In
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, VÃðópnir () is a mythological bird inhabiting the top of the Norse world tree,
Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil () is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.
Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in t ...
— sometimes positioned on the brow of another cosmic bird.
Representation
According to the eddic poem, ''
Fjölsvinnsmál
''Fjölsvinnsmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Lay of Fjölsvinn') is the second of two Old Norse poems commonly published under the title ''Svipdagsmál'' "The Lay of Svipdagr". These poems are found together in several 17th-century paper manuscripts with ' ...
'', VÃðópnir or VÃðófnir is a rooster that inhabits the crown of the world tree, variously represented as a falcon, sitting between the eyes of the cosmic eagle
Hræsvelgr at the top of the tree of life,
MÃmameiðr
In Norse mythology, MÃmameiðr (Old Norse " Mimi's tree"Simek (2007:216)) is a tree whose branches stretch over every land, is unharmed by fire or metal, bears fruit that assists pregnant women, and upon whose highest bough roosts the cock VÃðà ...
(Mimi's Tree), a vast tree taken to be identical with the World Tree, Yggdrasil.
Sources
Viðópnir occurs in one Norse medieval source aside from ''Fjölsvinnsmál'', a tiny phrase in
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
's ''Eddu-brot'', where it guards the gate to the lands where in
Hél's
Hel or Hell lies, the six-metre high Icelandic waterfalls of
Gjallandi (literally, "the yelling"). Hel was one of the children of the trickster god
Loki
Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...
, and her kingdom was said to lie downward and northward.
Viðópnir seems rather identical to
Veðrfölnir and the eagle.
See also
*
Veðrfölnir
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidopnir
Birds in Norse mythology
Mythological galliforms