“A very long time ago, the tale-spinners were said to have used an oak tree to test their power and that oak tree is here in Gold Crown Town.” (ep. 21 “The Spinners,” Princess Tutu)
The testimony of the Oak in Princess Tutu is mysterious. Why do Spinners use the Oak to test their power instead of other ways? Why the tree should be “oak”? Why should Spinners stand for three days without eating and sleeping to sharp their mind before touching the Oak to test their power? Why does the Oak tell Fakir to submerge himself in the bog of truth but not in the spring, river, ocean, or any other kind of clean wave, etc.?
We don’t know whether Drosselmeyer tested his power in Gold Crown Town. The creator of Princess Tutu Ikuko Itoh said that he was a Scandinavian in her journal published on the old official website. Perhaps, there might be another magical oak tree in his hometown. Talking about Drosselmeyer’s hometown, interestingly, the models of buildings or places like Duck’s pond, a small bridge in episode 6, and a broken outdoor theater in episode 11 & 19 are in Odense, Denmark, but not in Nördlingen, German, which is the main model of Gold Crown Town. Odense is the hometown of Hans Christian Andersen, famous for his fairy tales. And his grave in Nørrebro, Denmark, was the model of Drosselmeyer’s grave.[1]
(left to right: ep.2, ep.6, ep.19)
The existence of the Oak is supernatural. If the testimony were related to religion, who would Spinners worship? I got a closer look at the background of Drosselmeyer, his character setting, few information about Spinners, and a poem spoken by the Oak, and I realized that “Scandinavian,” “Odense,” “oak,” and “bog” these keywords might point to Norse Mythology.
Odense is part of Scandinavia. The name Odense is related to a chief Norse God, Odin, and means “Odin’s Shrine (Odins Vé / Odensvi).” Legend said that Odense was home to Odin in the Viking Age.[2] Secondly, oak trees were sacred to the thunder god Thor, the son of Odin. Thirdly, Odin’s wife Frigg lived in Fensalir (marsh halls). Most important of all, the similarity between Odin’s discovery of the runes and the testimony of the Oak suggests that Odin might be the god whom Spinners worship:
| Odin | Fakir (Spinner) | |
| Span | nine days and nine nights | three days |
| Situation | without bread and drink, wounded by a spear | without food and sleep |
| Position | hanging on a tree | standing at Autor’s home → stuck in the Oak |
| Condition | exhausted, almost dead | exhausted, almost dead |
| Result | finding the runes and gaining wisdom and their magical power | proving himself a real Spinner to fight against Drosselmeyer |
II. Analysis
A. Odin and the Runes and the Spinners in Princess Tutu
I know that I hung on a wind-rocked tree,
nine whole nights,
with a spear wounded, and to Odin offered,
myself to myself;
on that tree, of which no one knows
from what root it springs.
Bread no one gave me, nor a horn of drink,
downward I peered,
to runes applied myself, wailing learnt them,
then fell down thence.
- cited from third section Rúnatal of Hávamál, translated by Benjamin Thorpe (1782-1870)
nine whole nights,
with a spear wounded, and to Odin offered,
myself to myself;
on that tree, of which no one knows
from what root it springs.
Bread no one gave me, nor a horn of drink,
downward I peered,
to runes applied myself, wailing learnt them,
then fell down thence.
- cited from third section Rúnatal of Hávamál, translated by Benjamin Thorpe (1782-1870)
Odin is the father of all the gods in Norse Mythology. He’s a god of not only war, death, poetry, but wisdom. To learn cosmic knowledge, he sacrificed one of his eyes to drink the water from Mimir’s Well. Another example is that he self-sacrificed to seek the runes for knowledge and their magical power. The word “rune” means both “letter” and “secret” or “mystery” in Old Norse. As the Norse mythology expert Daniel McCoy says:
In the verses from the Völuspá quoted above, we see that the carving of runes is one of the primary means by which the Norns establish the initial framework of the destiny of all beings (the other most often-noted method being weaving).[3]
The Norns, three divine beings of destiny, carved the runes into the world tree Yggdrasil which holds the Nine Worlds. They also shape the destiny of gods and mankind by weaving. However, it doesn’t mean that the destiny carven or woven by the Norns are unchangeable. Different from the concept of fate in ancient Greek worldview, destiny can be rewritten by practitioners of magic or influenced by beings.[4] It’s no surprise that Odin was eager for the runes and made a self-sacrifice to gain the runes.
In addition, Daniel McCoy stated: “In the pre-Christian Germanic worldview, the spoken word possesses frightfully strong creative powers. As Scandinavian scholar Catharina Raudvere notes, ‘The pronouncement of words was recognized to have a tremendous influence over the concerns of life. The impact of a sentence uttered aloud could not be questioned and could never be taken back – as if it had become somehow physical. ... Words create reality, not the other way around.’”[5]
Back to Princess Tutu, we’re told that the Spinners have magical power to spin and make stories come true in episode 21. They’re practitioners of magic, in a sense (but they are sorcerers in the Bookman’s knowledge). In other words, they can weave others’ destiny through spinning stories. Take Drosselmeyer for example, he was asked for weaving stories by the royal and the rich to grant their wishes before his hands were chopped off. Sarcastically, he made himself almost invincible:
However, when his hands were cut off, the man had been writing a story in his own blood. That was a story of the man himself, who would continue to spin stories even after his death. (ep. 25 “The Dying Swan,” Princess Tutu)
Thanks to Duck’s persistence and Fakir’s power, the four main characters had a chance to reverse their destiny written by Drosselmeyer.
B. Odin’s Self-Sacrifice and the Testimony of the Oak in Princess Tutu
The native home of the runes is in the Well of Urd which the world tree Yggdrasil grows out of. “Urd” belongs to one of the Norns’ name, which represents “past.” “Urd” in Old Norse as Urðr means “destiny.” Therefore, we also call the Well of Urd as the Well of Destiny. The water from the well is absorbed and actualized by Yggdrasil, influencing the Nine Worlds. At last, the water returns to the well from the leaves of Yggdrasil as dew.[6]
That’s how destiny is influenced from the present worlds. Back to the runes, they are so powerful and worth gaining them that Odin made self-sacrifice and almost killed himself: starving, thirsty, sleepless and wounded by a spear for nine days and nine nights. He had to win acceptance of the runes:
...the runes do not reveal themselves to any but those who prove themselves worthy of such fearful insights and abilities... [7]
It looks familiar when we saw Fakir pass the testimony of the Oak in Princess Tutu. As mentioned above, Odin is a god of poetry and wisdom. We suppose that Spinners worship him and might imitate his method of gaining the runes to test their spinning power. They sacrifice themselves to Odin as his believers have done before:
... when the Norse sacrificed someone to Odin, whether a single individual or a large group of people, they typically did so by means of a spear, either by itself or in combination with hanging.[8]
Although Spinners wouldn’t kill themselves by stabbing a spear or hung to death, considering that they’re fragile human beings not as strong as gods, it’s reasonable that they push themselves to the limit similar to the way that Odin made self-sacrifice. If they fail, they would be sucked in by the Oak and lose their lives. However, if they succeed to win back their free will against the Oak, they would be reborn as a powerful Spinner and could use their power without losing control.
We shouldn’t forget to mention that Odin, the wisdom pursuer, stole the mead of poetry from the giants:
... Odin speaks only in poems, and the ability to compose poetry is a gift he grants at his pleasure. He stole the mead of poetry, the primeval source of the ability to speak and write beautifully and persuasively, from the giants. Ever since, he has dispensed it to certain gods, humans, and other beings whom he deems worthy of it.[9]
The mead of poetry was brewed from Kvasir’s blood and honey by two greedy dwarves who murdered him. Kvasir was the wisest of all beings. If anyone drank his blood, he would become a scholar or poet. We may guess that Spinners in Princess Tutu are the ones blessed by poetry-and-wisdom-god Odin and only the chosen ones can inherit the power from their Spinner ancestors (but they have to pass the testimony of the Oak first).
C. The image of the Oak in Princess Tutu
As Autor thought Fakir failed to contact the Oak and patted him on the shoulder, he was struck by a lightning. Obviously, he interfered the testimony. We all know that the Oak was once cut down long time ago. But Autor didn’t explain it further. The most persuasive reason might be the Bookman wanted to prevent Spinners like Drosselmeyer from manipulating reality through their power. A similar event happened around the eighth century in our history: the Anglo-Saxon missionary Saint Boniface cut down Thor’s Oak (also named “Jove’s Oak” and “Donar’s Oak”) to destroy Germanic peoples’ belief to Thor and to Christianize them.
However, there is no other connection between Thor and Spinners. Thor, Odin’s one of sons, was a god of thunder, lightning, storms, warrior, hallowing, fertility and protection of mankind and gods. Likely, the creator of Princess Tutu only borrowed the ideas of the fallen of Thor’s Oak to imply the conflict between Spinners and common people. Furthermore, there were no certain species of trees for Odin’s followers to sacrifice offerings by means of hanging and stabbing with a spear.
D. Does the “bog of truth” really imply Frigg’s Fensalir (Marsh Halls)?
It’s hard to understand why the Oak used “bog”, but not “sea,” “river,” “waterfall,” “spring,” or any other clean wave. At first, I believed it might be related to Odin’s wife, Frigg, since she lived in Fensalir and was also regarded as the keeper of the domestic arts. Domestic arts like spinning or weaving is complex art work, just like spinning stories. Nonetheless, it’s still a weak point.
After taking a close look at what the Oak told Fakir, I realize that the “bog of truth” more likely means that we shouldn’t judge the truth through our eyes and ears. It’s simple for cosmos but it’s chaotic for humans. A German philosopher Nietzsche said that “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” Some truth is so overwhelming that makes people lose judgment, drives them mad, and even turns them into “monsters.”
Truth is like bog, nourishing the mind of Spinners, but it can also suck their mind and even lives relentlessly if they’re not careful enough. No doubt that it’s a double-edge sword. To spin, or not to spin, that is the question for Spinners to think cautiously before they weave (or tangle) the destiny of people.
III. Conclusion
Now we know that Spinners might worship Odin and make sacrifice to him to prove their magical power. The destiny woven by Drosselmeyer wouldn’t be unalterable if those characters either had strong free will or were powerful Spinners. Still, there is so little information around the worldview of Princess Tutu. We can see a swan statue in the church in episode 10 where Princess Krache held her wedding with the Prince; Fakir’s sword was Lohengrin Sword which might relate to Lohengrin, who was both a Grail Knight and the Knight of the Swan. It seems that the creator of Princess Tutu not only used some ideas from Norse Mythology but wrote in some elements of Christianity.
References:
[1] Ikuko Itho. (2004-?). 夢徒然〜とろいめらい〜. from http://www.imagica.com/shop/tutu/background/tobira.html (closed).
[2] Odense English Official Website. A history of Odense. Retrieved July 10, 2016, from http://english.odense.dk/about-odense/a-history-of-odense.
[3][5] Daniel McCoy. Runic Philosophy and Magic. from http://norse-mythology.org/runes/runic-philosophy-and-magic/.
[4] Daniel McCoy. The Norns. from http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/others/the-norns/.
[6] Daniel McCoy. Yggdrasil and the Well of Urd. from http://norse-mythology.org/cosmology/yggdrasil-and-the-well-of-urd/.
[7] Daniel McCoy. Odin’s Discovery of The Runes. from http://norse-mythology.org/tales/odins-discovery-of-the-runes/.
[8] Daniel McCoy. Gungir. from http://norse-mythology.org/gungnir/.
[9] Daniel McCoy. Odin. from http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/odin/.
Relating articles:
- The model of Duck’s pond is in H.C. Andersen Haven in Odense
- The model of the small bridge in episode 6 is in H.C. Andersen Haven near St. Canute’s Cathedral in Odense, Denmark
- A ruin behind Odense Town Hall (Odense Rådhus) is the model of the broken theater in ep. 11& ep. 19
- The model of Drosselmeyer’s grave is H. C. Andersen’s grave in Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark
※The Connection Between Odin’s Discovery of the Runes and the Testimony of the Oak (only texts, without any pictures) is submitted to Schwanengesang- Princess Tutu 15th Anniversary Anthology and is permitted to post on the Internet.
Chinese translation: 橡樹的試煉與奧丁發現盧恩字母的關聯性
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