I have heard before that Germanic mythology is significantly more impacted by non-Indo European elements, specifically early Uralic peoples. I think I remember that their concept of layered worlds were from this, too. Perhaps some deities made it over, as well. I do remember hearing from a Kings and Generals YouTube video on the early Germanic peoples (HIGHLY recommend this channel!) that Roman authors incorrectly linked a few Germanic gods via syncretism, too.
Ah you watch Kings and Generals too? I love that channel!
Probably tied for my favorite YouTube channel, along with
Fire of Learning, though the latter just puts out content on a less regular basis. Their video on the Germanic peoples was super interesting!
Back to the OP again, isn't the simplified version of the early migrations that Uralic speakers came from the north, Indo Europeans came up through Denmark from Northern Germany and in between were "indigenous Northern Europeans" (i.e., those of I1 haplogroups, largely)? Then after a while, the "proto-Germanic" culture found its ethnogenesis in (extreme) Southern Scandinavia and Northern Germany? This would leave the bulk of the population in Scandinavia just as close to Uralic peoples as Germanic peoples. Considering the odd situation of Woden/Odin being the CHIEF god of the Germanic pantheon but also identified with Mercury by the Romans, I do wonder if perhaps his origin is non-Indo European.
