Talk:Norns
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I am not sure that the Norse believed that everything is predestined. I would note that Urdh is the norn most often associated with fate and her name seems to derive from the root meaning "that which has turned." This would make the Norns manifestations of cause and effect rather than predestination per se. Note too that Urdh's Old English cognate, Wyrd, is closely associated with fate in many poems, none the least of which is "The Wanderer." Certainly at a certain point, events become unavoidable, but I don't thinl that the Norse believed the world was sufficiently mechanical for that to lead to predestination. --Einhverfr 02:02, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
From a religious stand point, the Norns didn't really control fate, in the sence that they determined every action a person or Asa takes. While the lengths of our lives are commonly held to be fated, the actions we take are not. EX: If I were to die in a car crash tomorrow there is nothing to be done about it, but the fact I am writing this comment is not an action that is fated to happen. It is believed that our lives are half fated. When we are born and when we die, but not what we do in between those two points. It is also argued whether or not how we die is fated and that while our string might run out, our own free will will dictate exatly how we die. Such as, if I were to die at 12 noon tomorrow, it might not be because of the car crash, since I might not be in a street or near a moving vehicle, but perhaps I might be shot or stumble and crack my skull open. The point being that my timer has run out and I have to die some how. This is all purely from a religious stand point and cannot be verified as factual, but I figured that this particular view would be necessary to better understand the Norns.--Scottish norseman 09:01, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
