Copyrite or coincidence?

I don't feel the urge to write often but this is a thing I've been thinking about lately and figure I should put it down somewhere before I forget.

I'm just going to put this out there, this could be offensive if you are a religious type, but that's not what I'm getting at here. I just find this real interesting.

As you may or may not know, I have quite the liking for things both Norse and mythological, so it stands to reason that Norse mythology is something I like to investigate. Over the time that I have been reading Norse myths about creation and general activities of gods and what not I have noticed some rather curious similarities between them and my limited understanding of Christianity (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about anything though. Most of my Religious education comes from the Simpsons) so if you care to read on I will be rambling on at no particular rate about what I've noticed...


The general structure of the world.
-The Christian model for how the universe is generally put together is pretty well known. Up the top you have Heaven, a place where God lives and where all the good and righteous chaps and chapettes go when they die, if they have earned God's favor. Then there's the Earth where people go about their lives, its pretty uninteresting generally. But they do have skateboards and rock concerts so its not all that bad. Then underneath is Hell, a generally hot, firey, uncomfortable place lorded over by a fallen angel called Satan who was kicked out of Heaven because God was afraid he'd start shit. Satan is generally seen as a flaming daemon type character bent on destroying the realm of Heaven and generally causing a rukus. This is where you go if you're a bad egg when you die.

Yggdrasil

-The Christian structure is all pretty well known. But do you know how the Norse world is structured? Well for a start its all in a tree called Yggdrasil that has three main levels with several worlds with in them (nine in total). At the top is Asgaard, the realm of the Gods. Here is where Odin (the all father, more on him later) and his family and friends hang out for the most part. It is also where Odin's hall of Valhalla is located. This hall is where valiant warriors who fall in battle go when they die, to await to fight along side the gods at Ragnarok, the great battle at the end of the world. Beneath Asgaard lies Midgaard, the world of men (this shares the same level as the realm of giants called Jotunheim) and is generally pretty uninteresting until the Gods poke their nose in. Below is the underworld which importantly contains Nifelheim and Muspelheim, the realms of cold and ice and heat and flame respectively. In Nifelheim is Hel (yes with one "L"), domain of demigoddess Hella, who was expelled from Asgaard because Odin and co. were afraid she'd start shit (her father was Loki, God of mischief and change). She's half dead and half alive and generally just looks after the dead. Next to Nifelheim is Muspelheim where in dwells Surt, a flaming daemon type character bent on destroying the world and generally causing a rukus. It is said that at Ragnarok the armies of Muspel will rise up to fight the Gods and men.

Now I'm just putting it out there that there are more than a few similarities here. In fact I'd go so far as to say the two are pretty much identical save for a few minor details like names and the like. Obviously Christianity's version is lacking a big old ash tree but the similarities between the two are quite interesting. I particularly find the way the Christian underworld seems to be a blending of the two realms and main occupants of its Norse counterpart to be of great interest, it even borrows the name. With Hella and Surt being combined to create Satan and the realms of Nifelheim and Muspelheim combining to create Hell. Interesting no?

Creation and all that Jazz. 
-So from what I've heard God was a pretty swell fellow and made us the world in 6 days and also invented taking a day off too (what a rad dude). I have no idea what he used to make it from or anything like that but he certainly didn't just rock up on a pre built place and get his divinity on. He built everything from scratch. He then made two people, a man and a woman, called Adam and Eve who then went on to spawn all humans on Earth. Then later on God flooded the Earth to cleanse it of the wicked (yeah I know that isn't a part of creation but bear with me here).

Odin riding his 8 legged horse Sleipnir, followed by his two ravens and wolf

-In Norse mythology the creation of the world is a little more complex as it also involves the creation of the universe too (the story is similar to that of the big bang if you ask me...). In the start there was just Nifelheim and Muspelheim (remember them from before?). A realm of ice and once of fire. My understanding is that they expanded, with rivers of ice flowing from Nifelheim and heat and fire from Muspel, until they came together in a place called Ginnugagap where the fires of Muspel started to melt the Ice of Nifelheim. Eventually the drops of water from the melting ice formed into Yimir, the first frost giant. From here it goes on similarly with various characters emerging from the ice in various ways (the first "man" is licked out of the ice by a cow). Basically from here there were a bunch of dudes hanging out, both men and giants. The men fathered Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve. Those giants were causing a rukus and generally messing the place up and Odin and his bros didn't take kindly to that, no sir! Basically they just decided to kill Yimir. So they did. Then they dragged his body to the middle Ginnungagap and over some time made the world out of his body (did you know that clouds are actually a giant's brain?). The three brothers then later made the first man and woman called Ask and Embla out of an ash and an elm. They then went on to populate the world. During the creation of the world, there was a great flood of blood  (keeping in mind the world was being made from Yimir's body) that drowned all the giants bar two, a giant named Bergelmir and his wife, who survived the flood in a boat made from a hollowed out tree.

The similarities are pretty obvious here. God(s) made the world. Made people. Killed wicked creatures with a flood, which was survived by few in a boat.

God/Gods getting ladies knocked up.
-Basic tale of Christmas, Marry is pregnant with Jesus, Joseph has nothing to do with it. Cuckolded by God, nice.

-In the Viking world there were three castes of people. Basically put, slaves, free men and kings and the like. The way these three castes were established is told in the song of Rig, where in the god Heimdrall heads into Midgaard posing as a man called Rig. In the tale he travels about and on three separate nights he seeks shelter from three different couples, in three different houses of three different levels of niceness. That is to say one was rubbish, then comfortable, then real nice. While staying in these places he would sleep between the man and woman living there and the next morning the woman would be pregnant. The children of these encounters would be the beginnings of the three castes. Summary: Heimdrall is a dick and you shouldn't let him stay at your house or he'll knock up your wife while you're sleeping next to him.

The end of the world.
-I'll be the first to admit I know very little about the Christian version of the end of the world BUT my understanding of it goes something like this. The Rapture, all those who God deems worthy get taken to Heaven. For every one else its Hell on earth basically, with the armies of Satan running rampant about the place causing havoc, death and destruction. So far as I know the four horsemen of he apocalypse ride out and cause a bit of a mess too, basically heralding the end of everything. I'm also under the impression that a happy fellow known as Leviathan rises from the bottom of the ocean and starts to churn up a storm. So much rukus is happening no one really knows what's going on.

Gods face their enemies at Ragnarok

-In Nosre mythology the end of the world is seen as a big battle called Ragnarok. During Ragnarok various creatures rise up against the gods of Asgaard to destroy the world. It is somewhat similar to the Christian version but not quite. Instead of those chosen by the gods being taken to safety, they instead ride proudly into battle against the forces of evil along side the gods to fight in a battle they know they'll loose. This is where the armies of Surt (that Satan like fellow from before) ride on the rest of the world, setting things on fire and what not. There are several heralds of the Apocalypse, namely Loki and his sons Fenrir and Jormagand, who's arrival can be seen somewhat like that of the four horse men. At the end of the world Loki joins in the mess with Surt by committing an army of Giants the fray. Fenrir the wolf breaks his bonds (he had been bound by the gods because they were scared that he would start shit) and runs rampant on the earth opening his mouth so wide that his lower jaw scrapes the ground and his upper touches the sky. His brother Jormagand (also known as the Midgaard serpent) churns up the oceans and makes way for dry land and promptly starts spitting venom all over the place. The gods fight against these characters ending in both sides being killed. Generally there is so much rukus happening no one really knows what's going on. After the battle everyone is dead. Gods, monsters, everyone. Except for two humans who hid inside Yggdrasil. These two go in to repopulate the world and everything starts again.

In my simple mind these two events are almost the same save a few choice details. There's armies of evil running about the place. The chosen of God/the gods are involved in some way. There are heralds and there is a big sea creature that basically messes up anything he can. But in the Norse version everything keeps going after.

So what?
What I wonder is if it is a coincidence that there are so many overlapping elements of these religions i.e do people find the same ways to explain things no matter where they are? Or is it more that the Christian missionaries were influenced by the Viking religion when they arrived in the region? Perhaps the populous changed the religion around their pre-existing beliefs? Or did Christianity just think these were some cool stories that they'd kinda like in their religion too? Who knows, I just think its real interesting.

/rant