The Mythology Book

138 ODIN AND THE WORLD TREE

whose flapping wings caused

the winds to blow. The eagle and

Nidhogg were old enemies and

their feud was enabled by a squirrel

called Ratatosk, which scurried up

and down Yggdrasil carrying

hostile messages between them.

Because of the attacks made on

the tree, Yggdrasil was decaying.

It was tended by the Norns, three

fate-making deities, who sprinkled

it with holy water from Urdarbrunn

and whitened its boughs with clay

gathered from around the well to

preserve them. Their actions kept

the cosmos in balance between the

forces of destruction and creation.

Despite Yggdrasil’s importance,

no Norse myth told of either its

creation or demise. At Ragnarök—

the prophesied end of the world—

Yggdrasil would tremble and groan,

but it would not fall; the tree was

thought to be eternal.

Odin’s knowledge

Odin ruled the nine worlds from his

throne, Hlidskjálf, in Asgard. Two

ravens, Hugin (Thought) and Mumin

(Memory), were symbols of his mind

and sat on his shoulders. Each dawn

Odin sent them out to fly over the

worlds; they returned in the evening

The nine worlds were linked by

Yggdrasil, but the exact topography

of the Norse cosmos remained vague

in literary accounts.

I know that I hung,

on a wind-rocked tree,

nine whole nights,

with a spear wounded,

and to Odin offered,

myself to myself.

Odin, Poetic Edda

Asgard

Realm of the

dead

Hel

Realm of the

humans

Realm of the

elves

World of mist

Niflheim

Vanaheim

Land of fire

Realm of the

giants

Jötunheim

Realm of the

dwarves

Svartálfheim

Midgard

Realm of the

Vanir

Realm of the

Aesir

Álfheim Muspelheim

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to report what they had discovered.

Yggdrasil was also a source of

knowledge for Odin. Key to this was

Odin’s knowledge of runes, gained

through an act of auto-sacrifice: he

hung himself from Yggdrasil for nine

days, impaled on his own spear. The

cruelty, their names both meant

“ravenous” or “greedy.” They

roamed battlefields feeding on

corpses. At feasts, Odin gave his

food to his pet wolves, subsisting

only on wine himself. He was also

accompanied by the Valkyries

(“Choosers of the Slain”), who

conducted the souls of the bravest

men killed in combat to Valhalla to

join his personal band of dead

warriors. In this way, the cosmic

order mirrored the human order:

for the Viking-age Norse, the chief

and his personal retinue were at

the center of society. ■

water of Mímir’s Well gave wisdom.

For a single drink from the well,

Odin tore out one of his eyes and left

it in the well as a pledge. His search

for knowledge had one purpose: he

had foreseen his death at Ragnarök

and sought a way to defy fate. From

his ordeal, Odin gained the ability to

use runes, which granted him

powers far beyond the other gods’.

Valhalla

Odin became a great warrior who

was known for his “Hall of the

Slain,” Valhalla. The vast hall,

roofed with spears, had 540 doors,

each so wide that 800 warriors

could march abreast through it. It

was a paradise where the einherjar,

fallen warriors, could feast on pork

and mead. The promise of Valhalla

must have been a comfort to a

Viking warrior facing death in

battle, but most preferred to live

and enjoy the spoils of victory. Only

“berserkers” actively sought death

in battle so as to be guaranteed

entry to Valhalla. These animalistic

warriors worked themselves into a

trancelike fury before each battle.

Odin’s bloodlust was immense.

Two wolves, Geri and Freki, were

his companions. Symbols of his

Odin hangs from the branches of the

World Tree. It is possibly from this

episode that Yggdrasil gets its name.

It means “Ygg’s horse,” Ygg being one

of many alternative names for Odin.

Runes

Runes were the individual

letters of the runic alphabet,

the indigenous writing system

of the early Germanic peoples.

The Norse believed that Odin

gave runes to the world, but

in reality they were probably

derived from the Latin alphabet.

It is likely that the runic

alphabet, known as the futhark

after its first six letters, was

originally designed to be

inscribed on wood. Runes

avoided curved lines, which

were awkward to carve, and

horizontal lines, which would

have been difficult to distinguish

from the grain of the wood.

Runes were more than just

letters. They were powerful

symbols, each of which had its

own meaningful, magical name.

Norse priests used runes both

to write spells and in their

memorials to the dead. Runes

slowly fell out of use after the

conversion of the Norse to

Christianity in the 10th and 11th

centuries because of their pagan

associations. By the 15th century,

the Latin alphabet had replaced

runes in Scandinavia.

These runic letters feature on one

of two 11th-century memorial rune

stones found at Bjärby, on the island

of Öland, Sweden.

All those men who have

fallen in battle from the

beginning of the world

are now come to

Odin in Valhalla.

Prose Edda

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