Norns in popular culture

Depictions of Norns appear infrequently in modern popular culture, often largely unrelated to their historical inspiration.

[edit] Depictions in modern popular culture

The Japanese manga and anime series Oh My Goddess! by Kosuke Fujishima features three main characters loosely based on and named after the Norns. They are Urd, Skuld, and Belldandy (a transliteration in Japanese of Verdandi).
In Matantei Loki Ragnarok they appear as enemies of Loki.
In Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman, the three Norns figure prominently in the penultimate story arc, "The Kindly Ones," and are linked to the Eumenides, the Hecatae and the Moirae. Loki, Thor & Odin also appear in the storyline.
In the Marvel Comics universe, the Norns are featured as antagonists to the denizens of Asgard.

Lenneth Valkyrie in Valkyrie Profile is very loosely based on the Norns as Verdandi along with Hrist (known as Ahly/Early in the Japanese version) Valkyrie (Urd) and Silmeria Valkyrie (Skuld) but not named as such.
In Warhammer 40,000, the malicious Tyranid race is ruled by beings called the Norn Queens, although there does not appear to be any direct connection.
In the video game Shin Megami Tensei: Demikids (of which one of the game systems is making a small army to fight enemies), Urd, Verdandi and Skuld exist as 3 entities who are normally NPCs. However, they are recruitable during the post-end-game scenarios, and furthermore, the three can merge into a single entity named Norn.
The Creatures series of computer games borrows several names from Norse mythology, including that of the Norns, which are the main form of artificial life that is available for the user to raise and breed.

Norns make an appearance in Roger Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness. They are a race of blind blacksmiths, with bodies adapted to this trade.
In the book Sea Of Trolls, the Norns are involved in the story by meeting with the main protagonist and helping him with a quest
Also three of the main characters in Robin Jarvis's "The Wyrd Museum Trilogy" are the Norns, named Ursula Webster (Urd), Celandie Webster (Skuld) and Veronica Webster (Verdandi).
In Neil Gaiman's American Gods, the protagonist, Shadow, pays a visit to the Norns.
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series he follows the tale of three witches over several books. Foremost of these is Granny Weatherwax (Urd) accompanied by Nanny Ogg (Verdandi) and Magrat Garlick (Skuld).
A race called the Norns also appears in Tad Williams's fantasy series Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn; however, there is no apparent relation.
The author Gene Wolfe makes several references to the Norns in his body of work. In his science fiction tetrology, The Book of the New Sun, the planets formerly known as Earth, Venus, and Mars are respectively named Urth, Skuld, and Verthandi. In the fantasy series, The Wizard Knight, a creature named Parka shown weaving the threads of fate together on her loom.

In the song Fate of Norns by metal band Amon Amarth, the Norns are referred to as the force that guides the destiny of life and death.

In the sci-fi series Charlie Jade, three scientists appear based on the Norns: Urding, Skuldeman, and Verdandi.
In the fantasy series Gargoyles, the Norns, called "The Weird Sisters" by the characters, appear frequently in the present as well as in flashbacks. Odin also appears in this series.
The Yugioh character Zigfried von Schroeder uses 3 Spell cards named for the Norns. Urd has the power to see the cards in a player's deck, Verdandi has the power to see a player's hand, and Skuld can see a player's face-down cards.