Gripla - 20.12.2012, Page 190

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redeeming, Christian otherworldly women who come from the south.
elsewhere in norse tradition, dísir are seen as having innately benign and
destructive powers but these powers are not separated out between one
group of benign dísir and another group of cruel ones (Bek-Pedersen 2011,
41–48). By making this separation in the story of Þiðrandi, the nature of
the dísir is radically changed and parallels appear that are strongly reminis-
cent of the Christian portrayal of Michael as leader of the angels against
the Devil and his evil host.35
the black and white dísir most likely constitute an attempt at merging
heathen and Christian beliefs or traditions though not necessarily an at-
tempt that is consciously articulated as such. It may simply be the result
of a tendency to think in typological terms that dominated much medieval
treatment of pre-Christian traditions, that is, seeing these pre-Christian
traditions as a “natural religion” or imperfect, obscured and misunderstood
forerunners of the “true” Christian tradition.36 other similar instances
exist: in Gylfaginning ch. 15, a clear distinction is drawn between “good
norns” (goþar nornir) who create pleasant fates for people and “evil norns”
(illar nornir) who create grim ones but no such distinction is found any-
where else in references to the norns (Bek-Pedersen 2011, 75–76; finnur
jónsson 1931, 24).37 Likewise, in Gylfaginning ch. 17, álfar are sub-grouped
into dark ones “as black as tar”, and light ones “fairer than the sun”, with
the two kinds being “very unlike” each other.38 Although there are many
references to álfar scattered throughout the corpus of old norse literature,
35 they have been compared to the two draumkonur or “dream-women” in Gísla saga Súrssonar
ch. 22 (íf 6, 70), of which one is evil (and possibly heathen) while the other is good (and
possibly Christian); see Mundal 1974, 113–128; Björn M. ólsen 1900, 63; ström 1952,
89–91.
36 Discussions of such medieval Christian attitudes towards heathen religion can be found in,
among many others, McCone 1990, especially 54–83; Abram 2009; Lönnroth 1969.
37 Goþar nornir ok vel ættaþar skapa goþan alldr, en þeir menn, er fyrir vskꜷpvm verþa, þa valda þvi
illar nornir (finnur jónsson 1931, 24), “Good norns, ones of noble parentage, shape good
lives, but as for those people that become the victims of misfortune, it is evil norns that are
responsible” (faulkes 1987, 18).
38 þar byɢvir folk þat, er Liosalfar h(eita), en Dꜷckalfar bva niðri iiorþv, ok erv þeir vlikir synum ok
myklv vlikari reyndvm. Liosalfar erv fegri en sol synvm, en Davckalfar erv svartari en bik (finnur
jónsson 1931, 25), “there live the folk called light-elves, but dark-elves live down in the
ground, and they are unlike them in appearance, and even more unlike them in nature.
Light-elves are fairer than the sun to look at, but dark elves are blacker than pitch” (faulkes
1987, 19–20).