird flex. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get more respect
for what I do.
You would think that, wouldn't you?
Most sources say the war started
as retaliation for an Aesir act of cowardly violence.
One section from "The Poetic Edda" tells us about Gullveig,
a witch goddess who traveled to Asgard
and shared her magic with the Aesir.
She gave the Aesir gifts, granted their wishes
and brought prosperity to the All Father Odin's Hall,
for which the Aesir were totally grateful.
I'm just kidding.
These are the gods of violence and war we're talking about.
They feared that Gullveig's generosity was making them soft
and complacent or gold drunk,
which is one translation of her name.
So they decided to kill her, first with spears,
and when that didn't work
they burned her at the stake three times
and three times she was reborn
from the ashes thanks to her magic.
They renamed her Heidr, meaning Bright One.
The texts don't specify where this powerful woman came from
or what she wanted.
One possible theory is that Gullveig
was a Vanir goddess Freya in disguise.
This is just one moment in the story where it splits
into multiple versions, just like Marvel's many multiverses.
(host 1) Obviously, the Vanir couldn't let this treatment
of one of their own go unpunished.
So they uncharacteristically readied for war,
but the Aesir were always prepared for battle.
So when Odin learned about the Vanir's plans
he was able to strike first.
The two groups met on the plain of war,
the same field where the final battle in Ragnarok
was predestined to take place,
and Odin threw the first spear into enemy lines.
The Eddas and other remaining records
of Norse lore don't provide many details about the war
but imply that it was devastating for both sides.
After the first battle, the Vanir used their magic
to decimate the protective walls that encircled Asgard.
And later, when the gods hire a giant to rebuild the wall,
Loki will shapeshift into a lady horse
and distract the giant's stallion
so he can't finish the job on time
and won't have to be paid Freya's hand in marriage.
Known as the "Bugs Bunny Gambit,"
it seems like a risky way to get out of paying a bill.
In return, the Aesir absolutely wrecked the Vanir homestead
with the battle prowess that inspired centuries
of Viking raids.
War waged for years with magic
and physical strength taking turns on the upper hand,
potions bested axes, swords sliced through spells.
Eventually the two sides realized they were at an impasse
and met to call a ceasefire.
-Well, that was fun. -Was it?
Yeah, I mean, maybe we should join forces.
With my bravery and strength and your magic,
we could be like the best pantheon ever.
Like the Justice League meets--
-The Avengers. -I was gonna say Care Bears.
Oh yeah, that's fair.
(host 2) In the longstanding Germanic and Scandinavian tradition,
each side cemented the truce by sending some
of their own to live with their former foes.
The Vanir sent Freya, her brother Freyr,
and their father Njord to live among the Aesir,
while Hoenir and Mimir were sent to live on Vanaheim.
The three Vanirs settled well into life on Asgard.
But Hoenir and Mimir weren't so fortunate.
At first, the Vanir were so enchanted by Hoenir's good looks
and wisdom that they made him their leader.
But when they found out that Hoenir was just a dope
who was getting his advice advice from Mimir,
they were so mad that they cut off Mimir's head
and sent it to Daddy Odin.
Odin used the seidr magic that Vanir taught him
to keep meme's head alive
and thankfully avoided another all-out war.
The decapitation was written off
as nothing more than a misunderstanding.
I mean, who among us hasn't gotten confused
and lopped off a former enemy's head?
The Aesir and Vanir gathered once more and debated,
according to the "Voluspa" poem,
"Whether the gods should tribute give
or to all alike should worship belong?"
The Vanir wanted either compensation
for the way Gullveig had been treated
or equal worship by the humans.
No more of this "also featuring" bull.
The Aesir agreed to share their divine status
and the two groups secured their peace
by spitting into a cauldron.
From the spit emerged the god Kvasir,
the wisest of all beings
whose blood became the legendary mead of poetry.
We don't know why spit was used
to seal such a momentous decision, but I love
that the practice lives on in the modern spit shake.
To the Aesir and Vanir! [inhales]
Wait, why not to the Vanir and Aesir?
It's alphabetical.
Oh.
So why is the ending to this war so unique?
It's possible this story and its spitty conclusion
where merely adopted and adapted
from proto Indo-European cultures as they intermingled.
But I'm personally not convinced.
The story's ending is too unlike other myths
from the region.
Instead, I agree with historians like Dr. John Lindow,
that this myth acts as a blurred reflection
of real world events.
We've talked about this phenomenon on the show before.
An influential person or local hero might be exaggerated
into a god like the Yoruba King Shango,
who was deified as an Orisha
or a clash of cultures could be remembered
as a legendary war, much like the six invasions described
in the Irish "Mythological Cycle."
Here, the hypothesis is that Germanic tribes migrated north
about 3,000 years ago,
encountered indigenous Scandinavians
with their own differing pantheon
and incorporated it into their own.
We know that ancient Germanic tribes
worshiped a war god named Wodin.
And Roman records tell us that they were skilled fighters
so it's easy to imagine them
following the war hungry Aesir gods,
but not the seidr wielding Vanir.
It seems much more likely that the Vanir were worshiped
by indigenous Scandinavians who placed more
of a societal emphasis on connecting to the land.
The Sami people, native to what is now Northern Scandinavia,
had a shamanic religion before they were Christianized
in the 16th century, and their shamanic practices
might have been mythologized as seidr.
Their relationship with the land
could have yielded a pantheon
of Vanir-like agriculture and fertility deities.
I say "might" and "could" because unfortunately little
is known about this region's history
due to a lack of written records
and a climate that tends to destroy archeological artifacts.
Regardless of the myth's origin,
the war between the Aesir and Vanir is a powerful reminder
that conflicts rooted in anger and fear
can still be resolved through wisdom and mercy.
In that spirit, we've cooked up a fun treat for you
in this season of "Fate and Fabled."
Dr. McT and I have each picked five
of our favorite figures from mythology.
It's kind of like a fantasy football draft,
but without all the toxic competition.
We'll reveal one of our choices
in each thematically appropriate episode,
and at the end of the season,
we'll unite our pantheons just like the Norse did.
So to start us off, Dr. McT, who's your first pick?
Oh, I'm so excited for you to hear this.
I am choosing Idunn.
-Do you know Idunn? -Ooh, no.
Idunn is an Aesir, she's a goddess of fertility
and spring and rejuvenation,
but she's in charge of planting the golden apples
that the Aesir used to stay immortal and beautiful.
That sounds like something I want.
So I definitely approve of this pick.
Thank you! I do like the option of living forever,
so I wanted to give the people
in our little utopia that option.
And the more gold the better, in my book.
Exactly.
[ominous music]
Excellent first pick to start us off.
I'll be making my first pick of the pantheon
at the end of the next episode,
but make sure you stay tuned for every episode this season.
We'll reveal our pantheon picks at the end of each.
But maybe you'll remember that better in verse.
Is there any of that poetry mead left?
-Yes, there you go. -Thank you.
(Emily) Ten gods chosen, five apiece, from the world around.
(Moiya) In sky or sea or deep dark pit
could they all be found.
(Emily) We'll share the tales of people
whose lives our choices touched
and set aside the differences
that once they may have clutch.
So stick around this season.
We promise you won't yawn
once you see who we draft in our fantasy pantheon.
Hey foodies, you're missing out
if you're not watching the new stuff cooking
over on PBS Food.
Go on a tasty journey to find the best South Asian food
in America on "Spice Road"
or get ready to swap delicious recipes
from different cultures on "Pan Pals."
The channel has shows covering the history
of iconic dishes to food science.
Hit the link in our description to check them out.
Just don't watch these on an empty stomach.
I would wear this outfit though.
I low-key would actually probably wear this.
-Yeah. -Wait, wait, wait.
Why not to the Vaesir and the Anir?
That's not what they're called.
Uh-oh.