by Peter Archer
“What’s this?” asked Odin.
“My horse, Svadilfari, who will help me build the wall.”
As the gods watched, they saw that Svadilfari was of marvelous strength and size. All day and all night he helped the giant carry huge blocks of stone; indeed he did twice the work of his master. With only a few days before the onset of spring, the wall was almost finished. The gods were horrified that they might have to fulfill their end of the bargain; Freyja wept bitterly and reproached Odin for having agreed to give her in marriage to a giant.
Then Loki looked at them and smiled. “I have a plan,” he said.
He changed himself into the likeness of a mare. Then he went to where Svadilfari was laboring and whinnied loud and long. Lust stirred in Svadilfari’s loins. The stallion stopped in his work and trotted toward the mare. The master of disguise, Loki, wheeled and galloped away. After her galloped the stallion. The giant cursed in frustration, but he could not finish his work, and with a blow from his hammer Mjollnir, Thor crushed out his life. According to this account, Svadilfari caught up to the mare and impregnated her, and from the mare/Loki was born Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged steed.
Alfheim and Vanaheim
As mentioned earlier, this level is also the site of Valhalla, where dead heroes go to await the end of the world, Ragnarök. In Valhalla, the heroes spend their time drinking (naturally) and fighting with one another, but at the end of each day the dead are revived to continue the battle. This may strike us as not much of a way to spend the afterlife, but it makes sense if we place it within the context of Viking life, which was largely filled with battles and raids and victory feasts.
The gods gather every day at the Well of Urdr, where they render judgments in the shade of the branches of Yggdrasil, the World Tree that stretches through all the nine worlds.
Also on this level are Vanaheim, home of the Vanir, and Alfheim, home of the Light Elves. It was remarked earlier that at the conclusion of the war between the Vanir and the Æsir, the two sides exchanged hostages: the Æsir got Njord and his children Freyr and Freyja, and the Vanir got Mímir, accounted the wisest of the Æsir.
The Vanir soon began to complain that they had had the worse of this bargain. In a rage, they drew their swords and axes and hacked off Mímir’s head. Spitefully, they sent it back to the Æsir. But the latter had the advantage of them. Odin took the head, anointed it with herbs and oils, and gave it the power of speech. So ever after, Odin had the benefit of Mímir’s wise advice.
Midgard, Nidavellir, Svartalfheim, Jötunheim
The second layer of the cosmos contained Midgard, otherwise known as Middle-earth. Midgard was surrounded by a sea that, as Snorri tells us, was so vast that “to cross it would strike most men as impossible.” In this sea, lay the World Serpent, Jörmungandr, who surrounds Middle-earth; he is so huge that he bites his own tail.
Ouroboros
A serpent devouring its tail is a very old mythological symbol and so common that it has its own term—ouroboros. Examples of this motif can be found in such divergent mythologies as those of Egypt, India, and China.
Outside the walls that surround Midgard lies Nidavellir, called the Dark Home. It is also sometimes called Svartalfheim, though in other versions this is a separate place below Nidavellir; in either case, it is the home of the Dark Elves. The dwarves live in this place as well. Author Kevin Crossley-Holland argues, “No valid distinction . . . can be drawn between the dwarfs and the dark elves; they appear to have been interchangeable.” However, others disagree.
Finally, on this level we find Jötunheim, realm of the giants. It was dominated by the vast fortress of Utgard, a place where Loki and Thor had an engaging, if embarrassing, encounter (see Chapter 8). Since Utgard means “the outer world,” it is not clear if it was situated on the far side of the impassable sea, although the adventure of Thor and Loki suggests it was not.
Jötunheim had a number of different subsections or territories. Among them were Thrymheim, where dwelt the giant Thiazi, who at one point forced Loki to help him capture the woman Idunn and her magic apples (see Chapter 10).
Niflheim, Hel
Niflheim is the world of the dead and is described as nine days’ ride from Midgard. Hel is also a place of the dead, and the distinction between the two worlds is sometimes lost. Hel is described by Snorri as a gloomy spot, with towering walls and a great gate over which there presides a monster, both white and black, also named Hel. We are also indebted to Snorri for an account of one of the Æsir who went down to Hel to retrieve a beloved god.
Holding the whole structure of the cosmos together is the World Tree Yggdrasil, whose roots reach into each of the three levels. We will discuss this tree much more extensively in the following chapter. For now, suffice it to say that it both nourishes the worlds of the Viking cosmos and is constantly attacked by creatures from them.
This, then, is the setting for the Vikings’ tales of daring, of magic, of treachery, death, and rebirth.
Chapter Six
Yggdrasil, the World Tree
Running through all the nine worlds, linking them together, are the trunk and branches of a vast tree: Yggdrasil. Snorri, in the Prose Edda, describes this as the “central or holy place of the gods.”
Yggdrasil is an ash tree, “the largest and best of all trees,” to again quote Snorri. The tree has three roots:
One reaches to the Well of Urdr (Urdarbrunnr)
A second is among the frost giants at the former site of Ginnungagap
A third reaches down to Niflheim
The Well of Urdr
The Well into which extends one of the three roots of Yggdrasil stands in the heavens, where there are many places of great beauty. Under the root of the World Tree there is a vast hall, and in it dwell three lovely maidens: Urdr (Fate), Verdandi (Becoming), and Skuld (Obligation). They are known as the Norns, and they decide every man’s fate.
The Fates
The notion of three women who decide each man’s and woman’s fate is found in Classical mythology as well. In Greek myth they were Clotho, the spinner; Lachesis, the allotter; and Atropos, unturnable. Clotho spun the thread of each man’s fate, Lachesis measured the length of thread allotted to each, and Atropos chose where to cut the thread, assigning each person the means and manner of his or her death.
There are more norns, some descended from the elves and some from the dwarves.
In the Prose Edda, when Gangleri heard of this, he remarked, “It seems the norns are unfair in their allocations, since some people lead rewarding lives while others have little fame or wealth.” The High explains to him, “The good norns, those who are well born, shape a good life. When someone has a bad life, it is the bad norns who are responsible.”
Also at the Well of Urdr, the gods have their judgment place. Each day, they ride their horses across the bridge Bifrost, also called Asbru, or Bridge of the Æsir. It takes the form of a rainbow, and the High explains to Gylfi in the Prose Edda that the red seen in the rainbow is flames that guard the bridge from the giants.
Besides Odin’s eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, the gods’ steeds include:
Glad
Gyllir
Glaer
Skeidbrimmer
Silfrtopp
Sinir
Gils
Falhofnir
Gulltopp
Lettfeti
All the Æsir ride their horses to Urdr except for Thor, who wades the rivers to the site of the well.
Hvergelmir
The root of Yggdrasil that reaches down into Niflheim ends at Hvergelmir, Old Norse for “Bubbling Stream.” In Grímnismál, one of the poems in the Poetic Edda, it is identified as the source of all waters in the nine worlds and the place where liquid from the horns of Eikthyrnir, a stag that resides on the top of Valhalla, falls:
Eikthyrnir the hart is called,
that stands o’er Odin’s hall,
and bits from Lærad’s branches;
from his ho
rns fall
drops into Hvergelmir,
whence all waters rise.
Thus all waters in the nine worlds begin in the dark depths of Niflheim.
The Creatures of the Tree
The World Tree is no passive support for the nine worlds. It is their central spire and is tormented by various creatures that traverse it or gnaw on it.
Nidhogg
Chief among these creatures is Nidhogg, a dragon forever chewing on the root of the World Tree far below in Niflheim. As well, Nidhogg chews the souls of men who have been sent to Náströnd, a place in Hel where those guilty of murder, adultery, or breaking their oaths are condemned to remain forever. In Náströnd, as well as the torments administered by Nidhogg, the condemned are subject to torture by snakes and the bites of the wolf Fenriswolf.
The Name Yggdrasil
There is considerable dispute among scholars over the meaning of the name Yggdrasil. The consensus is that in Old Norse it means Odin’s Gallows, but it’s not clear why it should have this name. It may possibly relate to the myth that Odin hung from the tree for nine nights to attain the secret of runes (see Chapter 7).
The Harts
In addition to Nidhogg’s attacks on its root in Niflheim, four harts dwell in the branches of Yggdrasil, where they devour its leaves. Their names are Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, and Durathrór. In the poem Grímnismál, part of the Poetic Edda, Odin describes the agony that Yggdrasil feels.
Yggdrasil’s ash great evil suffers
Far more than men do know;
The hart bites its top, its trunk is rotting,
And Nidhogg gnaws beneath.
Ratatoskr
At the very top of Valhalla there is an eagle, and in between its eyes sits a hawk. All the night and day, the squirrel Ratatoskr runs between the eagle and Nidhogg carrying messages from the birds, stimulating the dragon to fury. Some scholars have interpreted references in the Poetic Edda to mean that the squirrel also gnaws on Yggdrasil.
On the other hand, the tree has some relief, for the three Norns splash water on its root so it will never wither and die. Snorri says:
That water is so sacred that all thing which come into the spring become as white as the membrane called skjall which lies on the inside of an eggshell . . .
[EXT4People call the dew, which falls to the earth, honey dew and bees feed on it. Two birds nourish themselves in the Well of Urd. These are called swans, and from them comes the species of bird with that name.
Svipdag and Mengloth
The World Tree figures in a romantic myth about two young people destined for one another but seemingly separated by an impassable gulf. Here is how it came about.
Svipdag was the son of Groa, a seeress who dwelt in dark Niflheim. But his father had married an evil woman who tormented her stepson. She told him that the only woman he could marry was Mengloth. This was as good as telling him that he could not marry at all, since all men knew that Mengloth dwelt far off in a fortress guarded by many magical beasts.
In despair, he sought advice and assistance from his mother. He braved the darkness and steam and smoke of Niflheim and called upon her. When at last she came forth, he told her of his woes.
“I will cast nine spells upon you,” she said. “They will aid you on your road and prevent others from hindering you on it. Let none turn you aside.”
So Svipdag set out, traveling the length and breadth of the nine worlds, searching for Mengloth. At last in Jötunheim, land of the giants, he encountered a great fortress ringed by flame. At the gate stood a giant.
“Who are you?” asked Svipdag.
“Who are you?” snarled the giant. He hefted his club.
“Just a traveler,” replied Svipdag cautiously. “What is your name?”
“Fjolsvid. You’d best go back the way you came. There is nothing for you here. What did you say your name was?”
“Vindkald, son of Varkald, son of Fjolkald. Who is master of this great hall?”
“No master but a mistress, Mengloth of Many Necklaces.”
Now Svipdag began to question Fjolsvid about the hall’s defenses. “Tell me,” he said, “what is that gate?”
“It’s called Thrymgjol and if you touch the latch it will trap you.”
“What is the name of this fortress that is so mighty that it dwarfs the hall of the gods?”
“It is called Gastropnir, which means That Which Crushes Guests. I built it from the clay of the giant Leirbrimir. It will last while the world lasts.”
“What is the great tree that spreads its branches across the sky?”
“That is Yggdrasil, the World Tree. Its roots reach down to Asgard and Niflheim, but no man has seen all its roots. It will not fall by axe or by fire.”
At last, Svipdag asked, “Tell me, Fjolsvid, who is the man who can hope to win the fair Mengloth?”
“Only one man,” replied the giant. “Svipdag, for he and he alone has been chosen as her husband.”
“Rejoice!” cried Svipdag. “For I indeed am he! Bear this news to Mengloth that she may draw back her defenses and greet her one true love.”
The giant went to his mistress. “Lady Mengloth,” he said, “you had better come to the gate. There is a man there who claims to be the chosen one for you. The dogs bend down before him, and the gate has opened before him.”
Mengloth was suspicious. “If you are not telling me the truth,” she said, “endless will be the torments visited upon you.” She arrayed herself with the help of her maidens and went to the fortress gate.
“Who are you?” she said. “What do your kinsmen call you? If I am to be your bride, I must be sure you are the right man who has been chosen by fate for me.”
“My name is Svipdag, son of Solbjart. I have crossed the world for you, and now I have found you.”
Mengloth opened her arms. “Svipdag!” she cried. “My love! I have long waited for you.”
As they embraced, she said, “I have so longed for this day!”
“My love,” he replied, “I too have longed with you. But from now on, we will never be parted.”
Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál
The story of Svipdag and Mengloth is told in two poems of the Poetic Edda, Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál. The first tells the story of Svipdag’s appeal to his mother and the nine charms she casts on him, while the second contains the account of Svipdag’s interrogation of the giant Fjolsvid. The number nine was significant in Viking mythology and recurs in a number of places (there are, of course, nine worlds in the Viking cosmology).
At some point—probably around the seventeenth century—the two poems were conflated into a single poetic work, the Svipdagsmál. In tone it has a somewhat Arthurian ring; the hero goes on a long quest and must overcome obstacles along the way to find that which he seeks. In the end, though, true love wins through.
Chapter Seven
Gods and Goddesses of the North
Like the gods of the Greeks and Romans, the northern deities often showed an all-too-human side. They were jealous, spiteful, quarrelsome, and occasionally less powerful than some they encountered. They were strongly associated with natural forces and were appealed to by the Vikings for protection from those forces.
Odin the One-Eyed
Chief of the gods was Odin. We owe a great deal of our knowledge about him and the other Viking gods to Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda. Among the questions the disguised Gylfi asks the three figures he interrogates in Asgard is, “Who is the highest or oldest of the gods?”
The three inform him that this is the Allfather and has many other names, including Spear-Shaker (Biflindi), Fulfiller of Desire (Oski), and Ruler of Weather (Vidrir). This is Odin, and the three mysterious figures tell Gylfi/Gangleri his part in the making of the world.
Odin the Allfather
According to the three, there are twelve gods, and Odin is called the Allfather because he is their father. He is sometimes called the Father of the Slain, because those who fall in battle are
his adopted sons. With these fallen heroes, he sits in Valhalla and another hall called Vingólf. As well, he is sometimes called the God of the Hanged, the God of Prisoners, and the God of Cargoes.
He has a magical spear, Gungnir, which will always hit its target (see Chapter 8). His eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, can outrun any other steed on earth. On his shoulders sit two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, that is, Thought and Memory. Each day they go out into the world and see all that goes forward and report back to their master. Odin said of them, “I fear to lose them, but most I fear to lose Muninn.”
Odin himself spends much time sitting on the high rock of Hlidskjalf, where he can see and survey all of the nine worlds. Sometimes, though, he amuses himself by wandering through Midgard, disguised as an old man wearing a broad-brimmed hat.
Odin has only one eye, having sacrificed the other to obtain a drink from the Well of Knowledge. To gain the Mead of Poetry, he disguised himself as a serpent and wriggled his way into the midst of a mountain. And to gain the secret of runes, he hung from the World Tree, Yggdrasil, for nine days and nights.
The Secret of Runes
Runes were used by the Vikings as a magical writing. Since they were made up of straight lines, they could easily be chiseled into substances such as stone or bone.
Odin is credited with bringing the knowledge of runes to mankind. But to learn them, he had to undergo an ordeal, described in the poem called Hávamál. He hung, for nine days and nights, from Yggdrasil, first having gashed his side with a spear.