In the cosmogonic narrative attested in Old Norse sources, Bergelmir is a descendant of Aurgelmir/Ymir and the son of Þrúðgelmir (Vafþrúðnismál). When the sons of Borr (Odin, Vili, and Vé) kill Aurgelmir and his blood floods the earth, Bergelmir survives. In Vafþrúðnismál the poem states he was 'laid (lagiðr) in the lúðr', implying an infant preserved in that container; in Snorri's Gylfaginning the prose-redaction depicts Bergelmir and his wife escaping the flood in a lúðr, re-founding the frost-jötunn race. Scholarly commentary notes dispute over the meaning of lúðr (glosses include 'flour-bin', 'cradle', 'coffin', 'chest', or 'ark/boat'), and Snorri's account invites an interpretive Noah-like comparison not present in the older poem.
The surviving sources provide no physical description beyond Bergelmir's classification as a jötunn. Vafþrúðnismál presents him in a life-stage consistent with being an infant 'laid in the lúðr' (lagiðr), while Snorri's Gylfaginning depicts him as an adult who escapes with a wife — the texts differ on agency and life-stage but do not record specific bodily traits (size, color, shape).
The corpus does not ascribe overt supernatural powers to Bergelmir in the manner of later folkloric agents. His narrative role is survival and progenitorship: by surviving the flood of Aurgelmir/Ymir's blood (either as an infant placed in a lúðr or as an adult refugee with a wife) he preserves and re-founds the frost-jötunn lineage. No additional behaviors, ongoing interventions in human affairs, or magical abilities are recorded in the cited sources.
Andvari
Andvari is a dwarf from Old Norse sources (attested in the 12th century) who lives beneath a waterfall, hoards gold, owns a magical ring called Andvaranaut, can change into a pike, and curses the gold when it is stolen—events that set in motion tragic outcomes in Norse heroic narrative.
Angrboða
Angrboða is a jötunn (giantess) in Norse myth attested briefly in the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda as the partner of Loki and the mother of three world‑shaping offspring: Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel. Surviving medieval attestations are sparse; most descriptions of her beyond genealogy derive from modern retellings and popular culture.
Ask and Embla
In Norse myth Ask (Askr) and Embla (Embla) are the first human man and woman, fashioned from wood/trees by the gods at the beginning of the cosmos and endowed with the gifts that make them human; they serve as the progenitors of humankind in the Norse cosmological narrative.
Atter
In Norse tradition, Atter refers to various forms of poison, corruption, or noxious influence that can manifest physically or morally. (Note: * Power tier should be Primordial only for its ability to cause cosmic-scale harm (e.g., societal consumption). However, most of its described abilities fall under Greater or Lesser powers, implying A)
Aurboða
Aurboða is a jötunn (giantess) in Norse mythology attested as the wife of the jötunn Gymir and mother of the jötunn Gerðr; the name also appears separately as one of the nine maidens in the poem Fjölsvinnsmál. Her name is debated etymologically as either 'gravel-bidder' (aurr + boða) or, in an alternative reading, 'gold-bidder' (aur + boða).
Auðumbla
Auðumbla is the primeval cow of Old Norse cosmogony attested in the Prose Edda: she nourishes the primordial jötunn Ymir with rivers of milk and by licking salty rime-stones reveals Búri, an ancestor of the gods. Her name and role link fertility, nourishment, and the emergence of key lineages in the Norse origin narrative.
Baldr
Baldr (Old Norse Baldr; Old English Bældæġ; Old High German Balder/Palter) is a god in Germanic mythology. In the Norse branch he is named as a son of Odin and Frigg and as a member of the Aesir, attested alongside brothers such as Thor and Váli in the supplied sources.
Barri
Barri (also attested Barrey/Barey) is a mythic place-name in Old Norse tradition, named in Skírnismál and Snorri Sturluson’s Gylfaginning as the rendezvous-site where Freyr and Gerðr will meet nine nights after prior events. The term is etymologically ambiguous between a grove/wood and an island or a grain-field, and scholars debate whether its semantic field evokes woodland or agricultural fertility.
Baugi
Baugi is a jötunn (giant) in Old Norse myth who appears as a secondary actor in the mead of poetry narrative preserved in Skáldskaparmál and the þulur. He is presented as the brother of Suttungr, provides and uses an auger named Rati to bore into the mountain Hnitbjörg, and figures in Odin's (Bölverk’s) bargain and deception to obtain the mead of poetry.
Beli
Beli is a jötunn (giant) in Old Norse myth known chiefly as an adversary slain by the god Freyr. Attestations are fragmentary: he appears in Eddic and skaldic references as the named foe of Freyr and as an element in kennings, and scholars treat the fuller myth as largely lost.
Beyla
Beyla is a minor attendant of the Vanir god Freyr attested only in the Poetic Edda poem Lokasenna (prose introduction and stanzas 55 and 66). Surviving texts give her no independent cult or clear domain; modern scholars have proposed she may be an agricultural personification based on name-interpretation and association with Freyr.
Blóðughófi
Blóðughófi (variant Blóðhófr) is a named mythic horse in Old Norse poetic tradition attested in þulur (name-lists) as the steed associated with the god Freyr, glossed literally as "Bloody Hoof." The attestations are primarily catalogic rather than narrative, and no extended mythic episodes or independent powers are directly ascribed to this horse in the surviving cited materials.
Community Record
- [1]Bergelmir — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, entry 'Bergelmir'.wiki
- [2]Bergelmir — Wikidata. Wikidata item Q266233.other
- [3]A Cosmogonia Nórdica / Norse Cosmogony (archive). Archive.org recording referenced in research notes.other
- [4]Quoted scholarly commentary (Jan de Vries; Robert D. Fulk) as summarized in sources. Summary of linguistic and philological commentary (e.g., Jan de Vries on name etymology; Robert D. Fulk on lúðr gloss) as cited in the collected sources.academic