HOME
*





Hermóðr
Hermóðr (Old Norse: , "war-spirit";Orchard (1997:83). anglicized as Hermod) is a figure in Norse mythology, a son of the god Odin and brother of Baldr. He is often considered the messenger of the gods. Attestations ''Prose Edda'' Hermóðr appears distinctly in section 49 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''Gylfaginning''. There, it is described that the gods were speechless and devastated at the death of Baldr, unable to react due to their grief. After the gods gathered their wits from the immense shock and grief of Baldr's death, Frigg asked the Æsir who amongst them wished "to gain all of her love and favor"Byock (2005:66). by riding the road to Hel. Whoever agreed was to offer Hel a ransom in exchange for Baldr's return to Asgard. Hermóðr agreed to this and set off with Sleipnir to Hel. Hermóðr rode Odin's horse Sleipnir for nine nights through deep and dark valleys to the Gjöll bridge covered with shining gold, the bridge being guarded by the maiden Móðguðr 'Battle-fr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Hel (location)
Hel (Old Norse: ) is an afterlife location in Norse mythology and paganism. It is ruled over by a being of the same name, Hel. In late Icelandic sources, varying descriptions of Hel are given and various figures are described as being buried with items that will facilitate their journey to Hel after their death. In the ''Poetic Edda'', Brynhildr's trip to Hel after her death is described and Odin, while alive, also visits Hel upon his horse Sleipnir. In the ''Prose Edda'', Baldr goes to Hel on his death and subsequently Hermóðr uses Sleipnir to attempt to retrieve him. Etymology The Old Norse feminine proper noun ''Hel'' is identical to the name of the entity that presides over the realm, Old Norse ''Hel''. The word has cognates in all branches of the Germanic languages, including Old English ''hell'' (and thus Modern English ''hell''), Old Frisian ''helle'', Old Saxon ''hellia'', Old High German ''hella'', and Gothic '' 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰''. All forms ultimately derive f ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Nanna (Norse Deity)
In Norse mythology, Nanna Nepsdóttir (Old Norse: ) or simply Nanna is a goddess associated with the god Baldr. Accounts of Nanna vary greatly by source. In the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, Nanna is the wife of Baldr and the couple produced a son, the god Forseti. Mythology After Baldr's death, Nanna dies of grief. Nanna is placed on Baldr's ship with his corpse and the two are set aflame and pushed out to sea. In Hel, Baldr and Nanna are united again. In an attempt to bring back Baldr from the dead, the god Hermóðr rides to Hel and, upon receiving the hope of resurrection from the goddess Hel, Nanna gives Hermóðr gifts to give to the goddess Frigg (a robe of linen), the goddess Fulla (a finger-ring), and for others (unspecified). Nanna is frequently mentioned in the poetry of skalds and a Nanna, who may or may not be the same figure, is mentioned once in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditiona ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sleipnir
In Norse mythology, Sleipnir (Old Norse: ; "slippy"Orchard (1997:151). or "the slipper"Kermode (1904:6).) is an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. Sleipnir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Sleipnir is Odin's steed, is the child of Loki and Svaðilfari, is described as the best of all horses, and is sometimes ridden to the location of Hel (location), Hel. The ''Prose Edda'' contains extended information regarding the circumstances of Sleipnir's birth, and details that he is grey in color. Sleipnir is also mentioned in a riddle found in the 13th century legendary saga ''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks'', in the 13th-century legendary saga ''Völsunga saga'' as the ancestor of the horse Grani, and book I of ''Gesta Danorum'', written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus, contains an episode considered by many scholars to involve Sl ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Hel (being)
Hel (Old Norse: ) is a female being in Norse mythology who is said to preside over an underworld realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century. In addition, she is mentioned in poems recorded in ''Heimskringla'' and ''Egils saga'' that date from the 9th and 10th centuries, respectively. An episode in the Latin work ''Gesta Danorum'', written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus, is generally considered to refer to Hel, and Hel may appear on various Migration Period bracteates. In the ''Poetic Edda'', ''Prose Edda'', and ''Heimskringla'', Hel is referred to as a daughter of Loki. In the ''Prose Edda'' book ''Gylfaginning'', Hel is described as having been appointed by the god Odin as ruler of a realm of the same name, located in Niflheim. In the same source, her appearance is described as half blue an ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Frigg
Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wetland halls of Fensalir. In wider Germanic mythology, she is known in Old High German as , in Langobardic as , in Old English as , in Old Frisian as ''Frīa'', and in Old Saxon as , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *''Frijjō''. Nearly all sources portray her as the wife of the god Odin. In Old High German and Old Norse sources, she is specifically connected with Fulla, but she is also associated with the goddesses Lofn, Hlín, Gná, and ambiguously with the Earth, otherwise personified as an apparently separate entity Jörð (Old Norse: 'Earth'). The children of Frigg and Odin include the gleaming god Baldr. The English weekday name Friday (ultimately meaning 'Frigg's Day') bears her name. After Christianization, t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Móðguðr
In Norse mythology, Móðguðr (Old Norse: , "Furious Battler"; also Modgud) refers to the female guardian of the bridge over the river Gjöll ("Noisy"), Gjallarbrú. She allowed the newly dead to use the bridge to cross from one side of the river Gjöll to the other if the soul stated their name and business, and possibly in turn prevented the dead beyond the river from crossing back over Gjöll into the lands of the living. ''Gylfaginning'' In the book ''Gylfaginning'', at the end of chapter 49, the death of Baldr and Nanna (Norse deity), Nanna is described. Hermóðr, described as Baldr's brother in this source, sets out to Hel on horseback to retrieve the deceased Baldr. To enter Hel, Hermóðr rides for Numbers in Norse mythology, nine nights through "valleys so deep and dark that he saw nothing" until he arrives at the river Gjöll ("Noisy") and its bridge, Gjallarbrú, which is guarded by Móðguðr. The bridge is described as having a roof made of shining gold. Hermóðr cr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Fulla
Fulla (Old Norse: , possibly 'bountiful') or Volla (Old High German, 'plenitude') is a goddess in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Fulla is described as wearing a golden band and as tending to the ashen box and the footwear owned by the goddess Frigg, and, in addition, Frigg confides in Fulla her secrets. Fulla is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in skaldic poetry. Volla (''Folla'') is attested in the "Horse Cure" Merseburg Incantation, recorded anonymously in the 10th century in Old High German, in which she assists in healing the wounded foal of Phol and is referred to as Frigg's sister. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the goddess. Name The Old Norse name ''Fulla'' has been translated as 'bountiful'. It stems from Proto-Germanic ''*fullōn'' ('fullness, plenitude'; cf. Gothic ''fullo'' 'fullness', OHG ''foll ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Bragi
Bragi (; Old Norse: ) is the skaldic god of poetry in Norse mythology. Etymology The theonym Bragi probably stems from the masculine noun ''bragr'', which can be translated in Old Norse as 'poetry' (cf. Icelandic ''bragur'' 'poem, melody, wise') or as 'the first, noblest' (cf. poetic Old Norse ''bragnar'' 'chiefs, men', ''bragningr'' 'king'). It is unclear whether the theonym semantically derives from the first meaning or the second. A connection has been also suggested with the Old Norse ''bragarfull'', the cup drunk in solemn occasions with the taking of vows. The word is usually taken to semantically derive from the second meaning of ''bragr'' ('first one, noblest'). A relation with the Old English term ''brego'' ('lord, prince') remains uncertain. ''Bragi'' regularly appears as a personal name in Old Norse and Old Swedish sources, which according to linguist Jan de Vries might indicate the secondary character of the god's name. Attestations Snorri Sturluson writes i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Baldr
Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was known in Old English as , and in Old High German as , all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym ('hero' or 'prince'). During the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story. Compiled in Iceland during the 13th century, but based on older Old Norse poetry, the ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' contain numerous references to the death of Baldr as both a great tragedy to the Æsir and a harbinger of Ragnarök. According to ''Gylfaginning'', a book of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Baldr's wife is Nanna and their son is Forseti. Baldr had the greatest ship ever built, Hringhorni, and there is no place more beautiful than his hall, Breidablik ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Sons Of Odin
Various gods and men appear as sons of Odin or sons of Wodan/Wotan/Woden in old Old Norse language, Old Norse and Old High German and Old English language, Old English texts. Thor, Baldr, Víðarr and Váli Four gods, Thor, Baldr, Víðarr and Váli, are explicitly identified as sons of Odin in the Eddic poems, in the skaldic poems, in Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum'', and in the ''Gylfaginning'' section of Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda''. But silence on the matter does not indicate that other gods whose parentage is not mentioned in these works might not also be sons of Odin. Other gods called sons of Odin by Snorri Sturluson In various kennings, Snorri also describes Heimdallr, Bragi, Týr and Höðr as sons of Odin, information that appears nowhere else in the ''Edda''. # For Heimdall, there is no variant account of his father. # The same may not be true for Bragi if Bragi is taken to be the skaldic poet Bragi Boddason made into a god. # But Týr, according to the Eddic ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Gjöll
Gjöll (Old Norse: ''Gjǫll'' ) is the river that separates the living from the dead in Norse mythology. It is one of the eleven rivers traditionally associated with the Élivágar, rivers that existed in Ginnungagap at the beginning of the world. According to Snorri Sturluson's ''Gylfaginning'', Gjöll originates from the wellspring Hvergelmir in Niflheim, flowing through Ginnungagap, and thence into the worlds of existence. Gjöll is the river that flows closest to the gate of the underworld. Within the Norse mythology, the dead must cross the Gjallarbrú, the bridge over Gjöll, to reach Hel (realm), Hel. The bridge, which was guarded by Móðguðr, was crossed by Hermóðr during his quest to retrieve Baldr from the land of the dead. In ''Gylfaginning'', Gjöll is one of eleven rivers that rise from Hvergelmir. In the following chapter, these are called the Élivágar and are said to have flowed in Ginnungagap in primordial times. Gjöll has a parallel with similar mytholo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Draupnir
In Norse mythology, Draupnir (Old Norse: , "the dripper"Orchard (1997:34).) is a gold ring possessed by the god Odin with the ability to multiply itself: Every ninth night, eight new rings 'drip' from Draupnir, each one of the same size and weight as the original. Draupnir was forged by the dwarven brothers Brokkr and Eitri (or Sindri). Brokkr and Eitri made this ring as one of a set of three gifts which included Mjöllnir and Gullinbursti. They made these gifts in accordance with a bet Loki made saying that Brokkr and Eitri could not make better gifts than the three made by the Sons of Ivaldi. In the end, Mjöllnir, Thor's hammer, won the contest for Brokkr and Eitri. Loki used a loophole to get out of the wager for his head (the wager was for Loki's head only, but he argued that, to remove his head, they would have to injure his neck, which was not in the bargain) and Brokkr punished him by sealing his lips shut with wire. The ring was placed by Odin on the funeral pyre of ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]