Northern Mythology and The Christmas Chronicles
A Holiday Tale in the Tolkienian Tradition
Happy New Year Tolkien Poppers!
Like many of you, I am recounting the events from 2024 and negotiating what I loved, what I struggled with, and what I aim to be and do in 2025. Again, like many of you (at least, I hope, so I’m not alone!) the holidays have caused me to sluggishly fall behind on deadlines. With family, friends, food, and all-around lounging, I am late in getting this Christmas post out on time. But, I thought, what the hell, we’re all living in the limbo of the in-between time of Christmas and New Year’s Day, where time has little meaning. Why not keep the holiday spirit and temporal experience going for just a little while longer? With that, I hope that this Tolkienian take on one of my recent favorite Christmas series gives you an excuse to put off that thing (or things) a little longer, so indulge in some Tolkien and maybe just a little more nog before we cross over into the New Year.
As the holiday season hovers over us, the unrelenting deluge of Hallmark movies, TV specials, and ads fall upon our constantly distracted eyeballs. Among the familiar avalanche of holiday media comes the countless articles, posts, and memes about St. Nicholas, the origins of Christmas, and the interconnectedness of Christmas with various pagan traditions. How closely the modern day rendition of Christmas is related to pagan traditions and cultures is usually overstated or outright denied with little to no evidence.1 Regardless of the historical reality of the development of how Christmas is celebrated today around the world, it is in the imagination of many creatives that Christmas is largely connected to Norse myths as well as the pre-Christian Germanic festival of Yule.
One such product of this popular Christmas imagination is the The Christmas Chronicles franchise from Netflix. What starts out as a fairly domestic Christmas movie series, similar to The Santa Clause or Miracle on 34th Street, transforms into an epic world with conlang and serious worldbuilding. The current installments, The Christmas Chronicles and The Christmas Chronicles 2, carry with them elements of both fantasy and sci-fi. However, there seems to be a heavier tone of fantasy as its story relies on Norse and Germanic myths and pits magic against technology; communicating a message that for technology to be good, it needs to incorporate magic into its manufacturing. Ancient myth and the stories fueled by them take precedent in properly navigating the hardships of adventure.
This approach to fantasy worldbuilding is a familiar one. In fact, it has been made popular by J.R.R. Tolkien as Tolkien took inspiration from and engaged with Norse and Germanic myths and literature in writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the rest of his writings that make up the legendarium. The Christmas Chronicles seems to invoke a Tolkienian tone regarding its allusions to Norse and Germanic cultural artifacts. It is the purpose of this post to explain how The Christmas Chronicles dialogues with these ancient myths in a way that shows that The Christmas Chronicles is participating in the Tolkienian fantasy worldbuilding tradition and to accurately present the connections between Christmas and pagan cultural traditions such as Yule throughout.
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The plot of The Christmas Chronicles sets up a familiar Christmas movie introduction: family conflict, loss, and chances for reconnection. The story surrounds the Pearce siblings Kate and Teddy, who have recently lost their dad and are left alone on Christmas Eve because their mom, a nurse, has been called in to work at the local hospital. Kate is a strong believer in Santa Claus and Teddy, a young teenager, has stopped believing in Santa Claus and has fallen into committing crimes such as grand theft auto. Kate catches Teddy stealing a car on her video camera and uses it as blackmail. She makes a deal with her brother that if he helps her catch Santa Claus on video on Christmas Eve, she’ll give him the tape of him stealing the car. They set trigger alarms and their camera to record the chimney. To their surprise, their plan works and they sneak onto Santa’s sleigh. Eventually, they make themselves known to Santa and cause him to crash in Chicago where Kate, Teddy, and Santa work together to save Christmas.
So far, nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to Christmas movies. As the narrative continues, things start to take a turn for the Nordic. Early on in the film, Santa talks to his reindeer in an unknown language that sounds akin to Swedish or Norwegian. However, when Kate, Teddy, and Santa experience a series of challenges that block them from saving Christmas, Santa’s elves come to save the day at the request of Kate through an interdimensional portal located in Santa’s bag of presents–and these elves exclusively speak the language spoken by Santa earlier, an invented language called Yulish.2 It is a language created by the famous conlanger David J. Peterson, who began his career with the creation of the Dothraki language for HBO’s Game of Thrones series. The name alone indicates the films Norse and Germanic cultural influence.
Where the elves and Yulish are creative flourishes that contribute to the beauty of the first movie, The Christmas Chronicles 2 makes them both central to its narrative. There is also a heavier dose of allusions to Norse and Germanic winter and Christmas traditions that include Jola the Yule Cat,3 Hakan4 the elf, and the main antagonist named Belsnickel.5 The second movie also feels very Narnia-esque.6
Unlike the first film, Teddy seems to be in a happier and healthy place, where Kate is struggling to posture herself in a way a “True Believer,” a title bestowed upon certain people who believe in Santa Claus by Santa Claus, should. Kate, Teddy, and their mom Claire are on a tropical vacation in Cancun with Claire’s boyfriend Bob and his son Jack during Christmas. Teddy likes Bob because he makes their mom happy. Kate is not convinced. She thinks that the new relationship will make Claire forget about their dad, Doug. Her fears are heightened when she discovers that Bob wants to marry Claire. She expresses this fear through targeted anger towards Bob, Jack, and the tropical setting during Christmas and by running away.
While Kate is making her plans to run away, the audience has learned that there is an elf named Belsnickel who has gone rogue. He is the best toymaker next to Santa. This proclivity towards excellent craftsmanship brings Belsnickel under direct apprenticeship with Santa. Unfortunately, Belsnickel’s ambition turns to pride and he tries to replace Santa’s name and image with himself. Santa attempts to work with Belsnickel while maintaining his place as the figurehead of Christmas, but Belsnickel rejects Santa, runs away, turns into a human because of his bad actions, and develops a plot to sabotage Christmas and take over the North Pole. To successfully do this, Belsnickel plans to kidnap Kate and throw her into immediate danger near Santa, so he can distract him while Belsnickel can execute his plans without interference.
Kate eventually makes her way to the front of the hotel to hail a cab to take her to the airport. Belsnickel, disguised as an airport driver, pulls up in a golf cart and offers Kate a ride. She eagerly accepts. As they drive, Belsnickel takes them offroad and claims they are taking a shortcut. He begins talking to her about the difficulties of dealing with family with the intent to stoke the flames of resentment within her. Kate takes the bait and begins talking badly about Bob and Jack. Suddenly, Jack pops his head over the back seat in protest of Kate's statement and calls her out on running away. In that moment, Belsnickel tosses a device that opens a portal and throws Kate and Jack into it, transporting them to an arctic desert in the North Pole. Santa is out chasing the Yule Cat Jola on his sleigh when he spots Kate and Jack on the brink of freezing to death and brings them back to Santa’s Village to nurse them back to health with Mrs. Claus, who holds a more substantial presence than she did in the first movie.
Mrs. Claus nurses Kate and Jack back to health and she and Santa show them around Santa’s Village, where the elves make all the gifts for Christmas. The village is beautiful compared to the tundra that Kate and Jack were rescued from and they wonder about that reality aloud. Santa and Mrs. Claus then inform the wayward children that Santa’s Village is protected by a magical barrier powered by the Star of Bethlehem, a magical item that prevents outsiders from getting inside the barrier and also controls the weather within it.
Santa’s rescue of Kate and Jack by bringing them within the realm of Santa’s Village provides Belsnickel the opportunity to sneak in, send Jola to attack the reindeer, and poison the elves to give them Gremlin-like dispositions. His antics are successful and he attempts to steal the Star of Bethlehem to create his own village. Belsnickel performs his schemes through the medium of technology while Santa and Mrs. Claus channel magic to construct and maintain their realm as well as resist Belsnickel. Towards the end of Belsnickel’s initial run at sabotaging the North Pole and swiping the Star of Bethlehem, Santa catches him and attempts to take the star back. In a magic vs technology tug-of-war between Santa and Belsnickel, the Star of Bethlehem breaks and the entirety of the North Pole falls into disarray.
The North Pole, without its protective barrier, has twisted elves running amok and injured reindeer. Christmas and its source are at risk of being lost again. In order to save Christmas, Jack has to travel the arctic wilderness to retrieve a flower to heal the reindeer, Santa and Kate travel to Turkey to meet an ancient tribe of elves who know the magic to create another Star of Bethlehem as well as do a little time traveling, and they stop Belsnickel from stealing the replacement Star of Bethlehem and taking over. As the conflict between Santa and Belsnickel comes to a climax, Mrs. Claus stops both of them to point out how both of their antics have gotten people severely hurt and successfully mediates reconciliation between Santa and Belsnickel. This leads to Belsnickel’s repentance, Santa’s explicit acceptance of Belsnickel, and Mrs. Claus embraces both through healing. Jack and Kate are returned to Cancun to reunite with their family. Kate accepts Bob and expresses her approval to her mom and Bob. The family then holds hands while singing O Christmas Tree on the beach.
Throughout the movie, not only does Norse and Germanic myths pervade its narrative, but it also shares in some of the themes that Tolkien instilled in his own writings. Specifically, I want to address how not believing in Santa Claus in The Christmas Chronicles is a symbol for losing one’s connection to magic and story, which are the foundation for Christmas Spirit or goodness. In Tolkien’s essay On Fairy-stories, he explicitly deals with this reality, i.e., the dismissal of fantasy, myth, or fairy tales because they are “childish.” Tolkien further argues that reading fantasy can actually help us better understand the world and act better in relation to it. Believing in Santa Claus leads to the same thing in The Christmas Chronicles.
In The Christmas Chronicles 2, there is a glowing jeweled item, namely the Star of Bethlehem that represents beauty and, when properly handled, can lead to fostering and preservation of wholesome magic. When sought after with the intent to use it for the sole ownership of the Star and to dominate, its desired beauty leads to its destruction. This echoes the reality of the Silmarils: crafted by the most talented Elven smith Fëanor, holds the life of the two trees of Valinor Telperion and Laurelin, is eventually coveted, and wars are fought to possess them. Unlike Fëanor, Belsnickel does repent and restores the Star of Bethlehem to the North Pole, so that Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves can get back to building toys and creating joy to spread to the world.
Finally, Santa is presented as being omniscient and omnipotent, making it clear that he could have used his powers at any time to restore what had been lost, fix what had been broken, and defeat his challengers. However, it is clear that Santa had a plan for all involved: Kate, Jack, Teddy, and Belsnickel–specifically to restore their belief in Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas as he has established it. Santa, like Eru Ilúvatar, uses his omniscience and omnipotence to set up the narratives for regular creatures involved in the story so that they may exercise their free will in fulfilling his aims.
Beyond these parallels, I want to argue that The Christmas Chronicles structures its fantasy storytelling in a Tolkienian way. Many fantasists bifurcate fantasy into two main camps: those that tell the story of the decline of magic and those who tell the story of the return of magic. Tolkien is usually categorized in the former camp.7 John Rosegrant articulates the decline of magic in Tolkien this way:
“Tolkien reinstates enchantment to broaden and deepen feelings of wonder and relatedness in the reader, while in the same moment he puts enchantment at risk for loss. Tolkien never resolves for his audience whether enchantment or loss ‘wins,’ instead leaving them in a dialogue that distills this fundamental uncertainty.”8
In both Christmas Chronicles movies, the conflict surrounds the loss of enchantment. Like Tolkien, The Christmas Chronicles reinstates enchantment, but, rather than leave the victory of its reinstatement in limbo, they demonstrate that magic or enchantment wins the day. So, the dichotomy between loss of magic and return of magic doesn’t seem to be all-encompassing regarding the films or even Tolkien. Rosegrant puts forth this argument pertaining to Tolkien: “But I am also adding to these readings of the content the idea that this content of loss is in constant tension with the enchanting form of The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's other works: the loss undoes the enchantment, while at the same time the enchantment undoes the loss.”9 Tolkien’s writings seem to contain a higher degree of emphasis on loss than The Christmas Chronicles movies, but the theme of enchantment alleviating or undoing loss is clearly present in them.
It is difficult to fully trace the entirety of the origins of modern Christmas traditions and celebrations–specifically in the United States. With the unique influx of immigrants throughout its history and blending of many international cultures, Christmas blends elements from Christianity, Norse and Germanic Paganism, ancient Roman cultural leftovers, and various European as well as Latin American traditions. Commercially, very few American indigenous winter solstice celebrations are recognized along with those belonging to countries and cultures in the Global South. But, as briefly mentioned in the beginning of this post, ancient Norse and Germanic winter solstice traditions have become assimilated into the modern Christmas imagination.
Again, Tolkien is partly responsible for this. With Tolkien situating much of his legendarium within or in dialogue with Germanic and Nordic myths, stories, and legends, much contemporary fantasy follows in his footsteps. Tolkien even included Yule in his legendarium by attributing its celebration to the Hobbits and men of Rhovanion and Gondor. In The Hobbit, Bilbo and Gandalf celebrate Yule with Beorn on their return journey back to The Shire.10 Returning home in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is to take what one has learned from their adventure home with them. It is the reinstatement of enchantment in the mundane lives of the adventurer. Including Yuletide feasting and celebration in the return journey of Bilbo in The Hobbit seems to internalize an enchantment inherent in the fellowship between friends.
In the modern imagination, which shares roots in various cultures and traditions, Christmas is a time to come together to foster the magic that love, acceptance, and embrace can do to re-enchant a world further and further disenchanted because of the problems we inflict upon it and ourselves through isolation. In Tolkien’s writings, he explicitly engages with Norse and Germanic myth (blending elements from other cultures, myths, and religions) in order to address the issues present in our modern world. Fellowship, friendship, and love through humility are some of, if not, the highest virtue that brings healing in a world fraught with loss. Seeing The Christmas Chronicles as a continuation of the Tolkienian fantasy tradition uncovers more fully the themes of fellowship and enchantment in the midst of loss as a healing posture in seasons filled with brokenness.
For an ideal example of a balanced and researched approach to presenting historical origins of Christmas and winter traditions, see ReligionForBreakfast. “The Very Recent Origins of the Christmas Tree.” YouTube, 14 Dec. 2023.
Peterson, David J. “Yulish language.” The Languages of David J. Peterson. https://wiki.languageinvention.com/index.php?title=Yulish_language.
Ross, Alan S.C. “JÓLAKÖTTUR, YUILLIS YALD AND SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS.” Saga-Book, vol. 12, 1937, pp. 1–18. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48611938. Accessed 14 Dec. 2024.
Hakan is interesting because it is both a Swedish and Turkish name. Yulish, the language of the elves, carries linguistic similarities to Swedish and Hakan, the leader of the forest elves, is located in Turkey.
Belanger, Jeff. The Fright before Christmas: Surviving Krampus and Other Yuletide Monsters, Illustrated by T. Reed, New Page Books, 2023. 65-72.
Green, Melody. “Narnia and the Norse: The Presence of Medieval Icelandic Literature in C.S. Lewis’s Writings.” Fantasies of the Middle Lands. Mythcon 53, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 8 April 2024.
See Brandon Sanderson’s placement of Tolkien into that camp in his interview with Matt Graf. Nerd of the Rings. “Brandon Sanderson talks Tolkien, Fantasy, & Potential Cosmere Adaptations!” YouTube, 19 Dec. 2024.
Rosegrant, John. “Tolkien’s Dialogue Between Enchantment and Loss.” Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 33: No. 2, Article 11. 127. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol33/iss2/11.
Rosegrant. 127.
“Yuledays.” Tolkien Gateway. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Yuledays.