Norse Creation

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Norse Creation
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Post # 1

This thread is coming from me writing this in my own words. I will provide sources where you can further read if you wish.

In the beginning there was only Muspelheim, the realm of fire. In Muspelheim, a fire giant named Surtr ruled over the scorching landscape that was home to the fire giants.

And then there was Nifleheim, the realm of ice. And in between these two realms was a primal void of nothing, known as Ginnungagap.

Slowly, the traces of Niflheim and Muspelheim drew closer and closer. And onced the two mixed, it created a giant known as Ymir. Ymir was one of the first giants born into creation and is the ancestor of all jotuns and giants. While Ymir was sleeping, the sweat of his underarm produced two more giants. And those giants created more giants. They were all fed by a cosmic cow who is named Adhumla who, like Ymir, was produced through the meeting of Muspelheim and Nifleheim.

Adhumla fed herself from a salty block of ice. As she kept licking from the rock, eventually a body emerged. This one's name is Buri who was the first of the Aesir gods. From Bori, was produced a son by the name of Bor, who then married a giant named Bestla. And together, they had three children. Odin,Vili, and Ve.

These three brothers were very bothered by the fact that Ymir was constantly creating more and more giants. The Jotuns eventually outnumbered the Aeisr. Their only solution was to kill the giant Ymir. The three brothers waited until Ymir was asleep. When they made their move, a feirce battle had broke out, but they had managed to defeat Ymir.

Here's where the actual creation comes in. Ymir's blood formed the rivers and oceans. His flesh became the land, his brain the clouds in the sky. His bones became mountains. His hair became the grass and trees. The brothers noticed that worms kept crawling out of Ymir's corpse. These worms became the dwarfs. The brothers assigned four of the dwarves to hold the sky. Nordi, Vestri, Sundri, and Austri

Then came the creation of human. Odin and his brothers got ahold of some logs and breathed life into them, creating the humans, Ask and Embla.

"We have made mankind." Says Odin.

"No you didn't!" Frigga exclaimed. "You screwed up a bunch of logs is what you did. Look at it. It's got anxiety."

I hope you guys enjoyed! Feedback and suggestions on what other Norse related articles you'd like to see from me are greatly appreciated.

Sources:

  • http://www.viking-mythology.com/theCreation.php
  • http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/creation.html
  • http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/mythology/myths/text/creation.htm
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_cosmology
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Re: Norse Creation
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Post # 2
I may be mistaken but wasn't Ymir the first giant?You mention Surtr was ruling Muspelheim before Ymir was born,so I am a bit confused.
P.S.
I have limited knowledge on the subject so I am simply asking not correcting or anything.
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Re: Norse Creation
By: / Knowledgeable
Post # 3

Ymir was the first frost giant, but Surtr was essentially the first fire etin. Surtr is sometimes said to be the oldest being in the lore, as it never really clarifies when his exsistence first came about. But he was in Muspelheim before it drew close to Niflheim and Ymir's creation happened. Which makes Surtr the older of the two.

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