>It appears that the Aesir are the Norse pantheon of gods (yes?), but
>who are the Vanir?

The Vanir are sort of second-string Norse gods. Basically (and this is a bit of an oversimplification, but so is UF's cosmology), the Aesir are the direct descendents of Odin, and the Vanir are another clan, so to speak, of Asgardians. Frey and Freija are the most prominent Vanir I can think of; I think Njord (god of the sea) is a Van as well.

The Norns were not Aesir in the actual Norse mythology; they were their own deal, sort of outside the whole system. It's pretty obvious in Oh My Goddess! that Fujishima's Norns are Odin's daughters, though, and since that's where the UF cosmology takes its starting point, they are in UF as well, and thus Aesir, which means that Corwin is by blood an Aes as well.

The "Council of the Aesir" is a slight misnomer - there are several Vanir sitting on it at any given time - but over time the word has come to serve as a sort of shorthand for all the gods of Asgard in some contexts. Kind of like the way nobody ever mentions Providence Plantations (the full name of the 13th state is "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations", and indeed, the Providence Plantations part is the bigger part, since Rhode Island proper is just that island with Newport on it). :)

>I'm not going to come right out and say what I suspect is going to
>happen, because I'm already dropping some pretty big hints. Besides,
>I've already been told by the author at least once that I was reading
>more into events in these stories than was intended. However, how much
>am I pushing it to ask if the girl Corwin describes in his dream has
>already appeared in SOS, either by name alone, or perhaps physically?

mmmm...

... hmm...

Nah. I'm saving that.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/