[Today, we sit down for five questions with author and scholar, Morgan Daimler. Here, Daimler discusses their book on the Norse God Thor, and a variety of upcoming projects.]

Forests Haunted By Holiness: Why a book about Thor? What draws you to that God?

Morgan Daimler: My editor, Trevor Greenfield, suggested it as a follow up to Pagan Portals: Odin and it seemed like a great idea. One of my best friends is dedicated to Thor and I knew he was one of the most popular Norse gods, but not one that there are a lot of books out there about. It seemed strange to me that there weren’t already a dozen Thor books and I thought that I could offer something solid to fill that gap. I also wanted to be able to tease out the Norse myth vs Marvel comic influence and I thought that would be very helpful for some people, because like it or not Marvel Thor has found a place in Norse paganism and has drawn new people to heathenry. 

FHBH: What sort of research went into Pagan Portals: Thor? Long hours at the library? Lengthy discussions with other devotees?

MD: I’m fortunate that I have a very solid home library, including a range of Norse pagan, heathen, and Asatru books that I’ve accumulated over the years, so most of what I needed I already had. I’m also fortunate to still have university library access online as an alumni after graduating so that also gave me an ability to dig into some academic articles.

I went on my social media and asked people to share places in modern media like gaming that he showed up, because that’s often a really difficult niche thing to get into; I love that I have such a great community around me.

Researching is something that I genuinely enjoy and which I believe I’m good at, so its fun to have a project like this to get into, where I don’t feel like I already have it all dialed in. 

FHBH: Which one interesting bit of information — historical, mythological, ritualistic, et cetera — did you absolutely have to include in the book?

MD: There’s a passage in Njal’s Saga where a heathen and Christian debate theology, and the heathen basically says that Thor had challenged Jesus to a fight, but Jesus was too afraid to show up. The whole conversation is pretty entertaining, but that part I felt like I had to include, not only because it’s a funny mental image, but also because it really showed how contentious conversion was and how people held onto their beliefs even when the country at large (Iceland) was changing. We talk a lot about conversion in different places, and conversion across the Norse world was often bloody, but Iceland is this odd exception where we’re told it was mostly peaceful and an agreement was reached to allow both to exist together, heathen and Christian belief, but I think that story illustrates how complex things really were. 

FHBH: What do you think of the use of Deities in modern pop culture media, especially comics and film? Do you think this has increased the visibility of polytheism? If so, is that increased attention a positive, a negative, or a net neutral?

MD: I’m so torn on this entire subject to be honest, because on the one hand it has definitely increased interest and brought more people to heathenry, which I believe is a good thing. But on the other hand the Norse gods in pop culture aren’t accurate, sometimes at all, to the mythology or folklore, so it creates this entirely new layer of belief. I think some people might be shocked by how much pop culture shapes pagan belief, to be honest, but it really does have a profound impact. Devotional art of Thor and Loki, for example, often uses the Marvel characters/actors as a base even though we have nothing in myth that suggests that, and more and more I see people calling Thor and Loki brothers, which is from Marvel not mythology. I suppose I’d tentatively say its a good thing, but also something to be aware of and to look beyond the popular tv and movie stuff and into the older beliefs.  

FHBH: What other projects are you working on?

MD: I just finished up and self published the eleventh novel in my urban fantasy series, and, besides a few smaller projects, I have a couple books contracted with Moon Books including one on the ancient druids, and one through Cambridge University Press on changelings. I like to keep busy so I’m also in the plotting stages of my next novel, as well.