Creation Myth
Pantheon: Norse Mythology
Niflheim, Muspellheim and Surt
In the midst of space, at the beginning of time, there existed a
great void known as Gunninga-Gap.
To the north of the gap lies a dark, cold realm covered in ice and
snow, known as Niflheim. At the heart of
this realm lies the spring Hvergelmir, which is the source of
the eleven rivers, collectively known as the Elivagar.
To the south of the gap lies the realm of fire,
Muspellheim, a land of warmth and
brightness. Due to the intense heat of this realm, the only beings able
to survive there were those native to the land. On the furthest reaches
of this realm lives the fire-giant, Surt. With
his flaming sword, he guards the realm and waits for the end of the world
when he will rise up and battle the Gods and cover the earth with fire.
Ymir and Audhumla
The waters of the Elivagar flowed south into the gap, as the mist of the
falling water met the cold air of the northern edge of the gap it formed
into rime. Over time the rime continued to build and fill the gap. As the
warm air from southern edge of the gap, met the rime, the rime began to
melt. From the melting water the frost-giant, Ymir
was formed.
As the rime continued to melt the cow Audhumla
was formed. From her teats flowed four rivers of milk, which the giant
Ymir used to feed himself. Ymir, having been satisfied with nourishment from
the milk, fell into a sleep. As Ymir slept, he began to sweat. From the sweat
of his armpits he bore a son and daughter, and from his feet the six-headed
giant Thrudgelmir was born. Thrudgelmir begot a son
Bergelmir, from whom the entire race of
frost-giants are descended.
Odin, Vili and Vé
As Ymir slept, Audhumla began to lick the salty rime for nourishment of her
own. After the first day, the hair of a god began to appear, after two days,
his head appeared, after three days, the god Buri
emerged from the ice.
Buri mated and begot a son named Bor. Bor took for a
wife, the frost-giant Bestla, a daughter of
Bolthor. Through this union, Bestla bore three
sons: the first was Odin, the second
Vili and the third Vé.
When Thrudgelmir and Bergelmir heard of the existence of Bor's sons, they
enlisted the help of the other giants to try and kill them. Though the gods
were few, they were very b and their wounds healed quickly, thus they were
unable to die. However, the giants suffered and died at the hands of the gods,
but continued to produce offspring to replace those that died. The war between
the gods and the giants continued for many, many years at the bottom of Gunninga-gap.
The Creation of the World
Eventually Odin, Vili and Vé slew the ancient giant Ymir. So much blood
flowed from Ymir's wounds, and so quickly, that nearly the entire race of
frost-giants was drowned. The only surviving members of the race were
Bergelmir and his wife. They managed to escape the flood by climbing into their
ark and sailing to the world. The couple settled and named the new land
Jotunheim, where a new race of frost-giants was
born. This new race of giants continued their dislike of the gods and continued
their fued.
After slaying the Giant, the three brothers carried the body to the very center
of Gunninga-Gap. Here they fashioned the earth, Midgard,
out his body. His flesh was formed into the earth; his unbroken bones into the
mountains; his jaws, shattered bones and teeth were formed into boulders and stones;
his hair the trees and vegetation; his blood formed the lakes and the sea
surrounding the earth.
Ymir's skull was used to form the sky; a dwarf was
placed under each of the cardinal points to hold it up. The dwarfs were
called (Austri [East], Vestri [West], Nordri [North], and
Sudri [South]). Ymir's brains were then scattered throughout the sky to
form the clouds. Ymir's eyebrows were used to form a protective wall around
Midgard, to keep men safe from the giants. Sparks and embers were taken from
Muspellheim and placed high up in Gunninga-Gap to help light the heavens and
the earth. Some of these were fixed in place and others were allowed to move
and wander across the sky to determine there own path. The brightest of the
embers were used to create the Sun and the Moon.
Nott, Dag, Sol and Mani
Nott (night), the daughter of the giant Narvi was then chosen
to drive a chariot across the sky. This chariot was drawn by the black steed
Hrim-faxi (frost mane). From whose mane the dew and frost that falls
upon the world comes. Nott married three times. From her first husband,
Naglfari, she had a son, Aud; from her second husband,
Annar, she had a daughter, Jord (earth); and from her third
husband, the shining god Dellinger (dawn), she had a son Dag
(day). Dag was so beautiful that the gods decided to give him his own chariot
in the sky, which was drawn by the steed Skin-faxi (shining mane),
whose gleaming mane lights up the sky itself. Nott leads the way across the
sky with Dag following behind, their paths cover the sky every two half-days.
The sun was placed in a golden chariot which was pulled by the steeds
Avakr (early waker) and Alsvin (rapid goer). A shield,
Svalin (the cooler), was placed between the steeds and the carriage of
the chariot to help protect them from the heat of the sun. The moon was put
into a similar chariot and drawn by the steed Alsvider (all swift).
Two giants were chosen to guide the steeds on their course through the sky.
These two giants, the children of Mundilfari are Sol (Sun) and
Mani (Moon).
An alternative story is that the Aesir were angered over Mundilfari's naming
of his children, that the Aesir took the children and forced them to drive
the chariots of the sun and moon.
The Wolves Sköll and Haiti
Sol and Mani were not alone in their travels across the sky. Sol is being
chased by the wolf Sköll (repulsion) and Mani is being chased by
the wolf Haiti (hatred). Sköll and Haiti are the offspring of a
Giantess that lived in Iron Wood, east of Midgard. The sole purpose of these
two wolves is to catch and devour the bright objects in front of them (namely
Sol and Mani) so that they may plunge the world back into primeval darkness.
In the end, the wolves will eventually catch up to their prey and devour them.
This will signal the begining of the end of the world.
Dwarves and Elves
While the Gods were occupied with the creation of the world, maggots had been
feeding on the flesh of the dead giant Ymir. The gods took the maggots and gave
them the form of man and intelligence. These maggots turned man were then divided
into two large classes. Those which were dark and treacherous lived underground in
Svartalfaheim and were not allowed to come to the surface of the earth
during the day, under penalty of being turned into stone. These dark creatures,
also known as dark elves or dark dwarves, included Dwarves, Trolls,
Kobolds and Gnomes. The leader of the Dwarves was Modsognir
and his second in command was Durin.
The remainder of these small creatures, all that were fair and good, lived in
Alfhiem (land of the light Elves), and were known as Elves and
Fairies. Alfheim was the airy realm between heaven and earth.
The Creation of Man
From the begining the gods had created Midgard for man to live in, but up to
this point man had not yet been created. One day Odin, Hoenir and Lodur were taking
a walk along the beach when they came across two blocks of wood carved in rough
images of man; one block of ash (Ask) and the other of elm (Embla).
To these blocks of wood Odin bestowed souls, Hoenir gave them motion and Lodur gave
them the blood of life. These became the first man and woman. The gods left them
to populate Midgard and to rule over it as they saw fit. As the gods had created
these people, they felt it their duty to watch over these people and protect them.
The Tree Yggdrasil
At the center of the universe is the ash tree Yggdrasil (the tree of life).
This tree was so vast that it's branches spread over heaven and earth alike, and
it had three giant roots that reached to Niflheim (the realm of the dead), near
the stream Hvergelmir, in Midgard, in the land of the frost-giants, near
Mimir's well, whose waters contained wisdom and understanding, and in
Asgard, near the Urdar fountain. On the topmost branch of the tree, known
as Lerad (the peace-giver), sat an eagle between whose eyes sat the falcon
Vedfolnor who looked over all the worlds with his gaze, reporting all that
he saw. At the foot of the tree, near Hvergelmir, lived the dragon Nidhogg
who continuously gnawed at the roots of the great tree, along with many scores of
lesser snakes, forever attempting to kill it, knowing that the death of the tree
would signal the begining of the downfall of the gods.
Between the eagle perched on Lerad and Nidhogg, ran the squirrel Ratatosk
(branch-borer). It was his duty to carry the taunts of the eagle to Nidhogg and
vica-versa.
The Bridge Bifrost
As the death of the tree Yggdrasil would signal the begining of the end for the
gods it was essential that the tree be kept in perfect health. This task fell to
the Norns, who lived near the spring of fate, Urdar. The Norns were named:
Urdr (Fate), Verdandi (Being) and Skuld (Necessity). The Norns
would water the tree daily with water taken from the Urdar well.
From the land of Midgard to the realm of the gods rose the rainbow bridge
Bifrost. All the gods, except for Thor, would use this bridge
to travel between Asgard and Midgard. Thor feared that his heavy tread or the heat of
his lightning bolts would destroy the bridge. A guardian was needed to watch the bridge
Bifrost, as this provided a way for the frost-giants to enter into the realm of the gods.
Heimdall was chosen for this task as he posessed the greatest
sight and his hearing was so keen that he could hear the grass growing on Midgard and
the wool growing on sheep. Heimdall posesses the horn Gjallarhorn that he would
lightly blow whenever a god entered or left Asgard. But when the frost-giants come across
the bridge to battle the gods, Heimdall will give a great blast on his horn, that will
be heard across all the world, to signify the begining of Ragnarok, and the begining of
the end of the gods.
The War Between the Aesir and the Vanir
The Aesir were able to get along with most of the creatures of the world,
but some proved to be very irritating to them. One such person was the sorceress
Gullveig. She had a very powerful lust for gold, and whenever she was in
Asgard all she would do was rant to the gods about how much she craved and desired
the precious metal. To the Aesir this type of greed was repulsive. On one of her
trips to Asgard she was being particularly obnoxious about her lust for gold. The
gods could no longer take and rose up and killed her. They took her body and threw
it onto a pyre that they had built in the middle of Gladsheim.
But the witch's power was so string that she rose from the fire reborn. The gods
burned her body two more times and each time she rose from the fire as if
nothing had happened to her. After this the Aesir began calling her Heid
(shining one) and she became the goddess of evil magic.
The Vanir, after hearing how the gods had treated this woman and of how they
turned her into an evil goddess declared war on the Aesir. The war was waged for
eons between the two groups of gods with neither side ever getting the upper
hand. It eventually became clear to the gods that nothing would ever come of the
war and decided to call a truce. The Vanir traded Njord his two children Freyr
and Freya, and Kvasir to the Aesir in exchange for Vili and Mimir, who went to
live in Vanaheim.
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