The tales go beyond the humorous and absurd. They are touching, imaginative, and contain themes that translate into our present day. Loki gains complexity with each tale as his intelligence is both admired and vilified by the other Gods. As a half giant, Loki represents the ultimate outsider. He’s not even supposed to be in Asgard with the others and no one knows how he ascended to their realm. He vacillates between being an agent of chaos and risking his life and dignity to assist those who may never truly accept him. Loki is a villain we can all see within ourselves and thus we too can both admire and scorn his actions.

Watching over these realms is the All-Father, Odin. Odin gave his eye for wisdom and hung himself from the world-tree, Yggdrasil, for knowledge of the runes. Odin understands that knowledge is power and has sacrificed himself many times over to achieve it. His thirst for knowledge is insatiable, and he even enters our world dressed in disguise to see things from our point of view. Odin sends his two ravens, Huginn and Muninn (‘thought' and ‘memory’) to travel the realms far and wide so that they might bring him new knowledge and perspective. It is honorable that the leader of the Norse Gods should have such respect for knowledge and understanding. With each story Odin becomes more mysterious, more complex, and more worthy of our admiration.

Many question why mythology is important and if it still holds value in our modern tech-focused society. I exclaim a resounding ‘YES’ to such questions. We humans are storytellers. The stories we tell define our culture and bring us together in common knowledge. The great myths of the old Gods reference a world we could only dream of, yet their wisdom gives us guidance and comfort. These ‘tall-tales’ illuminate our imagination and kindle our compassion. Such stories are worth preserving and sharing among generations yet to come. With Norse Mythology, Neil Gaiman helps these deities maintain their immortality and refreshes their stories for a new collective of storytellers, big-thinkers, and adventurers.