The Witch's Heart Essay

The Witch’s Heart is a book written by Genevieve Gornichec and was published in 2021. It is a modern day retelling using Norse mythology. The story follows a witch who fled from Odin after a brutal burning. This witch's name is Angrboda, and she settles in a forest far away named Ironwood. Angrboda is found by a sly man who discloses himself as Loki. A complex bond forms between the two and ultimately three children are born. Angrboda must navigate her life while caring for children and holding onto her relationship with Loki. She has the power to see her fate and must decide if she wants to accept it, or find a way to stop the foreseen future. Many challenges arise during her life and Angrboda must find a way to deal with the challenges, as

The characters in the story are derived from the ancient Norse texts, but the storyline that they follow is not completely accurate. The author used Angrboda as her protagonist in this novel. From the original Norse mythology, not much is known about Angrboda. In the Prose Edda, there is a part that mentions a giantess who lives in Ironwood. While Angrboda is not directly named, this is interpreted as being her. Gornichec uses this in her novel accurately. Also, it is known from original Norse texts that Angroboda and Loki had three children together: Hel, Jormungand, and Fenrir. All of these children are a key element in the modern day novel. These children are pictured in the novel as they are seen in original texts. Hel is a half-dead girl, Jormungand is a serpent, and Fenrir is a wolf. The author used all of the accurate information found about the characters in her novel. But, there is not enough information found to create an entire story, so the author had to develop much of it on her

To begin, we know that the main character, Angrboda, is portrayed as a powerful woman figure. Throughout the book, she shows her perseverance through many troubles. She is not afraid to talk back to anybody who attempts to cross her. Although Angrboda is often a calm protagonist, she is not a timid character. In the beginning of the book, Loki came to Angrboda and wished to stay in her cave with her. He complained of hunger and Angrboda replied with, “Then get up and get your own food. Am I your mother?” (Gornichec 29). This quote shows how Angrboda did not let others walk over her and she often stood her ground. Another example of how this text speaks to our time can be seen through the brief romance between Angrboda and Skadi. A quote from the text states, “And with that, Skadi reached up and took Angrboda’s face in her hand and kissed her with ages’ worth of longing” (Gornichec 293). While this relationship was brief, it can still be seen to represent the LGBTQIA+ community. The last example as to how this text speaks to our time can be seen by Angrboda caring for her children alone throughout most of the story. Loki was going in and out of Angrboda’s life and their three children saw how often Loki left them. They all heard Loki call them monsters as well which deeply hurt them. This can speak to single parent households as well as homes where one parent might often be leaving and coming back. Gornichec was able to