110 Fun Facts About Norse Mythology

What is the name of the immense tree at the center of the Norse cosmos?

Yggdrasil is where the gods ride every day to hold court, beside a holy well under one of its roots, and the whole tree shakes when Ragnarök begins.

Odin stole a mead brewed from the blood of the wise Kvasir that turns whoever drinks it into what?

A poet: two dwarves killed Kvasir and blended his blood with honey, and the Norse went on calling verse itself 'Kvasir's blood' or 'the dwarves' drink'.

Which realm do the gods inhabit, and which do humans?

Asgard and Midgard: Midgard means 'middle enclosure', and the gods fenced it off as a stronghold to shield humans from the hostile giants.

Which Icelandic scholar wrote the Prose Edda in the 13th century?

Snorri Sturluson was also a chieftain who twice served as Iceland's lawspeaker, and his dealings with Norway's king turned fatal: he was assassinated on the king's order in 1241.

Odin hung for nine nights on a windswept tree, pierced by a spear, to win knowledge of what?

The runes came at a cost: he hung with no bread or drink, a sacrifice of himself to himself, then seized them with a scream and fell back from the tree.

What is the name of Odin's spear, said never to stop in its thrust?

Gungnir was forged by dwarves, the sons of Ívaldi, and handed to Odin by Loki; when the end comes, Odin rides out against the wolf Fenrir with it in his hand.

Which power do the Eddas credit to Frigg, Odin's wife?

She can see the future but tells no one, and it did not save her son Baldr: she made almost everything on earth swear not to harm him, and he was killed anyway.

The first human couple, Ask and Embla, were made by three gods from what?

Driftwood, it seems: the Prose Edda says the gods found two trees on the seashore, shaped them into the first man and woman, and gave them breath, wit, speech and sight.

The world was created from the flesh of which primordial being?

Ymir was killed by Odin and his brothers Vili and Vé, who made the sea from his blood, the crags from his bones and the sky from his skull.

Which two humans hide in a wood and survive Ragnarök to repopulate the earth?

Líf and Lífþrasir live on nothing but morning dew while the world burns around their hiding place, and from the two of them every later generation descends.

Besides Valhalla and Hel, the dead may be chosen by Freyja to dwell in her field, called what?

Fólkvangr takes half of those who die in battle, chosen by Freyja, and only the other half go to Odin, so Valhalla was never the only warrior's afterlife.

What are the names of Odin's ravens, Huginn and Muninn, usually translated as?

Thought and Memory fly out at daybreak and report back at Odin's ear, yet in one poem he admits he fears each day that they won't return, Muninn most of all.

Odin gives all the food on his table to which two animals?

His wolves Geri and Freki get every dish set before him, because Odin needs no food at all: wine alone is both meat and drink to him.

Which English weekday is named after Odin?

Wednesday is Woden's day, Woden being the Old English Odin: it translates the Roman 'day of Mercury', the god the Germanic peoples matched with him.

Who avenges Odin after the wolf Fenrir swallows him at Ragnarök?

His son Víðarr plants a shoe on the wolf's lower jaw and tears its mouth apart in the Prose Edda; the shoe is made of every leather scrap ever trimmed from a toe or heel.

Thor's chariot is pulled by two of which animal?

Goats: Thor can slaughter and eat the pair for supper, then raise them whole with his hammer the next morning, so long as every bone is laid unbroken on the hides.

Besides Mjölnir, which two items complete Thor's kit?

A belt of strength and iron gloves: the belt Megingjörð swells his divine might when he buckles it on, and he cannot wield the hammer without the gloves, Járngreipr.

Thor's wife Sif is famous for what physical feature?

Golden hair, literally: after Loki cut off Sif's hair for mischief, Thor forced him to have dwarves make her a new head of it from real gold that would grow like any other.

At Ragnarök, what kills Thor nine steps after he slays Jörmungandr?

The serpent's venom, blown over him in the fight, leaves the thunder god only nine paces of victory; his sons survive the battle and inherit his hammer.

How does Thor get his stolen hammer back from the giant Þrymr?

He is disguised as the bride Freyja and nearly gives the game away: Thor eats an ox and eight salmon at the feast, so Loki, as the maid, says the bride fasted eight nights from longing.

Loki is the father of which three monstrous children by the giantess Angrboða?

Hel, Fenrir and Jörmungandr so alarmed the gods that Odin flung Jörmungandr into the sea, sent Hel down to rule the dead and had Fenrir bound.

Which eight-legged horse did Loki give birth to after turning into a mare?

Sleipnir was born after Loki, as a mare, lured away the stallion Svaðilfari so that a giant builder would miss his deadline on the gods' wall and forfeit his pay.

While Loki lies bound beneath a snake dripping poison, who holds a bowl to catch it?

His wife Sigyn has to step away to empty the bowl when it fills, and then the poison drips on Loki's face and his writhing shakes the earth: the Norse cause of earthquakes.

What is the only thing that did not swear an oath to Frigg never to harm Baldr?

Mistletoe seemed too young to Frigg to ask for an oath, a secret Loki coaxed out of her in disguise before pulling the plant up as the weapon that killed Baldr.

Which blind god was tricked into killing his brother Baldr?

Höðr only threw the fatal shaft because Loki put it in his hand and guided his aim; after Ragnarök he and Baldr come back from Hel together.

Hel agreed to release Baldr from the dead on which condition?

All things must weep for him, Hel said, and nearly all did, even stones and metals, but one giantess called Þökk refused; the gods took her for Loki in disguise.

Gleipnir, the fetter binding Fenrir, was made from six strange ingredients, including which of these?

The sound of a cat's footfall went in with a woman's beard, a mountain's roots, a bear's sinews, a fish's breath and a bird's spittle: the tale's reason cats walk silently.

What did the god Týr lose in the jaws of the wolf Fenrir when the gods tricked it?

His right hand was the pledge: Fenrir would only try on the ribbon-thin fetter if a god put a hand in his mouth, and when it held, the wolf bit it off at the wrist.

The wolves Sköll and Hati are destined to devour what?

The sun and the moon race across the sky because the wolves are always at their heels: Sköll hunts the sun, Hati the moon, and in the Prose Edda both are caught at Ragnarök.

Freyja rides a chariot pulled by which animals?

Two cats pull her chariot, and she drove them to Baldr's funeral; she also owns a feather cloak, which she lends Loki so he can fly to the land of the giants.

What is the name of Freyja's famous necklace?

Brísingamen was once stolen by Loki, and the gods' watchman won it back for her after the two fought over it in the shape of seals.

Freyja and her twin brother Freyr belong to which family of gods?

The Vanir fought a war with the Æsir and sealed the peace by trading hostages, which is how the twins' family came to live among their former enemies.

Freyr's ship Skíðblaðnir has what remarkable property?

It folds up small enough to fit in a pouch, like a cloth, yet unfolded it can carry all the gods fully armed, and a fair wind fills its sail the moment it is raised.

Why is Freyr doomed to lose to a fire giant at Ragnarök?

He gave away his magic sword, one that fought by itself, as the price of wooing the giantess Gerðr, and already had to kill one giant with a stag's antler.

The gods gave Freyr which realm as a teething present?

Álfheimr, home of the elves, was a 'tooth-gift', the present a baby got on cutting a first tooth, so the elves' realm has been Freyr's since he was an infant.

Which god guards the rainbow bridge Bifröst and will blow the Gjallarhorn to announce Ragnarök?

Heimdall sits at heaven's edge to keep the giants off the bridge, and little escapes him: he needs less sleep than a bird and can hear the grass growing.

Whose severed head did Odin preserve with herbs so that it could go on telling him secrets?

Mímir was sent to a rival tribe of gods as a hostage and beheaded; Odin smeared the head with herbs, sang spells over it, and still turns to it for counsel as Ragnarök begins.

What is the Fimbulwinter?

Three winters in a row with no summer between them, with snow driving from every side and a sun that gives no warmth, are the first sign that Ragnarök has come.

The ship Naglfar, which carries the enemies of the gods to Ragnarök, is made of what?

The nails of the dead build the ship, so the Prose Edda warns that anyone buried with untrimmed nails adds timber to a vessel gods and men hope is never finished.

Which fire giant leads the sons of Múspell and burns the world at Ragnarök?

Surtr lent his name to Surtsey, the island that rose from the sea off Iceland in an eruption that began in 1963, a fitting namesake for a giant whose sword outshines the sun.

Which god is killed by the hound Garmr at Ragnarök?

Týr and the hound Garmr kill each other in the Prose Edda; Garmr breaks loose from his chain before a cave as the end begins, and is sometimes read as Fenrir under another name.

What kind of tree is the world tree at the center of the Norse cosmos?

An ash, and a suffering one: Odin says it endures more than people know, with a hart biting it from above, its trunk rotting and a dragon gnawing at it from below.

Which creature carries messages between the eagle atop the world tree and the dragon at its roots?

The squirrel Ratatoskr is no friendly courier: it carries spiteful words between the eagle and the dragon Níðhöggr, each one's insults delivered to the other.

What does the word valkyrie mean?

Chooser of the slain is the job itself: Odin sends valkyries to every battle to decide who falls, and back in his hall they serve the dead warriors their ale.

According to the Prose Edda, the roof of Valhalla is thatched with what?

Shields roof the hall and spear-shafts are its rafters; it has 540 doors, each wide enough for 800 warriors to pour out at once when the last battle comes.

What do the einherjar eat every night in Valhalla?

A boar that comes back whole each day: Sæhrímnir is boiled daily and is whole again by evening, so the meat never runs short however many warriors arrive.

Which primeval cow fed the first giant with her milk at the dawn of creation?

Auðumbla lived by licking salty blocks of ice, and over three days her tongue freed a man from them: Búri, the grandfather of Odin.

Why is Mjölnir's handle so short?

A fly bit the dwarf working the bellows; it is usually taken to be Loki, who had bet his head against the smiths, lost, and had his lips stitched shut instead.

Which section of the Prose Edda has a disguised Swedish king questioning three mysterious figures about the gods?

Gylfaginning means 'the beguiling of Gylfi': the king arrives in disguise to quiz three enthroned figures, and when they finish the hall vanishes, leaving him on an empty plain.

What bait did Thor use to fish for Jörmungandr from the giant Hymir's boat?

An ox's head, cut from the biggest ox in the giant's herd, hooked the monster in the Prose Edda; Thor pulled until his feet went through the boat, then Hymir cut the line.

At Útgarða-Loki's hall, Thor could not empty a drinking horn because its far end lay in what?

The sea: Thor drank so deeply that he lowered it, which the tale gives as the origin of the ebb tide; the old woman who then out-wrestled him was Old Age herself.

Which god rode Odin's eight-legged horse to Hel to plead for Baldr's release?

Hermóðr rode nine nights through valleys so dark he could see nothing, then spurred the horse clean over Hel's gate and found Baldr sitting in the seat of honour.

The goddess Gefjon is credited with forming which modern Danish island?

Zealand was her prize: promised as much land as four oxen could plough in a day and a night, Gefjon turned her four sons by a giant into oxen and hauled the land out to sea.

The goddess Iðunn, wife of Bragi, is the keeper of which fruit?

Apples kept the gods young, so when Loki let a giant carry Iðunn off, they quickly turned grey and old and forced him to bring her back.

Skaði, the ill-matched wife of a sea god, is the goddess of which pursuits?

Skiing and hunting kept Skaði in the mountains, where her sea-god husband hated the howling wolves, while she could not sleep at his home for the screaming seabirds.

What is the name of Freyja's missing husband, for whom she weeps and searches far away?

Óðr went away on long journeys, and Freyja wept tears of red gold as she looked for him among strange peoples under a string of different names.

Which hawk perches between the eyes of the eagle at the top of the world tree?

The eagle itself is said to have much knowledge, and a squirrel runs messages between it and the dragon gnawing the roots.

The Prose Edda was composed as a prose manual for producing what?

Skaldic poetry was packed with riddling kennings drawn from the old myths, so the handbook retold those myths to help poets understand and coin them.

In Norse cosmology, the Moon is personified as which god?

Máni steers the moon as a punishment of sorts: the gods were angered that his father had named his children Moon and Sun, and set them both to work in the sky.

Which god, strongly tied to ships and seafaring, is the father of Freyja and Freyr?

Njörðr, in one account, fathered the twins with his own sister, a marriage his own tribe of gods allowed but the gods he later lived among forbade; she is never named.

What did Odin give up in exchange for a single drink from the well of wisdom kept by Mímir?

An eye was the price of that drink, which is why Odin, chief of the Norse gods, is described as having only one, the other sacrificed for wisdom.

In Norse myth, which natural events happen when the bound Loki writhes in pain under dripping venom?

Earthquakes were the myth's answer to Loki's thrashing, which is so violent that the whole earth shakes each time the poison touches him.

The sea serpent Jörmungandr grew so vast that it circles the whole world gripping what in its jaws?

Its own tail stays clamped in Jörmungandr's mouth for now, and the serpent letting go of it is one of the signs that Ragnarök has begun.

Choosing a husband among the Norse gods, the giantess Skaði could see only which part of each?

Their feet were all Skaði could go by, and she picked the most handsome pair expecting them to be Baldr's, only to find they belonged to another god.

Thor and his companions once sheltered overnight in a strange hall that turned out to be what?

A giant's glove was the 'hall', and its owner Skrýmir lay nearby snoring so heavily that the travellers felt the ground shake all night.

In Norse myth, four dwarves named North, South, East and West each stand under a corner of what?

The sky rests on Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri in the Prose Edda, a job much like the one the Titan Atlas does in Greek myth.

Which character's name did J. R. R. Tolkien borrow from a catalogue of dwarf names in the Poetic Edda?

Gandalf is Gandálfr in the Old Norse list, a name meaning staff-elf, and nearly every dwarf in The Hobbit takes his name from the same catalogue.

In the poem Lokasenna, Loki reminds Odin that the two of them long ago became what?

Blood brothers is what the pair became by mixing their blood, a bond that has been taken as the reason the gods put up with Loki at all.

In the Norse creation story, the gods flung a slain giant's brains upward to make what?

Clouds came from the dead giant's brains in the Prose Edda, while his blood filled the seas and his bones were heaped up as mountains.

In Valhalla, which drink flows from the udders of the goat Heiðrún for the feasting warriors?

Mead pours from Heiðrún in place of milk, and each day she fills a cauldron so big that every warrior in the hall can drink his fill.

Thor was forced to one knee when he wrestled Elli, a giant's nurse who was really what in disguise?

Old age was the wrestler, and her master admitted afterwards that it was a marvel Thor fell no further than one knee, since she brings everyone down in the end.

Loki's byname Laufeyson comes from Laufey, who is which of his relatives in the Norse sources?

His mother is Laufey, which makes Laufeyson a rare matronymic in a mythology that usually reckons kinship through the father, here the giant Fárbauti.

Which weapon of Odin's, forged by dwarves, was said never to miss its mark?

A spear named Gungnir is Odin's weapon, made by the dwarves called the Sons of Ivaldi, and he carries it at the head of the gods when he rides out against the wolf Fenrir at Ragnarök.

The feathered cloak that the goddess Freyja lends to other gods lets its wearer fly as which bird?

A falcon is the shape the cloak gives, and Loki borrowed it to fly north to the land of the giants and bring home the kidnapped goddess Iðunn.

After insulting the gods at a feast, Loki hid from them in a waterfall in the shape of which fish?

A salmon was Loki's disguise in the waterfall called Franangrsfors, but the gods caught him there all the same and bound him as punishment.

Which female beings of Norse myth, often pictured as a trio beside a well, spin the threads of fate?

The Norns, usually named as Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld, also tend the world tree itself, keeping it alive at the centre of the cosmos.

Which metallic element did a Swedish chemist name after a byname of the Norse goddess Freyja?

Vanadium honours Vanadís, another name for Freyja, and Nils Gabriel Sefström chose it because the metal's compounds come in so many beautiful colours.

In the Prose Edda, the dwarves of Norse myth first took shape as what before the gods gave them wits?

Maggots is the Prose Edda's unflattering answer: the dwarves bred in the earth until the gods decided to give them intelligence and the shape of men.

The Norse sea goddess Rán, wife of the giant Ægir, uses which tool to drag sailors down to her?

A net is Rán's tool for catching seafarers, and in one telling Loki borrowed it from her to capture a dwarf who was hiding in the shape of a pike.

The god Heimdall has hearing so sharp that he can hear grass sprout and what else?

Wool growing on sheep is the other sound he can pick out, and he is also said to need less sleep than a bird and to see a hundred leagues by night or day.

Which family of Norse gods, counting Odin and Thor among its members, once went to war with the Vanir?

The Æsir fought what the sources call the first war in the world, then ended it by trading hostages with their rivals and merging into a single pantheon.

Which realm of Norse myth, set to the north or east in the sources, is the homeland of the giants?

Jötunheimr lies behind barriers that ordinary travellers cannot cross, yet the old poems tend to picture it as a prosperous land, not a wasteland.

What happens to the dwarf Alvíss when Thor keeps him answering questions all night until daybreak?

He turns to stone in the first light, which was Thor's plan all along: the dwarf had come to claim Thor's daughter as his bride, and the quiz was a way to stall him.

In Norse myth, what is created when the giant Hræsvelgr, who has the form of an eagle, beats his wings?

The wind is his doing: Hræsvelgr sits at the northern edge of the heavens, and every gust in the world is said to start under his wings.

Whenever her wandering husband is away, the Norse goddess Freyja is said to weep tears of what?

Red gold is what Freyja weeps, which is why Norse poets could call the metal itself 'Freyja's tears' or 'Freyja's weeping'.

To carry the kidnapped goddess Iðunn home from a giant's hall, Loki first turned her into what?

A nut small enough to grip in his claws was Loki's answer, and he flew off with the giant Þjazi chasing him in the shape of an eagle.

The wise Kvasir was made when two families of Norse gods sealed a truce by all doing what into a vat?

Spitting into a shared vat sealed the peace, and the gods shaped Kvasir from the result; he was so wise that he could answer any question put to him.

In Norse myth Búri, grandfather of Odin, emerged over three days as a primeval cow licked what?

Salty ice was what the cow licked: his hair showed on the first evening, his head on the second, and the whole of Búri stood free on the third day.

Which object, hurled by the giant Hrungnir in a duel, left a fragment lodged in Thor's head?

A whetstone was Hrungnir's weapon, and it broke in two against Thor's hammer in mid-air; the half that fell to earth is said to be the origin of all whetstone rock.

Thor made a star by throwing which frozen body part of Aurvandill, a man he was carrying in a basket?

A toe had poked out of the basket and frozen solid while Thor waded across icy rivers, so he snapped it off and tossed it up to shine as the star Aurvandill's Toe.

Which fantasy author retold the old tales in his book Norse Mythology, later adapted as a comic series?

Neil Gaiman gives most of the book to three gods, Odin, Thor and Loki, and Dark Horse later turned it into an eighteen-issue comic.

Which composer drew on Norse sagas for a four-opera cycle that includes the Ride of the Valkyries?

Richard Wagner called the cycle The Ring of the Nibelung; a full performance fills four nights at the opera and runs to about 15 hours.

Which English weekday honours the Germanic thunder god, the day Romance languages give to Jupiter?

Thursday began as the day of Thunor, the Old English name for the god the Norse called Thor, matching the Roman habit of naming it for Jupiter.

Which planet's retrograde outer moons are named after figures from Norse myth, mostly giants?

Saturn's backward-orbiting moons form what astronomers call the Norse group, with one odd one out: Phoebe, named from Greek myth long before the rule was set.

How do the einherjar, the slain warriors of Odin's hall, spend each day before riding home to drink?

Fighting one another for sport is the daily routine, and it doubles as training for Ragnarök, when the einherjar will march out to the final battle.

In Norse sagas and folklore, a draugr is which kind of creature, often found guarding buried treasure?

An undead corpse is the idea behind the draugr, a malevolent revenant that lives on in its grave and today is often portrayed as a kind of Norse zombie.

Which treasure of Odin's, named Draupnir, drips eight copies of itself every ninth night?

A gold ring is what Draupnir is, and Odin laid it on the funeral pyre of his son Baldr, though it was later fetched back to him.

After Loki lost a wager with the dwarf smith Brokkr, what did the dwarf sew shut as payment?

His lips were stitched together because the stake had been Loki's head, and Loki argued that the bet gave the dwarf no right to touch his neck.

In the Norse creation account, what lay between the realms of ice and fire before the world was made?

Ginnungagap, the yawning void, grew heavy with rime on its northern side, while its southern side was lit by sparks flying out of the fiery realm.

Which poem of the Poetic Edda has a seeress tell Odin how the world began and how it will end?

Völuspá dates back to the tenth century and does not stop at the world's destruction: the seeress goes on to describe its rebirth afterwards.

At which Swedish site did Adam of Bremen describe a temple with statues of Thor, Odin and Freyr?

Uppsala's temple, in Adam's account, set the three gods on a triple throne, with Thor, whom he calls the mightiest, in the middle seat and Odin to one side.

From which high seat can the god Odin look out over every realm?

Hliðskjálf also tempted Freyr, who sneaked onto it, looked into the land of the giants and fell in love at first sight with a maiden he saw there.

On which vast field are the Norse gods foretold to meet their enemies in the last battle of Ragnarök?

Vígríðr means 'battle-surge' in Old Norse, and the Prose Edda foretells that several gods and their foes will die there before the world burns and is reborn.

Which son of Odin was born to avenge Baldr and grew to full adulthood within a single day?

Váli took that revenge when only one night old, the poems say, before he had washed his hands or combed his hair, and he is prophesied to be one of the gods who survive Ragnarök.

Which two brothers of Odin, sons of Borr and Bestla, helped him make the world from a giant's body?

Vili and Vé governed in Odin's place while he travelled, and one saga says that when he seemed gone for good they began dividing up his inheritance.

Which Norse goddess, the wife of Baldr, died of grief at his funeral and was burned beside him?

Nanna collapsed as Baldr's body was placed on his ship, and from the realm of the dead she later sent back gifts, including a linen robe for Frigg.

Which medieval historian wove Norse gods and giants into his sixteen-book Gesta Danorum?

Saxo Grammaticus did not always flatter the old gods: his Odin teaches one legendary Danish king the ways of warfare, then betrays and kills him.

From which giant did Odin steal the drink of poets, slipping into his mountain in the form of a snake?

Suttungr gave chase in the shape of an eagle after Odin, who had drained all three vessels in three draughts, flew for home as an eagle himself.

Which son of Thor, still a small child, heaved a dead giant's foot off his pinned father's neck?

Magni freed Thor when none of the other gods could shift the weight, and his father rewarded him with the dead giant's horse, to Odin's annoyance.

Which Norse god of justice, a son of Baldr, settles every dispute so that all parties leave reconciled?

Forseti means 'the presiding one' in Old Norse, and the same word is the title of the president in modern Icelandic and Faroese.