Chapter 5
Asgard, Jötunheim, Midgard:
Where Are They?
This is a question with two answers, broadly speaking. Some of the Eddic poems, and Snorri Sturluson's Edda, suggest a model of nine worlds, with various paths connecting them, such as the rainbow bridge Bifrost. Snorri's Edda also has a more earthly version, which locates Asgard, Vanaheim and the rest in the real world.
The Prologue of the Prose Edda considers the gods human beings of unusual ability and intelligence who have been deified by those who came after them.[148] Since Odin, Thor and the rest are human, Snorri locates Asgard and all the rest on earth, giving specific locations for each "heim".
The first book of the Edda, Gylf, tells a very different version of how the world began, and how the cosmos is laid out. In this story we are told how King Gylfi of Sweden set out for Asgard, where he met three mysterious men named High, Just-as-High, and Third, who describe to him the version of the Norse worlds most of us are familiar with.
According to them, in the beginning there were only two worlds, Muspellzheimr (Muspell-Home) and Niflheimr (Dark-Home). Between them was the abyss known as Ginnungagap (usually translated as "Yawning Void", but also "Void filled with magical (and creative) power"[149]). There the sparks from the fiery world of Muspellzheimr met the ice from Niflheimr and created the first being, the giant Ymir.
As Ymir slept, he sweated, and from under his arm came a male and female, while from between his feet - or legs - came a son. They produced more generations of frost-giants (although Snorri doesn't specify who did what with whom to produce these giants.)
Ymir meanwhile fed on the milk from the cow Audhumla, who also came from the melting ice. The ice was salty, and Audhumla used it as a salt lick, until finally she freed from the ice another being, Buri. It is not clear what sort of being he was, but we are told he was beautiful.
His son, Bor, married Bestla, a giantess, and they had three sons: Odin, Vili and Ve.
Odin and his brothers killed Ymir, and made the world from his body.
[The earth] round the edge, around it lies the deep sea, and along the shore of this sea they gave lands to live in to the races of giants. But on the earth on the inner side they made a fortification round the world against the hostility of giants, and for the fortification they used the giant Ymir's eyelashes, and they called the fortification Midgard.
(Gylf 8, Faulkes)
As the three gods walked along the seashore, they found two pieces of wood, from which they fashioned the first humans, to whom they gave Midgard. They then built themselves a city in the middle of the world, which they called Asgard, and Snorri tells us is also called Troy.
The blood that gushed forth from Ymir's murder drowned all but two of the giants, but fortunately for the giants, they were a breeding pair.
Nine Worlds
Our other main source for cosmological information is the Poetic Edda, and in particular the Vsp, dealing as it does with the beginning and end of things. The first thing we learn is that there were nine worlds, although they are not named:
2. I remember yet | the giants of yore,
Who gave me bread | in the days gone by;
Nine worlds I knew, | the nine in the tree
With mighty roots | beneath the mold.
(Bellows)
In addition to Vsp, Vaf, which is a wisdom-contest between Odin and the giant Vafthrudnir, mentions the nine worlds amidst much other lore:
"Of the etins' lore and of all godheads,
sooth, and but sooth, I say
for I have seen all the worlds 'neath the welkin.
Nifhel beneath nine worlds I saw,
to which the dead are doomed."
(Vafth. 43, Hollander)
One final mention of the nine worlds appears in Snorri's Edda, in a rather ominous context. In the section dealing with Loki's monstrous children, we are told:
Hel he threw down into Nifhelheim and made her ruler over nine worlds.
(Gylf 43, Byock)
So clearly Snorri was aware of the nine worlds model, he just didn't feel the need to discuss it in detail.
I should emphasize here that it's very difficult to map the nine worlds precisely. They overlap, and some of them duplicate each other. Snorri uses the terms Nifhel (Dark Hell) and Niflheim (Dark World) interchangeably, although Niflheim doesn't appear in the Poetic Edda. (Simek thinks Snorri invented the name, if not the concept.) There is also confusion about whether Nifhel and Hel are the same, or whether Nifhel is a darker, lower version of Hel itself.[150]
Who Lives in these Worlds?
To learn who lives in these nine worlds, and what they are called, we must look elsewhere. Alvissmal, another wisdom-contest, gives us some more information. It is structured as a contest between Thor and a dwarf, Alvis or "All-wise", in which Thor sensibly sticks to questioning the dwarf, delaying until the sun rises and petrifies him.
We can infer the existence of six of the worlds from the answers Alvis gives when questioned about the names of different things, here, the wind:
'Wind it's called by men, the waverer by the gods,
the mighty Powers say neigher,
whooper the giants, din-journeyer the elves,
in hell they call it stormer.'
(Alv. 19-20, Larrington)
Oddly, he does not mention dwarves, despite being one. Clearly there is no taboo, however, since in verse 14 he says:
'Moon it's called by men, and fiery one by the gods,
in hell it's the whirling wheel,
the giants call it the hastener, the dwarfs the shiner,
elves call it counter of years.'
(Alv. 14, Larrington)
So we have seven worlds, presumably as follows:
Menn (humans): Miðgarðr.
Aesir (gods): Ásgarðr.
Vanir (gods): Vanaheimr.
Jötnar (giants): Jötunheimr.
Álfar (elves): Álfheimr.
Náir (corpses, the other world of the dead): Hel.[151]
Add to this Muspellzheimr and Niflheimr and you have nine.
Since this book is not primarily about cosmology, I will leave it at that, and discuss the four worlds that bear upon the subject of this book: Asgard, Vanaheim, Midgard and Jotunheim.
Ásgard
The "Gods' Enclosure", or "Home of the Aesir", where Odin has his residence, Valhalla. Snorri rationalized it by giving it an earthly location. In Gylf he placed it in the middle of the world, as a city called Asgard, also known as Troy. In the Ys he moved it further east:
To the east of Tanakvisl [the river Don] in Asia was known as Asaland [land of the aesir] or Asa-heimr [world of the aesir], and the principal stronghold in the land they called Asgard.
(Yngl. Ch. 2, Lindow)
Asgard mainly appears in Snorri's writing, although it is also mentioned in Thrym, Hymskvida, and a verse by the skald Þorbjörn dísarskáld.
They travelled far away that day
from Asgard, until they reached Egil's.
He took care of their goats with their splendid horns,
while they turned towards Hymir's hall.
(Hymsk. 7, Orchard)
Then said Loki, the son of Laufey:
'Be quiet, Thor, don't speak these words!
The giants will be settling in Asgard
unless you get your hammer back.'
(Thrym. 18, Larrington)
"Thor has defended Asgard and Ygg's [Odin's] people [the gods] with strength."
Þorbjörn dísarskáld, quoted in Skáldskaparmál 4.
All three also stress the danger that the giants present to the Aesir, and Thor's role as defender against them.
There is some ambiguity as to where exactly Asgard is located. Some references, such as the Master-Builder tale, seem to suggest that Asgard is part of Midgard, or at least very close to it. The section of Gylf which deals with Ymir's death also states that Asgard was in the middle of the world, presumably Midgard.
&nbs
p; Snorri, however, sees it as celestial. The idea of Bifrost, a heavenly bridge, guarded by Himinbjorg, "Heavenly Protection", backs this up.[152] Once again, it is unclear if this reflects a Christian world-view, or if the lore itself was vague.
Vanaheim
"Home of the Vanir", usually imagined as a counterpart to Asgard. We have just one source for it in the older poetry, in Vaf 39, where we are told that Njord came from Vanaheim, and that he will return there at Ragnarok. Snorri echoes this in Gylf, in the chapter on Njord.
In his other writing, especially Ys, he makes Vanaheim part of his euhemeristic schema, adding it to his tripartite model of the earth, with some more local information:
To the south of the fells which lie outside all the inhabited land there runs through Sweden the Great a river which in proper speech is called the Tanais; it was formerly called the Tanakvisl or Vankvisl; it flows out into the Black Sea. In the olden days the land between the Vanaforks was called Vanaland or Vanaheim.
(Yng. 1, Monsen and Smith)
(The Tanais is the River Don in Russia.) The description goes on:
The land east of the Tana Fork was called the Land or Home of the Aesir, and the capital of that country they called Ásgarth.
(Yng. 2, Hollander)
(I used Hollander's translation because his version was clearer.) It should be noted, by the way, that some, Rudolf Simek[153] in particular, have reservations about Vanaheim, which they think was made up to match Asgard: one for the Aesir, one for the Vanir. For more on this, see the chapter on the Vanir.
Midgard
There is some ambiguity about "Middle-Enclosure", the world of men. The name sometimes refers to the place, and sometimes to the wall that surrounds it. In Harb, for example, Thor says that:
great would be the giant-race, if they all lived:
mankind would be nothing, under middle-earth.
(Harb. 23, Orchard)
which suggests that humanity lived below the enclosure-walls. Snorri's description agrees:
It [the earth] is disk shaped, and around the outside is the deep sea, and along the edge of the sea they gave lands to the giants to settle, and inside on the earth they made a stronghold around the earth on account of the enmity of the giants, and for this wall they used Ymir's eyebrows, and they called the stronghold Midgard.
(Gylf Lindow)
The detail about Ymir's eyebrows probably comes from Grim. 41, where we are also told that they formed Midgard.
This may sound a bit strange, but the myths have it that the cosmos was made from the different parts of Ymir's body after his grandsons Odin, Vili and Ve slew him and dismembered him. (It reads a little bit like what would happen if Fergus Henderson and Mike Holmes were gods, and collaborated.) In true nose-to-tail style, every bit of Ymir's body became some part of the world, i.e. clouds from his brain, rocks from his bones, trees from his hair.
In other references, Midgard is a synonym for earth or world, although in Snorri it sometimes seems to be the residence of gods and humans, in opposition to the lands of the giants. Perhaps because of this common usage, Midgard is the only one of the world-names that enjoyed wide currency amongst the Germanic languages.[154] Orchard says the Old English word middangeard was used to gloss the Latin orbis uel cosmus ("world or cosmos").[155]
Jötunheim
"Giant-Home" is variously located, in some sources being east and in others north. Thus in several places we are told that Thor was "off east" smashing giants, i.e. Lks. (Vsp, Skr, and Thyrmskvida all mention Jotunheim in this sense, as well as Hst itself.) It is separated from Midgard by various rivers, such as the Ifing, just as Hel is, and Járnvid.
Simek tells us that as geographical knowledge expanded, Jotunheim moved further and further north, which may also correlate to medieval ideas of hell being in the north.[156] In Hst, we are told that Idunn came sunnan, "from the south"[157]. Snorri's Edda also places it in the north, and Wanner argues that the later sources preserve pagan lore, rather than being influenced by medieval Christianity.[158]
Lindow, on the other hand, thinks that any uninhabited area around the homesteads of men could be conceived of as part of the giants' realms, be it scrub, mountains, forests, or other wild territory.[159] (The quote about Ymir's death, above, states that the giants lived on the peripheries of Midgard.)
Jotunheim survived the demise of paganism, and is mentioned in many later sagas as a remote area, usually in the north or north-east. Glaesisvellir, an otherworldly realm similar to the Irish fairy-realms, was located there.
There are several giant-steads to echo gods' residences like Valhalla, Noatun, and Folkvangr. Thiazi lived in Thrymheim, the giant Geirrod, who kidnapped Loki, lived in Geirrodargard, and Gerdr's father had a homestead, although we never learn its name.
Chapter 6
Are there any stories similar to this myth?
Hadingus and Regnilda
"Why do I linger in the shadows,
enfolded by rugged hills,
not following the waves as before?
The challenging howl of the wolf-pack,
the ungovernable ferocity
of beasts, cries of dangerous
brutes ever raised to heaven
snatch all rest from my eyes.
The mountains are desolate
to hearts bent on sterner schemes.
The unbending cliffs and harsh
terrain oppress those whose souls
delight in the high seas.
To sound the straits with our oars,
revel in plundered wealth,
pursue for our coffers another's
fortune and gloat over sea-loot
would be far finer work
than haunting the winding forest-
tracks and barren ravines."
"The chant of the birds torments me lagging here on the shore, disturbing me with their jabber whenever I try to sleep, and I hear the ceaseless roar and fury of the tide as it takes away the gentle repose from my slumbering eyes. There is no relaxation at night for the shrill chatter of the sea-mew, dinning its stupid screech into my tender ears, for it will not allow me to rest in my bed or be refreshed but ominously caws away in dismal modulations. For me there's a safer and sweeter thing - to sport in the woods. How could you crop a more meagre share of peace in light or darkness than by tossing on the shifting deep?"
(Fisher and Davidson)
First off, I have to say that I prefer Snorri Sturluson's style to Saxo Grammaticus'. It has the merit of brevity.
Saxo obviously lifted the dialogue from either Snorri or the poet Snorri quotes, and shoehorned it rather awkwardly into the story of Hadingus and Regnilda. Hadingus was a typical Norse hero, who rescued and married Regnilda, and now is pining for his former life of adventure.
There's no suggestion that Regnilda is going to go sailing with her husband - that would be completely unprecedented for a Viking’s wife. Nor is she on the sea-shore when she makes her complaint. She says what she says because it balances Hadingus' complaint about living in the mountains. Also, Hadingus is upset because he wants to go sea faring, not because he finds it hard to fit into Regnilda's world, in which he has lived for several years before he starts to get restless.
If you follow Georges Dumézil, Hadingus can't help but say what he did, because he's a human avatar of Njord, the sea-god. Dumézil thought that in certain circumstances the myths associated with gods might be displaced downwards onto heroic figures or even ordinary mortals. In his book From Myth to Fiction he made a case for Hadingus following the career of Njord in outline. (He also applied his theory to Roman legendary history, finding several instances of the 1st-function double-act of sovereignty and magic that was a cornerstone of his theory.)
Dumézil thought that Hadingus' career follows two tracks, one Odinic and therefore 1st-function, and an Njord-like one which is obviously more 3rd-function. Dumézil argued that just as Njord went to live with the Aesir, and in the Ynglingtal anyway, adopted their way of l
ife, Hadingus chose to follow the Odinic path, in his argument, and thus (ironically) followed Njord. The more Vanic points of Hadingus' career are:
incestuous marriage/relationship
giant-killing
ring sewn up in leg, Regnilda finds him by it
both Regnilda and Skadi make free choices
complaint in the mountains
I will examine each in turn.
1) Hadingus' first major relationship is with his former foster-mother, a giantess named Harthgrepta. I'm not sure their relationship is properly incestuous in law, although when Harthgrepa says:
Let this hateful stiffness yield
let a proper warmth inspire you,
tie me with the bond of passion.
For first I gave you the milk of my breast
fed you as a baby boy,
performing all a mother's duties
rendering every necessary service.[160]
(Fisher and Davidson)
which suggests emotional if not legal boundaries being crossed. Harthgrepa accompanies Hadingus in his travels, until other giants rip her to pieces. The text is unclear, but since a corpse has just cursed her for trying to enchant it, the attack may be the result of her attempt at necromancy.
As we already know, Njord apparently had been married to his sister, although he had to leave her when he went to live with the Aesir, as they did not permit such unions. Unlike Harthgrepa, we have no record of his sister dying violently. (See the relevant chapter for more on Njord's mysterious sister.)
2) The giant-killing episode is a bit confused if we assume it's meant to mirror Njord's career, because Hadingus' eventual wife, Regnilda, has been betrothed to the giant that Hadingus kills, which means she combines Skadi's and Idunn's roles. Hadingus, in fact, performs a much more heroic role, since he determines to rescue Regnilda from the degradation of marriage to a giant, and kills the giant himself. I suppose we could assume that Njord did his bit in setting and maintaining the fires that led to Thiazi's death, as did all the Aesir, but of course in a heroic tale, as opposed to a myth, the hero needs to play an active part.
Njord and Skadi Page 10