Quote Originally Posted by Powersurge
Well, exaclty how many sources on Norse myth do you think there are Happy?!?! There is the Poetic Edda, Snorri' Sturluson's Prose Edda and Heimskringla, Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, and a scattering of scant references spread throughout the Icelandic sagas. These are our ONLY sources for Viking Age myth and NONE of them say Thor has blonde hair.
First off, call me Allan - its only fitting to call a 'contender' in a disagreement by his true name.

Second, having read all those sourses you quote (well, most of Snorri' Sturluson - damned former roommate stoll the book when she buggered me over), I know of three more, at least. Unfortunately, as I said, I'm in the middle of rebuilding my resourse library thanks to said former roommate, and will be MORE than happy to supply titles, authors, ISBN numbers, etc to you when I get them so you can compare facts. Also, you are only listing so-called 'pure' sourses, not the essayist and comparable-mythologists, among others, who, too, have researched this topic to death. You can't study a religion without studying those who have studied it before, not and keep an academic head on your shoulders.

Thirdly...

I have no idea what you mean by "version" (translation? retelling by contemporay author?), or why you think that many, many, many "versions" exist.
By version, yes I mean - generally - 'translation'. Because dead languages are so much more an artform than a science, what one person reads and what another person reads are TWO different things, thus I tend to look at VARIOUS versions of the story to piece together what I'm reading. Take a look at the Bible - translated and translated, and translations of the translations, and each version (read: translation) reads differently from the other. Why? because translator A read it as one thing, and translator B read it another. You MAY have read one VERSION of the book, but it doesn't mean you've read the same book as me. And that's not to meantion, most of these myths started off as oral tradition (about as reputable as gospel as any rumour), not having been transcribed until several centuries or millennia later... More than likely even the gods have forgotten what the first version was, let alone those who had to later transcribe it, and those later still who translated it.

The available data, on myth, not the values and practices of the religion, is scant ... almost nonexistent, so its just not all that terribly difficult to find and absorb it all.
If you are sticking strictly to the so-called 'pure' sourses (a notion I scoff, since no one reads ancient Saxon as it was actually written), then, to a degree you are right. However, I would contend, there are more than one form of sourse than just the 'pure' sourses. On the side, note I never brought up the values and practices of the religion, since that has no bearing on this discussion... For that matter, why are we getting so hot under the collar because we disagree about Thor's haircolour....?

Sorry.
Don't be sorry on my count. As you can tell, it's been quite a GOOD long while since I had a decent theological/mythological debate. I was in SERIOUS need of one, and you helped me. Okay, so it started with something VERY trivial as Thor's hair, but nonetheless...