The Nine Worlds
The Nine Worlds are the homelands of the various types of beings. They’re held in the branches and roots of the world-tree Yggdrasil.
- Midgard: The world of humanity.
- Asgard: The world of the gods and goddesses.
- Vanaheim: The world of the Vanir tribe of gods and goddesses.
- Jotunheim: The world of the Jotnar.
- Niflheim: The primordial world of ice.
- Muspelheim: The primordial world of fire.
- Alfheim: The world of the elves.
- Svartalfheim: The world of the dwarves.
- Helheim: The world of the eponymous goddess Hel and the dead.
Geography
History
The Origin of the Cosmos
Before there was soil, or sky, or any green thing, there was only the gaping abyss of Ginnungagap. This chaos of perfect silence and darkness lay between the homeland of elemental fire, Muspelheim, and the homeland of elemental ice, Niflheim.
Frost from Niflheim and billowing flames from Muspelheim crept toward each other until they met in Ginnungagap. Amid the hissing and sputtering, the fire melted the ice, and the drops formed themselves into Ymir, the first of the godlike but destructive giants. Ymir was a hermaphrodite and could reproduce asexually; when he slept, more giants leapt forth from his legs and from the sweat of his armpits.
As the frost continued to melt, a cow, Audhumla, emerged from it. She nourished Ymir with her milk, and she, in turn, was nourished by salt-licks in the ice. Her licks slowly uncovered Buri, the first of the tribe of gods. Buri had a son named Bor, who married Bestla, the daughter of the giant Bolthorn. The half-god, half-giant children of Bor and Bestla were Odin, who became the chief of the gods, and his two brothers, Vili and Ve.
Odin and his brothers slew Ymir and set about constructing the world from his corpse. They fashioned the oceans from his blood, the soil from his skin and muscles, vegetation from his hair, clouds from his brains, and the sky from his skull. Four dwarves, corresponding to the four cardinal points, held Ymir’s skull aloft above the earth.
The gods eventually formed the first man and woman, Ask and Embla, from two tree trunks, and built a fence around their dwelling-place, Midgard, to protect them from the giants.