#hammer
Norse Mythology
Victo Ngai
I am so excited to reveal the cover for @neil-gaiman ’s Norse Mythology paperback, hitting the shelves on March 6th, 2018. I have always been a fan of mythologies and fantasies as well as Neil’s books and lectures, so unsurprisingly I devoured this book when it first came out in hard cover format, adorned by Sam Weber’s beautiful cover. It was a beautiful surprise when the paperback cover fell into my lap, and I was able ready to jump right in without needing to read the manuscript.
Water and stars have always feel timeless to me, I imagine Mjölnir being washed up on a shore of stars. How did the hammer end up in the sea? Maybe the not-the-brightest Thor has lost it, yet again, or maybe the gods and human have been long gone. Either way, the mythologies endure, and the cycle continues. Another reason behind the water concept is that the Norse world is flooded both when it is created and destroyed. What fascinates me the most about Norse Mythology is its cyclic perspective on time, which Neil has elegantly written in this book’s introduction: “Had Ragnarok happened yet? Was it still to happen? I did not know then. I am not certain now. It was the fact that the world and the story ends, and the way that it ends and is reborn, that made the gods and the frost giants and the rest of them tragic heroes, tragic villains. Tagnarok make the Norse world linger for me, seem strangely present and current, while others, better documented systems of belief felt as if they were part of the past, old things.” This image can be from any point of time in the world of Norse Mythologies.
Personally I think a good illustration doesn’t just create a scene, it creates a believable mythology. The richer the story-telling details, the more believable the myths are. The decorations on Mjölnir are inspired by the world which the hammer defends: we have Midgard and Asgard in the middled, connected by the World tree are and the rainbow bridge, surrounded by the Midgard serpent. The world tree extends to the handle where we can find the dragon Nidhogg. The two circular symbols on the side are the sun and moon.
Many thanks to Neil Gaiman, AD Steve Attardo and W.W.Norton.
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