In the earliest, pre-creation epoch of Norse myth Ymir arose in Ginnungagap—the grassless void where the cold of Niflheim/Élivágar met the heat of Muspell. According to the sources summarized in the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Ymir formed from atter (eitr), the yeasty venom that dripped from the icy Élivágar; he existed contemporaneously with the primeval cow Auðumbla. In Snorri's account the brothers Odin, Vili and Vé slew Ymir and used his body to fashion the cosmos: flesh into earth, blood into seas (an immense flood is reported at his death), bones into mountains, hair into trees, brains into clouds, skull into the heavens, and eyebrows into Midgard. Poetic sources likewise present Ymir (under variant names Aurgelmir/Brimir/Bláinn) as the ancestor of the jötnar; scholarly summaries note that some sequence and synthesizing detail is emphasized in Snorri's Prose Edda relative to the poetic corpus.
The poetic sources provide little pictorial detail beyond indicating Ymir's status as an immense, primordial jötunn whose body, after death, becomes the physical world. Poetic Edda stanzas record unusual generative anatomy—offspring issuing from beneath his armpits and a six-headed jötunn produced by his feet—emphasizing his role as ancestor rather than giving conventional humanlike description. The attestations also record variant names (Aurgelmir, Brimir, Bláinn) applied to this being in different contexts.
Ymir's principal functions in the sources are generative and material: he begets progeny in an unorthodox manner (a male and female growing beneath his armpits; a six-headed jötunn from his feet), establishing him as ancestor of the jötnar (Poetic Edda, Vafþrúðnismál). After his death at the hands of Odin, Vili and Vé, his body is the raw material for cosmogenesis—his flesh, blood, bones, hair, brains and skull become earth, sea (with his blood causing an immense flood), mountains, trees, clouds and sky (Poetic/Prose Edda summaries). The sources do not attribute other active powers, ongoing behaviors, or magical practices to Ymir beyond these cosmological roles.
Weaknesses
- conditionslain by the gods Odin, Vili and Vé (attested cause of death)
Wards
None recorded.
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.
Bergelmir
Bergelmir is a jötunn in Norse mythology, attested as a descendant of the primordial giant Aurgelmir (Ymir) and portrayed as the survivor who preserves the frost-jötunn line after the primeval flood caused by Ymir's death. He appears in two primary Old Norse contexts: the poem Vafþrúðnismál (where he is implied to be an infant laid in a lúðr) and Snorri Sturluson's Gylfaginning (where he and his wife escape on a lúðr).
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.
Community Record
- [1]Ymir (Wikipedia). Wikipedia: 'Ymir' article summarizing Poetic Edda and Prose Edda accountswiki
- [2]Poetic Edda (poetic corpus summarized). Summarized stanzas from the Poetic Edda as presented in the provided research notes (e.g., Vafþrúðnismál references to Aurgelmir/Brimir/Bláinn and birthing details).literary
- [3]Prose Edda (Snorri Sturluson) — summarized account. Summarized Prose Edda material as presented in the provided research notes describing Ymir's formation from atter, Auðumbla, and his slaying by Odin, Vili and Vé with consequent cosmological transformations and flood.literary