The Viking myth of creation

This page presents a reasonably brief version of the Viking myth of creation. The information on which this is based is taken from Snorri Sturluson's Edda. This was written in 13th century Iceland, but was based on the stories passed down through generations of scalds (story tellers).

In the beginning there was nothingness known as Ginnungagap. On one side of this there was a land of snow and ice called Niflheim, while on the other there was a land of fire called Muspell.

Eventually the fire and ice from Niflheim and Muspell started to mix in Ginnungagap. As they mixed an evil giant called Ymir rose out of the mixture. Ymir was the first living being.

As Ymir slept he tended to sweat a lot, and one day two of the droplets of sweat from his armpits became a man and a woman (both giants). At the same time his legs produced a six-headed giant by the name of Thrudgelmir. Thrudgelmir then produced a one-headed son called Bergelmir. This giant was the first of the frost giants.

A giant cow called Audumla appeared from some of the ice that had melted in Ginnungagap. She produced four rivers of milk from her udders, and Ymir drank a lot of this milk. For food Audumla licked at a giant block of ice. This block then produced a man named Buri who was the forefather of all the Norse gods.

Buri eventually produced a son called Bor and the two of them fought with the frost giants. This battle raged for a long time as the frost giants kept producing children. Despite the war Bor married a frost giantess called Bestla and they had three sons (Odin, Vili and Ve). These sons took up the fight against the frost giants and eventually killed Ymir. As it fell Ymir's body produced great rivers of blood that drowned all the frost giants apart from Bergelmir and his wife. To survive this flood the brothers built themselves a boat.

From the remains of Ymir's body the brothers created the following:

• his skull became the sky (with four dwarves holding up the corners to stop it falling)
• his brains became the clouds in the sky
• mountains were formed from his unbroken bones
• teeth, jaws and broken bones became the rocks and boulders
• his body was put in Ginnungagap and the flesh became the earth
• rivers, lakes and oceans were formed from his blood
• his hair was used to create trees
• the fortress Midgard was formed from his eyebrows

Following the creation of the earth, Odin, Vili and Ve found two fallen trees. From one (an ash) they produced a man called Ask; from the other (an elm) the woman Embla. These two were given a home in Midgard and were the parents of all people.