From the Edges

The Books

The Witch’s Heart

Author: Genevieve Gornichec

Genre: Mythology; Retelling; Norse Mythology

POV/Narrator: Limited Third Person (Angrboda)

Publisher: Ace Books

Published: February 9, 2021

Number of Pages: 359

This is an intricate retelling of an often-overlooked character in Norse mythology. Angrboda (A.K.A. Proclaimer of Sorrows) is a witch-giant in exile from Asgard. Long story short, she made Odin mad, he demanded she be burned to death. She was. Then she was reborn. Odin burned her to death again. She was reborn again. He burned her a third time. She was reborn again, ran away, and accidentally left her heart behind. The book begins with her heart being returned to her by Loki, the trickster god.

Mockingjay

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: YA; Dystopia

POV/Narrator: First Person (Katniss Everdeen)

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Published: August 24, 2010

Number of Pages: 398

The conclusion to The Hunger Games trilogy finds Katniss Everdeen far from home and in hiding from President Snow and the Capitol. However, the spark of rebellion has already caught and is spreading throughout Panem. In order to secure victory, Katniss must embrace her role as the face of the cause and truly become The Mockingjay.

The Ties That Bind

Both these books include a character who is barely mentioned in the “main story” but is nonetheless important and affects that story in significant ways.

The Witch’s Heart is a retelling of Norse mythology. Unlike the original tales, this book focuses not on the gods, but rather on Angrboda, Loki’s (other) wife. Although she is not typically included in most Norse stories, this version shows her involvement from the sidelines. For example, one of Loki’s well-known misadventures involves him outwitting the jötunn that built the walls of Asgard by luring away his stallion Svadilfari. In the official story, Loki disappears for a time before eventually reappearing with the eight legged horse Sleipnir. In this book, Loki spends the time as a mare pregnant with Sleipnir by sheltering with Angrboda. Eventually, Angrboda has three children by Loki: Hel, Fenrir, and Jormungand. They are all involved with the beginning of Ragnorak (the end of the world). Angrboda is literally the mother of the apocalypse.

By the start of Mockingjay, Katniss’s former stylist Cinna has already been taken into custody by the Capitol and is most likely dead. Even so, he is able to convince Katniss to take up the mantle of the Mockingjay and embrace her role as symbol of the rebellion. He does so not with words, but simply because, before he was arrested, Cinna created her Mockingjay suit. As he so often does in the series, Cinna is able to influence thousands of people through the unlikely medium of fashion. In fact, although it’s never confirmed in the books, I have a theory that Cinna was part of the resistance group that initiated the rebellion long before the events of the first book. I suspect that he might have chosen to be District 12’s stylist specifically because he watched Katniss volunteer to take her sister’s place and saw the potential for a way to spark rebellion.

Even in their peripheral roles, both Angrboda and Cinna manage to change their worlds forever.