The Norns in Norse mythology are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men, possibly
a kind of dísir, and comparable to the Moirai in Greek mythology.
According to Snorri Sturluson's interpretation of the Völuspá, the three most important
norns, Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld come out from a hall standing at the Well of Urðr
and they draw water from the well and take sand that lies around it, which they pour
over Yggdrasill so that its branches will not rot.
These norns are described as three powerful maiden giantesses whose arrival from Jötunheimr
ended the golden age of the gods.
They may be the same as the maidens of Mögþrasir who are described in Vafþrúðnismál.
Beside these three norns, there are many other norns who arrive when a person is born in
order to determine his or her future.
There were both malevolent and benevolent norns, and the former caused all the malevolent
and tragic events in the world while the latter were kind and protective goddesses.
Recent research has discussed the relation between the myths associated with norns and
valkyries and traveling Völvas.
The norns were thought to have visited newborn children in the pre-Christian Norse societies.
Norns within skaldic references are often seen as negative beings that are mostly associated
with transitional situations such as violent death and battle.
In Egil's Saga, Kveldulf composes a poem lamenting the loss of his eldest son Thorolf.
Here, what is stressed is the personal tragedy felt by Kveldulf and the sense that what happened
was out of his control or in the hands of fate.
It is presumed that Óðinn has chosen Thorolf to be among his einherjar so Bek-Pedersen
suggests that since Óðinn has caused the death then the norn has caused the emotional
turmoil.
Another negative aspect associated with the norns is that they are associated with death.
Not all aspects of the norns were negative, however, as they were associated with life
and birth as well.
Etymology The origin of the name norn is uncertain,
it may derive from a word meaning "to twine" and which would refer to their twining the
thread of fate.
Bek-Pedersen suggests that the word norn has relation to the Swedish dialect word norna,
a verb that means "secretly communicate".
This relates to the perception of norns as shadowy, background figures who only really
ever reveal their fateful secrets to men as their fates come to pass.
The name Urðr means "fate".
It should be noted that wyrd and urðr are etymological cognates, which does not guarantee
that wyrd and urðr share the same semantic quality of "fate" over time.
Both Urðr and Verðandi are derived from the Old Norse verb verða, "to be".
While Urðr derives from the past tense, Verðandi derives from the present tense of verða.
Skuld is derived from the Old Norse verb skulla, "need/ought to be/shall be"; its meaning is
"that which should become, or that needs to occur".
Relation to other Germanic female deities
There is no clear distinction between norns, fylgjas, hamingjas and valkyries, nor with
the generic term dísir.
Moreover, artistic license permitted such terms to be used for mortal women in Old Norse
poetry, or to quote Snorri Sturluson's Skáldskaparmál on the various names used for women:
Woman is also metaphorically called by the names of the Asynjur or the Valkyrs or Norns
or women of supernatural kind.
These unclear distinctions among norns and other Germanic female deities are discussed
in Bek-Pedersen's book Norns in old Norse Mythology, as well as, in Lionarons article
"Disir, Valkyries, Volur, and Norns: The Weise Frauen of the Deutsche Mythologie"(See references).
Attestations
There are a number of surviving Old Norse sources that relate to the norns.
The most important sources are the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda.
The latter contains pagan poetry where the norns are frequently referred to, while the
former contains, in addition to pagan poetry, retellings, descriptions and commentaries
by the 12th and 13th century Icelandic chieftain and scholar Snorri Sturluson.
Skaldic Poetry A skaldic reference to the norns appears in
Hvini's poem in Ynglingatal 24 found in Ynglingasaga 47, where King Halfdan is put to rest by his
men at Borró.
This reference brings in the phrase "norna dómr" which means "judgment of the nornir".
In most cases, when the norns pass judgment, it means death to those who have been judged
- in this case, Halfdan.
Along with being associated with being bringers of death, Bek-Pedersen suggests that this
phrase brings in a quasi-legal aspect to the nature of the norns.
This legal association is employed quite frequently within skaldic and eddic sources.
This phrase can also be seen as a threat, as death is the final and inevitable decision
that the norns can make with regard to human life.
Poetic Edda The Poetic Edda is valuable in representing
older material in poetry from which Snorri tapped information in the Prose Edda.
Like Gylfaginning, the Poetic Edda mentions the existence of many lesser norns beside
the three main norns.
Moreover, it also agrees with Gylfaginning by telling that they were of several races
and that the dwarven norns were the daughters of Dvalin.
It also suggests that the three main norns were giantesses.
Fáfnismál contains a discussion between the hero Sigurd and the dragon Fafnir who
is dying from a mortal wound from Sigurd.
The hero asks Fafnir of many things, among them the nature of the norns.
Fafnir explains that they are many and from several races:
It appears from Völuspá and Vafþrúðnismál that the three main norns were not originally
goddesses but giantesses, and that their arrival ended the early days of bliss for the gods,
but that they come for the good of mankind.
Völuspá relates that three giantesses of huge might are reported to have arrived to
the gods from Jotunheim:
Vafþrúðnismál probably refers to the norns when it talks of maiden giantesses who arrive
to protect the people of earth as protective spirits:
The Völuspá contains the names of the three main Norns referring to them as maidens like
Vafþrúðnismál probably does: Helgakviða Hundingsbana I
The norns visited each newly born child to allot his or her future, and in Helgakviða
Hundingsbana I, the hero Helgi Hundingsbane has just been born and norns arrive at the
homestead: Helgakviða Hundingsbana II
In Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, Helgi Hundingsbane blames the norns for the fact that he had
to kill Sigrún's father Högni and brother Bragi in order to wed her:
Reginsmál Like Snorri Sturluson stated in Gylfaginning,
people's fate depended on the benevolence or the malevolence of particular norns.
In Reginsmál, the water dwelling dwarf Andvari blames his plight on an evil norn, presumably
one of the daughters of Dvalin: Sigurðarkviða hin skamma
Another instance of Norns being blamed for an undesirable situation appears in Sigurðarkviða
hin skamma, where the valkyrie Brynhild blames malevolent norns for her long yearning for
the embrace of Sigurd: Guðrúnarkviða II
Brynhild's solution was to have Gunnarr and his brothers, the lords of the Burgundians,
kill Sigurd and afterwards to commit suicide in order to join Sigurd in the afterlife.
Her brother Atli avenged her death by killing the lords of the Burgundians, but since he
was married to their sister Guðrún, Atli would soon be killed by her.
In Guðrúnarkviða II, the Norns actively enter the series of events by informing Atli
in a dream that his wife would kill him.
The description of the dream begins with this stanza:
Guðrúnarhvöt After having killed both her husband Atli
and their sons, Guðrún blames the Norns for her misfortunes, as in Guðrúnarhvöt,
where Guðrún talks of trying to escaping the wrath of the norns by trying to kill herself:
Hamðismál
Guðrúnarhvöt deals with how Guðrún incited her sons to avenge the cruel death of their
sister Svanhild.
In Hamðismál, her sons' expedition to the Gothic king Ermanaric to exact vengeance is
fateful.
Knowing that he is about to die at the hands of the Goths, her son Sörli talks of the
cruelty of the norns: Sigrdrífumál
Since the norns were beings of ultimate power who were working in the dark, it should be
no surprise that they could be referred to in charms, as they are by Sigrdrífa in Sigrdrífumál:
Prose Edda In the part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda
which is called Gylfaginning, Gylfi, the king of Sweden, has arrived at Valhalla calling
himself Gangleri.
There, he receives an education in Norse mythology from what is Odin in the shape of three men.
They explain to Gylfi that there are three main norns, but also many others of various
races, æsir, elves and dwarves:
A hall stands there, fair, under the ash by the well, and out of that hall come three
maids, who are called thus: Urdr, Verdandi, Skuld; these maids determine the period of
men's lives: we call them Norns; but there are many norns: those who come to each child
that is born, to appoint his life; these are of the race of the gods, but the second are
of the Elf-people, and the third are of the kindred of the dwarves, as it is said here:
Most sundered in birth I say the Norns are;
They claim no common kin: Some are of Æsir-kin,
some are of Elf-kind, Some are Dvalinn's daughters."
Then said Gangleri: "If the Norns determine the weirds of men, then they apportion exceeding
unevenly, seeing that some have a pleasant and luxurious life, but others have little
worldly goods or fame; some have long life, others short."
Hárr said: "Good norns and of honorable race appoint good life; but those men that suffer
evil fortunes are governed by evil norns."
The three main norns take water out of the well of Urd and water Yggdrasil:
It is further said that these Norns who dwell by the Well of Urdr take water of the well
every day, and with it that clay which lies about the well, and sprinkle it over the Ash,
to the end that its limbs shall not wither nor rot; for that water is so holy that all
things which come there into the well become as white as the film which lies within the
egg-shell,--as is here said: I know an Ash standing
called Yggdrasill, A high tree sprinkled
with snow-white clay; Thence come the dews
in the dale that fall-- It stands ever green
above Urdr's Well.
That dew which falls from it onto the earth is called by men honey-dew, and thereon are
bees nourished.
Two fowls are fed in Urdr's Well: they are called Swans, and from those fowls has come
the race of birds which is so called."
Snorri furthermore informs the reader that the youngest norn, Skuld, is in effect also
a valkyrie, taking part in the selection of warriors from the slain:
These are called Valkyrs: them Odin sends to every battle; they determine men's feyness
and award victory.
Gudr and Róta and the youngest Norn, she who is called Skuld, ride ever to take the
slain and decide fights.
Legendary sagas Some of the legendary sagas also contain references
to the norns.
The Hervarar saga contains a poem named Hlöðskviða, where the Gothic king Angantýr defeats a
Hunnish invasion led by his Hunnish half-brother Hlöðr.
Knowing that his sister, the shieldmaiden Hervör, is one of the casualties, Angantýr
looks at his dead brother and laments the cruelty of the norns:
In younger legendary sagas, such as Norna-Gests þáttr and Hrólfs saga kraka, the norns
appear to have been synonymous with völvas.
In Norna-Gests þáttr, where they arrive at the birth of the hero to shape his destiny,
the norns are not described as weaving the web of fate, instead Norna appears to be interchangeable
and possibly a synonym of vala.
One of the last legendary sagas to be written down, the Hrólfs saga kraka talks of the
norns simply as evil witches.
When the evil half-elven princess Skuld assembles her army to attack Hrólfr Kraki, it contains
in addition to undead warriors, elves and norns.
Runic inscription N 351 M
The belief in the norns as bringers of both gain and loss would last beyond Christianization,
as testifies the runic inscription N 351 M from the Borgund stave church:
Þórir carved these runes on the eve of Olaus-mass, when he travelled past here.
The norns did both good and evil, great toil ... they created for me.
Franks Casket Three women carved on the right panel of Franks
Casket, an Anglo-Saxon whalebone chest from the eighth century, have been identified by
some scholars as being three norns.
Theories A number of theories have been proposed regarding
the norns.
Matres and Matrones The Germanic Matres and Matrones, female deities
venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD depicted on votive objects
and altars almost entirely in groups of three from the first to the fifth century AD have
been proposed as connected with the later Germanic dísir, valkyries, and norns, potentially
stemming from them.
Three norns Theories have been proposed that there is
no foundation in Norse mythology for the notion that the three main norns should each be associated
exclusively with the past, the present, and the future; rather, all three represent destiny
as it is twined with the flow of time.
Moreoever, theories have been proposed that the idea that there are three main norns may
be due to a late influence from Greek and Roman mythology, where there are also spinning
fate goddesses.
Appearances in Media and Popular Culture Music
Viking death metal band Amon Amarth has an album titled Fate of Norns.
The band itself has many songs involving Norse mythology.
Opera Norns feature in the prologue of Richard Wagner's
opera Götterdämmerung.
Television The TV series Lost Girl features a Norn as
a recurring antagonist; a powerful Fae, she is able to make deals, described as granting
what others desire most in exchange for that which they hold dearest.
In the first season finale, she granted the desire of Dyson- a werewolf and the love interest
of series protagonist Bo- that Bo would gain the strength to defeat her insane mother,
but instead of taking Dyson's wolf, she took his love for Bo, leaving him unable to feel
love for anyone until the Norn was forced to undo the deal in the second season.
The 1990s Disney Cartoon Gargoyles features Three sisters that are inferred to be Norns.
Anime and Manga The main love interest of Oh My Goddess! is
the Norn Verðandi, rendered as Belldandy.
Her elder sister Urðr and younger sister Skuld also show up, living with the protagonist
Keichii Morisato and their sister Belldandy.
Aside from sticking loosely to the theme of Belldandy representing the present, Urd the
past and Skuld the future, they are only loosely related to their mythic namesakes in this
media.
The terminals that Yggdrasil from Digimon created for the New Digital World experiments
consisting 3 layers are named Ulud, Versandi, and Skuld which are representing for past,
present, and future.
Ulud Urðr is a past plain which is a volcanic wasteland, inhabited by Dinosaur type and
draconic Digimon.
Versandi Verðandi is the "present" region which is a world of lush greenery and is home
to beast, bird, plant and other nature Digimon.
Skuld is the "future" region, a high-tech city where machine and insect Digimon inhabit.
The three Norns also appear as antagonists in Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, along
with various other figures from Norse mythology, including Thor, Heimdallr, Freyr, Freyja,
Fenrir, Jormungandr, and the eponymous Loki.
Video Games Tower of Saviors
Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
Shin Megami Tensei IV NetHack
See also Matrones
Moirai Parcae
Sudice Wyrd sisters
Valkyries Hecate
Notes
References
External links