The Mythology Book

132

presumably a frost giantess, as no

other beings had yet been created.

Bor took Bestla, the daughter of

another frost giant of unknown

origin named Bölthorn, as his wife.

Together they had three sons, the

first of the gods.

The eldest son was Odin, the

second was Vili, and the youngest

was Vé. These three gods, however,

thought the giants were rough and

uncouth. They killed Ymir and

when he fell, so much blood gushed

out of his body that all the frost

giants were drowned except for his

grandson Bergelmir, who escaped

with his family in a boat and

eventually founded the entire giant

race again. Many commentators

have suspected biblical influence

in this story—with Bergelmir as a

giant Noah. It is not clear if this is a

genuine myth or an invention

of Snorri’s, with his Christian faith.

Heavens and earth

Because of Ymir’s murder, the

giants were, thereafter, invariably

hostile to the gods. The three gods

took Ymir’s corpse to the middle of

Ginnungagap and made the world

from his body, encircling it with

the sea, which they made from his

blood. Ymir’s flesh was used to

make earth, his bones made the

rocks, and his teeth formed smaller

stones. The gods found maggots

burrowing through Ymir’s flesh.

From these they created the

dwarves and gave these beings

consciousness, intelligence, and

the appearance of men.

The gods used Ymir to make

not only the earth but the heavens.

They took Ymir’s skull and placed it

over the earth to make the sky. At

each of the sky’s four corners they

set a dwarf. Their names were

Austri (East), Vestri (West), Nordri

(North), and Sudri (South). The gods

also caught some of the sparks and

CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE

molten embers that were blowing

out of Muspelheim and set them in

the sky to light the heavens. They

fixed some of the sparks in the sky

and these became the stars. Other

sparks, the planets, moved about

on courses set by the gods.

This myth also accounts for the

creation of day and night, both of

which are personified as giants.

The gods placed the dark giantess

Nótt (“night”) and her bright and

beautiful son Dag (“day”) in the sky:

they followed each other around the

Ymir is killed by the sons of Bor

in this 19th-century drawing by Danish

artist Lorenz Frølich. The frost giant

is portrayed as ugly and rough, in

comparison to the three beautiful gods.

Giants and gods

The relationship between the

giants and the gods was a

complex one. In the Norse myths,

giants usually appeared in an

oppositional relationship to the

gods. At the same time, myths

also showed them to be similar to

the gods. “Giant” is the usual

English translation of the Norse

jötunn but it is misleading: size is

not their defining characteristic.

Although Ymir must have been

huge for the gods to fashion the

world from his body, most giants

were like the gods. They had

superhuman powers, and while

some were hideous monsters,

others were so beautiful that

they became the gods’ lovers

or spouses: the god Thor was

Odin’s son by a giantess and

all the gods were, ultimately,

descended from giants. Giants

could become gods—Loki was

born to giant parents. The

distinction between giants and

gods was primarily one of

status rather than power: gods

were entitled to be worshipped,

while giants were not.

Loki, whose face decorates this forge

stone, had his lips sewn together as

punishment for using cunning

wordplay to renege on a wager.

They bore [Ymir] into the

middle of the Yawning Void,

and made of him the earth.

Prose Edda

US_130-133_Creation_of_the_world.indd 132 21/12/2017 12:06

133

world once every 24 hours. The

gods also took the beautiful brother

and sister, Máni (“moon”) and Sól

(“sun”), and put them in the sky as

well. According to Snorri’s myth,

both Máni and Sól move quickly

across the sky because they are

pursued by wolves. Ragnarök, the

end of the world, will follow not

long after the day when the wolves,

children of a giantess, finally catch

and devour the siblings.

Fortress of Midgard

The gods made the earth circular,

and gave the part around the

shores to the giants as a home.

This was called Jötunheim (from

jötunn, the Old Norse name for the

giants, and heim, meaning “home”).

In the middle of the earth, the gods

used Ymir’s eyelashes to build a

fortress to keep the giants out.

They called this place Midgard.

NORTHERN EUROPE

The gods’ final step was to take

Ymir’s brains and cast them into

the sky to make the clouds. With

this, the gods finished their brutal

creation of the world.

The creation of man

Creation was not truly complete

until the day when Odin, Vili, and

Vé found two driftwood logs while

walking along the seashore. From

these logs, the gods created the

first two humans, giving them life,

consciousness, movement, faces,

hearing, speech, and sight. Finally,

they gave them clothes and named

the man Ask (ash) and the woman

Embla (elm). The gods gave them

and their descendants the realm of

Midgard to live in.

After they had created humans,

the gods created their own realm

of Asgard, high above Midgard.

There, they built their halls, the

most magnificent of which was

Odin’s own Valhalla, a heavenlike

place where dead warriors would

be entertained with feasting. To

link Asgard and Midgard, the gods

built a fiery rainbow bridge named

Bifröst. Humans often fleetingly

glimpse Bifröst in the sky, but only

the gods may cross it. ■

The origin of the gods

Bor

(giant)

Bestla

(giantess)

Fjörgyn

(giantess)

Odin

(god)

Frigg

(goddess)

Vili

(god)

Vé

(god)

Over a dozen sons

by other lovers

Buri

(giant)

Thor

(god)

Baldur

(god)

Then of his brows the

blithe gods made Midgard

for sons of men.

Prose Edda

US_130-133_Creation_of_the_world.indd 133 05/12/17 4:15 pm