Kevin wrote:


>>I've always thought it kind of funny that they don't ever do it
voluntarily,
>>though.  Urd, Skuld, and Peorth have all changed to different ages at one
>>point or another, but never voluntarily.
>
>Well, that's true.  But ask yourself this: are there ever any occassions
>where their appearing to be another age would be helpful, and they STILL
>don't do it?  I wonder whether their unwillingness to do so is a symptom of
>disability to do so.  Maybe they just LIKE being their present ages!


That same thought about "when would they want to" has occurred to me before,
as well.  I can't think of a time, actually, but I'm leaning in your
direction until some hard evidence crops up.

>>Maybe, maybe not.  If you take (as many scholars do) the ash tree that Lif
>>and Lifthrasir are hidden in at the end of the world to be Yggdrasil or an
>>offshoot thereof, then the Norns may very well survive Surt's
conflagration.
>>After all, some of the gods survive.
>
>Weeeeelll...personally I think that is a little cheap of a trick to be
>believed.  But then, they say the best place to hide something precious is
>in plain sight, so...

Hey, I didn't write the legends!  ;-)  Besides, I'll be the first to admit
that rationality is hardly common in Norse mythology.

>>Not explicitly, but the manga certainly indicates that they live very long
>>lives - several centuries, probably millenia at the least.
>
>Oh, no question...I assume this much in my further comments.  But they have
>to die some time, or the need for new megami is moot!

Yeah, I suppose Heaven and Nifelheim would get crowded after a long while,
so there has to be some limiting factor, whatever it may be.

>>Ah, and therein lies a fascinating little theory of mine.

>
>Very interesting!  Look forward to reading that fanfic when you're done.
>Certainly "rebirth" would be one way to look at it - not saying that all of
>the megami being born have to be unique.


It's the only way I've been able to think of for reconciling AMG with Norse
mythology.  Otherwise, you have to throw out the Norse like Sam does.  Not
that there's anything terrible about that, it's just much more challenging
to try and find a way to reconcile the existence of both. :-)

Brian W.