Tales of Valhalla

by Martyn Whittock

  King Gylfi in Asgard: the questions posed by ‘The Wanderer’

  When the old wandering man – who was of course King Gylfi – at last reached Asgard, he was amazed at its size and its grandeur. But what impressed him the most was the great hall that stood in the centre of the city. It was called Valhalla, which means ‘hall of the slain’, though some say its name means ‘shield-hall’.

  As he approached the hall, his attention was caught by a man standing there who was juggling – but doing this with seven knives. The knife-juggling man asked King Gylfi his name. Now King Gylfi did not wish to give himself away so he replied that his name was ‘The Wanderer’, though some say his name was ‘Way-weary’ but it means much the same. He said that he had been long on the road and asked if he could shelter for the night and whose hall it was at which he was seeking shelter? To this question the knife-juggler replied that it was the hall of their king. But with regard to the king’s name, the traveller should ask that himself.

  As Gylfi was led into the hall he noted that it was spacious with a great many chambers and that those within were engaged in many activities from gaming and drinking to fighting each other in combat. Seeing his curiosity, the knife-juggler warned him that he was to proceed with great caution when he entered a room for he would not be able to predict whether an enemy was lurking within or not.

  As last Gylfi came upon three thrones with three men seated on them and the thrones were ranked one above the other. At this sight Gylfi asked his companion the name of the king of this hall and was told that the one who sat on the lowest throne was the one and his name was ‘High One’; another was named ‘As High’ and the third (who sat on the topmost throne) was named ‘Third’. Gylfi asked the king named ‘High One’ if there were wise and knowledgeable people living in the hall. ‘High One’ replied that there were indeed but that it would cost Gylfi if he turned out to be less knowledgeable that the ones whom he questioned.

  Who is greatest of the gods?

  Undeterred by this warning, Gylfi asked his first question: ‘Which god is the highest and most ancient of all gods and goddesses?’ To this, ‘High One’ replied that this most ancient god was the one known as ‘All-Father’ but that in Asgard he was known by twelve other names.

  Then Gylfi asked his second question: ‘Where is the dwelling place of this god and what works and wonders has he performed that demonstrate his power?’ To this, ‘High One’ replied that the ‘All-Father’ was alive in all ages and rules over every living thing. To this, the man on the second throne – who was named ‘As High’ – added that this ancient god made all that exists and everything that lives whether it be on the earth, flies in the sky or in any other realm. When he had added this, the one named ‘Third’ spoke up and told Gylfi that the greatest work of the ancient god ‘All-Father’ was the creation of people and the spirit within each person. It was this spirit that would outlive the body of mortals, which was doomed to decay. Of these mortals, those who were worthy would go on to live with ‘All-Father’ after they died, in the place known as Gimle, the most beautiful place on earth. On the other hand, the wicked would be condemned to Hel and Niflhel, which was located in the ninth-world.

  Then Gylfi asked his third question: ‘What did All-Father do and where did he live before the making of all things?’ To this question, he was given the reply that ‘All-Father’ then lived among the frost-giants.

  The origins of the frost-giants and of Odin

  Then Gylfi asked his fourth question: ‘When and how did all things come into being and what existed before this?’ To this, the one named ‘High One’ answered that this was before time or anything else existed. There was then simply a great void and no life.

  To this, the one named ‘As High’ added that before earth was made, there came into existence the place called Niflheim with a great spring at its centre and from this flowed ten rivers. Near this was Hel-gates. The one called ‘Third’ explained that before earth existed there was to the south a flaming region called Muspell and from this place, at the end of the world, would come Surt who would defeat the gods and burn up all things with fire.

  Then Gylfi asked his fifth question: ‘How were things before people grew in numbers?’ To this the speakers, combined, told him of great poisonous rivers encrusted with ice and from which vapours rose. The northern part of this was covered in thick ice while the southern part melted with the heat from Muspell. At the point where ice and heat met, there the melting drops took on the form of a man and his name was Ymir. He was a frost-giant and from him are descended all the frost-giants. These frost-giants remembered their ancestor Ymir with their own name for him and this name was Aurgelmir.

  Then Gylfi asked his sixth question: ‘How did other people come into being and was Ymir one of the gods?’ To this, the one named ‘High One’ answered that Ymir was not a god but that he and all frost-giants were evil. Ymir sweated while he slept and from his sweat under his left arm there was formed a male and a female; and a son grew from the sweat of his legs and it was from these that the race of frost-giants came.

  Then Gylfi asked a seventh question: ‘Where did Ymir live and on what did he eat?’ To which he received the reply that when the ice continued to melt and drip it formed a great cow, whose name was Audhumla, and from its udder there flowed four rivers of milk. These fed the giant Ymir.

  Then Gylfi asked his eighth question: ‘What did the cow feed on?’ The answer that he received explained the origins of the god Odin, for he was told that the cow licked salty rocks, and from those melting rocks appeared a man named Buri. From Buri’s son – who married a giantess – came three sons. And the eldest was called Odin the other two were named Vili and Ve. Odin and his brothers became rulers of all that is.

  The making and structure of the universe

  Now Gylfi thought about these different races that had come into being in ancient times: the frost-giant descendants of Ymir and the god-descendants of Buri who had appeared when the cow licked the salty rocks. Gylfi wondered how these ancient races got along. The answer that he received was that Odin and his brothers killed the frost-giant Ymir and from his body there flowed so much blood that it drowned all the other frost-giants, except one who escaped with his family and servants. And so the race of frost-giants continued. After Ymir was killed, his body was taken by Odin and his brothers and from his body they made the earth; from his blood the sea and all the lakes; from his bones the rocks; and from his teeth the tumbled broken pieces of rock that lie on mountainsides. The sea (made from Ymir’s blood) surrounded all the earth and confined the earth in the middle of that great sea, that few if any can cross. From Ymir’s skull they made the sky, which had four corners and under each corner they set a dwarf. These dwarfs’ names were: Austri (which means ‘east’), Vestri (which means ‘west’), Nordri (which means ‘north’) and Sudri (which means ‘south’). The stars they made from the sparks of fire that burst from Muspell, the place of fire. The clouds they made from Ymir’s brain.

  Then ‘High One’ explained that the earth is a great circle and beyond it lies the great sea. The giants live on the shore of that great sea but they are prevented from entering the other places of the earth because a great hedge was established that was made from the eyelashes of Ymir. That mighty hedge is named Midgard, that is the ‘middle enclosure’ or, as some call it, ‘Middle Earth’. This is the place where people live. The first people were made by Odin and his two brothers from pieces of wood they found on the seashore. A man was formed from this wood and named Ask; a woman was formed and named Embla. Each one of Odin and his brothers gave gifts to these newly formed people: one gave life; the second gave consciousness and movement; the third gave speech, hearing and sight.

  In the centre of the world was formed Asgard, within which the gods and goddesses made their home. Within Asgard, Odin set up his throne, with his wife named Frigg. From them the divine family of the Æsir are descended. That is why Odin is known as ‘All-Father’,
for he is father of all gods and men. The first god to be born was Thor, who was extremely strong and could overcome all living things.

  Odin All-Father made Day and Night. Night was the daughter of a giant and she was dark in colour. She had three husbands in succession and the last was Delling of the Æsir. From their marriage a son was born whose name was Day and who was bright and attractive in appearance because he was half-Æsir. Odin All-Father took Night and Day and gave each a chariot drawn by horses. And as they rode across the sky they gave rise to day and night. From Night’s horse, Hrimfaxi, the saliva dripping from his bit forms the dew. From Day’s horse, Skinfaxi, light streams forth from his mane.

  Sun, Moon, the bridge Bifrost and the end of all things

  Hearing all of this, Gylfi, who is known as ‘The Wanderer’, mused on the origins of the sun and moon and how they are kept in their course. Then ‘High One’ explained that Moon and Sun were children of a man named Mundilfaeri. Moon was his son and Sun was his daughter. Because the gods considered their father arrogant they seized his children and put them in the sky. There Sun drives the chariot that is day and Moon guides the moon through the night.

  Sun rides fast across the sky because she is pursued by a great and terrible wolf named Skoll. And another wolf, named Hati Hrodvitnisson, pursues Moon. And one day they will catch them both. These wolves are from the forest named Iron-wood, where lives a terrible giantess – a trollwife – whose giant sons are all in wolf-shape. From this family of giant-wolves will come one who will drink the blood from all who die and will go on to consume the heavenly bodies and cast blood across all of the sky. On that day the sun will cease to shine.

  At that time, destruction will come out of Muspell, the place of fire. Riding on horses, those who advance from Muspell will break the bridge that connects heaven and earth. That bridge is called Bifrost and is seen in the rainbow. It was well made by the gods but it will break when the sons of Muspell ride out, for nothing that exists will be able to withstand them.

  4

  The order of things

  FOUND IN THE collection known as the Prose Edda, and in a section called The Tricking of Gylfi, these stories tell of the courts of the gods, the structure of the universe, the nature of fate and the hierarchy of the gods. The Poetic Edda also contains a poem, called The List of Rig, which gives a complementary supernatural explanation for the origins of the human social order.

  In The List of Rig, a god called Rig creates the three different classes of mankind – Thrall, Farmer and Lord. In Old Norse, the word thrall (þræll) was used to describe a slave. In Old English the corresponding term was theow (þēow). The poem is found in the fourteenth-century Codex Wormianus, which also contains a copy of Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda. The name Rig is likely to come from the Irish word for king, Ri. This may suggest that the Old Norse poet spent some time in the Viking kingdoms of the Irish Sea region. It is even possible that the poem was originally Celtic in origin due to this use of the name Rig. Rig is often assumed to be an alias for the god Heimdall, but this association is not completely certain. The identification with Heimdall is not found within the poem itself but, rather, in the prose introduction, which was added when the Codex Wormianus was written in the fourteenth century. The poem The Seeress’ Prophecy refers to the ‘offspring of Heimdall’ in its opening line and this would also seem to suggest a role for Heimdall in the creation of mankind. It may therefore be that the later fourteenth-century prose introduction is trying to marry the two traditions and to create a single coherent narrative from the two. This may represent the intention of the original writer of The List of Rig or it may be the imposition of a later idea on the earlier work. Heimdall was the watchman for the gods and other traditions located his residence as being near the bridge Bifrost, linking Asgard (home of the gods) with Midgard (Middle Earth).

  It is interesting to note that ‘King’, who emerges at the end of the poem, is the youngest son of ‘Lord’ and is marked out by his knowledge of runes and his relationship with Rig. This raises the idea of a king who is chosen by the gods rather than a simple father–son succession. This assertion of the divine origins of kingship may represent an ideology rooted in pagan Viking Age concepts. Alternatively, since the idea of divinely sanctioned kingship is one often found in medieval European Christian societies, it may represent a later Christian reworking of the earlier mythological material.

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  The journey of King Gylfi

  King Gylfi of Sweden went to Asgard, the home of the gods, in order to discover the secrets of the Æsir. While there he asked many questions of three mysterious rulers named ‘High One’, ‘As High’ and ‘Third’. Because Gylfidid not wish to give himself away, he said that his name was ‘The Wanderer’. And it was in this guise that he sought out the secrets of the Æsir.

  He first discovered how the universe came into being, how the frost-giants, the gods and people were created. He learned how the various parts of the universe were structured and how they would one day come to an end in terrible violence. He then went on to discover how society was organised and ordered within the universe that had come into being through the actions of fire and ice and the interaction of gods and frost-giants.

  The temple, court and metalworking in Asgard

  Odin, known as ‘All-Father’, appointed rulers to govern Asgard and also the fate of people. Together they then built a huge temple in the centre of Asgard, in the place called Gladsheim. In this temple stood thirteen thrones: one for Odin and twelve for his associates. Its appearance both inside and out was made gleaming by gold. As well as Gladsheim, they built a hall in which the goddesses lived. This was known as Vingolf.

  After this, they established forges and metalworking equipment with which they made all the other tools that they required. They went on to be craftsmen in all kinds of materials: stone, wood and metal, and were goldsmiths who made all the furniture and every utensil out of gold. It was a golden age. Soon that golden age would be challenged by the arrival of women from Giantland but first the gods established their thrones and the courts over which they ruled, and they first debated among themselves the fate of the dwarfs.

  When the world had been made, the earth had been formed from the flesh of the giant Ymir. In that flesh living creatures had appeared in the same way that maggots appear in rotting meat. It was the decision of the gods, sitting in the temple of Gladsheim, that these beings should gain thought and the appearance of men but that they should remain inhabitants of earth and rocks. This was the origin of the dwarfs. The first dwarf was named Motsognir and the second was named Durin. Some dwarfs lived in the soil and some lived in the rocks.

  The ash tree Yggdrasil

  The holiest place of the gods of Asgard was centred on the ash tree known as Yggdrasil. It was there that they held court. That tree is biggest of all trees and its branches extend across the whole world. Of its roots, three support it and are of great length.

  One of the roots of Yggdrasil grows into the realm ruled by the gods of the Æsir.

  Another of its roots grows into the land of the frost-giants. Beneath this root there is Mimir’s Well. Its water contains wisdom and knowledge and the master of that well, Mimir, is wise because he drinks from the well. Odin All-Father went there and for a single drink gave up one of his eyes as payment.

  The third root grows deep into Niflheim. Beneath that root lies the bubbling and boiling spring of Hvergelmir [this is the source of many rivers]. There the dragon Nidhogg gnaws at this root of the tree. This third root extends far – into heaven – and another well lies beneath it. This is the very holy well of Weird. The gods hold court there and each day the gods of the Æsir ride to that place over the bridge Bifrost, which links heaven and earth. The best horse that Odin rides is eight-legged Sleipnir. Ten other horses he also owns. But the horse that once belonged to the god Baldr was burned when he was cremated. The god Thor walks to where the court is held, wading rivers to reach there.

&nb
sp; The maidens who shape the fate of men

  The red in the rainbow is the fire that burns on the bridge called Bifrost (that links earth to heaven). Otherwise the frost-giants and the mountain-giants could cross it. Protected on the other side are the beautiful places of heaven. One of the most beautiful places is a hall that stands beside the ash tree, Yggdrasil. In that hall live three maidens named Weird, Verdandi and Skuld. These are the norns and they shape the fates of people. Other norns visit each person when they are born to shape the course of their lives. The norns are drawn from three types of being: some are divine and are of the Æsir; some are elves; and the third group are drawn from the dwarfs. Good norns shape the destiny of those whose lives turn out well, while evil norns shape the destiny of those who experience misfortune in their lives.

  The norns live beneath the ash tree and in its branches there sits an eagle who has knowledge of many things and, what is more, between the eyes of the eagle sits a hawk named Vedrfolnir. Up and down the trunk of the ash tree runs a squirrel named Ratatosk. He carries messages of ill will between the eagle and the dragon, Nidhogg. That is not all that troubles the ash tree. Four stags run in its branches and eat its leaves. These are named: Dain, Dvalin, Duneyr and Durathror. In addition, there are huge numbers of snakes living around the dragon, Nidhogg, who eats away the ash tree from below. Not only this, but one side of the tree is also rotting.

  To try to save the ash tree, the norns that live beside Weird’s Well draw water from it every day and also mud that is around the well and pour it over the ash tree in order to protect its branches from decay. The water from that well is so holy that it makes white anything that comes into contact with it. Furthermore, the dew that falls from the tree is sweet like honey and bees feed on it. Two swans also feed there, in the well itself, and from them are descended all the swans that exist.