Jötnar

After gaining supernatural protection from his dead mother, Svipdag reached the mountain dwelling where Menglöð lived. Outside the walls, he saw the ogre people’s dwelling and a dangerous flame. A guardian named Fiolsvinn barred his way and asked whom he sought. Svipdag gave his name as Wind-cold, and said that Spring-cold was his father and Very-cold his grandfather.

Svipdag questioned Fiolsvinn about the dwelling and its ruler. Fiolsvinn answered that Menglöð held power over the property and its halls. The gate was called Noise-clang. Three sons of Sun-blind had made it, and a strong fetter seized anyone who tried to lift it. The surrounding wall was called Gastropnir. Fiolsvinn explained that no stranger could enter safely. The wall drove away an uninvited visitor, the gate held anyone who touched it, and two wolf-dogs guarded the entrance, with one always awake while the other slept.

Svipdag asked whether the dogs could be distracted. Fiolsvinn said that pieces of flesh from the cock Vidofnir could satisfy them. Yet the only weapon able to kill Vidofnir was held by a giantess. She would surrender it only in exchange for a scythe lying inside the cock’s body. The conditions formed a closed path. Svipdag needed the weapon to pass the dogs, but he could not obtain it without first securing the scythe and killing the cock.

Svipdag’s identity revealed the means of overcoming this impasse. He was admitted to Menglöð’s presence and proved himself to her. Menglöð, who had waited for him at her mountain home, accepted him as her bridegroom. The dwelling is described as containing several halls with open courts, their gold casting light across the surrounding plain.

Loki cut off Sif’s golden hair, and Thor threatened to break every bone in his body unless he put matters right. Loki went to the dwarfs in Svartalfheim. The Sons of Ivaldi made a golden wig for Sif, the spear Gungnir for Odin, and the ship Skidbladnir for Frey. The spear never missed its mark. The hair would grow when placed on Sif’s head. The ship could sail over sea and land, and could be folded and carried in a pouch.

Loki was pleased by these gifts, then became greedy. He told Brokk that Brokk’s brother could not make treasures equal to those of the Sons of Ivaldi. Loki wagered his head on the result. Brokk accepted, and the brothers began their work. One brother placed a pig hide in the forge and ordered the bellows to be worked without pause. A fly bit Brokk, but he continued until the forge produced Gullinbursti, a boar with golden bristles. It could move through air and water faster than any horse, and its bristles lit the darkest cave.

The brothers then forged the ring Draupnir and the hammer Mjolnir. Loki tried to disrupt the work by taking the form of a gadfly and biting Brokk while he worked the bellows. Brokk endured the attack, though the fly’s bites forced him to stop briefly. The hammer was completed with its handle a little too short. Brokk took the three treasures and went with Loki to Asgard, where the gods would judge the wager.

The decision was given by Odin, Thor, and Frey. Loki presented Odin with Gungnir, Thor with Sif’s golden hair, and Frey with Skidbladnir. Brokk presented Frey with Gullinbursti, Odin with Draupnir, and Thor with Mjolnir. The gods chose the dwarfs’ treasures as the greater marvels. Loki had lost the wager and ran for his life.

Loki fled after causing Baldr’s death. He built a house with four doors, so he could watch in every direction for anyone approaching. He often changed into a salmon and hid in the waterfalls of Franang. There he made a net from flax and yarn, then burned it when he saw the Aesir coming. Odin had discovered his hiding place from Hlidskjalf. Kvasir saw the ashes, understood what Loki had made, and helped the Aesir produce another net from its pattern.

The Aesir cast the net into the river. Loki swam between two stones, and the net passed over him. They weighted it and cast it again. Loki swam towards the sea, then turned back because he feared the dangers of the deep water. He leaped over the net and returned upstream. On the next attempt, the Aesir dragged the net along the river while Thor waded behind it. Loki leaped once more. Thor caught him, but his grip slipped towards the tail. He seized him firmly at last, and this was said to explain the salmon’s narrow tail.

The gods took Loki to a cave. They set three rocks upright and bored a hole through each one. They changed Loki’s son Vale into a wolf, and the wolf tore his brother Narfe, also called Nare, to pieces. The gods used the dead son’s intestines to bind Loki across the rocks, with one beneath his shoulders, one beneath his loins, and one beneath his legs. A serpent was placed above him, so that its venom fell on his face.

Sigyn stayed beside Loki and held a vessel over him to catch the poison. While the vessel was full, the venom did not touch him. When she had to empty it, the poison fell on Loki, and his pain caused the earth to shake. She returned to shield him again, and Loki remained bound beneath the serpent.

Odin rode Sleipnir through Jotunheim when he met the giant Hrungnir. Hrungnir boasted that his horse, Gullfaxi, could take longer strides than Sleipnir. Odin rode on to Asgard, but Hrungnir followed him in anger and entered the gods’ hall. The gods gave him drink in Thor’s bowls. He emptied them and began to boast that he would take Valhal to Jotunheim, destroy Asgard, and kill the gods, sparing only Freyja and Sif, whom he would carry away.

Thor then arrived, and Hrungnir was close to being crushed. The giant said that Thor would gain little honour by killing an unarmed foe. He challenged him to a duel at Grjottungard, at the boundary of his territory. Hrungnir had left his shield and flint-stone at home, but promised to return with them. Thor accepted the challenge. The giants treated the proposed fight as a matter of great importance.

They built a champion of clay named Mokkerkalfe, who stood beside Hrungnir. One account gives his height as nine rasts and his breadth between the shoulders as three rasts. It also says that he had a mare’s heart. He was terrified when Thor appeared. Hrungnir stood at Grjottungard with a broad stone shield before him and a flint-stone in his hands. Thjalfe, who had come with Thor, told him that Thor was approaching from below and would attack through the earth. Hrungnir placed the shield beneath his feet and seized the flint-stone with both hands.

Thor advanced through the air amid lightning and thunder. He and Hrungnir threw their weapons at the same time. The hammer continued on its course and struck Hrungnir, shattering his skull. Part of the flint-stone struck Thor in the forehead, and the giant fell across him, with one foot over Thor’s neck. Thjalfe fought Mokkerkalfe, who trembled and fell. No one could move Hrungnir’s leg until Thor’s three-year-old son Magni lifted it. Thor later returned to Thruthvang. Orvandel’s wife removed the piece of flint from his head with magic songs, but one fragment remained lodged there.

The builder was raising a strong burg for the gods, using huge stones that his magic stallion, Svaðilfari, dragged to the wall. The gods had agreed to pay him Freyja, the sun, and the moon if he completed the work in one winter. If any part remained unfinished on the first day of summer, the agreement would be void. Svaðilfari worked so well that the wall advanced faster than the gods expected, and they began to fear that the builder would succeed.

Loki was asked to stop him. As the builder led Svaðilfari down to the quarry one evening, Loki changed into a mare and came from the thicket beside the path. The mare neighed, shook her tail, and ran towards the woods. Svaðilfari broke free from his harness and followed her. The builder called after him, shouted, and cursed, but the stallion did not turn back. He returned in the morning, after the lost night had made the builder’s work impossible to complete on time.

The builder became furious. He revealed that he was a giant, and the gods lost their tempers. Thor was called to deal with him. In one account, Thor struck the giant with Mjolnir, and the blow broke his skull into small pieces and sent him down to Niflhel. The wall was therefore left unfinished, and the builder did not receive the promised payment.

Later, Loki gave birth to a foal. It was grey and had eight legs, or eight feet in one account. The foal followed Loki and treated Loki as its mother. It grew into Sleipnir, a huge stallion who could outrun the wind and was the fastest and strongest horse there had ever been or would be. Loki gave Sleipnir to Odin, who claimed him as his own. Sleipnir became the best horse among gods and men.

Odin called the gods together, with Tyr and Thor at their head, and led them into Jotunheim to bring Loki and Angrboða’s children to Asgard. After facing many dangers, they reached Angrboða’s keep. She was away, and the children were playing in the great hall. The gods seized them and carried them away. The wolf Fenrir was bound to a stripped pine trunk and muzzled with knotted willow. The serpent Jörmungandr was taken with a rope around its neck. Hel walked beside them, appearing as a beautiful young girl to some and as a dead, blackened corpse to others.

Odin questioned Hel. She said that she was the daughter of Angrboða and Loki, and that she preferred the dead because the living looked at her with revulsion. Odin declared that she would rule the deepest dark places and govern the dead from all nine worlds. Those who died through disease, old age, accidents, or childbirth would belong to her. Warriors who died in battle would go to Valhalla. The gods cast Jörmungandr into the deep ocean. It grew until its body encircled the earth. Its venom was fated to kill Thor at Ragnarök.

The gods brought Fenrir up among them, but his evil nature became clear as he grew. They tried to bind him with chains, and he broke the first two with ease. They then brought Gleipnir, a slender fetter made from the noise of a cat’s paw, a woman’s beard, mountain roots, a bear’s sinews, a fish’s breath, and a bird’s spittle. Fenrir suspected a trick and agreed only if a god placed a hand in his mouth as a pledge. Tyr accepted. When Fenrir could not break Gleipnir and the gods refused to release him, he bit off Tyr’s right hand.

Fenrir remained bound until Ragnarök. He was fated to kill Odin in that battle. Hel would keep Odin’s son Balder prisoner. Tyr would later die in the jaws of Garm, Hel’s hound. Thus the children of Loki and Angrboða were placed apart from the gods, while each was given a destiny that threatened them or their world.

Loki watched Baldr receive all the attention and hated it. The gods had made a game of throwing weapons and other objects at Baldr. Every object missed him or struck without causing harm, because Frigg had secured a promise from the elements and other things that they would not injure her son. Baldr stood at the centre of the sport while the gods laughed. Höðr, Baldr’s blind twin, remained apart because he could not see the target and had no weapon.

Loki disguised himself as an old woman and visited Frigg. He spoke of the apparent stoning of a man, pretending not to know that the gods were merely playing with Baldr. Frigg explained the game and its safety. Loki then asked whether every element had sworn not to harm Baldr. Frigg replied that one young mistletoe plant had not been asked to make the promise. When she turned away, the disguised Loki disappeared.

Loki travelled west of Valhalla and found mistletoe growing from a huge oak. He pulled it up and made a weapon from it. In one account, he strengthened the plant by magic and fashioned an arrow. When the gods resumed their game, Loki approached Höðr and offered to guide his aim. He led the blind god into the gathering, gave him the mistletoe weapon, and told him when to throw. A blow from Thor’s thornwood club had just failed to harm Baldr, and the gods were laughing. At Loki’s command, Höðr threw the dart. It struck Baldr, who fell dead. The laughter stopped, and the gods stood in horror. Nanna, Baldr’s wife, saw his lifeless body and died from grief. Loki had brought about Baldr’s death and was later punished for the deed.

Odin entered the hall of Vafþrúðnir, disguised as a poor wanderer and using the name Gagnrad. He had set out against Frigg’s advice, wishing to test his knowledge against the giant, who was known for his wisdom. Frigg warned that no giant was as powerful as Vafþrúðnir. She wished Odin a safe journey and hoped that his mind would be sufficient when he spoke with the giant.

Odin greeted Vafþrúðnir and asked whether the giant was wise or very wise. Vafþrúðnir challenged the stranger, asking who he was and why he addressed him in a hostile manner in his own hall. Odin answered that he was Gagnrad. The two then began their contest of knowledge.

Vafþrúðnir questioned Odin about ancient matters. Odin answered questions about the horses that draw day and night, the river that divides the lands of the gods and the sons of giants, and the plain where Surt and the gods meet in battle. He named the night horse Frost-mane. Foam falls from the horse’s bit each morning, and this produces dew in the valleys. He named the dividing river Ifing. It flows freely for all time, and ice never forms upon it. Odin also answered the other questions put to him, proving his knowledge.

The contest then turned. Vafþrúðnir invited Gagnrad to question him, with both of them wagering their heads on the outcome. The giant answered Odin’s questions about the gods and the world without hesitation. At last Odin asked what he had whispered into Baldr’s ear before Baldr was placed upon the funeral pyre. Vafþrúðnir understood then that his guest was Odin, since no one else could know the answer. He had failed in the contest and lost the wager.

Skaði came to the gods seeking payment for the death of her father, the giant Thjazi. She wore a helmet and coat of mail and carried his shield and spear. Odin agreed to let her choose a husband from among the gods, but imposed one condition: she could judge them only by their feet. The rest of each god would remain covered.

The gods stood behind a covering with their feet showing. Skaði saw a pair that looked smooth and clean. She believed they belonged to Balder, whom she thought could have no ugly part. When the covering was removed, she found that she had chosen Njörðr, a god of chariots and the father of Frey and Freya. His feet were smooth because he often walked barefoot through the waves. Skaði married him, though she looked deeply unhappy at the wedding feast.

The gods had also required her to laugh. Thor told Loki to make her do so, since Loki was responsible for the bargain. Loki returned from the animal pens with an angry billy goat. He tied one end of a rope to the goat’s beard and the other to his own private parts. The goat pulled, causing pain and confusion, until Loki fell into Skaði’s arms. She laughed, and the bargain was fulfilled. Odin then gave her two wet marbles, which she recognised as her father’s eyes. He threw them into the sky, where they became twin stars.

Njörðr loved his hall beside the ocean, while Skaði loved her snowy mountain home at Thrymheim. They first tried living in the mountains. After nine nights of thunderstorms and howling wolves, Njörðr could bear it no longer. They moved to his hall by the sea, but Skaði could not sleep through the crashing waves and crying seabirds. After nine more nights, she returned to the mountains. They remained husband and wife, but lived apart because neither could endure the other’s landscape.

Thor awoke and found Mjölnir missing. He searched for the hammer, then asked Loki for help. Loki went to Jotunheim in a feather shirt and found Þrymr, who admitted that he had hidden the hammer eight leagues under the earth. He would return it only if Freyja came to him as his bride. Loki carried this message back to Thor and the other gods.

The gods asked Freyja to marry Þrymr, but she refused. Thor was then told to disguise himself as the bride. He objected to wearing women’s clothing, but Loki warned that the giants would rule Asgard if Þrymr kept the hammer. Thor put on the bridal dress and veil. Loki travelled with him as his handmaiden. The gods sent word to Þrymr that the bride would arrive after nine nights. Thor and Loki rode to Jotunheim in a goat-drawn chariot.

Þrymr believed that Freyja had come to marry him. He prepared a banquet and invited the frost giants. During the feast, the veiled Thor ate everything within reach, including a whole roasted ox, and drank two barrels of mead. Þrymr was surprised, but Loki explained that the bride had not eaten for eight nights because she was so eager for the wedding. When Þrymr lifted the veil, he saw eyes like sizzling coals. Loki said that the bride had not slept for eight nights for the same reason.

Þrymr’s older sister asked for rings in exchange for offering the bride her loyalty. Þrymr called for Mjölnir and had it brought to the wedding. As soon as the hammer was returned, Thor threw off his disguise. He seized Mjölnir and killed Þrymr. He then killed the other frost giants who had attended the feast.

As Ymir fell, blood poured from his wounds and drowned the whole race of frost giants. One giant escaped with his household. The giants called him Bergelmir. He and his wife survived the flood, and later races of frost giants came from them.

The Prose Edda calls the vessel in which they escaped an ark. Bergelmir and his wife went aboard it and remained there while the waters covered the giants’ world. A verse recalls Bergelmir as born countless winters before the earth was made. The speaker remembers this first, then describes the ancient giant lying safely in his ark during the disaster.

The vessel is named a lúðr. The word usually means a box or chest. It may also mean a cradle, and in another poem it seems to refer to a ship. The ark interpretation therefore belongs especially to the Prose Edda’s account, which presents the drowning as a flood narrative.

Another reading preserves a different image. The verse is said to place Bergelmir, identified there as Aurgelmer’s grandson, on a mill or on its supporting timbers. This interpretation treats his survival story as connected with being ground in the mill, rather than escaping in a boat. An early edition changed the wording to say that he went into a boat, but later editions removed that reading.

Whatever the interpretation of the lúðr, Bergelmir and his wife survive Ymir’s death. Their descendants continue the race of frost giants after the other giants have been drowned.

Loki ran beside Idunn and told her that he had seen a tree bearing golden apples like hers. He said they should cross Bifrost, take her apples with them, and compare them with the fruit on the tree. Idunn carried her ash box of apples and followed him into the forest. When she stepped away from the bridge, Þjazi came in the shape of an eagle, seized her and carried her, with the apples, across the sea to Jotunheim. He took her to his home in Thrymheim.

The gods depended on Idunn’s apples to remain young and strong. Without them, they began to grow old and weak. Odin called a meeting at Gladsheim, but Loki and Idunn were absent. The gods realised that Loki was responsible. They found him asleep in a field, bound him, and dragged him before Odin. Loki admitted that the eagle had been Þjazi and that he had promised to bring Idunn and her apples from Asgard, because otherwise Þjazi would have killed him.

Loki agreed to recover them. Using Freyja’s feather cloak, he flew as a falcon to Thrymheim. He found Idunn waiting in fear in a drafty room while Þjazi was away. Loki changed Idunn into a nut and carried her towards Asgard in his claws. Þjazi returned, discovered her absence, changed into an eagle, and pursued him. The giant was stronger and began to gain on Loki.

Odin watched the chase from Hlidskjalf. He ordered the gods to gather wood shavings and build a great fire. Loki flew over the flames, but Þjazi could not clear them. The fire burned him up. Loki then spoke magic words to the nut, and Idunn appeared among the gods again, young and fresh. Her apples were recovered, and the gods could eat them once more.

The gods had tried to restrain Fenrir with large iron fetters, but the wolf broke them apart. They then brought him Gleipnir, a narrow enchanted band that looked like silken flax. Fenrir suspected deceit. He said he would allow the gods to bind him only if one of them placed a hand in his jaws as a pledge that they would release him if he could not break free. The gods looked at one another, but none offered a hand.

Týr, Odin’s son, stepped forward and raised his right hand. Fenrir lay on his side, and Týr placed the hand in his mouth. Some accounts say he had done this before, when Fenrir was a young wolf and they had played together. The gods wrapped Gleipnir around Fenrir’s legs. They challenged him to break it, as he had broken the other bonds. Fenrir strained and twisted, but the band grew stiffer with every effort. He could not free himself.

Fenrir then bit down on Týr’s wrist and severed the hand. Týr made no sound. The gods kept out of reach of the wolf’s jaws while they secured Gleipnir. In one account, they threaded it through a stone as large as a mountain and fastened it beneath the ground, then drove another rock deep into the earth. Fenrir accused Odin of treachery and said he would kill him when the end of all things came. The gods left him bound.

At Ragnarök, Fenrir is released from his magical restraints. He kills Odin and devours him. Vidar, one of Odin’s sons, avenges his father by slaying the wolf.

Odin rode towards Fenrir across the plain of Vigrid. He wore his golden helmet and shining armour and carried the spear Gungnir. The gods and the fallen warriors from Valhalla and Folkvang had armed themselves for the final battle. Fenrir had broken free from his magical restraints and advanced against Odin. The wolf was vast, larger than the sun and the moon. Odin thrust his spear into its mouth, but Fenrir snapped it, crunched it and swallowed it. He then killed Odin and devoured him.

Víðarr, Odin’s silent son, watched his father die. He stepped towards Fenrir as the wolf gloated over its victory. Víðarr placed one foot on the wolf’s lower jaw and seized the upper jaw with his hand. His other foot bore a shoe made from pieces of leather cut from the toes and heels of people’s shoes. With his strength, he tore Fenrir’s mouth apart and killed the wolf, avenging Odin.

Around them, the other battles reached their ends. Surt cut down Frey. Tyr and the hound Garm killed each other. Heimdall and Loki also killed each other. Thor struck the Midgard Serpent with Mjolnir, then staggered nine paces and died from its venom. The sun darkened, the earth sank into the sea, the stars fell, and fire spread over the world. Smoke rose around Yggdrasil, and the graves of gods, giants and humans were swallowed by the sea. After this destruction, the earth rose again, green and covered with golden fields, and the gods awakened.