Who knew that there is a ship made from toenails and finger nails in Norse Mythology?

MrsDTB didn’t for one and thus got the shock of her life when MasterKAF announced this over breakfast this morning! MasterKAF is currently reading Magnus Chase and the Ship of The Dead by Rick Riordan.

This made MrsDTB feel a little queasy but also inquisitive to find out more as we had watched Thor: Ragnarok the day before. It got us to thinking how accurate both the Marvel films and the Rick Riordan books are, when compared with other records of Norse Mythology.

The Magnus Chase book is called The Ship of the Dead. Here is a quick synopsis from the Penguin Randomhouse website:

” Magnus Chase, a once-homeless teen, is a resident of the Hotel Valhalla and one of Odin’s chosen warriors. As the son of Frey, the god of summer, fertility, and health, Magnus isn’t naturally inclined to fighting. But he has strong and steadfast friends, including Hearthstone the elf, Blitzen the dwarf, and Samirah the Valkyrie, and together they have achieved brave deeds, such as defeating Fenris Wolf and battling giants for Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. Now Magnus faces his most dangerous trial yet. 

Loki is free from his chains. He’s readying Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, complete with a host of giants and zombies, to sail against the Asgardian gods and begin the final battle of Ragnarok. It’s up to Magnus and his friends to stop him, but to do so they will have to sail across the oceans of Midgard, Jotunheim, and Niflheim in a desperate race to reach Naglfar before it’s ready to sail. Along the way, they will face angry sea gods, hostile giants, and an evil fire-breathing dragon. But Magnus’s biggest challenge will be facing his own inner demons. Does he have what it takes to outwit the wily trickster god?”

MasterKAF did some further research on Naglfar which is thought to mean Ship of Nails but some call it the Ship of The Damned. It turns out that the etymology of Naglfar has long been a point of discussion and certainly the fact that Riordan refers to both The Ship of Nails and The Ship of The Dead supports this.

MasterKAF also watched an episode or two from Overly Sarcastic Productions which is a really useful and funny YouTube source of information that provides “…summaries of classic and not-so-classic literature and mythology, as well as major historical events!”

Its fair to say that this is not our last post on the topic as we have barely scratched the surface, so keep checking back for more updates.