by Peter Archer
The Creation of Ymir
From this ice-formed clay was shaped a giant, a man named Ymir. It is from him that all the race of giants comes.
Ymir the Evil One
During his visit to Asgard, Gylfi (disguised as Gangleri; see Chapter 4) asked the three Æsir if Ymir was a god. “No!” replied the Æsir named High. “In no way is he a god. He is the father of all frost giants, but he is evil and so the race of frost giants is evil.”
In his sleep, rivulets of sweat came from Ymir’s armpits. From that sweat of his left arm were formed the first man and woman. The sweat from his great legs merged and formed a son. These were first of the frost giants, enemies of the Æsir.
The Cow Audhumla
Also from the clay that had given birth to Ymir there came a great cow, Audhumla, to give the giant nourishment. Her udder brought forth milk that the giant drank. To sustain herself, she began to lick the salty rime on Ginnungagap, and as she did so she licked the outline of a man. As Snorri tells us in the Prose Edda:
She licked the blocks of ice, which were salty. As she licked these stones of icy rime on the first day, the hair of a man appeared in the blocks toward evening. On the second day came the man’s head, and on the third day, the whole man.
The man was called Búri, and he was the father of Borr, who in turn would sire Odin by the woman named Bestla. Bestla was the daughter of a giant, so the greatest of the gods, Odin, has giant blood running through his veins.
Odin and his two brothers, Vili and Vé, now perceived that Ymir and his offspring were a danger to them. So they armed themselves well and fought with the giant. Their battle shook the worlds above and below until at last Ymir fell, pierced with many wounds.
Blood gushed from his wounds and it drowned the race of frost giants except for one, Bergelmir, and he fled together with his family and followers. They hid themselves from the wrath of Odin and gradually Bergelmir was able to restore the race of frost giants to plague the Æsir.
The Making of Middle-earth
But as for the dead Ymir, the three brothers, Odin, Vili, and Vé, took his body and placed it in Ginnungagap. From his blood they made the sea, and they caused the sea to flow all around the land, surrounding it and binding it together. From his flesh they fashioned the earth, and they used his bones to make soaring mountain cliffs.
They raised the giant’s skull above the earth and called it the sky, and at each of its four corners they placed a dwarf to support the sky. The dwarves were called North, South, East, and West. The sparks that shoot randomly from Múspell’s fires they took and placed in the sky to light it.
The Stars in Their Courses
Snorri, in the Prose Edda, quotes a poet to the effect that when the stars, sun, and moon were placed in the sky, they did not know their true courses, and it was some time before these were firmly established.
The Building of a Fortress
But the sons of Borr were not done yet. They gave the lands on the very edge of the earth, between the earth and the sundering sea, to the clans of giants to dwell in. Then, using the eyebrows of Ymir, they built a great wall around the rest of the earth and they called it Midgard (Middle-earth). They hurled the giant’s brain into the sky, and it became the clouds.
Now the sons of Borr walked their earth and they came upon two trees, an ash and an elm. From the wood of these trees they made a man and a woman. Snorri says, “The first son gave them breath and life; the second, intelligence and movement; the third, form, speech, hearing, and sight.” The man was called Ask, which means ash tree, and the woman was called Embla, or elm. These were the ancestors of the human race.
Hoenir and Lodur
According to the Völuspá, which forms part of the Poetic Edda, Odin’s companions on the occasion of the creation of man and woman were not Vili and Vé but two other brother gods, Hoenir and Lodur. Nothing more is known of these gods.
Asgard and the Æsir
In the middle of Midgard, the sons of Borr built a mighty fortress called Asgard. This is the home of the gods, where they carouse and from which they go out into Middle-earth to visit the race of men and, sometimes, to do battle against the giants.
Asgard was approachable only by a bridge called Bifrost, which, to humans, appeared as a rainbow.
The Æsir and the Vanir
Besides the Æsir, there was another race of gods, the Vanir. It included Freyr and his sister Freyja as well as their father, Njord. Njord conceived the children by his sister but is married to the disagreeable goddess Skathi. He lives at Noatun where he rules over the waves and weather and was therefore of particular importance to the Vikings.
Æsir and Vanir
There has been a great deal of discussion among scholars of mythology about the existence of two groups of gods and thus two separate cults. Njord and the Vanir seem to have been more popular in Sweden, whereas Odin and the Æsir were popular in Norway, Denmark, and later Iceland. It has also been suggested that the gods of the Vanir were more associated with fertility than those of the Æsir.
War soon broke out between the two races of gods, the first war fought upon Middle-earth. Eventually the conflict ended in a truce. Njord, Freyr, and Freyja were sent to the Æsir as hostages, while the Vanir received the wise god Mímir.
Valhalla and the Valkyrie
In the midst of Asgard, the gods built a mighty hall, which they named Valhalla. Here gather half the heroes who fall in battle (the other half belong to the goddess Freyja). Before the doors of Valhalla stand the golden trees called Glasir, shedding their bright-shining red-gold leaves across the doorstep. These trees are the most beautiful of any trees in the world.
In Valhalla, the warriors are fed on pork that never gives out, and the udders of the goat Heidrun bring forth mead instead of milk. It is important that they be well fed, because these warriors will be the champions of Odin during Ragnarök. Thus it is a mistake to think that all warriors automatically go to Valhalla; it is a company of select fighters, chosen by Odin.
The historian Saxo Grammaticus quotes from a speech by a warrior, Biarki, to the following effect:
War springs from the nobly born; famous pedigrees are the makers of War. For the perilous deeds which chiefs attempt are not to be done by the ventures of the common men. . . . No dim and lowly race, no low-born dead, no base souls are Pluto’s prey, but he weaves the dooms of the mighty . . .
Thus the stories in Viking mythology are about the deeds of gods and men of noble lineage. Common folk rarely enter into these tales, and if they do it is merely as supporting players.
Each day, the heroes in Valhalla do battle with one another, but at day’s end, the slain are brought back to life. So the cycle of battle, death, and rebirth goes on as it will for ceaseless years until the ending of the world comes with Ragnarök.
The Valkyrie
The warrior heroes are escorted to Valhalla by the Valkyries, maidens clad all in shining armor who decide who will live in battle and who will die. Brynhild is among the most famous of the Valkyries. They wait upon the heroes gathered on the mead benches of Valhalla, bearing them food and drink.
In some respects, as scholars have pointed out, the Valkyries are similar to the Norns in that they foretell men’s fates. However, the Valkyries are specifically focused on battles. Their myth may reflect the fact that in some places Viking women fought in battles. Certainly there were priestesses who presided over the sacrifice of prisoners of war in the wake of a conflict. In the instance we mentioned earlier (see Chapter 1) of the sacrifice of a slave girl, the observer noted that the ceremony was led by a woman. The chronicler noted that she was “an old Hunnish woman, massive and grim to look upon.”
Other Races of Middle-earth
In addition to the gods, the giants, and humans, the world also included dwarves and elves. We have seen already that the sons of Borr made four dwarves to hold up the sky. Dwarves were earth-dwelling craftsmen. They could create marvelous treasures but were often reluctant to
share them with others. They were squat and ugly, drinking great quantities of mead and keeping themselves to themselves. In some versions of the mythology, they grew from rotting maggots on Ymir’s body.
The Mead of Poetry
Among the prizes of the dwarves was a magical mead, although they did not create it. The tale shows the treachery and untrustworthiness of the dwarven race.
It came about this way:
After the conclusion of the war between the Æsir and the Vanir, the gods spat into a great cauldron to seal their truce and guarantee the lives of the hostages. From their spittle, they created a man named Kvasir. He was the wisest of the Vanir, and he traveled here and there, answering questions and resolving disputes.
However, when he visited two dwarves, Fjalar and Galar, he did not perceive the blackness in their hearts. He did not see the treachery in their eyes or notice the evil on their brows. The two dwarves killed the wise Kvasir, and from his blood they brewed a wonderful mead. If anyone drank the mead, he became a poet and scholar, filled with the power of creation.
The Dwarves’ Treachery
Nor was this the end of the dwarves’ evil deeds. They befriended a giant named Gilling and persuaded him to come to sea with them in their boat. Once they were safely out of sight of land, they tipped the boat and cast Gilling into the water, leaving him to drown. They then returned to shore and informed his wife that her husband had died in an accident. They planned to take her to sea and drown her as well, but Galar grew tired of her lamentations and when she came out of her house, he dropped a millstone on her head and killed her as well.
But here the dwarves met their reckoning. For Gilling and his wife had a son, Suttungr, and when he heard of the death of his parents, he guessed the two dwarves were to blame. He seized them by the scruffs of their necks and dragged them into the water. Far from shore was a reef, and when he reached it, he deposited the dwarves on it. “It is too far to swim,” he snarled at them. “So when the tide comes in and this reef is covered . . .”
“Wait!” cried Galar. “We have something for you.” And he told Suttungr about the magic mead made from the blood of Kvasir. “It’s yours if you let us off this rock and carry us back to shore.”
Suttungr thought for a while, but at last he agreed. He carried the hapless dwarves to land, and they—with no other choice in the matter—gave him the cauldron of mead. Suttungr took it to his home and put his daughter, Gunnlöd, in charge of guarding it.
Odin’s Theft
Despite Suttungr’s efforts to keep the matter silent, word spread of the mead and its powers. Odin decided that as the most important of the gods, he must have some of it.
He disguised himself as a man named Bölverk and traveled to the home of Baugi, Suttungr’s brother. Baugi greeted his guest and set to complaining about how hard times were. He had no workers to tend his crops, he said, because all his slaves had killed one another. (In truth, it was the disguised Odin who had persuaded them to kill one another in rivalry for Bölverk’s amazing whetstone.) Bölverk expressed sympathy. “I am willing to do the work of your nine slaves,” he said. “I ask only one thing in return: Give me a drink from that mead that your brother guards so jealously.” Baugi agreed, and throughout that summer Bölverk labored on Baugi’s farm. But not a drop of the mead would Suttungr yield to his brother or his worker.
In the face of Suttungr’s intransigence, Bölverk/Odin proposed a trick to Baugi. He gave the farmer a drill. “Use this to drill a hole in the mountain where Gunnlöd guards the mead,” he said.
Baugi balked a bit at deceiving his brother and his niece, but in the end he dug the hole. To his astonishment, his laborer was suddenly transformed into a snake and slipped down the hole into the heart of the mountain. Horrified, Baugi struck at him as he went down the hole but missed.
At the other end of the hole, Odin emerged and instantly changed into the shape of a handsome young man. He greeted the astonished Gunnlöd, who was both impressed with his beauty and mindful of her father’s injunction to guard the precious cauldron. But Odin used all his wiles until at last she yielded. “All right!” she cried. “If you sleep with me one night, I’ll give you a single drink of the mead.”
Odin smiled. “I’ll sleep with you three nights, fair one, and take three drinks,” he offered. The girl agreed, since she did not see how the young man could drink enough of the mead to make a difference.
So for three nights they slept together, and on the fourth day Odin arose and went to the cauldron.
His first drink drained it by a third. Then he took a deep breath and took another long swallow. Now the cauldron was more than two-thirds empty. As the horrified girl realized she had been tricked, Odin took a final draught and drained the cauldron empty.
Suttungr sprang into the cavern. A glance told him what had happened, and he rushed at the young man. But Odin put his arms by his sides. Feathers sprouted from him. He flapped his wings, and as an eagle he swooped out of the front door of the cavern and soared away.
Not to be outdone Suttungr changed to an eagle as well and leaped in pursuit. On the two flew, passing over the lands at such speed that to men below they seemed like a breath of wind. From afar, the Æsir in Asgard saw them coming. Quickly they put out containers, and Odin spat the magic mead into them. From thence forward, gods and men were gifted in poetry and wit because they imbibed the magic mead the dwarves had made from Kvasir’s blood.
The Meaning of the Tale
The previous story is notable for several reasons. First, as we said earlier, it is an illustration of the treachery and evil character of dwarves in Viking myth. At the same time, the dwarves are consummate craftsmen and creators. It’s notable that the Germanic word for a poet is scop (pronounced “shop”), which is related to the modern English verb shape. Thus a poet is one who shapes language in much the same way as a smith might shape iron, bronze, or gold.
Another point about the story is that Norse myths are fascinated by shape changing. We will find this coming up again and again, particularly in stories featuring Loki, the trickster who relies on deception for many of his deeds. But as we can see, Odin, chief of the gods, is not above practicing it.
The reasons for the prevalence of this device in northern myth are not clear. It may have something to do with the play of sunlight on water, which can make shapes seem fantastically variable. As a people who spent much time at sea, the Vikings were well aware that things are not always what they seem.
A third element in the story is the device of a man sleeping with a woman (or a woman sleeping with a man) in order to obtain a reward. We will come to this again later in the story of Freyja and the necklace of Brísingamen.
Elves
Elves of northern myth are not nearly so unpleasant as the dwarves, but they are also a more marginal part of the world. They remain largely unseen by other races, although beautiful elven maidens will sometimes attempt to seduce human men. It was customary for households to make a sacrifice to the elves at the beginning of the winter months.
There were two races of elves: the Light Elves were beautiful, fair as gods; the Dark Elves, on the other hand, were ugly and black-hearted. In some versions of the myths, the Dark Elves are indistinguishable from dwarves. For the most part, Dark Elves dwell underground, while Light Elves live on or near the surface of Middle-earth.
The Dark Elves of D&D
Fans of Dungeons & Dragons, and in particular readers of the novels of R.A. Salvatore, may recognize characteristics of the Dark Elves of the Forgotten Realms. Salvatore’s murderous race of dark elves live in their vast underground city of Menzoberranzan, engaged in intrigues that would put the Borgias to shame.
Some scholars argue that this dichotomy between a race of light, good elves and evil earth-dwelling elves persists in stories of fairies and goblins.
The Viking Cosmos
Like any mythology, the Vikings had many different versions of their cosmos. This is only natural, since until the twe
lfth century, most of it was not written down or systematized. (A dogmatized mythology is another term for religion.) Even Snorri Sturluson presented various competing ideas in his Prose Edda.
Nonetheless, we can get a fairly clear picture of what the Viking mythic world looked like. In all, there were nine worlds, arranged in three layers with three worlds in the first layer, four in the second, and two in the third.
Asgard and the Æsir
At the top is the world of Asgard, home of the Æsir, a land surrounded by a great wall. The land so enclosed is rich and fertile, as it should be to support a race of gods.
When the gods first began to build Asgard, there came a giant who was a great craftsman and offered to help them by building the encircling wall.
“What is your price for this?” Odin asked the giant.
“If I complete my labors in the space of a single winter,” the giant replied, “you shall give me the fair Freyja to be my bride. And you shall also give me the sun and moon to be mine forever.”
The gods laughed, for to build such a wall within the span of one winter seemed impossible to them. Odin readily agreed to the giant’s proposal. “But,” he said, “know this: If you fail in this task, your life is forfeit.”
“Agreed!” replied the giant. Then he put fingers to his mouth and blew a long whistle. Up trotted a huge horse.