Ideas and peoples
Ragnarök, seiðr, runes and kennings, and the races of gods, giants, elves and dwarves.
Dísir dísir
Female guardian spirits tied to fate, to families and to childbirth, who received sacrifices; the Eddas mention them only in passing, and Bellows translates the word in several different ways.
Dwarves dvergar
The underground smiths of Norse myth, made from the giant Ymir's flesh or blood; they forge the gods' greatest treasures, brew the mead of poetry, and fear the daylight.
Einherjar einherjar
The dead warriors of Valhalla, who fight and fall every day, rise to feast on boar-meat and mead, and wait to march out with Odin against the wolf at Ragnarök.
Elves álfar
A race of beings constantly named alongside the gods in Eddic poetry but almost never described; Snorri divides them into shining light-elves and pitch-black dark-elves.
Galdr galdr
The Norse spoken or sung charm: magic made with words, used by Odin to wake the dead, by Groa to protect her son and by the skilled to heal, bind, loosen and curse.
Kennings kenningar
The compressed poetic riddles of skaldic verse, such as 'Ymir's skull' for the sky or 'Kvasir's blood' for poetry, which only make sense if you know the myths; Snorri wrote Skáldskaparmál to explain them.
Ragnarök
The foretold end of the gods' world: wolves swallow sun and moon, Loki and the monsters break loose, the gods fall in battle, Surtr burns the earth, and a new world rises.
Runes rúnar
The letters of the old Germanic alphabets, used from about the 2nd century AD for inscriptions, and in myth the secret signs Odin won by hanging on the tree, carved for victory, healing and protection.
Seiðr seiðr
A form of Norse sorcery used to see the future and to bend minds, bodies and luck; associated with seeresses, with Freyja and the Vanir, and, shamefully, with Odin.
The Æsir Æsir
The main family of Norse gods, led by Odin and living in Asgard: Thor, Baldr, Týr, Heimdall and others, with the goddesses called Ásynjur. They fought and made peace with the Vanir.
The giants (jötnar) jötnar
The giants of Norse myth: the oldest race in the world, descended from Ymir, wise and often wealthy, enemies of the gods yet their kin, their wives and their mothers.
The Norns nornir
The female powers who fix the lives and deaths of gods and men: three named Norns by the well under Yggdrasil, and many lesser norns who come to every birth.
The Vanir Vanir
The second family of gods, associated with wealth, fertility, the sea and foresight. After a war with the Æsir they exchanged hostages, and Njörðr, Freyr and Freyja came to live among the Æsir.
The völva völva
The Norse seeress: a woman who foretold the future, sometimes from beyond the grave. Völuspá, the first poem of the Poetic Edda, is a völva's prophecy spoken to Odin.
Valkyries valkyrjur
Odin's battle-maidens, who ride to war to decide who falls and bring chosen warriors to Valhalla; in the heroic poems some are also mortal princesses who love and protect a hero.