What Norse Mythology Is Really About

Introduction to Norse Mythology

Introduction

Northern mythology is not as well known as Greek mythology or the Bible, but its influence on the world is still extremely widespread and pervades almost every aspect of life. There are still a large number of works based on the Norse mythological system, and almost all of them are as big as they sound: the Lord of the Rings trilogy is almost a rehash of the Norse myths, and there are also Harry Potter, Warcraft in the game, Diablo, and even QUAKE all have Norse mythology in them. The spells and charms used by Westerners to cast magic must have Norse script in them, following the laws of mythology. Another major influence is the various Western holidays. For example, Christmas evolved from the commemoration of the Sun God, Easter is the name of the goddess of spring, and Sunday is named after the Norse gods (Monday Moon God, Tuesday War God, Wednesday Lord God, Thursday Thunder God, Friday Spring God, Saturday Fire God, Sunday Sun God). Norse mythology reflects the polytheistic beliefs of the primitive tribes and their magical and magnificent imagery of the struggle against nature. Odin, the king of the gods, was a one-eyed hero, and Tyr, the god of war, was a one-armed warrior. Such an image shows the brave spirit of the ancient Norse tribes who struggled to conquer nature, especially the snow and cold.

Origins

The earliest Norse myths were in the form of songs. B.C.E., this kind of "chaos, Qiankun began to lay" the period of the legend, that is, already in the Nordic Germanic tribes in the circulation of the legend. In the Middle Ages, Icelandic scholars documented them in writing. The two main ones that can be traced now are the Edda (the meaning of this word is not known. Some think it means "poem"; others think it is an anagram of Audi, the center of scholarship in southern Iceland, and may mean "Audi Series"): the "Pre-Eldar", discovered by the Icelandic scholar Brynjolf Sveinsson in 1643; and the "Pre-Eldar", discovered by the Icelandic scholar Brynjolf Sveinsson in 1643. The "Pre-Eda", or "Poetic Edda", probably written between the 9th and 13th centuries, consists of 14 mythological poems; the "Post-Eda", or "Prose Edda", is a collection of poems written between the 9th and 13th centuries. "The Post-Eda, or Prose Edda, was written by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241) in the early 13th century. It is an interpretive work of the "Pre-Eda".

Nordic mythology is a mythological system unique to Scandinavia, which was formed relatively later than other major mythological systems in the world. The oral history of Nordic mythology can be traced back to the 1st-2nd centuries A.D., and it was first popular in places such as Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and then spread to Iceland and other places with a group of settlers who traveled to the north in the 7th century A.D. During the Middle Ages, Christianity spread throughout Europe. During the Middle Ages, Christianity was prevalent throughout Europe, and due to its strong political crackdown, most of the works documenting Norse mythology were considered heretical and burned to the ground, with the more complete ones preserved to this day being the Icelandic epic poem "The Edda" and the Germanic epic poem "The Song of the Nibelungen", among others.

Mythological system

Northern European mythology is very different from the style of Greek, Egyptian, Indian, and Chinese mythology, in which the gods are not omnipotent and the world is not eternal. The god-king Odin was the one who went through the Misty Forest at the cost of one eye and met the wise man Mimir, who guarded the World Tree, and thus gained great wisdom, and used the branches of the World Tree to make the invincible Meteor's Spear, Kungunir, which was engraved with a sacred covenant: "He who holds this spear shall rule the world", and this was the reason for him to become the god-king.

Northern European mythology is a polytheistic system that can be roughly divided into four systems: the giants, the gods, the elves, and the dwarves. Of these, the giants created the world and gave birth to the gods, but were also the gods' greatest enemies, and can be understood as personified forces of nature. The gods are divided into two tribes, the Asir tribe, headed by Odin, the main god, and the Vanir tribe, headed by Niord, the god of the sea, of which there are twelve major gods. The elves and gnomes were demi-gods who served the gods, whose exact origin is still obscure, and belonged to a special creation in the Germanic region.

There are many very special parts of Norse mythology, such as the creation of mankind, the first to be created was a woman, and the material used for creation was not clay, as in most myths, but a twig. Another more prominent feature is determined by its geographical location, as Scandinavia is located in the far north, cold all year round, so the frost giants in the myth is very high, and its often caused the gods a headache. Secondly, the idea of extinction and rebirth is the most influential. Unlike other mythological systems, the gods in Norse mythology are imperfect and face extinction themselves, such as Odin, who sacrificed his left eye in order to gain knowledge, and was hanged from a tree for nine nights, traumatized, before receiving a lance to symbolize his power. But on the other hand, Norse mythology believes that when everything dies, new life will form again, and that everything in the world is cyclical.

Mythological Characters

The Twelve Principal Gods

Northern Norse mythology is a polytheistic system that can be roughly divided into four systems: the giants, the gods, the elves, and the gnomes. The giants created the world and gave birth to the gods, but were also the gods' greatest enemies. The gods are divided into two tribes, the Asir tribe (ASIR), headed by the main god Odin, and the Vanir tribe, headed by the god of the sea, Niod (Vanir), of which there are twelve main gods:

I. Odin: The main god.

The king of the gods , the ruler of the world , also known as "Heavenly Father". He wears a big golden helmet and has two ravens perched on his shoulders, symbolizing "thought" and "memory" respectively. They flew around the world every morning and returned to Odin to report what they had seen and heard. Under Odin's feet crouched two wolves, specialized in guard duty. In order to increase his wisdom, predict the future and rule better, Odin wanted to drink from the Well of Wisdom, a sacred spring next to the root of the Chinaberry tree. But the giant Mimir, who guarded the well, asked him to pay for it with one of his eyes, and Odin, without thinking, immediately gouged out one of his eyes. After drinking from the well, he became a learned man. He invented the Norse script (Rona), which was used by the nymphs to record fate on their shields.

II. Frigg:

The goddess of love, in charge of marriage and family, wife of Odin. Ruled in both heaven and the underworld. She is beautiful, with white feathers in the center of her golden hair. Wears a white robe girded with a golden sash from which hangs a set of keys. She loved beautiful clothes and sparkling jewelry. She stole Odin's gold to buy a precious necklace. When Odin found out, he ran away in anger. The universe was then ruled by frost giants, and a harsh winter stifled all life. It was not until Odin returned to Asgard seven months later that the crisis passed.

III. Thor:

Thor is the god of thunder, the eldest son of the god Odin, and the son of the earth goddess Phaethon. Thor is a large man with a strong arm, and he has leopard eyes and a red beard. Thor was poorly dressed, but he wore a magic belt around his waist that doubled his strength. Thor wears iron gloves and carries a Mjollner hammer. Thor spent many years in the East defending the home of the gods and goddesses from frost giants and pythons. Thor was an honorable man who dared to confront Odin, and Thor was a hot-tempered but heroic warrior. When the end of the gods came, Thor fought the Midgard Python (Grafvenir) and died with it.

IV.Siv:

The wife of Thor, goddess of the land and harvest. She had beautiful blonde hair that fell from her head to her feet. One day, Loki, the god of fire, mischievously cut off her hair while she slept, and Siv suffered terribly, and Thor was furious. From then on, the world was a place of chaos, and there was no peace.

V. Freyr:

The god of abundance, prosperity, love, and peace, and the king of the beautiful fairy kingdom of Alfheim. He is said to be the god of light, or sun god, along with Baldur. His elves do good deeds all over the world. He often rode out on a boar with a golden mane. Everyone enjoys his peace and happiness. He has a sword that shines so brightly that it can move through the clouds. He also had a pocket-sized magic ship that could carry all the gods and their weapons if necessary.

VI. Loki:

The god of fire, son of the giant Falbuti. Son of the giant Falbuti and half-brother of Odin, Loki is a descendant of the Frost Giants, he is handsome but vicious. He gave birth to some terrible monsters, such as Fenris wolf, Midgard python and so on. He appears to be kind, but is actually treacherous, often speaking out of turn, quarreling with other gods, and causing trouble. In the beginning he was just teasing for the sake of teasing, such as secretly cutting off Sif's hair. Later, he became a devil and encouraged the god of darkness to murder the god of light. He was also a magician, and was able to transform himself into a myriad of monsters in a flash, and was later bound in chains for his crimes.

VII.Tyr:

The god of war and son of the giant Shimelle. Legend has it that he is the Guarantor of the Pact, the Protector of the Covenant. When the other gods were stroking and laughing with the Fenris wolf and binding it, Tyr, as a guarantor of trust, put his arm into the wolf's mouth. The wolf, realizing that the gods who had bound him had actually set a trap, immediately bit off Tir's arm. From then on, Tyre became a one-armed god. However, he always wore a sword and always looked powerful. The ancient custom of swearing by the sword originated from the Norse worship of Tir, the god of war. Many traditional sword dances have been choreographed in honor of the god of war.

VIII.Freyja:

The god of fertility and love, Frey's sister. She was very kind and loved by all, for the people of the frozen land were eagerly awaiting the coming of spring. Often dressed in makeup and flowers, sometimes in full armor, she led the nymphs in the selection of Odin's fallen heroes. In some stories, she and Frigga are the same god.

IX. Heimdall:

The patron saint of the gods. Also known as Rig (Rig), a mouth full of long gold teeth, keen vision far-reaching, can see the four ways, day and night can see 300 miles away, but also can listen to all directions, crouching down on the ground can hear the hissing sound of growing grass. He guarded the Bilrost Rainbow Bridge, the main entrance to the heavenly realm, day and night, defending it from the frost giants. He rides a golden-maned horse and carries the horn of Aurar on his shoulder, which he blows in case of emergency to summon the gods and goddesses. Legend has it that he is the First of the Heavens. When the end of the gods came, Heimdall died with Loki, the god of fire.

X. Baldur:

Odin's other son, the God of Light. He is a man of great talent, and is full of grace. When he smiled, people were overjoyed. He had a nightmare that he foresaw a plot against him. The gods were anxious about this, and Odin sent out a magistrate to order all birds and beasts and trees not to harm Baldur. But the magistrate did not give the order to the Tireless Parasite, because he did not think that such a fragile and incompetent plant needed to be guarded against. But Loki, the god of fire, took advantage of this opportunity, made arrows out of the Trespasser, incited Hordel, the god of darkness, to intervene, and, holding him by the hand, bent his bow and aimed it at Balderr, killing him.

XI.Hoder:

The God of Darkness, said to be Baldur's twin brother, was blind by sight. He was melancholic and withdrawn by nature, sinister and ferocious, and insisted on being an enemy of the Light. He was ordered by Loki, the god of fire, to kill the joyful god of light.

XII.Budle:

Odin's son, the god of poetry, is said to be the god of wisdom, poetry and eloquence. He often composed poems in praise of great men and warriors. His wife Idun was also a goddess of Asgard. She had a treasure box in which she kept the golden apples of youth. When the gods reached old age, they could be restored to youth by tasting the golden apples. At Scandinavian sacrificial feasts, guests often used the horn of a cow dedicated to Bragi, the god of poetry, as a drinking cup, and swore that they would build up their achievements and be immortalized in the Psalms.

Other Gods and Goddesses

Gevjon

The goddess Gevjon knew the past and the future. Gevjon came to Sweden disguised as a witch and asked King Gulliver for a small piece of land after several encounters. The king agreed to give her a plot of land that could be plowed in one day and night. That night, Geofeiin staff plow, by her four sons into the bull pulling the plow, from the middle of Sweden plowed away a large piece of land moved to Denmark, this piece of land became Denmark's largest island Zealand, and Sweden was plowed away from the hole in the middle of the sea water into the Sweden's largest lake M?laren Lake.

Vale

Son of the god Odin. Vale was the illegitimate son of Lind and Odin, he was born into the wind to grow, just after a day and night to fight in battle, he did not wash his hands or comb his hair, until he captured Baader's enemy Hoder, for the god of light Baader revenge.

Rind

Mother of Vali, mistress of the Lord God Odin. Rind refused Odin's advances repeatedly, first by excusing him and telling him to come back at dusk, and then by laying down heavy guards. When Odin went again, she designed to hide away, leaving a dog in her bed. Finally, Odin bewitched Linde with a spell and succeeded. Linde and Odin had a son, Vali.

The Giants

The creators of the mythological world, the oldest race in Norse mythology, all the gods and goddesses carry the blood of the Giants, but the Giants are also their eternal enemies.

Founder: Ymer

At the time of the Ancient Flood, there was a wide, bottomless chasm in the middle of the chaotic world of the Void, and the interaction of cold and hot gases, flames, ice, smoke, and steam created congestion at the edge of the chasm and transformed the giant Ymer into a giant. Ymir's descendants, Odin, Veli and Wei, grew up and killed Ymir, forming the world out of his body: blood into lakes and oceans; flesh into land; bones into mountains; teeth into rocks; pith into clouds; skull into the sky; and eyebrows into a fence.

God of the Ocean: Tjatse

Giant, father of Skadi. Tjatse kidnapped Idunn, the golden apple goddess in charge of eternal youth. The gods and goddesses ordered Loki to rescue her because she had asked her out on a private date. Loki borrowed Frigga's feathered coat and turned into an eagle. He infiltrated the giant Tiaz's castle and turned Idunn into a walnut, which he carried in his mouth and flew to Asgard. Unexpectedly discovered by Scardie, Tiaz sniffed and turned into a falcon to catch up. When he was about to catch up, Till lit a torch and burned the falcon to death, and the giant Tiaz then lost his life.

Goddess of the Hill: Skade

Daughter of Tiaz and wife of Neold, the chief god of the Vanir tribe. After her father, Tiaz, was murdered by the gods, Skade demanded compensation for the bloodshed from Odin, who had no choice but to promise her a husband among the gods and goddesses, and Skade chose the god of light, Baader. The first time she was married to a woman, she was divorced.

Sorceress: Olbda (Gulvig)

Mother of Gildor, goddess of grain, wife of the giant Gimir. Giantess and lover of Loki, god of fire. With Loki, she gave birth to the dire wolf Fenrir and the python of Midgard, Grafvenir. Olbda worked as a spy for her lover Loki, and the tribe of Asil wanted to execute her, sparking a war between the two tribes.

Gronru

Daughter of the giant Sudon. The giants stole the ale brewed by Fiera and Giera, the spirits of wine. The god Odin served a year in the garden of Suton in order to claim the ale, but was refused. Odin then seduced Goneril, the daughter of Suton, and with Goneril's help stole the ale and returned to Asgard, where Odin fled Suton's garden and abandoned Goneril, who spent the rest of her life in sorrow.

Myths

Forgotten Myths

Northern European mythology is a long-forgotten myth, a treasure abandoned by the descendants of the ancient Norse for centuries.

The descendants of the heroes of Norse mythology were the Germanic peoples of present-day Scandinavia and the lowlands of northeast Germany. They grew up in an inhospitable and harsh natural environment and developed a fierce and courageous personality.

Vagabonding, fighting and hunting were their daily way of life, and often led by bold and enterprising leaders, they traveled far and wide to win status and wealth from foreign lands that they did not have in their native lands.

The original cultures of these victorious nations were not necessarily superior to those they conquered, nor were their weapons and equipment. But they possessed an adventurous spirit that knew no fear and the courage to die, which was the reason why the Germanic peoples were able to invade the whole of Europe.

These Germanic warriors, who were not afraid to die, gradually expanded the scope of their expeditions. In 400 A.D., they took the Rhine and the Danube as the border with the Roman Empire. As Rome's power declined, they continued to invade its territory.

Toward the middle of the fifth century, the Germanic peoples were oppressed from the east, west, and north by the Fen (i.e., the northern Huns, who were defeated by the Han Empire and moved westward), which led to the great migration of the peoples like a wave of fury. This is what the Germanic people called the Age of Heroes, and most of the heroes in the Norse sagas are heroes of this era.

The result of this great migration, east to Russia, west to the coast of France, the island of Breton, south to Spain, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, North Africa, are subject to Germanic invasion, and even as far as Greenland and part of the American continent have left their footprints.

The Norse myths that have survived to this day are the product of this people. But the myths are no longer recorded in any of the Germanic countries today. Instead, they have survived on Iceland, an isolated island in the North Sea filled with volcanoes and glaciers.

The Germanic gods were completely forgotten by the Germanic peoples, not least because of contact with the Roman Empire and the assimilation of Christianity through that contact. Coupled with natural and man-made disasters, especially the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648 AD, the Germanic culture was crippled, and the valuable literature and legends fell into the abyss of oblivion and were sealed up for a long time.

At that time, only the Christian clergy were literate, and as they were in charge of record-keeping, they naturally detested pagan legends, codices, songs, and so on, and swept them clean; only a few data survived: the English Beowulf, the German Nibelungenlied, and a few broken fragments of Saga, and two collections of Icelandic mythological poems, as well as two collections of Icelandic poetry. and two collections of Icelandic mythological poems, the Edda Sutras.

Adding to this, the Germanic peoples believed that the original ancient script, the Runenschrift, was a magical incantation, and that to formalize the language into writing was to grant mystical powers to the enemy. As a result, not only the beliefs of the ancient Germans, but also their way of life, are difficult to verify today.

The Creation

In the beginning there were only two regions in the world, one cold and one hot. Between these two regions there was a large, wide and deep fissure called the "Kinnonga Fissure". When hot and cold met, when fire and ice came together, smoke and water vapor rose, and there arose a giant, Ymir, and then a great cow, Andhumara, who was devoted to feeding the giant. The cow exhaled fragrant breath and from her four udders dripped bitter milk, which the giant sucked to keep him alive. After sucking the milk and filling his stomach, Ymir was assailed by an inescapable sleep and lay down on the ice, sinking into a dreamless sleep.

In that sleep, sweat dripped from his left armpit, and a man and a woman, and from under Ymir's feet came Thrudgelmir, a monstrous giant with six heads, and from that time on the Frost Giants multiplied. And the cows live by licking salt and white frost from the ice.

One day, as she was licking the salt, she suddenly emerged from it with long, lustrous hair, which shone brightly against the bright light of the flames in the Land of Fire. On the second day, a beautiful male head appeared. On the third day, a majestic body also emerged from the salt, the god known as Bri, the ancestor of the gods.

Imir and Bree fought, and so began a fierce battle between the Giants and the Gods. In the end, Bree received a fatal blow from Ymir and fell dead on the ice field, and the giants were victorious.

But at this time Bree's son Boole married the giantess Bestla and had three sons, Odin, Willie, and Vi. These three gods only continued to fight the giants to avenge the murder of their grandfather.

So after a fierce battle that shook the universe, it was with great difficulty that the giant Ymir was killed. Odin pierced Ymir's chest with his lance, and the blood gushed out into a sea of blood, in which the giants all drowned.

Only a man and a woman, Bergelmir, the son of the six-headed giant Thrudgelmir, and his wife, swam across the sea of blood and fled to the other side of the world, where they founded the "Land of the Giants", Jotunheim, where they bred many frost giants and swore to be enemies of the gods forever.

Then Odin began to create the world, first he put Ymir's body into the center of the Abyss, and from Ymir's flesh he created the earth, the blood into endless oceans, the bones into mountain ranges, and the uncountable hairs into trees.

Odin then chiseled the giant's skull into a firmament, and made clouds from his brain marrow, with shrapnel and snow piled up in them. The bodies of the giants soon grew maggots, which attracted the attention of the gods and gave them human form.

Since the firmament needed strong support, the gods chose four of the new creatures with strange powers to support it, and their names were Nordri, Sudri, Austri, and Westri, so that the four directions in which they were divided were called North, South, East, and West.

The gods also chose four of the new creatures with strange powers to support it, and they called the four directions in which they were divided North, South, East, and West.

The gods also chose four of the new creatures with strange powers to support it. /p>

The gods only continued to use the giant's brow as an enclosure, and the space within was called 'Midgard' -- Midgard, the world lying midway between the 'Land of the Dead' and the 'Land of Fire'.

The gods then took Mars from the 'Land of Fire' and placed it in the sky, creating the sun, moon and stars. The sun and moon were placed in chariots, and the gods chose a man (Mani, the moon) and a woman (Sol, the sun) of the giant race to drive them.

Another giantess, Nott, was appointed to ride the black horse in the sky, to be succeeded in the morning by her son, Dag, who rode the light horse, thus alternating between night and day.

Behind the sun and the moon are chased by terrible wolves, which sometimes bite into them and form 'eclipses' and 'lunar eclipses'. The wolves are always chasing relentlessly, and one day they will eventually devour the sun and the moon, and that will be the end of the world.

After the creation was complete, Odin and his brothers wandered along the shore, admiring their accomplishment. They found two branches washed up on the shore by the waves, so they used one of the Ash branches to create a man and the other Elm branch to create a woman.

While the first human beings appeared, they lacked spirituality in their physical bodies, so Odin gave them life and souls, Willy gave them reason and movement, and Vi gave them feelings, instrumentation, and language.

The two men and women who were originally branches became creatures of love, hope, life and death, and they lived in the Atrium with all the things the gods had given them, reproducing and becoming the founders of the human race.

Elves and Dwarves

The Book of Sybil's Prophecies describes these two races as follows:

"Long before the gods thought to create the world from the corpse of Ymir, many maggots arose from Ymir's rotting flesh. These maggots seized the essence of the ancestor of the giants' bodies and turned out to be spiritually rich creatures. Under the judgment of Odin and the other gods, they all took on human-like forms and intelligence. The maggots that grew out of the light side of the body became elves or light elves (light elf), and those that grew out of the backlit side of the body became dark elves, who were generally called gnomes. The four gnomes that support the sky were born from Ymir's corpse.

The elves are shiny, bright and beautiful. They are usually gentle, cheerful and warm-hearted, and can communicate with trees, flowers and plants, and swimming fish and birds, so the gods take them as friends of the gods. They also often help the gods to manage the world, especially the sun, moon, stars and other kinds of affairs.

The gnomes are the same thing as the elves, but they are the opposite in appearance and disposition. They are short and ugly, black as pitch, and greedy for money and sex, cunning and love to lie.

The elves and dwarves are demigods, and they serve the gods. The glowing elves, because of their beauty and gentleness, were able to live next to the gods, and built exquisite elven kingdoms around the kingdom of the gods. The black gnomes were punished by the gods for their bad character by being forced to live under the earth and not to be exposed to the light of day, otherwise they would turn to stone or dissolve. For this reason, the diminutive gnomes cut holes for their nests under the earth or in the rocks, and formed a Dark Elven Land, or Gnome Land."

The World of Norse Mythology

The universe of Norse mythology consists of nine worlds, divided into three layers:

On the uppermost layer there is the "Land of the Gods", Asgard, which is the abode of the gods Aesir, and which is surrounded by a green wilderness, Idawald, on the other side of the Ifing, the river that never freezes. The other side of the Ifing, a great river that never freezes.

The river is covered in a thick fog that swirls and swirls throughout the year, and the sacred island is in the center of the river. From time to time, tongues of fire emerge from the fog, electric light that breaks through the white waves of the backwash.

Asgard is surrounded by stately castles, their trains nipped by the rushing waves. On a hill where buzzards crouch, there are palaces, the most stately of which is Odin's "Golden Palace", Gladsheim.

Its great hall, the Hall of the Spirits - the Valhalla - is roofed with the tassels of lances, its seats are clad in silver, and in the center stands the golden throne of Hlidskijalf, from which Odin, the father of the gods, gazes out over the heavens and the earth.

The Tree of the World, with its lofty branches, shades Gladsheim, the castle where Odin, the father of the gods, lives, and at the top of the castle's golden roof stands the golden-crowned cockerel, which is responsible for awakening the gods every morning. When the rooster crows, the red roosters of the lower realm of the dead respond to it, thus creating the noisy and shrill "time". Odin led the gods to live together in this land, and after a great council, Odin decreed that there should be no bloodshed in this house of the gods. The gods also built a large smelting furnace, produced many weapons and tools, and built their homes with joy, and so began the Golden Age of the Gods.

There was also Vanaheim, a realm inhabited by another god, Vanir, who controlled the birth and reproduction of all things on earth and in the heavens, as well as the oceans and the winds.

And this race of gods knows many mysterious spells that even Odin, the father of the gods, did not know. Frey, the god of the sun, and Freya, the goddess of love and beauty, belonged to this clan.

There are also creatures called goblins or elves--Elves, creatures transformed by maggots from the corpses of the Ymir, who are not divine but still possess great magical powers. Light goblins are especially beautiful, wearing elegant, transparent garments that shine brighter than the sun.

They love the light, and are kind and gracious goblins who live in a place called Alfheim, the Goblin Country, which is the domain of the sun god Fery. The goblins play happily under the bright light of Fery. They tend the flowers and plants, play with the birds and butterflies, and can sometimes be seen dancing on the green grass on moonlit nights.

The second level is the Midgard, meaning the middle world, where humans live. It is surrounded by the sea, and can be accessed through the Bifrost, a rainbow bridge of three colors (ice, fire, and air) that crosses the void, leading to the Realm of the Gods, where the gods reside.

But the Giants, the enemies of the gods, also live on this level. Their realm is called Jotunheim, the Land of the Giants. The giants are tall, savage and tough, and have a fearsome appearance.

In the far north, there is a giant eagle, and when he swings his wings, a fierce north wind blows into Midgard. The female giants are ugly and frightening, but there are also beautiful women, such as Frey's wife, Gerda.

Midgard is very rich, but the land of the giants is full of rocks, cliffs, forests and other horrors. The path from the human world to the land of the giants is marked by the terrifying Iron Forest of Jarnvid, and there is a legend that the land of the giants is on the other side of the sea.

To the north is Nidavellir, the Dwarf Country, the domain of the Dwarfs. There are also the black gnomes - Trolls, Gnomes, or Kobolds - who live in Svartalfheim, the Land of the Gnomes. These are also creatures transformed by the maggots of Ymir's corpse.

These gnomes are ugly. Long noses hang loosely over their lips, and their skin is a dirty, earthy color. During the day, they hide in the shadows, only coming to the surface at night. These gnomes regarded sunlight as their worst enemy, for as soon as they encountered it, they turned to stone.

Their language is an echo that rings in the silence of no man's land; and they live either in deep crypts or in the clefts of boulders.

Of all the creatures in the universe, the dark gnomes are the finest craftsmen, and many treasures are their work. At the same time, these dark gnomes possess mystical powers and deep knowledge, and they know the Runes script, not only writing it, but also understanding its meaning.

The lowest level is Niflheim, the Land of the Dead or the Land of Mist. It is a cold and foggy place, a place of perpetual night that only the dead can reach.

It is bordered by the River Styx, the Gioll, which is crossed by a gold-encrusted crystal bridge guarded by Modgud, a skeleton-like old hag who must be bribed with blood to cross the bridge. After crossing the bridge, you will come to the Gate of the Underworld, which is guarded by Garm, the Hound of the Underworld.

There is a region called Nastrond in the Land of the Dead, through which every dead person who has done something evil must pass, to be immersed in icy springs and bitten by poisonous snakes.

The southernmost world is Muspelheim, the Land of Fire. It is not one of the three levels, and like Niflheim, the Land of the Dead, has existed even longer than the Primordial Giant, Ymir.

Throughout all of this is a giant Ash tree.

It sprang from the Past, flourished in the Present, and stretched into the infinite Future. Its leaves are always green, its branches support the weight of the universe, and its roots run the length of the world:

The World Tree - Yggdrasil

After Odin slayed the giant Ymir, a giant Ash tree grew out of Ymir's body, and this is the centerpiece of the universe in all of Norse mythology: the World Tree - Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil. Its huge roots are divided into three main veins:

one reaching to Midgard, the "court of mankind",

one to Jotunheim, the "land of the giants", and

one under Niflheim, the "land of the dead".

Springs of water spring up alongside the roots of the trees, nourishing them.

The spring next to the Atrium, which reaches into the human world, is the sacred Well of Fate, Urdar brunnr, guarded by the three Norns, descendants of Nott's father, Norvi, the father of Night, who are responsible for irrigating the roots of the tree with water to keep it lush and full of foliage.

These three goddesses are called

Urd

Verdandi

Verdandi

Skuld

They assign life to the sons of men, and designate the fortunes of all beings.

Also, next to the roots of the tree that reaches into the "Land of the Giants" is the Well of Wisdom, guarded by Mimir the Wise, a spring that gushes forth with infinite intelligence and knowledge.

But next to the roots of the tree leading to the Land of the Dead lurks Nidhogg, a black dragon called Despair. It and countless other snakes coiled around the trunk of the tree, gnawing away at it.

Additionally, at the top of the tree is an eagle, with two eyes