Gods of ancient Scandinavia list and description. Norse mythology

Freya

Freya, Freya ("lady"), in Scandinavian mythology, the goddess of fertility, love and beauty, daughter of Njord and sister of Frey.
Freya's greatest treasure was the Brisingamen necklace, which she bought during four nights of love with the dwarves who made it. The beauty of the blue-eyed goddess captivated many admirers, including Ottar, a descendant of Sigurd, whom she turned into a boar to always keep in Asgard.
Freya is a constant object of desire for the Jotuns Thrym and Hrungnir, the builders of Asgard. Like all Vanir, she understood magic and could even fly.
For example, flying over the earth, the goddess sprinkled morning dew and summer sunlight, spring flowers fell from her golden curls, and tears, falling on the ground or into the sea, turned into amber.
Searching for her missing husband Odra (possibly a hypostasis of Odin), Freya, accompanied by a flock of spirits of love, flew all over the heavens; however, she often traveled in a chariot drawn by affectionate cats; so she came to Balder's funeral. Freya, according to some myths, has two daughters - Hnos ("precious stone") and Gersimi ("treasure"), and some sources claim that it was she who taught the gods of Asgard the charms and spells of the Vanir. At the same time, it was believed that Freya shared fallen warriors with Odin every day, like a Valkyrie, which contradicts her characterization as a Vanir goddess and indicates a mixture of Freya and Frigg.

Like other Vanir, Freya travels on a chariot harnessed to cats - animals common to Middle Eastern goddesses of love, but unusual to the Scandinavian North.

Church painting in Schleswig. XII century.

Freya is depicted here in the guise of a witch riding a cat.

Valkyries removing the dead

Valkyries (“choosers of the slain”), in Scandinavian mythology, warlike maidens participating in the distribution of victories and deaths in battles, assistants to Odin. Valkyries were originally sinister spirits of battle, angels of death who took pleasure in the sight of bloody wounds. In horse formation they rushed over the battlefield like vultures, and in the name of Odin decided the fate of the warriors. The chosen heroes of the Valkyries were taken to Valhalla - the “hall of the slain,” the heavenly camp of Odin’s warriors, where they perfected their military art. In later Norse myth, the Valkyries were romanticized into the Shieldmaidens of Odin, virgins with golden hair and snow-white skin who served food and drink to favored heroes in the banquet hall of Valhalla. They circled over the battlefield in the guise of lovely swan maidens or horsewomen, riding on magnificent pearl cloud horses, whose rainy manes watered the earth with fertile frost and dew.
According to Anglo-Saxon legends, some of the Valkyries were descended from elves, but most of them were the daughters of noble princes who became the chosen Valkyries of the gods during their lifetime, and could turn into swans.
Valkyries became known to modern man thanks to the great monument of ancient literature, which remained in history under the name “Elder Edda”. Here, the warrior maidens had names corresponding to their essence - Göndul, Hun, Rota, Skögul, Sigrdriva, Sigrun, Svava, Skuld and others. Many of them, the most ancient ones, cannot be translated. Among the later ones, the most famous are Hlekk ("the sound of battle"), Trud ("strength"), Krist ("amazing"), Mist ("foggy"), Hild ("battle"). The images of Icelandic mythical warrior maidens served as the basis for the creation of the popular German epic “The Song of the Nibelungs.” One of the parts of the poem tells about the punishment received by the Valkyrie Sigrdriva, who dared to disobey the god Odin. Having given victory in battle to King Agnar, and not to the courageous Hjalm-Gunnar, the Valkyrie lost the right to take part in battles. By order of Odin, she fell into a long sleep, after which the former warrior maiden became an ordinary earthly woman.
Another Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, after her marriage to a mortal, lost her superhuman strength, her descendants mixed with the goddesses of fate, the Norns, who spin the thread of life at the well.
The Scandinavians believed that by influencing victory, warrior maidens held the fate of humanity in their hands.
Judging by later myths, the idealized Valkyries were gentler and more sensitive creatures than their fierce predecessors, and often fell in love with mortal heroes.
The tendency to deprive the Valkyries of sacred spells was clearly visible in the tales of the beginning of the 2nd millennium, in which the authors often endowed Odin’s warlike assistants with the appearance and fate of real inhabitants of Scandinavia at that time. The harsh image of the Valkyries was used by the German composer R. Wagner, who created the famous opera "Walkyrie".

Bragi, in Scandinavian mythology, the skald god, son of Odin and the giantess Gunnhold, husband of Idunn, keeper of rejuvenating apples. Bragi was born in a stalactite cave where his mother Gunnhold kept the honey of poetry. The miniature dwarfs gave the divine child a magic harp and sent him sailing on one of their wonderful ships. On the way, Bragi sang the touching “Song of Life,” which was heard in heaven and the gods invited him to their abode of Asgard.
When Loki, with his characteristic dexterity, organized the murder of Balder and returned to Asgard, Bragi demanded that the vile instigator leave, since the gods did not want his presence. Loki called Bragi a braggart, and he threatened to turn Loki's head away. Despite Odin's attempts to calm the crowd, Braga's words enraged Loki.
Having predicted the death of the gods as a farewell, he left Asgard. Perhaps Bragi, the god of poetry and eloquence, is a god of later origin, which is associated with the deification of poetic inspiration, since skalds in the Scandinavian royal courts were revered almost as much as rulers. Bragi was usually depicted as a bearded old man with a harp, and his name was sealed with solemn oaths pronounced over the so-called Cup of Braga. According to some scientists, there is a possible connection between the skald god and the historical Bragi Boddason (IX century).

Idunn (“renewer”), in Scandinavian mythology, the guardian goddess of wonderful rejuvenating apples. Her husband was the son of Odin, the god of eloquence Braga. The magic apple tree was cherished and protected by three wise Norns. Only the goddess of spring Idunn was allowed to collect wonderful fruits. From her inexhaustible casket, Idunn distributed golden apples, thanks to which the gods maintained eternal youth. The giants wanted to steal these precious gifts, wanting to deprive the gods of their strength and youth. One day, the god of fire Loki was captured by the giant Tiazzi, and in exchange for freedom he promised to steal golden apples from Idunn. Returning to Asgard, Loki told Idunn about apples that supposedly had even more miraculous properties and were found nearby; the trusting goddess went with him to the forest, where Tiazzi was waiting for her in the guise of an eagle.
With his clawed paws he grabbed Idunn along with her apples and carried her to Etunheim, the land of giants. The loss of the apples immediately aged the gods, their eyes became clouded, their skin became flabby, and their minds weakened. The threat of death looms over Asgard.
Eventually, Odin gathered his remaining strength and found Loki. Threatening him with death, he ordered the traitor to immediately return Idunn and the wonderful apples. Loki, turning into a falcon, flew into the domain of Tiazzi, turned Idunn into a nut and returned home with her. The giant in the guise of an eagle set off after them and tried to overtake the fugitives, but, flying over the high walls of Asgard, he burned in the flames of the fires built on the walls and turned into a handful of ash. Loki returned Idunn to her real appearance, and she distributed apples to the sick gods. Legends about golden apples, a symbol of youth and fertility, are known in Greek mythology (apples of the Hesperides).

Sif

Siv (Sif), in Scandinavian mythology, goddess, wife of Thor. From her first marriage she had a son, Uu, the god of archers and skiers. Siv was famous for her wonderful golden hair (apparently a symbol of fertility). There is a well-known myth about how Loki cut off her hair, and then, at Thor’s request, forced the miniatures to forge for Siv a magical wig made of golden threads, which looked wonderful: even the weakest breeze blew thick golden strands, and, in addition, the hair itself grew on her head . Deciding to please the gods and leave them in their debt, the dwarfs used the heat remaining in the forge to make the folding ship Skidbladnir for the fertility god Frey and the magic spear Gungnir for Odin.
Returning from the forge to the abode of the gods Asgard with a wig, a ship and a spear, Loki met the dwarf brothers Brokk and Eitri. They appreciated the skill with which these wonderful things were made. Loki invited them to forge something better and even bet his own head that they would not be able to surpass the miniatures. Touched to the quick, the brothers made for Thor the magic hammer Mjollnir, the thunderstorm of giants.
The suffering of the beautiful Siv, who lost her thick hair at the evil whim of Loki, was identified by the Scandinavians with winter, when stubble remains in the fields instead of a golden field.

Sigunn

Sigunn, Sigyn, Sigrun, in Scandinavian mythology, the faithful wife of the fire god Loki and the mother of his sons, Nari and Narvi. When, at a feast of the gods at the sea giant Aegir, Loki insulted everyone present, they decided to punish him: Loki was imprisoned in a cave and tied with the intestines of his own son Nari. Then the giantess Skadi, Njord's wife, attached a snake over the head of the evil god, which exuded a burning poison.
So he had to wait for Ragnarok, the day of the death of the gods. Despite all her husband’s atrocities, Sigunn remained faithful to him and eased his suffering by collecting poison in a cup. However, when the cup filled and she left to empty it, the poison dripped onto Loki's face, causing him to shudder. The Vikings saw this as the cause of earthquakes.

How Loki was punished

Aegir's feast lasted until winter. Fearing that in his absence the giants would capture Asgard and Mitgard, Thor had long since rushed off to the east again, but all the other Ases and elves remained in the palace of the lord of the seas, drinking beer from the cauldron brought by the god of thunder and listening to Bragi, who told Aegir numerous stories about his exploits gods.
The servants of the sea god, Fimafeng and Eldir, were so dexterous and treated the guests so well that it seemed that the beer itself was pouring from the cauldron into the bowls standing on the table. The skill of both servants aroused admiration among the Aesir, who showered them with praise. This immediately aroused the anger of the envious god of fire. Having become drunk from drinking beer, he could not, as usual, restrain himself and, finding fault with the fact that Fimafeng accidentally touched him with his elbow, killed him on the spot with a blow of his sword.
Outraged by his action, the Aesir jumped up from their seats in indignation.
- You deserve punishment, Loki! - Odin exclaimed. “But out of respect for our master, we will not shed your blood here.” Leave us and don't you dare come back here again.
Frightened by the wrath of the gods, Loki went out and wandered around Aegir's palace for a long time. His anger did not subside, but grew every hour. When Braga’s voice reached his ears and he heard the cheerful laughter of the Aesir, the god of fire could not stand it and again headed to the banquet hall.
“You’re going there in vain, Loki,” Eldir, whom the god of fire met along the way, stopped him. - The gods are already angry with you, don’t provoke their anger in vain.
- I am not afraid of anything! - the god of fire answered proudly. - Look how I'm going to ruin their fun now.
- Oh, you can't escape trouble! - exclaimed Aegir's faithful servant.
But Loki, pushing him away, boldly entered the hall.
At the sight of him, the god of poets and skalds fell silent, and the other guests stopped laughing.
- Why don’t you tell me further, Bragi? - Loki asked him, boldly approaching the table. - Or were you scared of me? I know that you can speak, but you are a coward and are afraid of battles and battles.
“When we get out of here, I’ll show you what a coward I am,” answered Bragi, blushing with anger.
- Stop quarreling in someone else's house! - Odin said sternly. - Shut up, Bragi. And you, Loki, must have lost your mind if you came here to start a quarrel with us!
“I would probably listen to you, Odin, if you were really wise and fair,” the god of fire mockingly objected to the ruler of the world. - But you are no better than all of us. Remember how many times you have broken your vows and promises; remember how many times, when solving cases and disputes between people, you awarded victory not to those who deserved it, but to those who you liked best. You were the first to shed the blood of the Vanir, you deceived Gunnled by stealing her “Poetic Mead.” No, Odin, I won’t listen to you anymore.
- Shut up, impudent one! - Tyr shouted, rising from his seat. - How dare you talk to the oldest and wisest of us like that! Be silent, or you will pay dearly for every word you say!
“Remember the hand that my son bit off for you, and stop threatening me,” Loki replied, “or you will lose the other one too.”
“Calm down, Loki, and go home,” Njodr said conciliatoryly. “Then you yourself will regret everything you said here.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” said the god of fire, sitting down at the table. - You, Njodr, are our hostage and you have no right to talk to me like that.
“Even though my husband is a hostage, he didn’t go around as a mare for a whole year and didn’t give birth to foals,” Skadi intervened. - Go away, Loki. The gods have banished you, and there is nothing left for you to do here!
“You say that because your father died because of me, Skadi,” Loki laughed. “But I’m not afraid of you or the gods and I’ll stay here.”
- No, you have to leave! - Heimdall exclaimed. -Can you hear thunder in the distance? It's Thor returning. Run before it's too late.
“If you had accompanied us to Jotunheim and seen how your famous god of thunder was hiding in the gauntlet of the giant Skrimir, you would not have frightened me with it,” Loki answered.
But at that moment Thor appeared at the door of the hall and, hearing the last words of the god of fire, shook with anger.
- Go away, Loki! Get away from here, or my Mjolnir will silence you forever! - he thundered, raising his hammer.
“Okay, I’ll leave,” Loki said more calmly. “I know that in battle no one can stand against you, but still,” he added, reaching the door, “I didn’t tell you what I wanted.” Know that because of me Balder died and because of me he did not return from Hel, because I put an arrow of mistletoe into Hod’s hands and in the form of the giantess Tokk did not cry for him. Farewell!
With these words, he rushed to run and, before the Asa, struck by anger and horror, were ready to go after him, he disappeared from their eyes.
Having reached the first river, Loki turned into a salmon and dived into the water. He swam here for several days, afraid to stick his head out, and then he began to think about what to do next.
“Of course, the Aesir will not find me here,” he said to himself, “but I can’t remain a fish all my life. What if I move to Jotunheim, to the giants? They will help me hide in some cave, and I for this I will teach them how to defeat Thor and take over Asgard."
Deciding that he couldn’t come up with anything better than this, Loki crawled ashore and, having regained his previous appearance, was about to set off, but the god of fire forgot about Odin. Sitting on his throne in Asgard, the ruler of the world immediately noticed Loki and pointed to Asam. The crafty god had to turn into salmon again, but this time his former friends already knew where to look for him.
They took her net from the goddess Ran and, blocking the mouth of the river in which Loki swam, led it up against the current. So As reached the high waterfall blocking the hand, but when they pulled her ashore there was nothing in her except a simple fish.
“Loki is lying at the bottom between the stones, and the net passed over his head,” Heimdall immediately guessed. “We must tie some heavy weight to the lower edge of the net, and then it will not leave us.”
The gods listened to his advice and again, lowering the net into the water, they dragged it, this time downstream.
Seeing that this time he could not lie down at the bottom, Loki swam to the sea, but in time he remembered the voracious predatory fish that were found there and which could easily swallow him.
“No, it’s better for me to stay in the river,” he thought and, waiting until the gods came close to him, he jumped over the top edge of the net.
- You can catch me as much as you want, I still won’t fall into your hands! - he laughed, quickly sinking to the bottom.
“Wait,” Asam Thor said to the desperate ones. - You drag the net, and I will wade in the middle of the hand. Let's see how he can deceive us then.
Unaware of the impending danger and sincerely amusing himself at the fact that he was forcing the exhausted gods to drag a heavy net behind them for the third time, Loki impatiently waited for them to approach him again so that they could repeat their jump. However, this jump turned out to be his last. The mighty hand of the thunder god intercepted him in the air, and no matter how he resisted, he could not escape.
The god of fire did a lot of bad things in his life, but his punishment was even worse. The Aesir took Loki to the highest of the rocks of Mitgard and chained him there by the hands and feet, and Skadi, avenging her father, hung a poisonous snake over his head, from whose mouth poison was continuously dripping. True, Loki’s faithful wife, Signi, sits next to her husband day and night, holding a large bowl over him, but when this bowl overflows with poison and Signi steps aside to throw it out, drops of poison fall on the face of the god of fire, and then he writhes in terrible agony. From this, the whole of Mitgard trembles and what people call an earthquake occurs.

Skadi

Skadi, Skade (“destruction”), in Scandinavian mythology, the goddess of the hunt, skier, wife of the god Njord and daughter of the giant Tjazzi. The gods killed her father, who had stolen Idunn's rejuvenating apples, and Skadi, wearing a helmet and chain mail, came to their fortress to avenge him. Refusing the gold, she demanded that the gods make her laugh and give her a husband. They agreed that she would choose a husband based on her legs. Mistakenly believing that the most beautiful legs must certainly belong to Odin's son, Balder, Skadi made a choice, but it turned out that these were the legs of Njord, the sea god of the Vanir. Loki made the “unlaughable” laugh when he tied the beard of a goat to his genitals. The young couple soon decided to live separately, since Skadi did not love the sea and swans, but mountains and wolves. Nevertheless, the giantess visited Njord from time to time, and when the gods finally imprisoned the evil Loki in a cave, it was she who placed a snake oozing poison over his head.

Goddess Frig and Odin

Frigg, Frija (“beloved”), in German-Scandinavian mythology, the goddess of marriage, love, family hearth, the wife of Odin (Wodan), sitting next to him on the throne of Hlidskjalve, from where the divine spouses could view all nine worlds. Frigga, "having knowledge of fate, never predicted it."
When Balder, her beloved son, was tormented by disturbing dreams, Frigga took an oath from all things and creatures that they would not harm him. The exception was the shoot of mistletoe, which she did not take into account. This turned out to be a mistake, because the blind Hod, at the instigation of the fire god Loki, threw a mistletoe rod at Balder and accidentally killed him. Frigg tried to rescue her son from the kingdom of the dead, but failed because the evil Loki refused to mourn Balder. A devoted wife and mother, Frigg had much in common with Freya; both goddesses were probably descended from the divine earth mother

Scandinavian world tree

World tree

In many mythologies, the center of the world, where earth and sky meet, is considered to be a mountain similar to the Greek Olympus - the gods live on its top. In Scandinavian mythology, heaven and earth, in addition to the rainbow bridge, were connected by a giant tree - the Yggdrasil ash tree. The prophetess Völva calls it the “tree of measure” or “tree of the limit” and recalls those times of first creation when it had not yet sprouted. The main sanctuary of the Aesir is located near it.

Gylvi the Equal-Tall tells the inquisitive about Yggdrasil: “That ash tree is larger and more beautiful than all the trees. Its branches are stretched over the world and rise above the sky. Three roots support the tree, and these roots spread far. One root is among the aces, the other is among the frost giants, where the World Abyss used to be. The third reaches towards Niflheim, and under this root is the Boiling Cauldron stream, and from below the dragon Nidhogg gnaws this root.” It seems that this text completely confuses the reader who wants to understand the Scandinavian mythological picture of the world: after all, the roots of a tree, with a crown extending into the sky, should be in the underworld. Here it turns out that one reaches simultaneously into the abyss and Jotunheim - the northern country of frost giants, and the other generally into the sky or towards the center of the world - towards the aces.

An 11th-century memorial stone from Altuna in Sweden depicts Thor fishing.

This funny story about a cowardly giant and Thor's revenge serves as a prelude to the world drama when, in the last times, the Serpent himself crawls onto land and fights the Thunderer.

On an 11th century runestone from Sweden we see a giantess riding a wolf.

The image is apparently associated with the myth of the giantess Hurrokin. Her name means "Wrinkled by Fire" and she was associated with the ritual of burning.

On an 11th century rune stone from Sweden, Loki is bound. The mysterious Loki, called the “cunning ace,” was always ready for betrayal. It is not for nothing that the most shameless lies are called “Loki’s lies” or “Loki’s advice.”

In general, Odin is the central character of Scandinavian mythology, its “driving force,” its “core”: no mythological event can occur without his explicit or indirect participation. He is the Father of the gods and at the same time the All-Father, constantly interfering in the affairs of deities and people; sometimes it seems that he takes certain actions only in order not to get bored himself and not to let others get bored. So, it was at the instigation of Odin that Loki steals the wonderful necklace of Brisingamen from Freya, for which Loki then had to fight with Heimdall at the Singastein stone, and both gods took the guise of seals. It was Odin who started the war between the Aesir and the Vanir by throwing his magic spear Gungnir at the Vanir, which had the property of returning to the owner after a throw, like a boomerang, and could not miss. It is Odin who starts the feud between the kings Hedin and Hegni, as a result of which the squad of the Hyadnings (a variant of the Einherjar) dies; The Valkyrie Hild, because of whom the feud broke out, awakens the dead with her witchcraft, and the next night they again enter into a battle that is destined to last forever. Finally, it is Odin who leads Sigurd - the hero of the Scandinavian heroic epic - to his tragic fate.

One has many faces and bears many names. He is most often described as a tall old man wearing a wide-brimmed hat that covers his face and a loose blue cloak; however, he changes his appearance so easily that, as evidenced by the Eddic “Song of Harbard,” even his own son Thor is unable to recognize him. As a rule, Odin is identified by that same wide-brimmed hat - or by the wonderful eight-legged horse Sleipnir, or by the ravens and wolves accompanying the supreme god. The names of the ravens are Hugin and Munin, that is, “Thinking” and “Remembering,” and the names of the wolves are Geri and Freki, that is, “Greedy” and “Gluttonous.”

One

Odin, Thor and Freyr. Tapestry (XII century). One holds an ax and a spear in his hands, Thor holds the hammer Mjolnir, Frey holds an ear of grain. The stylized tree to Odin's left is the Yggdrasil ash tree.

Odin and his ravens - Hugin (left) and Munin. Illustration for the Prose Edda (1760).

One of these names, specifically One-Eyed, is associated with the myth of Odin’s acquisition of the “eternal” wisdom of the frost giants. The myth says that Odin gave his eye to the giant Mimir for the right to drink from the source of wisdom guarded by the giant (although the verse from the “Divination of the Velva” -

"the wise Mimir drinks

honey every morning

from Odin's mortgage" -

can also be interpreted in such a way that it is Mimir who joins the wisdom emanating from the eye of Odin). According to another version of the myth, for the sake of the giant’s wisdom, Odin sacrificed himself and hung for nine days, pierced by his own spear, on the ash tree Yggdrasil. As a result of this shamanic initiation (let's not forget that Odin is the sorcerer god, the bearer of magic galdr) he received the right to drink sacred honey from the hands of his grandfather, Hrimturs Belthorn, after which Belthorn passed on the magic runes to his grandson

Tales of Heroes

We can safely say that Scandinavian literature grew out of Old Icelandic literature. The discovery and settlement of Iceland was one of the results of the Viking campaigns. The famous Icelandic scientist Jonas Kristiansson writes: “On their fast and strong ships, the Vikings crossed the seas like lightning, struck islands and coasts and tried to create new states in the west - in Scotland, Ireland and England, in the south - in France and in the east - in Rus'.
But the tribes that inhabited these lands were so powerful that the small groups of foreigners gradually dissolved among the local population, losing their national traits and language.
The Vikings could only hold out on those lands that were not inhabited before their arrival. Iceland remained the only state created during this period by the Vikings.

Arn the Wise (1067-1148), the first Icelandic author to write a short history of Iceland ("The Book of the Icelanders"), reports that the first settler settled there "a few years after 870. According to another ancient source, this happened in 874 ". The history of Icelandic literature, as well as the history of the country, goes back more than a thousand years. Tales of gods and heroes that have come down to us thanks to the songs of the Elder Edda are known all over the world.
The Elder Edda is a collection of mythological and heroic songs preserved in a single copy, the Royal Codex, found in Iceland in 1643. Until recently, this parchment was kept in Copenhagen, but in April 1971, many Old Icelandic manuscripts, by decision of the Danish parliament, were transferred to Iceland, where the Icelandic Manuscript Institute was created in its capital, Reykjavik, whose purpose is to promote the dissemination of knowledge about the Icelandic language people, their literature and history. All Old Icelandic poetry is divided into two types of poetic art - Eddic poetry and skaldic poetry.

Eddic poetry is distinguished by the fact that its authorship is anonymous, its form is relatively simple, and it tells about gods and heroes, or contains the rules of worldly wisdom. The peculiarities of Eddic songs are their richness in action, each song is dedicated to one specific episode from the life of gods or heroes, and their extreme brevity. The Edda is conventionally divided into two parts - songs about the gods, which contain information on mythology, and songs about heroes. The most famous song of the "Elder Edda" is considered to be "The Prophecy of the Völva", which gives a picture of the world from its creation to the tragic end - the "death of the gods" - and a new rebirth of the world.

Early Icelandic poetry is associated with pagan beliefs. Many of the oldest poems are dedicated to pagan gods, and the art of versification itself was considered a gift from the supreme god Odin. There are also songs of all-Germanic origin in the Elder Edda - for example, songs about Sigurd and Atli. This tale is of South German origin and is best known from the “Song of the Nibelungs.” The rules of poetry and the retelling of Old Norse mythology are contained in the Prose Edda, written by the skald Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241).

The Elder Edda was translated into Russian three times - the first time by the talented translator and researcher of ancient Icelandic literature S. Sviridenko, in Soviet times by A. Korsun, and most recently by V. Tikhomirov, who prepared his translation together with the largest modern Scandinavian medievalist O Smirnitskaya. Before the revolution of 1917, there were a great many adaptations and retellings of Old Norse myths in Russia. After 1917, only one adaptation of these myths for children was published, belonging to Yu. Svetlanov.
However, recently a wonderful book by the modern Danish writer Lars Henrik Olsen, “Erik the Son of Man,” appeared in Russian, which is a written journey through the world of gods and heroes in a fascinating form.

Thor and the giants

Kidnapping of Idunn

Loki's altercation

Brynhild and Gunnar

Death of Balder

The giants Fafner and Fasolt,

The gods are looking for the treasure of the Rhine maidens.

Thor in battle with Hymir

Elder Edda

This song is about heroes and gods, the creation of which dates back to the end of the 12th century. Today it is not known whether the manuscripts that have come down to us were the first or whether they had some predecessors earlier. It is also not known what the history of these songs is, since most researchers of the Scandinavian epic have different points of view on this matter. Not all of the songs that appear in this epic originated in Iceland, and the range of their origin in time varies up to several centuries. In the epic there are also songs whose motives have clear South Germanic features, as well as characters and motifs in which their origins from the Anglo-Saxon epic can be clearly traced.

Most of these songs, according to researchers, arose much earlier, when writing did not exist in Iceland at all. The Elder Edda is an epic, but a very unique one. Instead of the usual lengthy and somewhat leisurely epic for this style, which most epics represent, here we can see a rather condensed and dynamic song, which in a small number of words and stanzas sets out the fate of people and gods, their actions and words.

The songs of this epic do not represent a single whole, and it is clear that, unfortunately, only a part of the manuscripts has reached us. In some of them, the same plot is interpreted in completely different ways. In general, the songs of the Elder Edda can be divided into songs about heroes and songs about gods. It is the latter that contain very rich material, which is the most important in the knowledge of Scandinavian paganism and the mythology of the ancient Vikings.

Odin's farewell.

One hugs his wife Frigga before the fight.

Germanic god Tyr

God Ull

Odin's Wild Hunt

Fenrir bites off Tyru's hand. Illustration for the Prose Edda (1760).

Loki persuades the blind god Hed to shoot Balder. Illustration for the “Elder Edda” (19th century).

Tethered Loki

Freya

Freya

Freya and Freyr

One leaned over the other, offering help

Death of Balder

One

Njord

Velva's farewell

Loki's altercation

Death of Tiazzi

Head of Mimir

Trip to Jotunheim

ELVES IN ANCIENT Ireland

Thor and the Giant King

But this is the story that once happened to the god of thunder. One evening, after a hearty dinner and copious libations, Thor and his friends fell into a deep sleep. It was then that some scoundrel entered Thor’s chamber. He took the precious hammer and disappeared, unnoticed by anyone.
The next morning the gods discovered the loss and were in confusion. Thor was terribly angry and did not know what to do. Then the gods decided to help him and ordered Loki to find out what was what. And the cunning Loki immediately announced that without the swan wings of the goddess Freya, he would barely drag himself along the earth. Although Loki himself had magic shoes that took him anywhere, he really wanted to fly over the most distant countries. Loki assumed that the hammer was most likely stolen by Thrym, the king of the land of giants. Wanting to be sure, he circled for a long time over the dense forest and finally saw the king of the giants, who was sitting on a huge rock as if on a roadside stone and weaving collars for his monstrous dogs. Thrym immediately admitted to stealing the hammer. As it turned out, he prudently hid it deep underground. A simpleton is a simpleton, but he came up with a trick, and what a trick!.. In exchange for the hammer, he demanded the beautiful Freya as his wife!
Loki was in despair: would the daughter of the sea god agree to this? Both gods and mortals worshiped the incomparable beauty of the goddess of love and marveled at her pride: Freya did not wear jewelry, except for one golden necklace. And so, hearing about Thrym’s impudent demand, the goddess in anger almost tore her favorite necklace and flatly refused to take the rude Thrym as her husband. Thor became enraged and decided to destroy the country of giants. However, Loki calmed his ardor, reminding him that without a hammer he was unlikely to cope with the giants... Thor had to cool down.
And then Loki and the god Heimdall came up with a way to fool Thrym. True, Thor had to be persuaded for a long time: he had to change into a woman’s dress and go on a date with the giant instead of Freya. Thor was afraid that they would make fun of him, but Loki offered to accompany him, assuming a female guise for company, and Thor succumbed to persuasion. With a gloomy grumble, he put on his wedding attire: a veil, a wreath, jewelry... They put it on him in front, cut it at the back to hide his broad shoulders at least a little - a crude trick, but Thrym and his relatives were famous not only for their wild belligerence, but also stupidity...
Thor harnessed the sacred goats to the cart and went to the land of the giants, Loki was his guide. The gods wandered for a long time and finally appeared before Thrym and his foolish subjects. After the welcoming speeches, as a sign of special favor, the guests were offered food. Hungry Thor completely forgot that he had to play a modest bride, and as usual attacked the food: he swallowed a whole bull, eight salmon, devoured all the pies and washed down his dinner with as many as three barrels of honey!
Thrym was terribly surprised. “I’ve never seen such voracious girls!” - he grumbled dissatisfiedly.
Having come to his senses, Thor answered him in a thin voice: “Freya dreamed so much of seeing Thrym’s palace that she didn’t have a drop of poppy dew in her mouth for a whole week!”
The tender giant leaned over and wanted to kiss his bride, but Thor could not resist and threw a withering look at him. The hold immediately recoiled. Before allowing any tenderness, the “newlywed” demanded that she be shown the gifts. Burning with impatience, Thrym agreed, and his own magic hammer appeared before Thor's eyes. Thor tore off his veil with lightning speed, grabbed a weapon, killed every single giant and razed their palace to the ground! And then, without wasting a minute, he went back to the incomparable goddess Freya.

Aces(Old Norse aesir, singular ass) in Scandinavian mythology there are two groups of gods. Aesir and Vanir. The Aesir are the main group of gods, led by Odin (the father of most of the Aesir), sometimes a designation for gods in general. They live in the heavenly city of Asgard . At first, the Aesir were at enmity with the Vanir, they had a war. But then the Aesir decided to make peace and gave Henir hostage to the Vanir, and took Frey hostage for themselves. Since then, the Aesir and Vanir have always been together. The Aesir themselves who are ruled by Odin are twelve: In addition to Odin, these are Thor, Tyr, Balder, Hed, Vidar, Ali, Foresti and Loki. In some languages ​​(for example, in English), the names of the days of the week are formed partly from the names of the Aesir: wednesday (Wednesday) - “Odin’s Day” (or Wotan, which is the same; Here Odin appears as if in the role of the Roman Mercury , the god of trade, to whom Wednesday is also dedicated), thursday (Thursday) - “Thor’s Day”, friday (Friday) - “Freya’s Day”
The Younger Edda says that the Aesir appeared in Scandinavia from a country “near the middle of the earth.”

The "Younger Edda" lists 12 aesirs: Odin, Thor, Tyr, Heimdall, Höd, Vidar Ali (or Vali), Forseti, Loki. In addition to them, Balder and Frey are named as the sons of Odin and Njord, but Thor's sons Magni and Modi are not mentioned , Hoenir is omitted, who in the Elder Edda is invariably present in the wandering trinity of aesir. (Odin-Loki-Hoenir) The presence in this list of Njord and Frey, who are Vanir by origin, and the absence of Hoenir is perhaps explained by the fact that, according to the myth of the war between; by the Aesir and the Vanir, Njord and Frey were taken hostage to the Aesir after the conclusion of peace, and Hönir went to the Vanir as a hostage from the Aesir. The Younger Edda also lists 14 goddesses (“asin”): Frigg, Saga, Eir, Gefion, Fulla, Freya, Sjön, Lovn, Var, Ver, Shun, Hlin, Snotra, Gna, and then also mentions Sol and Bil, separately from the goddesses he lists Valkyries and in conclusion he mentions the inclusion of Jord and Rind among the goddesses. From this list, in myths, mainly Frigg and Freya (who comes from the Vanir) appear in myths, and very rarely Gefion and Fulla. But, in addition, among the wives of the Aesir, Siv, the wife of Thor, and the wife of Bragi, are often mentioned, as well as Skadi (the giant’s daughter), the wives of Njord, who entered the community of the Aesir after the death of her father. Yord appears only in the designation of Tor as the "son of Yord", and Rind appears only as Vali's mother. On known grounds, among the goddesses, Gerd, the wife of Frey, Naina, the wife of Balder, and Sigyn, the wife of Loki, could also be mentioned (the Younger Edda, among the guests at the feast of the giant Aegira, names in one place the goddesses Frigg, Freyja, Gefion, Skadi, Idunn , Siv, and in the other - Frigg Freya, Gefion, Idunn, Gerd, Sigyn, Fullu, Nannu). After the war of A. Vanov) (see about it in the article) the Aesir assimilate the Vanir).
The inclusion of the word “as” in the proper names of various Germanic tribes and Jordan’s mention of the cult of the Ases among the Goths testifies to the pan-German spread of the idea of ​​the Ases before the Germans adopted Christianity.
A number of medieval sources (in the “Prologue” to the “Younger Edda”, in the “Saga of the Ynglings”) talk about the origin of the Aesir from Asia. Some scientists (in particular, the Swedish archaeologist B. Salin) tried to prove that this story has a historical basis. However, the Ases turned out to be connected with Asia, probably only by consonance. The etymology of the word “aces” apparently goes back to mythological ideas about some kind of spirits or souls in the body (especially at the moment of unconsciousness and death) and about the souls of the dead. This etymology most closely matches the characteristics of Odin, who is indeed considered the main ace. About the Aesir as the main group of Scandinavian gods.

Balder- (Old Norse Baldr, “lord”) in Scandinavian mythology, the god of spring and the kindest of the Aesir. He is fabulously handsome. With his arrival, life awakens on earth and everything becomes brighter and more beautiful.
Balder is the beloved son of Odin and Frigg, brother of Hermod, husband of Nanna, father of Forseti. He is beautiful, bright, blissful; his eyelashes are compared to snow-white plants. He lives in Asgard, in the hall Breidablik where bad deeds are not allowed. Balder is called wise and brave, but in fact he is a passive, suffering deity, apparently a cult victim.

The continental Germans have no clear traces of the myth of Balder. An attempt by the German scientist F. Genzmer to discern hints of the myth of Balder in the so-called. The second Merseburg spell is unproven. There is a hypothesis by the German researcher O. Höfler about the image of Balder in the South Scandinavian cave paintings of the Bronze Age. However, the custom of burning a dead person in a boat, clearly reflected in the Scandinavian myth of Balder, dates back to the late Iron Age.
The myth of Balder is mainly known from the "Divination of the Völva" (" Elder Edda") and especially in the Eddic style poem “The Dreams of Balder” (otherwise known as “The Song of Vegtam”), included as an additional song in the “Elder Edda,” as well as in the “Younger Edda,” where there is a coherent prose story about Balder. According to the myth, the young god began to have ominous dreams that foreshadowed a threat to his life. Having learned about this, the gods gather for a council and decide to protect him from all dangers. Odin goes to Hel (the kingdom of the dead) to find out the fate of Balder from the völva (seer); The völva, awakened by Odin from his mortal sleep, predicts that Balder will die at the hand of the blind god Höd. Frigg took an oath from all things and creatures - from fire and water, iron and other metals, stones, earth, trees, diseases, animals, birds, snake venom - that they would not harm Balder; She did not take an oath only with an insignificant shoot of mistletoe. One day, when the gods were amusing themselves by shooting at Balder, who had become invulnerable, the malicious Loki (who had learned by cunning from Frigga that mistletoe did not take an oath) slips a mistletoe rod to the blind god Höd, and he kills Balder. (“Younger Edda”). The Völva's Divination also reports that Höd killed Balder with a mistletoe rod, but is silent about the role of Loki (only the mention of the subsequent punishment of Loki by the gods indicates, apparently, that Loki's role in the murder of Balder is known to him too source). The gods lift Balder's body, carry it to the sea and place it on a boat called Hringhorni (only the giantess Hyrrokkin manages to push it into the water); Balder was burned in the boat. In the “Speeches of Vafthrudnir” from the Elder Edda, there is also mention of a secret word that Odin spoke into the ear of his dead son when he was lying on the fire. Nanna dies of grief and is placed on Balder's funeral pyre, along with his horse and Odin's golden ring. Draupnir.
Vali(the “one-day-old” son of Odin and Rind) takes revenge on Höd for the murder of Balder (“The Divination of the Völva,” “Son of Balder”), and Hermod, Balder’s brother, goes on Odin’s horse Sleipnir to the kingdom of the dead (hel) in order to free Balder. (“Younger Edda”); Mistress Hel agrees to let Balder go, but on the condition that everything living and dead in the world mourns him. Everyone cries except for the giantess Tökk, whose guise was taken by the same Loki, and Balder remains in hel. The gods punish Loki, who is responsible for the death of Balder.
The myth of the death of Balder is a kind of introduction to the Scandinavian eschatological cycle - his death serves as a harbinger of the death of the gods and the whole world (see Ragnarok). In the renewed world that will arise after the death of the old one, B., who has returned to life, reconciles with his killer Höd, who has also come to life (“The Divination of the Völva”).
A peculiar echo of the myth of Balder in the form of a heroic legend is found in the “Acts of the Danes” by Saxo Grammar. He has B. (Balderus) - a demigod. Seeing Nanna, Hotherus's half-sister, while swimming, B. falls in love with her. Höd himself loves Nanna and marries her, but Balder pursues him. To kill B., Höd takes out the Mimming sword and, on the advice of the forest maiden, a wonderful food made from snake venom and a belt that gives victory. Höd mortally wounds Balder; he is buried in a hill. The Finn soothsayer prophesies to Odin that the son of the goddess Rind, whom she will give birth to from Odin, will avenge Balder; the prophecy is coming true.

Scientists-mythologists of the 19th century. they saw Balder as a solar god fighting darkness. German philologists G. Neckel, F. R. Schröder, G. Hempel and some others found in the myth of Balder points of contact with the Scandinavian Vanic cults of fertility (see) and the indirect influence of the Eastern mystery cults of the “dying and rising” god of vegetation (Tammuz, Dionysus, Adonis and especially Attis), and the Norwegian S. Bugge is a barbaric reflection of the myth of Christ. In accordance with the theory of J. Fraser about the king-magician, who is periodically killed or puts up a substitute victim in his place (ritual of renewal of royal power), B. H. Kaufman, and later O. Hoefler, saw Balder as a royal sacrifice; Höfler also saw a similar victim to Balder in the image of Helga. The Dutch Germanist Jan de Vries (who connected Balder, like the above-mentioned authors, with the mythology of Odin) saw here the myth of the appearance of death as the first sacrifice and a reflection of the emergence of the custom of burning corpses, as well as a well-known reflection of military initiations. He considers Höda to be a hypostasis of Odin, and the murder of Balder as a sacrifice to Odin. In modern times, the ritual nature of the drama Balder was argued by the French mythologist J. Dumézil and the Swedish philologist F. Ström, while the Swedish researcher A. B. Ruth considers the myth of Balder as a conglomerate of various motives, formed partly under the influence of the Irish tradition, which knows the motives of the blind man a murderer, a fatal weapon made from a magical plant, an unfortunate shot (Lug’s murder of his grandfather Balor, etc.). Following the German scientist von der Leyen and the Finnish philologist K. Kron, Ruth also admits the influence of the Jewish Talmudic legend about the cabbage stalk (Jesus cannot be hanged, because he spoke to all the trees; Judas points to a huge cabbage stalk).

It is impossible to completely exclude connections between the myth of Balder and fertility cults and ancient Eastern myths, and even more so with Christian influences. However, unlike the Vanir, Balder clearly belongs to the mythology of Odin. At its core, the myth of Balder most likely represents a myth about the first death, complicated by the motives of military initiations (characteristic names: Baldr - lord, Ho?r - fighter, Hermo?r - courageous). It is possible that Höd is the “killer with the hand” (handbani) of Balder - a hypostasis of Odin himself; in a certain sense, Loki - his “council killer” (raibani) is also Odin’s “double”. A very significant difference between the story of B. and other plots of Scandinavian mythology that have received narrative development is that it does not depict a struggle with external forces, but a dramatic collision within the community of the Aesir. This is due both to the cult roots of the tale of Balder, and to the fact that it was included in the Scandinavian mythological tradition.

Bor(Old Norse: Borr, Burr "born") - In Norse mythology, Bor, a son married the daughter of one of frost giants and had three sons: the eldest was called Odin, the second Vili and the third Ve, born to him with Bestla, the daughter of the giant Belthorn.. These are the first aces; they and their descendants were supposed to hold the whole earth under their control.

The Elder Edda mentions the “sons of Bor” as the organizers of the earth (they killed the giant and created the world from his body).

Bragi - (Old Norse Bragir, associated with the word bragr, “poet”, “best”, “chief”, possibly with a drink, cf. Russian “braga”) in Scandinavian mythology - the god of poets and skalds. No one can compose poems and songs as well as he can, and anyone who wants to become a poet must ask for his patronage.
Husband of the Goddess. Braga's name may indicate a connection with a sacred intoxicating drink ( see honey of poetry). The relationship between Enemies and the historical skald Bragi Boddason (9th century) is unclear.

Buri - (Old Norse Buri, lit. "parent") - in Scandinavian mythology the ancestor of the gods. When the cow Audumla licked the stones and ice, hair gradually appeared on the ice floe, and then a man named Buri. He was very handsome, tall and strong. Bor's father and Odin's grandfather.

Vanir (Old Norse: vanir) - In Scandinavian mythology, there are two groups of gods. Aesir and Vanir. The Vanir live in their country - Vanaheim, which approximately coincides with Alfheim, which allows them to be identified with the Alv. At first, the Aesir were at enmity with the Vanir, they had a war. But then the Aesir decided to make peace and gave Henir hostage to the Vanir, and took Frey hostage for themselves. Since then, the Aesir and Vanir have always been together.

They are credited with incestuous relationships between brothers and sisters (cf. similar motifs in Mediterranean agrarian myths in rituals, genetic connections with which are not excluded), witchcraft (the so-called seidr) and the gift of prophecy. The Vanirs include mainly his children - Freyr and Freya. The home of the Vanir is designated by Snorri Sturluson in the Prose Edda as Vanaheim, but in another place he also calls the home of Freyr Alfheim, which indicates a mixture of the Vanir with alvami. The Vanir are contrasted with another, much larger group of gods - the Aesir in the myth of the first war, which is described in the “Prophecy of the Völva” (“Elder Edda”), in the “Younger Edda”, “The Saga of the Ynglings”, in Saxo’s “Acts of the Danes” Grammar. This is an etiological (explanatory) myth about the outbreak of the first war, which put an end to the “golden age”, which was previously unfamiliar with hostility and strife. The reason for the war was the arrival from the Vanir to the Aesir of the evil sorceress Heid (she was also called Gullveig, which apparently means "power of gold"). The Aesir beat her with spears and burned her three times, but she was reborn again. The head of the Aesir, Odin, began the war by throwing a spear towards the Vanir army, but they began to advance, threatening Asgard, the heavenly village of the Aesir. The war ended with peace and an exchange of hostages (the Aesir took the Vanir Njord, Freyr, and also Kvasira, and the Vanir are the aesirs Hoenir and Mimir).

In the Prose Edda, the mention of the first war serves as an introduction to the history of honey extraction in poetry. Researchers suggest that the myth about the war between the Vanir and the Aesir reflected the struggle between the cults of local and alien tribes (possibly Indo-Germanic conquerors with the bearers of a megalithic matriarchal agricultural culture), or various social groups of ancient Germanic society. Interesting, but not very convincing, is R. Höckert’s attempt to interpret the war of the Aesir and Vanir as a war for the sacred honey, embodying a certain cosmic life principle. The Vanir, the guardians of honey, are associated with Heimdall; Gullveig (he deciphers this word as a honey drink) is identified by Höckert with the völva (seer), on whose behalf the speech is made in the “Divination of the Völva”. A parallel to the war of the Asuras and V. in other Indo-European mythologies is the myths about the wars of the Asuras and gods of ancient Indian mythology. J. Dumezil believes that in Indo-European myth the gods representing religious power and fertility were initially separated and that in the clashes between them the main thing is not the war itself, but the conclusion of peace, a treaty. Indeed, as a result of the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, there seems to be a consolidation of the community of gods (the Aesir assimilate the Vanir). But on the other hand, in Scandinavian mythology, the myth of the first war as the first strife after the “golden age” essentially anticipates (especially in the “Divination of the Völva”) the eschatological theme so characteristic of Scandinavian mythology (the death of the young god from the Aesir Balder, the tragic death of the gods and all over the world - see Ragnarok). It is not entirely clear to what extent and in what sense this plot reflects the awareness of the destructive power of gold. It is also unclear whether the triple burning of Gullveig reflects some kind of ritual act (or represents an allegory of metallurgical processing of gold as its destruction).

Vali

Vali (Old Norse: Vali), in Norse mythology, the son of Odin and Rind (stepson of Frigg); a child avenger who, at the age of one day, took revenge on Höðr for the murder of Balder. After the death of the world and the gods (see Ragnarok), Vali, along with other representatives of the “younger generation” of gods, will live in a renewed world.

Vidar

Vidar (Old Norse: Vidarr), in Scandinavian mythology, a silent god, the son of Odin and the giantess Grid. During the last battle before the end of the world (see Ragnarok), he took revenge on the terrible wolf Fenrir, who killed Odin, tearing off his mouth (or, according to another version, piercing him with a sword).

Einherjar (Old Norse einherjar, singular einheri), in Scandinavian mythology, dead warriors living in the heavenly Valhalla and making up the squad of the god Odin. They fight continuously and then feast in Valhalla. The Einherjar are compared with the Hyadnings mentioned in the Prose Edda and other sources - the armies of kings who are always at war with each other. Hedina And Högni; at night after the battle, the Valkyrie Hild - the daughter of Hogni and the wife of Hedin - resurrects the fallen, and the battle continues. A number of authors, especially O. Höfler, compare the Einherjars and Hyadnings also with the terrifying night marches of the dead Harii warriors mentioned by Tacitus and with later German legends about the so-called. "wild hunt" , headed Wotan(chand. One). At the heart of all these legends, Hoefler sees secret military male alliances of the ancient Germans.

Njord or Njodr (Old Norse Niordr) - in Scandinavian mythology, the god - van, the father of Frey and Freya - the god of fertility, wind and the sea elements. After the war with the Aesir, Njord remained with the Aesir in heaven, having married the daughter of the giant Tjazza Skadi, with whom he lives for nine days in his dwelling Noatun (“Ship Yard”, according to the “Younger Edda”, in the sky, but at the same time by the sea ) and the same number in Thrymheim, in the mountains, since Skadi, the daughter of the giant Tjazzi, loves not the sea and swans, but mountains and wolves. As the sea god, Njord is the patron of sailors and fishermen. All winds are under his control.

The Speeches of Vafthrudnir (Elder Edda) says that Njord will return to the Vanir at the end of the world. Njord is rich, has power over the sea, wind and fire, patronizes navigation, fishing, and hunting sea animals. Njord represents the wind and the sea element, but, like the other Vanir, is primarily a god of fertility. This is emphasized by the cult of Nertus described by Tacitus (the exact female equivalent of the name N. among the continental Germans). It is possible that in their genesis Njord and Nerthus are the same ritual couple as Frey and Freya (in the “Saga of the Ynglings” there is a hint that in the country of the Vanir Njord cohabited with his sister). According to the Ynglinga Saga, Njord reigns in Sweden after the death of Odin. J. Dumezil sees the reflection of the myths about Njord and Skadi in the history of Hading in the “Acts of the Danes” by Saxo Grammar.

Heimndal or Heimdal - Old Norse. Heimdallr) in Norse mythology, guardian of the rainbow bridge and the wisest of the Æsir. They see day and night at a distance of 100 miles. And he hears the grass growing in the field and the wool on the sheep. The wise man sleeps less than birds, and his sleep is as light as theirs. His teeth are made of pure gold, and a golden horn hangs from his belt, the sounds of which are heard in all countries of the world.
Designated as “the brightest of the Aesir”, “foreseeing the future like the Vanir”; his nicknames are “golden-horned” and “golden-toothed”, his horse is “golden bangs”. Heimdall - “guardian of the gods” (“Elder Edda”), “son of nine sisters”, “child of nine mothers” (“Heimdall’s Spell” in the “Younger Edda”). Heimdal is considered the son of Odin. Heimdal's dwelling is called Himinbjerg(“heavenly mountains”) and is localized by the Younger Edda near the Bifrost Bridge, connecting heaven with earth. As the guardian of the gods, Heimdal is distinguished by acute vision and hearing; his hearing (according to another interpretation - a horn) is hidden, as reported in the “Divination of the Völva” (“Elder Edda”), under the roots of the world ash tree Yggdrasil(possibly in the same place as Odin's eye). Before the end of the world (cf. Ragnarok) Heimdal blows his trumpet horn gjallarhorn(“loud horn”), calling the gods to the final battle. In the “Speeches of Grimnir” (“Elder Edda”) it is reported that Heimdal drinks honey (in the “Younger Edda” Mimir, the mysterious owner of the source of wisdom, drinks honey from the horn of Gjallarhorn). In skaldic kennings (allegories), the sword is called the head of Heimdal, and the head is called the sword. The skald Ulv Uggason mentions (as reported in the Prose Edda) the struggle between Heimdal and Loki (who took the form of seals) for Freyja’s jewel - Vrisingamen at the Singastein stone. In the battle before the end of the world, Heimdal and Loki fight and kill each other again. In the first stanza of the “Divination of the Völva” people are called the children of Heimdal, and in the prose introduction to the Eddic style poem “The Song of Rig” (“Elder Edda”) Heimdal is identified with Rig - the ancestor and cultural hero, the father of the ancestors of three social groups - the king, the free peasant and slave. Since Rig is a wanderer who knows the runes, R. Meissner and other scientists doubted the original identity of Rig and X., and in Riga they saw rather Odin.

Ull (Old Norse: Ullr, Ullinn) - in Scandinavian mythology, one of the aces, the son of Sif, the stepson of Thor. A wonderful archer. All his arrows hit their target, no matter how far or small it may be. Ull is also the fastest skier. People also learned this art from him. Patronizes athletes and a healthy lifestyle.
In kennings (poetic allegories) he appears as “ace-archer”, “ace-skier”, “ace of the shield” (the shield is called “ash” or “Ull’s ship”). As the skier god, Ull was repeatedly juxtaposed and drawn closer to Skadi. Ull does not have his own myth, but traces of his cult have been found in Sweden and Norway. Saxo Grammaticus in the Acts of the Danes mentions Ollerus, who allegedly reigned in Byzantium after Odin was expelled from there.

Shooting Range

Tire, Tyr Tiu (Old Norse Tug, West German Tiu, probably from Old German Tlwas; hence tivar, one of the designations for the concept of “gods” is the god of war. among the Saxons and Angles it was designated as Saxnot) .

In genesis, Tyr is an Indo-European god, etymologically corresponding to the Greek Zeus - Diaus. This indicates that Tyr was originally the god of the sky. Tacitus describes Tyr under the name Mars, which indicates its military functions. Snorri Sturluson in the Prose Edda says that Tyr is the wise and the bravest, he is called upon in battle and duels; one of the kennings (poetic allegories) Tyr - “god of battle”. In the myth of the wolf monster being curbed by the gods Fenrir(“Younger Edda”) Tyr, in confirmation that the chain placed by the gods on Fenrir will not harm him, puts his right hand into the wolf’s mouth, which Fenrir immediately bites off (hence Tyr’s epithet - “one-armed”). In the myth about Thor's campaign to the giant Hymir for a cauldron for beer, Tyr accompanies Thor and is called the son of Hymir (in other sources he, like all the main aces, is considered the son of Odin). In the last battle before the end of the world (see. Ragnarok) Tyr fights with the demon dog Garm, and they kill each other. It is possible that in this myth Garm supplanted Fenrir, since Odin fought the latter in this battle. In Scandinavian mythology, Odin undoubtedly greatly supplanted Tyr both as a heavenly and as a military god, but if Odin is the god of military magic, then Tyr retained the functions associated with military legal custom. In Odin's kennings the name Tyr Tiu often appears (by comparison) - Tyr is sometimes identified with the Germanic deity Irmin. A close analogue of Tyr is the Celtic god Nuada, also armed with a sword and one-armed.

Salt

Salt (Old Norse Sol, “sun”), in Scandinavian mythology the personification of the sun. Sol is the daughter of Mundilfari and the sister of Mani (the month), the wife of a man named Glen. According to the Younger Edda, the gods sent Sol and Mani to heaven for their pride, ordering Sol to rule two horses harnessed to her chariot. Salt illuminates the world due to sparks flying from Muspellsheim (see Muspell). Giant wolves are chasing Salt, and one of them will swallow Salt before the destruction of the world (see Ragnarok). The personification of the sun among the continental Germans is Sunna, mentioned in the Second Merseburg Charm.

Skadi

Skadi (Old Norse Skadi), in Scandinavian mythology, the goddess is a hunter and skier. Skadi is the daughter of the giant Tjazzi, the wife of the god Njord. The Younger Edda tells that after the Ases killed her father, she put on a helmet and chain mail and came to the Ases to avenge him. Skadi agreed to make peace with them on the condition that the Aesir make her laugh (Loki manages to do this; a typical fairy tale motif is “unlaughable”; in fairy tales it is a form of marriage tests) and give her a husband. Skadi, according to the condition put forward by the Aesir, chooses her husband by his legs and points to Njord (thinking that in front of her is the beautiful Balder). The Ynglinga Saga also mentions Skadi's marriage to

Norns (Old Norse Nornir) in Scandinavian mythology are seers of fate. U Urd source prophetic norns settled. Here stands their luxurious palace, in which they determine the destinies of people from the first day of their life until their death. Three maidens appear to the gods: Urd, Verdandi and Skuld. Past, Present and Future - that's what their names mean. They know everything that will happen to People and Gods. A man is born, and the Norns immediately come to him to judge his fate. Urd, Verdandi and Skuld are the main Norns, but there are many others, good and evil. They give unequal destinies to people: for some, their whole life is in contentment and honor, for others, no matter how much they fight, no share, no will; some have a long life, others have a short one.

It seems to people that the whole point is that the Norns stood at the cradle: if they are kind and from a good family, they will endow the newborn with a good fate. If a person suffered misfortune, then the evil Norns judged him. It also happens that the baby’s parents forget to call one of the Norns or offend her at a feast, and in revenge she does something that is difficult for even the Gods to correct. “One of them was already old and decrepit and was called Urd - the past, the other was middle-aged and her name was Verdandi - the present, the third was very young and bore the name Skuld - the future. These three women were prophetic norns, sorceresses, endowed with a wonderful gift determine the fate of the world, people and even gods."

Idun - Idunn (Old Norse Idunn, possibly “renewing”) in Scandinavian mythology - wife - goddess of eternal youth. She is modest and quiet, but without her the aces would not have been alive a long time ago. Idun has basket of apples eternal youth, with which she treats the gods. This basket is magical, it never gets empty, and for every apple taken out, a new one immediately appears in it.

The Prose Edda tells the myth of the giant's abduction of Tiazzia Idunn and her golden apples and her subsequent rescue. Both the abduction of Idunn and her return to the gods occur thanks to Loki (for the description of the myth, see Art. Loki). A kind of parallel to this myth is the story about Odin’s obtaining honey poetry: in ancient Indian mythology, a drink amrita, in many ways similar to sacred honey, had a rejuvenating effect, and it is possible that on Scandinavian soil the once single myth about the sacred drink that bestows youth turned out to be split into two myths - about a wonderful drink and wonderful fruits. It is possible that the motif of apples was borrowed from the ancient myth of the apples of the Hesperides. Idunn can be considered one of the options for the goddess of fertility.

Ymir - (Old Norse Ymir), in Scandinavian mythology, a gigantic humanoid creature, from whose body the entire visible world was created. Aurgelmir, Brimir, Blain - apparently, his other names. Ymir was born in the moisture of melting frost. He was nurtured by the clan that arose with him. cow Audumla. The salty stones she licked turned into the ancestor of the gods. Ymir gave birth to giants. The sons of Bor (Odin and his brothers) killed Ymir and created the world from individual parts of his body. Ymir's flesh became the earth, his skull became the sky, his blood became the sea, and his bones became the mountains.

The word Ymir etymologically means a double (i.e. bisexual) being or twins. The name of the West German earth-born god Tuisto has the same meaning, with whom Ymir probably coincides genetically (cf. also the Indian god Yama; cf. such words in Indo-European languages ​​as Irish emnin, “twin”, and Latvian jumis, "double fruit")
The myth of Ymir (mentioned in the Elder Edda - in the songs "The Divination of the Völva", "The Speech of Vafthrudnir", "The Speech of Grimnir", as well as in the "Younger Edda") is the main cosmogonic myth of Scandinavian mythology. IN Niflheim(“dark world”), in the north, numerous streams flowed from the stream Hvergelmir (“boiling cauldron”), and from Muspellsheim(“fiery world”), in the south, there was heat and fiery sparks. When the rivers, called Elivagar (“stormy waves”), froze with ice, poisonous frost was released from them, filling the world abyss (Ginungagap). Under the influence of heat from Muspellsheim, the frost began to melt and turned into the giant (jotun) Ymir. The cow Audumla, which emerged from the melted frost, fed him with her milk; from the salty stones that she licked, the ancestor of the gods (father of Bor) arose.

Mimir

Mimir (Old Norse: Mimir), in Scandinavian mythology, the mysterious owner of the source of wisdom located at the roots of the world tree Yggdrasi.l. The origin of Mimir - from the gods, giants or elves - is unclear. “The Divination of the Völva” (Elder Edda) mentions that Mimir drinks honey from a source in which Odin’s eye is hidden, and that Odin, before the start of the last battle of gods and monsters that preceded the end of the world (see Ragnarok), consults with the head of Mimir. The Saga of the Ynglings tells that the Vanir cut off the head of Mimir (who was their hostage after the war between the Aesir and the Vanir) and sent it to Odin, who embalmed it and consulted with it. In the “Younger Edda” it is said that Mimir drinks the honey of a spring from the horn of Gjallarhorn (according to the “Elder Edda”, this is the horn of Heimdall); he stole Odin's eye as a pledge for giving Odin a drink from the source of wisdom. Before Ragnarok, Odin comes to the source and there asks Mimir for advice for himself and his army. There is a mention of the Mimamade tree, which is usually compared with Yggdrasil. The reference to the "children of Mimir" in the Völva's Divination is unclear.

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There are many interesting creatures in Norse mythology. Some are similar to people and gods. Others are on wild animals. But you can also meet completely unusual inhabitants of the nine worlds.

Now, dear reader, I will tell you about all the creatures that are found in the myths of the ancient Scandinavians. This will help you better understand the mythology of the north. Some creatures already have their entries in my journal. Click on the name and get to know each other better.

Creatures are monsters

Opponents of the Aesir during Ragnarok:

• - The largest and strongest of the wolves. The youngest son of the god of cunning and deception Loki. God Slayer, an ancient monster of Scandinavian mythology. The creature that devoured Odin during Ragnarok.
• - a giant world serpent. So large that it encircles Midgard, the mortal world. Son of the god of cunning and deception Loki from the giantess Angrboda. Brother of the goddess Hel and the wolf Fenrir. During Ragnarok he will fight Thor. Thor will kill Jormungandr, but he himself will die under the rivers of poison that will flow from the killed serpent.
• - goddess of death, ruler of the lower world. (goddess, but in some sources she is classified as a being)
• Garm is a large dog guarding Helheim, the kingdom of the dead. The younger brother of the wolf Fenrir. During Ragnarok he will fight Tyr.
• Nidhogg is a dragon who lives in the roots of the world tree - Yggdrasil. Every year Nidhogg gnaws more and more roots. The dragon feeds on the dead wandering in Helheim, the kingdom of the dead.
• Fafnir is a dragon who guards the golden treasures of miniatures - underground dwarfs.

Creatures - companions:

• - Odin's faithful northern wolves. Constant companions of the supreme god. The king of the gods does not eat ordinary food; he feeds it to his wolves.
• - every morning Odin's ravens fly around Midgard - the world of mortals. They remember every change and event. In the evening they sit on the powerful shoulders of the owner and tell the Supreme God about everything they have learned.
• Sleipnir is the fastest and strongest horse. Horse of the god Odin. Eight-legged stallion. During the construction of the wall around Asgard. So that the great builder loses the argument and does not finish the wall on time. Loki turns into a beautiful mare and distracts the builder's horse Svadilfari from work. Sleipnir is the fruit of the vicious relationship between Loki and Svadilfari.
• Tangiost and Tangriznir are the goats of the god Thor. He harnesses them to his chariot and they rush across the sky without knowing fatigue. During long journeys, a hungry Thor eats his goats. If you eat only the meat and do not touch the bones, after a while the goats are reborn.
• Tjalvi is the fastest boy. Servant and companion of Thor. He ended up in the service of Thor as punishment. One day, when Thor was visiting the Tjalvi family. Tjalvi chewed Tangrisnir's femur at dinner and Thor's goat has been limping ever since. Thor found out about this, but did not kill the boy. I took him into my ministry.
• Skinfaxi and Hrimfaxi are the horses of the god of the day Dagra and the goddess of the night Nott. Skinfaxi is a fiery-maned stallion that gallops across the sky and brings sun and light to people. Hrimfaxi - changes day to night, pulling the moon with it.

Creatures of Valhalla:

• Einherjar - every brave warrior who died honorably in battle will go to Valhala. He will join Odin's army and become an Einherjar - a comrade-in-arms of the gods in the final battle of Ragnarok. Every day Odin's warriors spend in battles and hard training. And every evening they feast and heal their wounds, preparing for the next day.
• Valkyries are Odin's warrior maidens. They deliver the Einherjar who left in battle to Valhalla, heal and feed them after the battles. (lesser goddesses, but in some sources they are classified as beings)
• Andhrimnir is the chief digester in Valhalla, preparing a huge mountain of Sehrimnir's meat every day.
• Sehrimnir is a huge boar-like creature. Every day he sacrifices himself to feed the warriors of Valhalla with meat. The next morning he is reborn again.
• Heidrun - There is a calm goat standing on the roof of Valhalla and her name is Heidrun. She eats the leaves of Yggdrasil. She is milked with the best honey in the world. Einherjar warriors drink this honey every day.
• Eikturnir is a great deer who stands next to the goat Heidrun. Constantly hungry, he eats the leaves of Yggdrasil. And from his horns flow all the world’s rivers, into all nine worlds.

Other creatures:

• Miniatures are either underground dwarfs or dark alvas. Skilled craftsmen, underground gnomes. Strong, short, bearded and cunning.
• Kvasir is the wisest creature. Outwardly, Kvasir looked like a man, but in his head the wisdom of the nine worlds was collected. He knew the answer to any question. After a long war, the Aesir and Vanir made peace. The symbol of their unification was the mixing of saliva in one vat. To prevent the saliva from going to waste, Freya, the goddess of love and fertility, created Kvasir from it.
• Svadilfari is the strong and beautiful horse of the Great Builder, the father of Sleipnir.
• Gulfaxi is the golden-maned horse of the stone giant Grungnir, the king of Jotunheim, the country of giants. killed Grungnir in a duel and was crushed by the giant's fallen body. Thor's son Magni freed his father. And as a reward he received the horse Gulfaksi.
• Ratatoskr is a cunning trickster squirrel. Lives among the branches of the world ash tree. Every day he scurries up and down the trunk, passing messages from Nidhogg to the large eagle sitting at the top of the tree. Deliberately distorts the meaning of messages and secretly laughs at his actions.
• Audhumla is a huge hornless cow. Appeared at the beginning of the creation of the world in a place with the ice giant Ymir. She fed Ymir and his children with milk.

That's all, dear friend. I told you about all the important creatures of Norse mythology. I hope I was able to help you. There is a similar entry in my diary about Norse mythology. Thank you very much for reading to the end. Join our community

Alvis - (“know-it-all”), in Scandinavian mythology, a wise dwarf (dwarf) wooing Trud, Thor’s daughter; Thor, pretending to test his wisdom, forces Alvis. wait for the disastrous dawn for the miniatures, turning them into stone. ("Elder Edda", "Speeches of Alvis").

Alvas - in Scandinavian mythology, lower natural spirits (initially, perhaps, the souls of the dead), related to fertility.
A special cult was dedicated to them. In the "Elder Edda" the Alvas are contrasted with the highest gods - the Ases (the formula "Ases and Alvas" is often repeated), sometimes mixed with the miniatures on the one hand, and with the Vanir on the other. The Younger Edda talks about the division of the Alv into dark (living in the earth) and light (white). In the heroic “Song of Wölund” (Elder Edda), the wonderful blacksmith Wölund is called the Prince of Alv.

Angrboda (Old Norse, promising grief) (sometimes - Angbroda) - in Scandinavian mythology, a giantess who gave birth to three chthonic monsters from Loki in the Yarnvid forest: the wolf Fenrir, the serpent Jormungandr and the mistress of the kingdom of the dead - Hel.

Andvari ("caution"), in Scandinavian mythology, a dwarf, the owner of fatal gold. Loki catches Andvari, swimming in the form of a pike in the water, and takes away his golden treasure to pay a ransom to Hreidmar for his murdered son.

Asgard - (“fence of the Ases”), the heavenly fortress where the Ases live.

Ask and Emblya (“ash” and “willow”), in Scandinavian mythology, the first people, who were still in the form of tree prototypes, lifeless and “devoid of fate,” were found by the gods on the seashore (in the Elder Edda - in the song “Divination of the Völva " - these are three aces - Odin, Lodur, Hoenir, and in the "Younger Edda" - "sons of Bor", i.e. Odin, Vili and Be). The gods revived them (completed them as people).

Asy, Azy (Old Norse aesir) - in Scand. mythology, the main group of gods, led by Odin (the father of most of the aces), sometimes a designation for gods in general. The Aesir are contrasted with the Vanirs, a small group of fertility gods, giants (Jötuns), dwarfs (miniatures) and lower female deities - diss, norns, Valkyries; in the "Elder Edda" the formula "aces and alvas" is often found, as a contrast between the aces - the highest gods of a lower category - and the spirits (alvas). The Aesir live in the heavenly village of Asgard. The "Younger Edda" lists 12 aesirs: Odin, Thor, Njord, Tyr, Bragi (god of poetry), Heimdall (heavenly guardian of the gods), Höd, Vidar (god of the forests), Ali (or Vali), Ull (god of the hunt), Forseti (guardian of truth), Loki. In addition to them, Balder and Frey are named as the sons of Odin and Njord, but the sons of Thor Magni and Modi are not mentioned, Hoenir is omitted, who in the Elder Edda is invariably present in the wandering trinity of Ases (Odin - Loki - Hoenir). The presence in this list of Njord and Frey, who are Vanir by origin, and the absence of Hoenir is perhaps explained by the fact that, according to the myth about the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, Njord and Frey were taken hostage to the Aesir after the conclusion of peace, and Hoenir went over to Vanam as a hostage from the Aesir. The "Younger Edda" also lists 14 goddesses ("asin"): Frigg, Saga (goddess of legends), Eir, Gevion, Fulla, Freya, Sjovn, Lovn, Var, Ver, Xiong, Khlin, Snotra, Gna, and then also mentions Sol and Bil, and in conclusion also counts Erd and Rind among the goddesses. The myths feature mainly Frigg and Freya, very rarely Gefion and Fulla. But, in addition, among the wives of the Aesir, Siv, the wife of Thor, and Idunn (the goddess of youth), the wife of Bragi, are often mentioned, as well as Skadi (the giant’s daughter), the wife of Njord, who entered the Aesir community after the death of her father. After the war between the Aesir and the Vanir (see about it in Art. Vanir), the Aesir assimilate the Vanir.
The inclusion of the word “As” in the proper names of various Germanic tribes and Jordan’s mention of the cult of the Ases among the Goths testifies to the general German dissemination of the idea of ​​the Ases before the Germans adopted Christianity.
A number of medieval sources (in the “Prologue” to the “Younger Edda”, in the “Saga of the Ynglings”) talk about the origin of the Aesir from Asia. The etymology of the word "Aces" apparently goes back to mythological ideas about some kind of spirits or souls in the body (especially at the moment of unconsciousness and death) and about the souls of the dead. This etymology most closely matches the characteristics of Odin, who is indeed considered the main ace.

Audumla is a cow in Scandinavian mythology that originated from the frost that filled the abyss of the world, and with its milk fed the first anthropomorphic creature - the giant Ymir. She herself ate by licking salty stones hidden by frost. From these stones, licked by Audumla, the ancestor of the Storm gods arose.

Balder (“lord”), in Scandinavian mythology, a young god of the Aesir. Balder is the beloved son of Odin and Frigg, brother of Hermod, husband of Nanna, father of Forseti. Balder is beautiful, bright, blissful; his eyelashes are compared to snow-white plants. He lives in Asgard, in the palace of Breidablik, where bad deeds are not allowed. Balder is called wise and brave, but in fact he is a passive, suffering deity, apparently a cult victim.
According to the myths ("Elder Edda" - "The Prophecy of Velva" and "Dreams of Balder"), young Balder began to have ominous dreams that foreshadowed a threat to his life. Having learned about this, the gods gather for a council and decide to protect Balder from all dangers. Odin goes to Hel (the kingdom of the dead) to find out the fate of Balder from the völva (seer); The völva, awakened by Odin from his mortal sleep, predicts that Balder will die at the hand of the blind god Höd. Frigg took an oath from all things and creatures - from fire and water, iron and other metals, stones, earth, trees, diseases, animals, birds, snake venom - that they would not harm Balder; She did not take an oath only with an insignificant shoot of mistletoe. One day, when the gods were amusing themselves by shooting at Balder, who had become invulnerable, the malicious Loki (who had learned by cunning from Frigga that mistletoe did not take an oath) slips a mistletoe rod to the blind god Höd, and he kills Balder ("Younger Edda"). The gods lift Balder's body, carry it to the sea and place it on a boat called Hrznghorni (only the giantess Hyrrokkin manages to push it into the water); Balder was burned in the boat. Nanna dies of grief and is placed on Balder's funeral pyre, along with Balder's horse and Odin's golden ring Draupnir. Vali (the one-day-old son of Odin and Rind) takes revenge on Höd for the murder of Balder, and Hermod, Balder’s brother, goes on Odin’s horse Sleipnir to the kingdom of the dead in order to free Balder (“Younger Edda”). Mistress Hel agrees to let Balder go, provided that everything living and dead in the world mourns him. Everyone weeps except the giantess Tökk, whose guise was taken by the same Loki, and Balder remains in Hel. The gods punish Loki, who is responsible for the death of Balder.
The myth of the death of Balder is a kind of introduction to the Scandinavian eschatological cycle - his death serves as a harbinger of the death of the gods and the whole world (see Ragnarok). In the renewed world that will arise after the death of the old one, Balder, who has returned to life, reconciles with his killer Hod, who has also come to life.
A peculiar echo of the myth of Balder in the form of a heroic legend is found in the “Acts of the Danes” by Saxo Grammar. Balder is a demigod. Seeing Nanna, Höd's half-sister, while swimming, Balder falls in love with her. Höd himself loves Nanna and marries her, but Balder pursues him. To kill Balder, Höd takes out the sword Mimming and, on the advice of the forest maiden, a wonderful food made from snake venom and a belt that gives victory. Höd mortally wounds Balder; he is buried in a hill. The fortuneteller Finn prophesies to Odin that the son of the goddess Rind, whom she will give birth to from Odin, will avenge Balder; the prophecy is coming true.

Bifrost, Billröst (“shaking road”), in Scandinavian mythology, a rainbow bridge connecting earth and sky. Near the Bifrost is Himinbjorg, the dwelling of Heimdall, Odin's son. Before the end of the world (see Ragnarok), the sons of Muspell cross this bridge to fight with the gods, and it collapses.

Bor ("born"), in Scandinavian mythology, the son of Storm, the father of the god Odin and his brothers - Vili and Be, born to him with Bestla, the daughter of the giant Bölthorn. The Elder Edda mentions the “sons of Bor” as the organizers of the earth (they killed the giant Ymir and created the world from his body).

Brisingamen (“necklace of the Brisings”), in Scandinavian mythology, a wonderful necklace made, like other treasures of the Aesir, by the Brisings (dwarfs, miniatures); one of the main attributes of the goddess Freya. Brisingamen is also called the “Brising belt”, which apparently corresponds to the original function - assistance during childbirth, hence the name of Freya disoi of the Vanir ("Younger Edda"), and the most important function of the dis is connected with this. Loki reproaches Freya for paying the miniatures for Brisingamen with her love. On Odin's initiative, Loki kidnaps Brisingamen and then returns it under certain conditions. Loki and Heimdall, who have taken the form of seals, are fighting for Brisingamen at the Singastein stone. Brisingamen is also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon epic of Beowulf.

Buri (lit. "parent"), in Scandinavian mythology the ancestor of the gods, the father of Bor and the grandfather of Odin. Buri arose from salty stones that the cow Audumla licked

Vali, in Norse mythology the son of Odin and Rind (stepson of Frigg); a child avenger who, at the age of one day, took revenge on Höðr for the murder of Balder. After the death of the world and the gods (see Ragnarok), Vali, along with other representatives of the “younger generation” of gods, will live in a renewed world.

Valhalla - "the chambers of Odin, where the heroes fallen in battle enter." - The roots of Yggdrasil. M., Terra, 1997.

Valkyries - literally "choosers of the dead" - in ancient German. mythology warrior maidens, priestesses of Odin, who selected warriors destined for death and on magical flying horses carried the souls of the fallen to Odin’s heavenly palace - Valhalla.

Vanir (Old Norse vanir) - in Scand. mythology, a group of gods of fertility, moisture, and navigation. Among the Vanir are Ch. arr. Njord (god of the sea) and his children - Freyr and Freya, endowed with magic. prophet for nothing. There is reason to believe that the Vanir cult entered Scandinavia from Germany and initially met local resistance. cult of the aesir. Hence the myth about the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, which ended with their unification.

Völva is a soothsayer, sorceress, prophetess, who, at Odin’s request, predicted Ragnarok and many other equally interesting events. "The Divination of the Völva" is the most famous of the songs in the Elder Edda. It contains a picture of the history of the world from creation and the “golden age” to its tragic end - the so-called “day of the fate of the gods” - and its rebirth. - Elder Edda. M., Fiction, 1975.

Vidar son of Odin. In the völva's prophecy it was predicted that he would kill the wolf Fenrir on the day of the Last Battle.

Vidur is one of the thousand names of Odin.

Willi and Ve are Odin's brothers, children of Bor.

Visa is a unique literary work; this genre was perfectly mastered by the medieval Scandinavians. The vis is characterized by an unnatural word order, a complex meter, the indispensable presence of alliteration and internal rhymes - in a word, it is so complex that even the best translations can give only a very weak idea of ​​​​what a real vis is. - Max Fry, My Ragnarok, S.-P., Azbuka, 1998.

Wotan is one of Odin's names.

Garm - literally: "greedy". A monstrous dog, which, according to the prophecy of the völva, should “devour the sun.”

Gauth is one of Odin's names.

Jormugand is literally a “giant staff”, in Scandinavian mythology the world serpent, one of the three monsters generated by the giantess Angrboda from Loki. Jormugand lives in the World Ocean surrounding the inhabited earth. “When... the gods learned from the prophetess that they could expect great troubles from those children... the All-Father sent the gods to take those children and bring them to him. And... he threw that Serpent into the deep sea, surrounding the whole earth, and so a serpent grew up, lying in the middle of the sea, girded the whole earth and biting its own tail..." - Younger Edda. L., Nauka, 1970.

Ygg is one of Odin's names.

Yggdrasil is the world tree, a giant ash tree, in Scandinavian mythology. “Its branches are spread over the whole world and set a limit to it in space.” - Elder Edda. M., Fiction, 1975. - One day Odin sacrificed himself on this tree and hung there for nine days, as a result of which he gained access to some “secret knowledge”, thus he discovered the runes.

Kenning is a conventional poetic figure characteristic of skaldic poetry, consisting of two or more nouns. Kenning serves to avoid calling things by their proper names and at the same time to somehow designate them. Typical examples: “dragon feather bed” - gold, “ice palm” - silver, “Odin’s quarrel of fires” - battle, “raven comforter” - warrior, etc.

“The Blood of Kvasir” is the so-called “honey of poetry”. Kvasir - in Scandinavian mythology, a small wise man made from the saliva of the gods. The Prose Edda says that the “honey of poetry” was made from the blood of Kvasir, who was killed by the dwarfs. - Myths of the peoples of the world. M., Soviet Encyclopedia, 1991.

Lodur is one of Loki's names.

Loki is a god from among the Aesir in Scandinavian mythology, sometimes helping the gods, sometimes harming and mocking them ("Elder Edda", "Loki's Quarrel"). According to the Younger Edda, during the last battle of the gods, Loki will side with the chthonic forces and take part in the destruction of the world.

Naglfar is a ship that must be built before the "day of the gods' destiny" from the nails of the dead. It is curious that in Iceland there is still a widespread belief that the nails of the dead must be cut so that they are not used by evil forces. - Elder Edda. M., Fiction, 1975.

Odin is the supreme deity of Skand. mythology, head of the Aesir, husband of Frigg, father of Baldor, Thor and many more. other gods. Odin is the creator of the Universe and the first people, the god of wind and storms, later the god of war, the patron of the military squad, trade and navigation. He lives in the palace of Valhalla (Old Scand. Valholl - the palace of the dead), where the Valkyries carry the souls of heroes killed in battle and where the latter continue their former heroic work. life. At the continent. of the Germans, Odin corresponded to Wodan (Wotan).

Oskopnir - in Scandinavian mythology, one of the versions of the name of the place of the Last Battle of the Gods (in the speeches of Vaftrundir, for example, this place is called Vigrid).

Ragnarok is the fate (death) of the gods, the apocalypse of Scandinavian mythology, predicted in detail by the völva.

Sleipnir is the eight-legged horse of Odin in Scandinavian mythology. - Myths of the peoples of the world. M., Soviet Encyclopedia, 1991.

Surt is a fire giant in Scandinavian mythology. The “Prophecy of the Völva” tells that he will come from the south before the end of the world and burn the world (according to some versions, the sun) with his fiery sword. - Myths of the peoples of the world. M., Soviet Encyclopedia, 1991; Elder Edda, M., Fiction, 1975.

Twaggy is one of Odin's names.

Thor - in scand. mythology - the god of thunder, storms and fertility, the son of Odin and the earth goddess Jord, one of ch. aces. He was depicted as a red-bearded man, armed with the thunder hammer Mjollnir, which constantly hit the target and returned by itself, with a belt of strength and iron gloves. Thor - ch. protector of gods and people from giants and monsters. At the continent. Among the Germans, Thor corresponded to Donar, among the Anglo-Saxons - Tumor (Tonar).

Turs or Jotuns are giants in Scandinavian mythology; they are usually hostile to both gods and people.

Utgard is in Scandinavian mythology the outskirts of the earth where demons and giants live. There is a lot of controversy about the identity of Utgard-Loki, the mysterious ruler of Utgard: some experts believe that he has nothing to do with Loki, who quarreled with the Aesir, others believe that this is one and the same person.

Fenrir is a monstrous wolf in Scandinavian mythology, one of the creatures of Loki and Angrboda. According to the völva's prediction, he was supposed to swallow Odin on the day of the Last Battle.

Freyr - in scand. mythology - the god of fertility, marriage, abundance and peace from among the Vanir, son of Njord, brother of Freya. After the war between the Vanir and the Aesir, he came to the Aesir as a hostage, took root and became one of them. According to the völva's prediction, he was supposed to die in a battle with the giant Surt. The cult of Freyr was especially widespread in Sweden.

Freya - in scand. mythology - the goddess of fertility, love and beauty, the daughter of the sea god Njord, the sister of Frey, the wife of the wind god Od who left her, for whom she searches throughout the earth, shedding golden tears (grains).

Frigg (Old Scand. frigg, Old Gothic Frija - beloved, mistress) - in Scand. mythology - wife of Odin, mother of Balder, goddess of marriage, love, family hearth. The merger of the cults of the Aesir and Vanir contributed to the Merger of the images of Frigg and Freya, to which the attributes of Frigg were transferred.

Heimdall - in Scandinavian mythology, a god from among the Aesir, is considered the son of Odin. Heimdall is the guardian of the gods; he is accompanied by the epithet “brightest of the aces.” According to the völva's prophecy, he was supposed to fight Loki in the Last Battle; according to some sources, the two kill each other.

Hel - in Scandinavian mythology: 1) the underworld, the kingdom of the dead, where the souls of those who did not die in battle and are not worthy of Valhalla - the halls of Odin - go. 2) the goddess-mistress of the underworld, the offspring of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, the personification of the kingdom of the dead.
In the scand. mythology, Hel is considered an analogue of the Christian underworld (Sturulson Snorri in the “Younger Edda” says that this place is intended for “bad people”) and is contrasted with Valhalla - the heavenly palace for the elect. According to the Völva's prediction, in the Last Battle the dead from Hel stand on the side of the chthonic "evil" forces, and the inhabitants of Valhalla stand on the side of the Aesir.

Khrum is the name of a giant who, according to some sources, was supposed to rule the ship Naglfar (according to other versions, Loki himself was supposed to rule this ship).

Hroft is one of Odin's names.

"Edda" - there are two known monuments of Icelandic literature under this name: "The Younger Edda", to the creation of which Snorri Sturulson had a hand, and the "Elder Edda", or "Edda of Samund the Wise", parchments with the texts of which were found in 1643 by the Icelandic bishop Brynjolf Sveinsson. However, it later became clear that Samund the Wise had nothing to do with these parchments.

Einherjar is the name given to the heroes in Valhalla who live there and fall in battle.

Creatures of Scandinavian mythology

Jormungand

Jörmungandr ("giant staff"), in Scandinavian mythology, the world serpent, a symbol of darkness and destruction, a monster generated by the giantess Angrboda from the god Loki.

At birth, Jormungandr was thrown by Odin into the ocean, where he grew and reached such a size that he was able to encircle Midgard, the land of people, with his giant rings.

A giant serpent that lived in the world's oceans was killed by the thunder god Thor on the day of Ragnarok.

One day, the serpent Jormungandr was hooked by Thor, who went fishing and used the head of a black bull as bait. However, Thor's companion the giant Hymir, fearing for his life, cut the rope rope, and Jormungandr remained free. But on the day of Ragnarok, the god Thor tore off the monster’s ugly head and, having managed to retreat only nine steps from the dead carcass, drowned in a stream of poison spewing out of the gaping mouth of the lifeless creature.

Fenrir, a giant wolf in Norse mythology. He was one of three monsters who were born in the forest of Yarnvid by the giantess Angrboda from Loki.

The texts of the "Younger Edda" tell us that for some time Fenrir lived with the gods, but he was so great and terrible that only the brave Thor dared to approach him. The prophets warned the celestials that Fenrir was born to destroy the gods, but no one could even simply put him on a chain.

Fenrir tore the first chain of Leding, thrown around his neck, like a thin thread. Dromi's second chain shattered into small pieces. And only the third, the magic chain Gleipnir, bound at the request of the gods by black dwarfs-miniatures from the noise of cat steps, the breath of fish, bird saliva, mountain roots, the veins of a bear and the beard of a woman, was able to hold the terrible beast. By throwing a chain around Fernir’s neck, the gods wanted to prove that it would not cause him any harm.

For this, Thor put his right hand into Fernir's mouth. The wolf bit off Toru's hand, but the gods managed to chain the monster to a rock. The prophets predicted to the gods that before the end of the world, Fernir would break his shackles, break free and swallow the solar disk, and in the last battle of the gods with monsters and giants he would swallow Odin. After some time, Vidar will take revenge for his father. The son of Odin will tear off the hated monster's mouth and free the gods from the horror that the monstrous wolf instilled in them.

In Norse mythology, the demonic wolf Fernir is a very popular character. In addition, many legends are dedicated to other wolves, for example the companions of Odin, Geri and Freki. An analogue of Fernir can be considered Garm, the demonic dog guarding the Gnipahellir cave.

Alvas are the lower nature spirits in Scandinavian mythology. Initially, the alves personified the souls of the dead, but gradually their role in the hierarchy of divine beings underwent changes.

In early Scandinavian-Germanic mythology, the Alves are an ageless, magical, beautiful race, living like people, either on Earth or in the world of the Alves (elves), which was also described as existing quite realistically. This idea of ​​the Alvas, partially preserved, reached the Middle Ages, remaining forever in the languages, names, culture and genealogy of European countries.

In later myths, the Alvas are represented as spirits of earth and fertility. There was a special ritual to honor these spirits. The word “alv” (elf) during this period began to generalize essentially completely different creatures - in fact, alves and dwarves.

The Alvas began to have some similarities with both the miniature dwarfs and the Vanir. In the Elder Edda there is mention of the wonderful blacksmith Volund, who was called the prince of the Alfs. The Younger Edda mentions the division into dark (living underground) and light alves (living in the heavenly chamber). The later Germanic-Scandinavian creation sagas say that the alves were created by the first Æsir (Odin, Vili and Ve) from worms that appeared in the meat of Ymir.

The kingdom of Alfheim was given to the light alves (elves), the kingdom of Svartalfaheim to the dark alves (dwarves), and the land of Nidavellir to the miniature dwarfs.

Elves were represented as anthropomorphic creatures of small stature, dexterous and agile, with long arms and short legs. Their occupations were determined primarily by their habitat. The elves living in the mountains were considered excellent gunsmiths and blacksmiths; and the elves who settled near the water were excellent musicians. In general, all these creatures were very fond of music and dancing.

According to legend, the elves were a whole mythical people, divided into rich and poor. They could be good and evil. Like people, they were of different sexes and could give birth to children. There are legends about marriages between elves and humans. Like any spirits, elves were considered endowed with considerable supernatural abilities.

List of elves in the Prose Edda

Light alves (elves) are skilled blacksmiths, wizards and musicians.

Völund is the ruler of the Alves, an excellent blacksmith.

Beyla, Biggvir, Dekkalfar, Svartalfar

Dark elves (dwarves) are also skilled blacksmiths and sorcerers.

Hreidmar is a sorcerer who, as a ransom for the murder of his son, was given the treasures of the Nibelungs, cursed by the king Andvari, as ransom for the murder of his son.

The sons of Hreidmar are Otr, Regin, Fafnir.

Gandalf is a magician and sorcerer.

Vidfin is a dwarf who sent his sons to get honey from the honey spring of Mimir's wisdom.

Vidfin's sons - Beel, Hyuki.

Brisings

The Brisings, Bristlings, in Scandinavian mythology, are the mysterious owners of the wonderful golden necklace Brisingamen, which the fertility goddess Freya passionately desired to have. To get it, she paid with her love all four dwarfs - Alfrig, Dwalin, Berling and Greer, who made the jewelry. Outraged by this act, Odin reproached her for humiliating divine dignity and, as punishment, forced her to start a war on the land of people, in Midgard. They divided those killed in battles in half. An unambiguous interpretation of this myth is complicated primarily by the unclear origin of the Brisings. However, a more plausible version seems to be that “payment with love” symbolizes the physical side of love, in particular blind passion and lust. Nothing, not even Odin's condemnation, could stop the beautiful goddess who wanted to receive the precious jewelry. Brisipgamen became so closely associated with the image of Freya that when Thor decided to dress up in her dress in order to take his hammer from Thrym, she lent him a necklace for greater persuasiveness.

Brisingamen, an exquisite necklace, looked like liquid fire. The goddess Freya, seized by the desire to receive the jewel, paid a high price for it, but the elegant decoration enhanced her beauty so much that she did not take it off even at night. In myths, the Brisingamen necklace was closely associated with the image of Freya and was one of the integral attributes of the goddess. On her lovely neck it looked like a symbol of the fruits of earth and heaven, sparkling like the stars of the night sky. The tears of Freya herself, and she cried a lot during the search for her missing husband Odur, turned into gold, and when they got into the sea, they turned into amber.

Valkyries

Valkyries (“choosers of the slain”), in Scandinavian mythology, warlike maidens participating in the distribution of victories and deaths in battles, assistants to Odin. Valkyries were originally sinister spirits of battle, angels of death who took pleasure in the sight of bloody wounds. In horse formation they rushed over the battlefield like vultures, and in the name of Odin decided the fate of the warriors. The chosen heroes of the Valkyries were taken to Valhalla - the “hall of the slain,” the heavenly camp of Odin’s warriors, where they perfected their military art. In later Norse myth, the Valkyries were romanticized into the Shieldmaidens of Odin, virgins with golden hair and snow-white skin who served food and drink to favored heroes in the banquet hall of Valhalla. They circled over the battlefield in the guise of lovely swan maidens or horsewomen, riding on magnificent pearl cloud horses, whose rainy manes watered the earth with fertile frost and dew.

According to Anglo-Saxon legends, some of the Valkyries were descended from elves, but most of them were the daughters of noble princes who became the chosen Valkyries of the gods during their lifetime, and could turn into swans.

Valkyries became known to modern man thanks to the great monument of ancient literature, which remained in history under the name “Elder Edda”. Here, the warrior maidens had names corresponding to their essence - Göndul, Hun, Rota, Skögul, Sigrdriva, Sigrun, Svava, Skuld and others. Many of them, the most ancient ones, cannot be translated. Among the later ones, the most famous are Hlekk ("the sound of battle"), Trud ("strength"), Krist ("amazing"), Mist ("foggy"), Hild ("battle"). The images of Icelandic mythical warrior maidens served as the basis for the creation of the popular German epic “The Song of the Nibelungs.” One of the parts of the poem tells about the punishment received by the Valkyrie Sigrdriva, who dared to disobey the god Odin.

Ferdinand Leeke, 1870 Having given victory in battle to King Agnar, and not to the courageous Hjalm Gunnar, the Valkyrie lost the right to take part in battles. By order of Odin, she fell into a long sleep, after which the former warrior maiden became an ordinary earthly woman.

Another Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, after her marriage to a mortal, lost her superhuman strength, her descendants mixed with the goddesses of fate, the Norns, who spin the thread of life at the well.

The Scandinavians believed that by influencing victory, warrior maidens held the fate of humanity in their hands.

Einherjar

Einherjar, in Scandinavian mythology, “valiantly fallen” warriors, constantly living in the heavenly Valhalla after their heroic death and forming the squad of the god Odin.

Carried away from the battlefield by the Valkyries, they spent their days in battles and their nights in feasts, and the wounds they received in the daytime battle miraculously healed by the evening.

On the day of the death of the world, Ragnarok, the Einherjar will have to take part in the last battle of the gods with giants and monsters.

Miniatures are dwarf-like creatures, nature spirits in Old Icelandic, Germanic and Scandinavian mythology.

They were called black alves, as opposed to white alves. Legends tell that in time immemorial, miniatures were worms in the body of the huge giant Ymir, from whom the world was created.

The Elder Edda says that they were created from the blood and bones of the hero Brimir, who was probably the same Ymir.

The miniatures lived in the earth and stones, they were afraid of sunlight, which turned them into stone, and the land of Nidavellir was given to them. These creatures were very skilled in various crafts, they created magical items for the gods: the hammer Mjollnir, the spear Gungnir, the golden hair of Siv, the Brisingamen necklace, the ship Skidbladnir, etc.

From bee honey and the blood of the poet and sage Kvasir, these creatures created the sacred honey of poetry - with it the gods smeared the lips of a newborn, who was destined to write poetry in the future.

Tsvergi are skilled jewelers and blacksmiths who possessed magical knowledge and sorcery.

Alvis is a wise dwarf who wooed the daughter of the god Thor Trud and was turned into stone by Thor’s cunning.

Andvari is the creator of the magical ring of power and the treasures of the Nibelungs from the gold of the Rhine maidens he stole.

Dvalin - forged the spear Gungnir, the ship Skidbladnir and golden hair for the goddess Siv.

Brokk and Eitri are the creators of the boar Gullinbursti with golden bristles for the god Frey.

Alfrig, Dvalin, Berling, Grer - creators of the Brisingamen necklace

Galar and Fjalar are producers of the “honey of poetry” from the blood of the wise man Kvasir, whom they killed.

Sidri - forged the hammer Mjollnir and created the ring Draupnir.

Miniatures Austria, Vestri, Nordri, Sudri - support the sky in the four cardinal directions (earth).

Andvari (“caution”), in Scandinavian mythology, a miniature, the owner of fatal gold and a magical ring of power.
In the German epic "The Song of the Nibelungs" and in the libretto of the opera "The Ring of the Nibelungs" he appears under the name of the dwarf Albrich.
Andvari, a miniature dwarf, a character in the heroic epic "The Song of the Nibelungs". Andvari learned the secret of storing the gold of the Rhine maidens and managed to steal the gold treasure. Being the ruler of the miniatures at that time, he forced his subjects to make golden treasures, and he himself forged a magic ring of power from gold. The Rhine maidens, mourning the loss of their gold, turned to Loki for help, but were only subjected to humiliating ridicule by the malicious god. The cunning Andvari hid the treasures and hid himself in an underground lake.
Nevertheless, news of the magic ring of power immediately prompted the gods and their enemies, the giants-Jetuns, to act. The giant Fasolt and Fafnir demanded a ring of power from the gods in payment for the construction of Valhalla, the home of the Einherjars, who “valiantly fell,” and took the goddess of fertility, the beautiful Freya, hostage. The gods Odin, Frigg, Loki, Freyr and Henir went in search of a treasure hidden by a miniature dwarf in a rock among people in Midgard.
While traveling through the land of men, Loki killed a sleeping otter with a stone, then he, Odin and Henir offered the dead otter to the owner of the house in exchange for a place to stay for the night.
To his horror, the owner, the sorcerer Hreidmar, recognized the killed animal as his son Otr. He immediately cast a spell that deprived the guests of magical power, and with the help of two other sons, Fafnir and Regin, tied them hand and foot. One said that they would not have come here if they were murderers of the master's son. Hreidmar demanded a ransom from the gods for the death of Otra, the treasure of the dwarf Andvari.
Having borrowed a magic net from Ran, the wife of the sea god Aegir, Loki went to an underground lake and caught a huge snake in the lake grotto, into which the evil Andvari, the owner of countless treasures, turned into (according to another version of the myth, Andvari was hiding in a huge pike in the underground lake). With terrible threats, Loki took away from him the golden treasure and the magical ring of power that multiplied his wealth. The enraged Andvari placed a curse on the ring and gold, promising death for each new owner. Actually, from the history of the death of the owners of the cursed gold, the ring of Andvari began to be called the Ring of the Nibelungs, and the golden treasure - the treasure of the Nibelungs.
The ring of the dwarf Andvari, like the famous ring of power Draupnir, increased wealth, but carried the terrible curse of the dwarf. The sorcerer Hreidmar, having received a ring from Loki as a ransom for the murdered son of Otr, became his first victim, accepting death at the hands of his other son, Fafnir, who dreamed of taking possession of the gold. To guard the treasure obtained by criminal means, Fafnir turned into a dragon. When the young hero Sigurd (German, Siegfried) killed him, the fabulous treasure passed to him along with the curse. The cursed treasures did not bring happiness to Sigurd, who died at the hands of the Nibelung brothers Gunnar (German, Gunther) and Högni (German, Hagen), who in turn lost their lives. Sigurd's widow Gudrun (German, Kriemhild) lured them into a trap and ordered their execution. Gunnar was thrown into a ditch with reptiles swarming there and then his head was cut off, and the heart of the still living Högni was cut out.

Dragon Fafnir

Fafnir, in Scandinavian mythology, a monstrous dragon guarding the fatal treasure of Andvari, the son of Hreidmar, “a powerful man and well versed in witchcraft.”
At one time, the news spread in the upper and lower worlds that the king Andvari had forged a magical ring of power from the gold of the Rhine maidens. The giant Fasolt and Fafnir demanded a ring of power from the gods in payment for the construction of Valhalla, the home of the Einherjars, who “valiantly fell,” and took the goddess of fertility, the beautiful Freya, hostage. But the gods gave the ring of power and other treasures to Hreidmar in payment for the tragic death of his other son Otr at the hands of the god Loki.
Then the greedy Fafnir, having killed his own father, took possession of the fatal golden treasure of the dwarf Andvari and turned into a terrible monster to guard it. Fafnir was also the brother of the blacksmith-sorcerer Regin, the teacher of the hero Sigurd (Siegfried). Subsequently, Fafnir was killed by the brave Sigurd at the instigation of his adoptive father Regin, who was striving to take possession of the treasure at any cost.

Hel

Hel, in Scandinavian mythology, the mistress of the underground kingdom of the dead Niflhel, one of the three monsters generated by the giantess Angrboda from the god Loki.
In the underworld, she is the sovereign mistress, and even Odin could not force Hel to return his beloved son Balder. Her brothers, the wolf Fenrir and the serpent Jormungandr, were not inferior to her in disgust, but it was the fierce Hel and her possessions that were borrowed by Christians to symbolize hell. The eternal cold, disease and hunger of the world of Niflhel were in stark contrast to the pastime of the fallen Einherjar warriors feasting in Valhalla. Hel's subjects wordlessly served their half-decayed mistress with the head and body of a living woman and at the same time with the skin and legs of a corpse.
The throne of the terrible Hel was called the Bed of Disease, and her subjects became “all those who died of illness and old age,” and also died ingloriously in battle.

Angrboda

Angrboda (“causing suffering”), in Scandinavian mythology, a frosty giantess, a friend of Loki, from whom she had three monster children: the giant wolf Fenrir, the world serpent Jormungandr and the mistress of the kingdom of the dead Hel.
The gods, having learned about the birth of the monsters, decided to deal with them. At night they broke into Angrboda's castle and took her and her children to Asgard, the heavenly fortress of the gods.
Odin expelled Hel to the “world under the worlds” - the underground kingdom of the dead, also called Niflhel, and she became the sovereign mistress of the kingdom of the ingloriously dead (even Odin could not force Hel to return the tragically deceased, beloved son of Balder). Odin threw Jormungand into the ocean, and the huge snake, breaking through the ice, disappeared into the depths of the sea. Fenrir, the giant wolf, grew so powerful that the gods chained him. The chained wolf bit off the hand of Tyr, the son of Odin and Frigg, who put it in the monster’s mouth as a sign of trust, and the gods laughed for a long time at Tyr’s suffering. It seemed that the children of Angrboda were no longer dangerous, but the clairvoyant Odin knew that after the last battle of gods and monsters, when the day of Ragnarok (the death of the gods and the whole world) came, the wolf Fenrir would break free and swallow him. One was unable to prevent the disaster. God was consoled only by the knowledge that Ragnarok would not be the end of the universe. Vidar, the son of Odin and the giantess Grid, avenged his father by tearing Fenrir’s mouth, and the world serpent Jormungandr also waited in the wings: on the day of Ragnarok, he crawled to the surface of the earth and died in a battle with Thor, the god of thunder.

Geirrod

Geirrod, Geirrod, in Scandinavian mythology, is a frost giant, one of the most formidable opponents of Thor, the god of thunder.
One day, Loki, the god of fire, Thor's constant companion, in the guise of a falcon, was captured by Geirrod. To save his life, Loki promised to lure the thunder god to the giant. Thor liked Loki's company, and, trusting his friend, who had conceived an insidious plan, he went with him to the halls of Geirrod without a magic hammer, a belt of strength and gauntlets that protected him from the frost giants. On the way to Jotunheim, the land of giants, they stopped to spend the night with the kind giantess Grid, Odin's beloved. It was she who told Thor about Geirrod’s hatred of the gods. In her opinion, he planned to avenge the death of Hrungnir, the mighty frost giant killed by Thor in a duel.
Grid lent the thunderer her wonderful iron gauntlets, a belt of strength and a magic staff. Soon Thor and Loki reached the palace of Geirrod, where they were met by disgruntled servants.
The owner was not at home, and Thor, sitting on a bench waiting for his return, took a nap. As soon as Thor dozed off, the giant’s two daughters, Gjalp and Grape, tried to smash his head on the ceiling, throwing him and the bench.
Using his staff, Grid Thor managed to lower the bench into place and crushed the giantesses. Then Geirrod returned and, snatching a red-hot iron ball from the fire with tongs, threw it at Thor, who, with his hands protected by Grid’s gauntlets, caught it and threw back the still hot, smoking ball, which hit the giant in the stomach. Upon leaving, Thor killed all of Geirrod's servants. The giant himself died, falling on his own sword at the will of Odin.

Gerda

Gerda, in Scandinavian mythology, a beautiful giantess, daughter of the giant Hymir. Gerda, the mistress of streams, mountain rivers and waterfalls of Jotunheim, for a long time did not agree to become the wife of the fertility god Frey.
Frey, the affectionate god of summer, seeing the radiant giantess Gerda from afar, fell in love with her at first sight and, not knowing how to win the girl’s favor, fell ill. Njord, having learned about the young man’s heartache, sent his faithful servant Skirnir (“the shining one”) to Jötunheim, the land of giants, promising him a magic horse and a sword. As a gift to the bride, Skirnir carried rejuvenating apples, the wealth-multiplying ring Draupnir and a sparkling portrait of Frey on a horn filled with honey. He was ordered not to return to Asgard without Gerda. Having reached the halls of Hymir, Skirnir tried to persuade Gerda to return Frey's love in exchange for eleven apples of eternal youth.
When the girl rejected the gift and was not seduced by Odin’s magic ring, Skirnir promised to cut off her head, but the threat had no effect on Gerda. Then the messenger promised to cast a spell of ugliness and eternal exile on her, and this decided the matter. Gerda agreed to meet Frey in nine days. Finding herself next to the god burning with passion, the icy heart of the unapproachable beauty Gerda thawed.

Grid

Grid, in Scandinavian mythology, is a kind frost giantess who helped the thunder god Thor defeat the frost giant Geirrod. When the fire god Loki lured Thor into a trap without his belt of strength and magic hammer, Grid lent Thor his own belt, iron gauntlets and a miraculous staff.
Some traditions say that the giantess was the mother of the silent god Vidar, son of Odin, and sewed such a strong shoe for him that the wolf Fenrir could not bite through it. When on the day of Ragnarok a gigantic predator swallowed the supreme god Odin, his son Vidar pressed down Fenrir’s lower jaw with his foot and tore the creature in half.

Tiazzi

Tjazzi, Tjazi, in Scandinavian mythology, a giant, magician, father of the goddess of the hunt Skadi. Tiazzi constantly bothered Odin, Khenir and Loki, who wandered around Midgard. One day, in the guise of an eagle, Tiazzi stole the pot with their dinner. Enraged, Loki hit Tiazzi with his magic staff and suddenly stuck tightly to him. The giant eagle carried Loki into his domain, and as his ransom he gave Tiazzi the goddess Idunn and her wonderful rejuvenating apples, without which the gods quickly grew old. However, the supreme god Odin found a way out of the situation. On his advice, the gods forced Loki in falcon plumage to fly to the domain of Tiazzi and return Idunn along with the apples. But the giant again turned into an eagle and almost caught up with Loki and the goddess returning home. Fortunately, flying over the high walls of Asgard, he scorched his wings in the flames of the fires laid by the gods. Collapsed to the ground, Tiazzi turned into a handful of ash.
Soon the vengeful Skadi, daughter of Tiazzi, appeared in Asgard. She demanded compensation. When all her demands were fulfilled, Odin cast Tiazzi's eyes into the sky. “The eyes of Tiazzi will look at us as long as the world lasts,” he said, looking at the two new stars.

Hymir

Hymir, in Scandinavian mythology, a giant, owner of a wonderful cauldron of incredible size, in which beer was brewed for all the gods. Without this capacious vessel, the sea giant Aegir could not organize a feast for Odin and the community of gods he led. The god of battle Tyr and Thor were sent to extract the cauldron.
Tyr's mother, Hymir's wife, advised them to hide, but Hymir discovered the guests and offered them food. Thor ate two bulls. The next day the owner invited the gods to go fishing. Thor placed the head of Himinryot, the black bull he defeated, on a giant hook. The bait attracted the attention of the world serpent Jormungandr, and the god entered into a fierce battle with him.
Fearing that the boat would capsize, Hymir cut the tackle, and Jormungandr fell off the hook. Leaving with a giant cauldron, the enraged Thor broke the goblet on the giant’s forehead. Hymir and his giant friends tried to return the cauldron, but Thor, deftly wielding his hammer, defeated everyone.

Alva

Alvas are the lower nature spirits in Scandinavian mythology. Initially, the alves personified the souls of the dead, but gradually their role in the hierarchy of divine beings underwent changes.
In early Scandinavian-Germanic mythology, the Alves are an ageless, magical, beautiful race, living like people, either on Earth or in the world of the Alves (elves), which was also described as existing quite realistically. This idea of ​​the Alvas, partially preserved, reached the Middle Ages, remaining forever in the languages, names, culture and genealogy of European countries.
In later myths, the Alvas are represented as spirits of earth and fertility. There was a special ritual to honor these spirits. The word “alv” (elf) during this period began to generalize essentially completely different creatures - in fact, alves and dwarves.
The Alvas began to have some similarities with both the miniature dwarfs and the Vanir. In the Elder Edda there is mention of the wonderful blacksmith Volund, who was called the prince of the Alfs. The Younger Edda mentions the division into dark (living underground) and light alves (living in the heavenly chamber). The later Germanic-Scandinavian creation sagas say that the alves were created by the first Æsir (Odin, Vili and Ve) from worms that appeared in the meat of Ymir.
The light alves (elves) were given the kingdom of Alfheim, the dark alves (dwarves) the kingdom of Svartalfaheim, and the dwarfs the land of Nidavellir.
Elves were represented as anthropomorphic creatures of small stature, dexterous and agile, with long arms and short legs. Their occupations were determined primarily by their habitat. The elves living in the mountains were considered excellent gunsmiths and blacksmiths; and the elves who settled near the water were excellent musicians. In general, all these creatures were very fond of music and dancing.
According to legend, the elves were a whole mythical people, divided into rich and poor. They could be good and evil. Like people, they were of different sexes and could give birth to children. There are legends about marriages between elves and humans. Like any spirits, elves were considered endowed with considerable supernatural abilities.

List of elves in the Prose Edda

• Light alvas (elves) are skilled blacksmiths, wizards and musicians.
• Völund is the lord of the elves, an excellent blacksmith.
• Beyla, Biggvir, Dekkalfar, Svartalfar

Dark elves (dwarves) are also skilled blacksmiths and sorcerers.

• Hreidmar is a sorcerer who, as a ransom for the murder of his son, was given the treasures of the Nibelungs, cursed by the king Andvari, as ransom for the murder of his son.
• The sons of Hreidmar are Otr, Regin, Fafnir.
• Gandalf is a magician and sorcerer.
• Vidfin is a dwarf who sent his sons to get honey from the honey spring of Mimir's wisdom.
• Vidfin's sons - Beel, Hyuki.

Brisings

The Brisings, Bristlings, in Scandinavian mythology, are the mysterious owners of the wonderful golden necklace Brisingamen, which the fertility goddess Freya passionately desired to have. To get it, she paid with her love all four dwarfs - Alfrig, Dwalin, Berling and Greer, who made the jewelry. Outraged by this act, Odin reproached her for humiliating divine dignity and, as punishment, forced her to start a war on the land of people, in Midgard. They divided those killed in battles in half. An unambiguous interpretation of this myth is complicated primarily by the unclear origin of the Brisings. However, a more plausible version seems to be that “payment with love” symbolizes the physical side of love, in particular blind passion and lust. Nothing, not even Odin's condemnation, could stop the beautiful goddess who wanted to receive the precious jewelry. Brisipgamen became so closely associated with the image of Freya that when Thor decided to dress up in her dress in order to take his hammer from Thrym, she lent him a necklace for greater persuasiveness.
Brisingamen, an exquisite necklace, looked like liquid fire. The goddess Freya, seized by the desire to receive the jewel, paid a high price for it, but the elegant decoration enhanced her beauty so much that she did not take it off even at night. In myths, the Brisingamen necklace was closely associated with the image of Freya and was one of the integral attributes of the goddess. On her lovely neck it looked like a symbol of the fruits of earth and heaven, sparkling like the stars of the night sky. The tears of Freya herself, and she cried a lot during the search for her missing husband Odur, turned into gold, and when they got into the sea, they turned into amber.

Valkyries

Valkyries (“choosers of the slain”), in Scandinavian mythology, warlike maidens participating in the distribution of victories and deaths in battles, assistants to Odin. Valkyries were originally sinister spirits of battle, angels of death who took pleasure in the sight of bloody wounds. In horse formation they rushed over the battlefield like vultures, and in the name of Odin decided the fate of the warriors. The chosen heroes of the Valkyries were taken to Valhalla - the “hall of the slain,” the heavenly camp of Odin’s warriors, where they perfected their military art. In later Norse myth, the Valkyries were romanticized into the Shieldmaidens of Odin, virgins with golden hair and snow-white skin who served food and drink to favored heroes in the banquet hall of Valhalla. They circled over the battlefield in the guise of lovely swan maidens or horsewomen, riding on magnificent pearl cloud horses, whose rainy manes watered the earth with fertile frost and dew.
According to Anglo-Saxon legends, some of the Valkyries were descended from elves, but most of them were the daughters of noble princes who became the chosen Valkyries of the gods during their lifetime, and could turn into swans.
Valkyries became known to modern man thanks to the great monument of ancient literature, which remained in history under the name “Elder Edda”. Here, the warrior maidens had names corresponding to their essence - Göndul, Hun, Rota, Skögul, Sigrdriva, Sigrun, Svava, Skuld and others. Many of them, the most ancient ones, cannot be translated. Among the later ones, the most famous are Hlekk ("the sound of battle"), Trud ("strength"), Krist ("amazing"), Mist ("foggy"), Hild ("battle"). The images of Icelandic mythical warrior maidens served as the basis for the creation of the popular German epic “The Song of the Nibelungs.” One of the parts of the poem tells about the punishment received by the Valkyrie Sigrdriva, who dared to disobey the god Odin. Having given victory in the battle to King Agnar, and not to the courageous Hjalm Gunnar, the Valkyrie lost the right to take part in battles. By order of Odin, she fell into a long sleep, after which the former warrior maiden became an ordinary earthly woman.
Another Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, after her marriage to a mortal, lost her superhuman strength, her descendants mixed with the goddesses of fate, the Norns, who spin the thread of life at the well.
The Scandinavians believed that by influencing victory, warrior maidens held the fate of humanity in their hands.

Undines

Ondines (from Latin unda - wave), in the mythology of the peoples of Western Europe, are female spirits of water, inhabitants of streams, rivers and lakes. People believed that these beautiful girls, sometimes with fish tails, came out of the water and combed their loose hair on the shore. With sweet-sounding singing and beauty, they lured travelers into their kingdom, destroyed them or made them lovers.
It was believed that undines could acquire a human soul by loving and giving birth to a child on earth. Among medieval alchemists, undines were spirits that controlled the water element, just as salamanders were spirits of fire, sylphs were spirits of air, and gnomes were spirits of the underworld. In Greek mythology they correspond to nymphs, in Slavic mythology - mermaids.
In the writings of medieval alchemists and cabalists, undines played the role of elemental spirits who lived in water and controlled the water element in all its manifestations, just as salamanders were spirits of fire, gnomes ruled the underworld, and elves ruled the air. Creatures that corresponded to undines in popular beliefs, if they were female, were distinguished by their beautiful appearance and had luxurious hair (sometimes greenish in color), which they combed when going ashore or swaying on the sea waves. Sometimes folk fantasy ascribed to them a fish tail, which ended at the torso instead of legs. Charming travelers with their beauty and singing, the undines carried them into the underwater depths, where they gave them their love and where years and centuries passed like moments. According to Scandinavian views, a person who once found himself among the undines never returned back to earth, exhausted by their caresses. Sometimes undines married people on earth, since they received an immortal human soul, especially if they had children. This last feature lies at the basis of the medieval novels about Melusine, about the knights Temringer and Stauffenberger.

Tsvergi

Miniatures are dwarf-like creatures, nature spirits in Old Icelandic, Germanic and Scandinavian mythology.
They were called black alves, as opposed to white alves. Legends tell that in time immemorial, miniatures were worms in the body of the huge giant Ymir, from whom the world was created.
The Elder Edda says that they were created from the blood and bones of the hero Brimir, who was probably the same Ymir.
The miniatures lived in the earth and stones, they were afraid of sunlight, which turned them into stone, and the land of Nidavellir was given to them. These creatures were very skilled in various crafts, they created magical items for the gods: the hammer Mjollnir, the spear Gungnir, the golden hair of Siv, the Brisingamen necklace, the ship Skidbladnir, etc.
From bee honey and the blood of the poet and sage Kvasir, these creatures created the sacred honey of poetry - with it the gods smeared the lips of a newborn, who was destined to write poetry in the future.

Tsvergi are skilled jewelers and blacksmiths who possessed magical knowledge and sorcery.
Alvis is a wise miniature who wooed the daughter of the god Thor Trud and was turned into stone by Thor’s cunning.
Andvari is the creator of the magical ring of power and treasures of the Nibelungs from the gold of the Rhine maidens he stole.
Dvalin - forged the spear Gungnir, the ship Skidbladnir and golden hair for the goddess Siv.
Brokk and Eitri are the creators of the boar Gullinbursti with golden bristles for the god Frey.
Alfrig, Dvalin, Berling, Grer - creators of the Brisingamen necklace
Galar and Fjalar are producers of the “honey of poetry” from the blood of the wise man Kvasir, whom they killed.
Sidri - forged the hammer Mjollnir and created the ring Draupnir.
Miniatures Austria, Vestri, Nordri, Sudri - support the sky in the four cardinal directions (earth).

Einherjar

Einherjar, in Scandinavian mythology, “valiantly fallen” warriors, constantly living in the heavenly Valhalla after their heroic death and forming the squad of the god Odin.
Carried away from the battlefield by the Valkyries, they spent their days in battles and their nights in feasts, and the wounds they received in the daytime battle miraculously healed by the evening.
On the day of the death of the world, Ragnarok, the Einherjar will have to take part in the last battle of the gods with giants and monsters.

Jormungand

Jörmungandr ("giant staff"), in Scandinavian mythology, the world serpent, a symbol of darkness and destruction, a monster generated by the giantess Angrboda from the god Loki.
At birth, Jormungandr was thrown by Odin into the ocean, where he grew and reached such a size that he was able to encircle Midgard, the land of people, with his giant rings.
A giant serpent that lived in the world's oceans was killed by the thunder god Thor on the day of Ragnarok.
One day, the serpent Jormungandr was hooked by Thor, who went fishing and used the head of a black bull as bait. However, Thor's companion the giant Hymir, fearing for his life, cut the rope rope, and Jormungandr remained free. But on the day of Ragnarok, the god Thor tore off the monster’s ugly head and, having managed to retreat only nine steps from the dead carcass, drowned in a stream of poison spewing out of the gaping mouth of the lifeless creature.

Fenrir

Fenrir, a giant wolf in Norse mythology. He was one of three monsters who were born in the forest of Yarnvid by the giantess Angrboda from Loki.
The texts of the Younger Edda tell that for some time Fenrir lived with the gods, but he was so great and terrible that only the brave Tyr dared to approach him. The prophets warned the celestials that Fenrir was born to destroy the gods, but no one could even simply put him on a chain.
Fenrir tore the first chain of Leding, thrown around his neck, like a thin thread. Dromi's second chain shattered into small pieces. And only the third, the magic chain Gleipnir, bound at the request of the gods by black dwarfs-miniatures from the noise of cat steps, the breath of fish, bird saliva, mountain roots, the veins of a bear and the beard of a woman, was able to hold the terrible beast. By throwing a chain around Fernir’s neck, the gods wanted to prove that it would not cause him any harm. For this purpose, Tyr put his right hand into Fernir's mouth. The wolf bit off Tyuru's hand, but the gods managed to chain the monster to a rock. The prophets predicted to the gods that before the end of the world, Fernir would break his shackles, break free and swallow the solar disk, and in the last battle of the gods with monsters and giants he would swallow Odin. After some time, Vidar will take revenge for his father. The son of Odin will tear off the hated monster's mouth and free the gods from the horror that the monstrous wolf instilled in them.
In Norse mythology, the demonic wolf Fernir is a very popular character. In addition, many legends are dedicated to other wolves, for example the companions of Odin, Geri and Freki. An analogue of Fernir can be considered Garm, the demonic dog guarding the Gnipahellir cave.

Mythology of the ancient world, -M.: Belfax, 2002
Myths of ancient Scandinavia, -M.:AST 2001