Hey everyone,
Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to be taking a look at the Norse
creation myth, from the primordial void, to the creation of the first gods and the first giants,
to the creation of the world, to the creation of the first man and the first woman.
Let’s get into it
From Ginnungagap, the primordial void that existed before all else, spawned two worlds,
the first two of the nine realms. These were Muspelheim and Niflheim. Muspelheim,
the land of fire, was created to the south of Ginnungagap, and Niflheim, the realm of ice,
was created to the north of Ginnungagap. The heat and fire of Muspelhiem emanated into
the great void from the south, and the ice and cold of Niflheim extended their frozen tendrils
into the great void from the north. Frost and fire met in the middle. The ice began to melt,
and from the droplets quickened the first giant, Ymir, and the giant cow, Audhumbla.
Ymir was the asexual progenitor of the frost giant race.
When he drifted off into sleep, he began to sweat, and then two giants, one male, the other female,
were propagated under his left arm; and Ymir’s legs joined together
in a sort of union to create a third offspring, another son, Thrudgelmir, who was the father of
Bergelmir, an important frost giant we’ll circle back to later in the video. Ymir’s three offspring
were the first frost giants, so the entirety of the frost giant race is descended from them.
Audhumla, the cosmic cow, was the other being to emerge from the droplets produced where the fire
of Muspelheim met the frost of Niflheim. Four rivers of milk ran from her udders,
and it was these flows of milk on which Ymir subsisted. Audhumla found her own nourishment
by licking salty blocks of ice. And as the cow fed, something peculiar began to happen:
each time the cow licked the ice, it melted a little, and the more the ice melted,
the more exposed the man frozen inside became. This man was Buri, the first god. Hi son, Bor,
took the giantess Bestla as his wife, and by her he sired three sons, Odin, Vili, and Ve
Even in the beginning, relations between gods and giants weren’t copacetic. Odin
and his two brothers ganged up and killed the huge proto-giant, Ymir,
and so much blood gushed forth from the giant’s savaged corpse
that the whole giant race drowned in the blood of their maker. The only giant to survive was
Bergelmir. He and his wife found salvation atop a wooden box, and so were able to survive the flood,
and it was from them that all the frost giants who came afterwards are descended.
Odin and his two brothers took Ymir’s corpse and dragged it into the center of Ginnungagap.
They tore apart the corpse into the constituent elements they used to fashion the world.
Here is how it is described in the Prose Edda:
From his blood they made the sea and the lakes. The earth was fashioned from the flesh,
and mountain cliffs from bones. They made stones and gravel from the teeth,
molars and those bones that were broken… They also took his skull and from it made the sky.
They raised it over the earth and under each of the four corners they placed a dwarf. These are
called East, West, North and South… They took the embers and sparks shooting out from Muspelheim…
These they placed in the middle of the Ginnung sky [,creating the stars, the sun, and the moon] … As
Material for the wall [that surrounds Midgard], they used the eyelashes of the giant Ymir…
[And] they took his brain, threw it up into the air, and from it they made the clouds.
In total there were nine realms, though there are
differing versions of which worlds are actually comprised by the nine realms.
Here are the nine realms as described in The Viking Spirit:
Asgard, the… [home of the Aesir gods] Jotunheim, the chaotic, wild regions of the giants
Alfheim, the homeland of the elves Nidavellir, the cavernous home of the dwarves
Vanaheim, home of the Vanir [gods]
Hel - the underworld where the dead dwelt Muspelheim, the land of elemental fire
Niflheim, the land of elemental ice Midgard, … [the world of humanity]
These nine realms were positioned around The World Tree, Yggdrasil,
a great ash tree that served as a sort of nexus that connected all planes of existence.
The World Tree doesn’t seem to be a divine construction made by Odin and his brothers.
Rather, it comes across as something boundless and infinite, a structure
that has always existed, predating even Ymir, the first giant, and Audhumbla, the cosmic cow.
The exact placement of the nine realms wasn’t something that was laid out in detail,
but here, at least, is a good way to picture Midgard, Jotunheim, and the ocean. Picture a
circle inside two rings. The circle is Midgard, which is protected by a wall fashioned from Ymir’s
eyebrows; the middle ring is Jotunheim, and the outer ring is the ocean. Above Midgard is Asgard,
and these two realms are connected by the Bifrost. Incidentally, It was foretold that this bridge
would shatter when the infernal armies of Muspelhiem pass over it during Ragnarok.
The next creation was humanity. Odin and his two brothers were walking along one of the myriads of
beaches of their creation. Two logs were in their path. They lifted them so that they were upright
and from them created the first man and the first woman. Odin quickend them with breath and life;
Vili bestowed intelligence and movement; and Ve granted hearing and sight.
The three gods then clothed and named their two creations. The man, they called Ask [Ash Tree],
and the woman, they called Embla [Elm or Vine]. Midgard was given to them so
that they and all those who would come after would have a safe place to live.
The Dwarves were also a design of the gods. At first, dwarves were but mindless maggots
tunneling in the earth, first emerging from Ymir’s putrid flesh. This changed when
the gods decided to make them intelligent and to give them a human-like appearance.
Following this, the cycle of night and day was explained.
Night was a giantess, and she was described as “dark and swarthy”. After a series of marriages,
she finally married Delling. Not much is known of Delling other than that his blood is godly
and that he is of the Aesir. Together Night and Delling had a son, Day, who was described as
“bright and beautiful” as his father’s people, meaning the Aesir. Odin gave two chariots,
one to day, the other to night, and sent them into the sky so that they could forever ride
around the earth, forever maintaining the cycle of night and day. Night’s horse was called Hrimfaxi,
meaning Frost Mane, and Day’s horse was called Skinfaxi, meaning Shining Mane.
The cyclical nature of the sun and the moon was described in very much the same manner. There was
a man who had two beautiful children. The son he named Mani, meaning moon, the daughter he named
Sol, meaning sun. (The actual sun and moon were created by Odin and his two brothers from the
sparks emitted from Muspelhiem.) The Fact that a man had the hubris to name his children after two
such grand and majestic creations didn’t sit well with the gods. Both children were placed in the
sky to punish their father. Sol was made to drive the horses that pulled the chariot of the sun,
and Mani was made to guide the moon. It was said that the sun and the moon
journeyed so quickly across the sky because of two great wolves that relentlessly pursued them. Skoll
was the wolf who chased the sun, and Hati was the wolf who chased the moon. They are prophesied to
catch their quarries come Ragnarok so that both the sun and the moon will be devoured.
And that’s it for this video! Did you guys know about the Norse Creation myth? Comment down below
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Until next time
Remember
Let none put faith in the first sown fruit nor yet in his son too soon;
whim rules the child, and weather the field, each is open to chance.