Scandinavian/Norse Folklore

I was always interested in fairy tales, ever since I was little. Now that I'm learning more about my heritage, I wanted to learn about Nose folklore.

The most popular creatures were the trolls and even in today's society and media trolls are still popular. Trolls are really dumb, like... REALLY dumb. A lot of the stories are about people or creatures outsmarting them. For example The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a popular story of how three goats outsmarted a mean ugly troll living under a bridge. I recently watched a good Norwegian movie Troll Hunter by André Øvredal. In this movie they make multiple references to the old folklore, like flashing light at the trolls so they turn to stone and looking for the trolls under bridges.

Mermaids are also depicted in stories. They are said to be very beautiful and can predict the future. They are kind to sailors and warn them about potential dangers.

Witches have the stereotypical long hooked nose and pet black cat look, but in Norse folklore there are different types of witches. The ones that are trolls wives are called "Trollkjerringer" or "trollkonor". The most popular witch all throughout the world is the one who lives in the woods and practices magic. Then there's the most scary and dangerous evil witches who can shape shift and like to cause havoc.

Elves are very popular in fantasy related books, games, movies, etc. The Scandinavian elves are really beautiful and can use magic too. They live in the forest and are admired by many races (such as dwarves and trolls).

I thought dragons would be described as flying creatures, but they are usually depicted as living underwater. This was a surprise to me, kind of reminds me of the Ogopogo.

"Middle Earth" fantasy is largely based on Scandinavian folklore, from the creatures to the storylines. I really enjoy this type of fantasy because it's so cool and interesting!

Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_folklore

picture: 

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/File:God_kv%C3%A4ll,_farbror!_H%C3%A4lsade_pojken.jpg