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In the last decades, research into these groups of peoples which are so important for European history has become more fact-based. New awareness has led the picture of the Germani far away from the racial concepts of the past. Some die-hards will always continue to misuse supposed Germanic symbols, like the runes, held in odium even today by the extreme right. And on the other hand, esoteric groups and so-called neo-heathens amuse themselves with Germanic motifs, for the most part believing in a colorful mixture of elements that has never existed anywhere. Runic stones and similar techniques have more to do with modern fantasy than Germanic history.

To a great extent fantasy literature of today has fallen back on old Nordic literature and religion, which cannot be easily compared to that of the Germani. But it is in such literature that the most celebrated Germani god has won contemporary renown. The British professor J. R. R. Tolkien, who knows the German language well, has written a bestseller called Lord of the Rings. His popular magician Gandalf has been taken, name and form, from the old Nordic tradition. The name means ‘magic Elbe,’ and the flowing cape, wide hat and staff recall strikingly the image of Odin found among the Scandinavians, the last Germanic heathens.

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