The historical religion of the Norse people is commonly referred to as Norse mythology. Other terms are Scandinavian mythology, North Germanic mythology or Nordic mythology.

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Norse Mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from the Old Norse religion, continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period and also includes the northernmost extension of Germanic mythology and stemming from Proto-Germanic folklore.​

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Most of the surviving mythology centers on the plights of the gods and their interaction with several other beings, such as humanity and the jötnar, beings who may be friends, lovers, foes, or family members of the gods.

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The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worlds that flank a central sacred tree, Yggdrasil.  There are various forms of the creation myth where the world is created from the flesh of the primordial being Ymir, and the first two humans are Ask and Embla. These worlds are foretold to be reborn after the events of Ragnarök when an immense battle occurs between the gods and their enemies, and the world is enveloped in flames, only to be reborn anew. 

 

These tales come from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations such as amulets and figurines, monuments, town and location names and folk tradition.

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However the bulk of Norse tales come from the written records of Icelandic poetry.

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Poetry played an important role in the social and religious world of the Vikings. The poetry of particular interest to scholars are the Skaldic and Eddic poems. Eddaic poetry refers to poems on themes of mythology or ancient heroes, composed in simpler meters and with anonymous authors.  Skaldic poetry was usually written as praise for living kings and nobles, in more intricate meters and by known authors, known as skalds.

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Much Old Norse poetry was originally preserved in oral culture, but the Old Norse language ceased to be spoken, so most of the Old Norse poetry that survives was composed or committed to writing in Iceland, after refined techniques for writing (such as the use of vellum, parchment paper, pens, and ink) were introduced—seemingly contemporaneously with the introduction of Christianity.

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Sadly, only a tiny amount of poems and tales survive of the many mythical tales and poems that are presumed to have existed during the Middle Ages, Viking Age, Migration Period, and before.

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There are around 122 verses preserved in Swedish rune inscriptions, 54 in Norwegian and 12 in Danish.

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The majority of these Old Norse texts were created in Iceland, where the oral tradition was collected and recorded in manuscripts such as the Prose Edda, composed in the 13th century by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, and the Poetic Edda, a collection of poems from earlier traditional material anonymously compiled in the 13th century.

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Norse mythology gained popularity in the 17th century when key texts attracted the attention of the intellectual circles of Europe. However through comparative mythology and historical linguistics, scholars have identified elements of Germanic mythology reaching as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology.Today the myths have further been revived in a religious context through the rise of Germanic Neopaganism.​​​