And finally, his eyebrows were fashioned into the Midgard – the ‘middle realm’ or earth of mankind. The three Norse gods, including Odin, then proceeded on to create the entire earth (much like the Mesopotamian Marduk) from Ymir’s fallen body, with his blood accounting for the seas and oceans, while his bones made up the rocks and mountains.įurthermore, his hair was used for the trees, his skull was transformed into the sky and heavens, and his brains were made into clouds. But the angry Ymir confronted these ascending young Norse gods, which eventually led to his own death at the hands of the three brothers. To that end, Buri (created after Ymir), often acknowledged as the first of the Norse gods, had a son named Bor, who finally married one of Ymir’s descendants Bestla, and their union produced three sons – Ve, Vili, and Odin. To that end, he was given an ill-fated ending due to his apparent evil machinations.
The narrative of Ymir also took a tragic turn, much like the other primeval deities of ancient mythologies. And after his own genesis, Ymir, with his hermaphroditic body, was responsible for birthing male, female, and other mythical beings, who in turn would go on to bear future generations. He was created by the ice of Niflheim combined with the heat of Muspelheim, long before the existence of the Earth. Ymir was perceived more as the ‘first being’, as opposed to a strict categorization as one of the Norse gods. Like with most mythologies, including Mesopotamian and Egyptian, the Norse pantheon had its primeval entity in the form of Ymir, the ancestor of all jötnar (mythic entities that ranged from giants to other fantastical creatures). The Family Tree of Norse Gods and Goddesses – Ymir – The Ancestor of Giants Source: CZEShop.Freya – The Goddess of Fate and Destiny.Heimdall – The Vigilant Guardian of Asgard.Idun – The Youthful Goddess of Rejuvenation.So without further ado, let us take a gander at fifteen major Norse gods and goddesses you should know about. One of the best examples of these medieval influences on Norse mythology relates to the narrative of the Æsir–Vanir War, whereby two different pantheons (representing the Æsir and Vanir tribes of Norse gods) are merged into a singular literary scope. The Codex Regius in itself is considered as one of the most important extant sources for both Norse mythology and Germanic legends. As its name suggests, the compilation consists of poems dating from circa 1000 – 1300 AD, with most of the collections (and their variant versions) containing text from the Codex Regius (Royal Book), an Icelandic medieval manuscript dating from circa 1270 AD.
The other crucial literary work composed in Old Norse relates to the Poetic Edda. One of these important Old Norse works of literature pertains to the Prose Edda, assumed to be written by the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, circa 1220 AD. Many of these varied parcels of old fable were collected and compiled in manuscripts (comprising Old Norse texts), in circa 13th century Iceland. Fortunately enough, as we discussed earlier (in one of the articles concerning various mythologies) – Their primary lore is borrowed from a patchwork of oral traditions and local tales that were conceived in both pre-Christian ancient Germania and early medieval Scandinavia. Norse mythology and legends probably have one of the vaguest origins of some of the renowned mythologies from history.
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