Nine Realms of Norse Mythology

In the beginning there was this big nothing - and that nothing was later known as the Ginnungagap - the big gaping abyss. The Ginnungagap didn’t have any length, or depth, or width. There was no up nor down, and to even start to imagining such a place would make any man filled with fright. The human brain isn’t made to understand a place without light nor darkness and a place where its always extremely loud and all quiet at the same time.

Besides this big and unexplainable void, there was two extreme forces that lived on each side of it. On one side there was Muspelheim, that was filled with raging heat and with its air filled with fire. The burning giant Surt already lived in Muspelheim at the beginning, and he would stay until the very end.

The world creation is resting on the big mighty Yggdrasil tree. Where the Yggdrasil has its origin and how it came to be is forever to be hidden in mystery. The only ones who knows of its lore are the Norns and possibly Mimir. But make no mistake, without the Yggdrasil, even though mortals can’t see it, the world creation would crumble down and dissolve into nothing.

The big roots and branches of the Yggdrasil grows all throughout these realms. Outside of all the realms Yggdrasil is also inhabited by several mythical animals and creatures. There are four deers running alongside its branches, eating the evergreen leaves growing out of the tree. On the top of the ash lives a big eagle watching down on all of the nine realms. There are many snakes eating on the root which leads down to the underworld, where the biggest serpent is the dragon Nidhögg. Nidhögg and the Eagle at the top absolutely despise each other. So it is a poor squirrel’s job, by the name of Ratatosk, to jump up and down the branches to deliver insults from one to the other.

The three huge roots of the Yggdrasil goes through 3 realms and gets it’s water from 3 specific wells. One root goes to Urdr’s well, one root goes to Mimir’s well and the last one goes to Hvergelmir, where is the domain of Nidhögg.

One of the possible depictions you can find of Yggdrasil is on the Ockelbostenen in Sweden. Up there I've highlighted the part which is plausibly the world tree, if you look at the design on the stone furhter you notice that also below it is a serpentlike creature that makes up runetext part of the stone - possibly Nidhögg or the Midgard serpent. Around the depiction you can also see stagg like creatures and other interesting things like the deteriorating Freyr with his magical sword or Sigurd the dragonslayer at the very top, who is also seen on other runestones and carvings.

Asgard is the realm of the gods, it is also called Godheim, where they have their halls and courtyards. Not too far from Asgard is the sacred well of Urdr.

Asgard was built by Odin with the help of his sons high up above the clouds above the middle of Midgard.

The fortifications and halls of Asgard are wonderful and the scenery is mighty beautiful. In Asgard the gods invented the first tools and then they invented gold, and used it as much as they could. The connection between Midgard and Asgard is the rainbow, also known as the bridge Bitfrost.

In Vanaheim the Vanirs have their halls. Njordr is the leader of the Vanirs, who are associated to nature, fertility and magic.

Vanaheim is located east of Asgard, and both god families kept going back and forth between the two. Here is Njordr’s favorite hall, by the coast of Noatun and the fortification of Skadi in Trymheim.

In Alfheim the magical creatures called light-elves live, they’re in very close contact with the different god families. Here also the Vanir Freyr lives. In the sources we are not given many details about how Alfheim as a place looks like. We only have the information about Freyr being their leader living there together with them and the information that is hidden in its name. Alf – Elf, Heim – Home. We can however assume that they are on good foot with the gods since they live there in peace with Freyr.

Midgard is also called Manheim, which is fitting since this is the realm of mankind. As its name is suggesting – it can be found in the middle of the worldcreation. Midgard is also the name of the fortification surrounding the realm of mankind, protecting it from all of the lurking Jötunns coming out of Jotunheim. Besides the big fortification surrounding Midgard, the Midgard Serpent also surrounds this realm, deep underneath the sea surface.

Midgard was built by Odin together with his two brothers Höner and Lodur. How they built Midgard might be why mankind needs a little bit of extra protection, since they created this realm out of the Jötunns ancestor Ymir. The fortification was made from Ymir’s eyelashes, the clouds out of his brain and the water sources out of his blood.

While the three brothers had walked around in their newly created realm, they spotted two tree logs floating alongside the water and up on the shore. From an ash log they created the first man Askr and from an elm log they created the first woman Embla. Besides their shape the brothers gave them different abilities.

Odin gave the trees the gift of life and a spirit. Lodur gave them the power of youth, the ability to think and the five senses. Höner gave the pair the ability to speak. One must wonder what their first word ever was.

This is the realm of the descendants of Ymir, the jötunns - they reside here. Close to Jotunheim the well of Mimir can be found

Jotunheim is a chaotic and dangerous realm for mankind and the gods. All jötunns see red when faced with the likes of anyone else than their own. Here lives all kinds of different jötunns, mountain-, frost-, and firejötunns whom are always ready to bite the head off of anyone they do not approve of.

Since Midgard was built out of the jötunns ancestor Ymir, it is not really that unreasonable for their hostile attitudes.

In Jotunheim lives the powerful frostjötunn Hrungnir in his hall Grjotunagard. Even for a frostjötunn Hrungnir is both big and cold hearted. His triangular heart is made out of granite.

The realm of Svartalfheim is an underground place inhabited by the dwarves. Just as with Alfheim the name means something similar. Svart – Black, Alf – Elf, Heim – Home, so black elf home, a Svartalf is another name for the dwarves.

The best and most skilled crafters and smiths out of all of the nine realms can be found in Svartalfheim. The story about the dwarves is a grim one. After Odin, Lodur and Höner had slayed Ymir, they soon enough noticed that his flesh was filled with maggots, these maggots the gods gave a more human shape and consciousness. They could continue living in darkness and warmth in Svartalfheim instead of the body of a giant. The dwarves turn into stone if they are exposed to sunlight.

Even thought the dwarves are small and grim looking creatures, they make the most beautiful and magical tools, jewellery and weapons for the gods.

Muspelheim is a place made of fire and chaos. Muspelheim is one of the oldest realms in the worldcreation, together with Nifelheim. Here the firejötunn Surt rules over the fiery chaos. Surt name means “the black one / the dark one”. A ruler of this kind of realm surely strikes fear into anyone. He guards Muspelheim with his magical sword that shines brighter than any sun ever could.

Surt is made out of Muspelheim and is in some aspects a part of it, he was created in its fires before time itself and first became a being somewhere around when time started or the worldcreation had taken shape. Muspelheim will be one of the biggest components of Ragnarök and the end of everything, the world was partly created by Muspelheim and it will also be its destroyer.

The furthest away from the top of Yggdrasil is Nifelheim - located deep in the underground. In contrast to Muspelheim, Nifelheim is always dark and colder than any fimbulwinter could ever be.

The worst of the worst sinners may end up in Nifelheim, when even Helheim isn’t cruel enough for them. This is where the dragon Nidhögg, together with his endless amount of huge serpent companions torture sinners or anyone else they can get their teeth into. They are also continuously chewing on one of Yggdrasil’s roots which runs at the bottom of Nifelheim. If there is any realm you wouldn’t want to find yourself in, this is definitely the one.

Besides all of the main nine realms resting on the Yggdrasil, there are other locations to be discovered around the big ash. That is however for another blogpost, thank you for your time learning about the nine realms of Yggdrasil, hope to see you soon again when we will discover more stories and locations around the world of the Viking age.

Best regards!
– Elin aka MooseLady