Ttyjukl

I just watched the prequel style movie 'Blood and Chrome' and was intrigued when I saw Norse named vessels (Valkyrie and Loki) I've seen all the episodes up to S2:E19 and believe up to that point there is no reference to any other 'ancient' civilizations other than the Roman/Greek pantheon and obviously the "One" true god that the Cylon's worship.

I know how the story ends, so I'm not asking for the spoiler answer and how the 13th colony works, I'm asking how the Norse mythology fits into the Caprica/prequel worlds and if there were any Norse vessels in the fleet during Battlestar Galactica? I was under the impression the other 12 colonies were pantheon like cultures, such as the Taurans who I believe worshiped Ares/Mars and had a very combative culture as seen in Caprica with the Adama family.

In the original and re-imagined series there are a considerable number of intentional references to ancient world religions and cultures including Judeo-Christian, Egyptian, Islamic, Greek, Roman and Norse.

Specific Norse references from the TV series' include;

• 
  Embla Brokk : A ship in the Fleet. The name may be derived from two separate figures of Norse mythology: Embla, the first woman, and Brokk, a dwarf who helped create Draupnir (a magical ring) and Mjolnir (Thor's hammer).


• 
  Ragnar Station : Ragnar is a clear reference to Ragnarok, the apocalyptic battle between the Norse gods at the end of the world.


• 
  Battlestar Valkyrie : Valkyries are minor Norse deities and shieldmaidens who gathered up warriors to fight at Ragnarok.

Additionally, in the (semi-canon) BSG Online, almost all of the fleet ships and locations are named after notables from Norse Mythology such as;

• 
  Hugin and Munin : The ravens of the god Odin


• 
  Duneyr : A deer that was friends with Odin


• 
  Nilfhel : The Norse equivalent of hell


• 
  Vidofnir : A cockerel known to Thor

Although in fairness this may have more to do with the fact that the game was developed by a company called "ArtPlant" who are based in Oslo, Norway.

As to whether the plotlines tie in with Norse mythos, the main theme is of course the end of the world (e.g. Ragnarok) but aside from that, there's very little you can point at that isn't generic and common to most world religions.

There are a number of ships in BSG with names relating to ancient cultures. Most of the names from ancient cultures are Greek (Aether, Argo Navis, Odysseus, Prometheus, Pegasus, Persephone, Scylla, Zephyr, etc.), but there are other cultures represented (Amduatey is from ancient Egypt, and Aurora is from ancient Rome).

I'm not specifically aware of any other Norse references, but it doesn't seem out of place.

That's not to say all of the ships are named similarly, however. For example: the Astral Queen is named after a ship mentioned in Star Trek (TOS), which was in turn named after the ship in Isaac Asimov's Marooned off Vesta.