Giants
The jötnar: the oldest beings in the world, the gods' rivals and in-laws. Many gods have a giant mother or wife, and the end of the world comes from their side.
Ægir
The sea in person and the gods' brewer: his hall is where they feast, his wife is Rán and his nine daughters are the waves. Snorri also makes him the listener to whom Bragi tells the myths in Skáldskaparmál.
Angrboða
The giantess in Jötunheim with whom Loki fathered Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent and Hel; the sources name her and say almost nothing else.
Baugi
Suttungr's brother, who hires the disguised Odin to replace nine dead farmhands, then bores into the mountain where the mead of poetry is hidden and tries to cheat him.
Bergelmir
A primeval frost-giant. Vafþrúðnismál remembers him laid in a boat before the earth was made; Snorri makes him the one giant who escaped the flood of Ymir's blood.
Bestla
A giantess, daughter of Bölþorn, wife of Borr and mother of Odin, Vili and Vé. Through her the chief god is half giant by birth.
Bölþorn
A giant, father of Bestla and so grandfather of Odin. His unnamed son taught Odin nine mighty songs.
Eggþér
The giants' herdsman, who sits on a mound playing his harp, cheerful, as the red cock Fjalar crows to signal the coming of Ragnarök.
Elli
Útgarða-Loki's old nurse, who brings Thor down on one knee in a wrestling match because she is Old Age, which no one can withstand.
Fárbauti
The giant father of Loki, known only from Snorri and from one line of a tenth-century skaldic poem.
Geirröðr
A crafty giant who traps Loki and makes him lure Thor to his hall without hammer or belt. Thor, armed with gear borrowed from the giantess Gríðr, breaks his daughters' backs and kills him with a red-hot iron bar.
Gjálp and Greip Gjálp ok Greip
Geirröðr's two daughters: Gjálp swells a river to drown Thor, and both are crushed when they try to push him into the roof on a rising chair.
Gríðr
A giantess, mother of Odin's son Víðarr, who helped Thor on his way to the giant Geirröðr by lending him a girdle of might, iron gloves and her staff.
Gunnlöð
Suttungr's daughter, set to guard the mead of poetry inside a mountain. Odin spends three nights with her and leaves with all the mead; Hávamál remembers her as a woman he wronged.
Gymir
A rich giant of Jötunheim, father of Gerðr, whose guarded house Skírnir rode to when he came to woo Gerðr for Freyr.
Hel
Loki's daughter by Angrboða, half dark and half flesh-coloured, whom Odin cast down to rule the dead in Niflheim; she holds Baldr and sets the price of his return.
Hræsvelgr
A giant in eagle's shape who sits at the end of heaven; the wind comes from the beating of his wings.
Hrungnir
The strongest of the giants, with a head, heart and shield of stone. He races Odin into Ásgard, gets drunk there, and dies when Thor's hammer shatters his whetstone and his skull.
Hrymr
The giant who comes from the east at Ragnarök with his shield held high; Snorri makes him the steersman of the ship Naglfar and leader of the frost-giants.
Hymir
The sea-giant who takes Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent and owns the great kettle the gods need to brew ale; Hymiskviða makes him Týr's father.
Hyndla
A cave-dwelling giantess whom Freyja wakes and rides with to recite the ancestry of her favourite, Óttarr. She names his forebears, foretells the end of the world, and parts from Freyja with insults.
Hyrrokkin
The giantess who rode a wolf with vipers for reins to Baldr's funeral and launched his ship, which the gods could not move, with a single push.
Laufey
Loki's mother, also called Nál; known only as a name, but so often used for her son that he is regularly called 'Laufey's son'.
Logi
Útgarða-Loki's man who beats Loki in an eating contest by devouring meat, bones and trough together, because he is wildfire itself.
Mökkurkálfi
The clay giant, nine miles tall, built by the giants to stand with Hrungnir against Thor. He has a mare's heart, wets himself in fear, and falls to Thor's servant Þjálfi.
Mundilfari
The father of the Sun and the Moon; Snorri says the gods took his children into the sky because he dared to name them after the heavenly lights.
Nörfi
The giant of Jötunheim who is the father of Night; the poems call him Nor. Not to be confused with Loki's son Narfi.
Rán
Ægir's wife, the sea as a taker of lives: she owns a net in which she catches everyone who goes to sea, and the drowned are said to go to her.
Surtr
The fire-giant who guards Múspell with a flaming sword; at Ragnarök he rides out from the south, kills Freyr and burns the whole world.
Suttungr
The giant who takes the mead of poetry from the dwarves as compensation for his father's murder, hides it inside a mountain with his daughter Gunnlöð, and loses it to Odin.
Þjazi
A giant who, in the shape of an eagle, forced Loki to lure Iðunn and her apples out of Asgard. The gods burned his wings at their walls and killed him; his eyes became stars.
Þökk
The giantess in a cave who alone refused to weep Baldr out of Hel, so that he had to stay with the dead; Snorri says men believed she was Loki in disguise.
Þrúðgelmir
A primeval frost-giant named once in Vafþrúðnismál: son of Aurgelmir and father of Bergelmir, in the generation between the first giant and the survivor of the flood.
Þrymr
The giant king who steals Thor's hammer and demands Freyja as his bride, and is killed at his own wedding feast when the 'bride' turns out to be Thor.
Útgarða-Loki
The giant king of Útgarðr who beats Thor and his companions in a series of contests by illusion, then admits the truth: they nearly destroyed him.
Vafþrúðnir
The all-knowing giant whom Odin, disguised as Gagnráðr, challenges to a contest of wisdom with their heads at stake. He loses to a question only Odin could answer.
Ymir
The first being, a giant who woke in the melting rime of the primeval void. Odin and his brothers killed him and built the world from his body.
Angrboða
The giantess in Jötunheim with whom Loki fathered Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent and Hel; the sources name her and say almost nothing else.
Baugi
Suttungr's brother, who hires the disguised Odin to replace nine dead farmhands, then bores into the mountain where the mead of poetry is hidden and tries to cheat him.
Bergelmir
A primeval frost-giant. Vafþrúðnismál remembers him laid in a boat before the earth was made; Snorri makes him the one giant who escaped the flood of Ymir's blood.
Bestla
A giantess, daughter of Bölþorn, wife of Borr and mother of Odin, Vili and Vé. Through her the chief god is half giant by birth.
Bölþorn
A giant, father of Bestla and so grandfather of Odin. His unnamed son taught Odin nine mighty songs.
Eggþér
The giants' herdsman, who sits on a mound playing his harp, cheerful, as the red cock Fjalar crows to signal the coming of Ragnarök.
Elli
Útgarða-Loki's old nurse, who brings Thor down on one knee in a wrestling match because she is Old Age, which no one can withstand.
Fárbauti
The giant father of Loki, known only from Snorri and from one line of a tenth-century skaldic poem.
Geirröðr
A crafty giant who traps Loki and makes him lure Thor to his hall without hammer or belt. Thor, armed with gear borrowed from the giantess Gríðr, breaks his daughters' backs and kills him with a red-hot iron bar.
Gjálp and Greip Gjálp ok Greip
Geirröðr's two daughters: Gjálp swells a river to drown Thor, and both are crushed when they try to push him into the roof on a rising chair.
Gríðr
A giantess, mother of Odin's son Víðarr, who helped Thor on his way to the giant Geirröðr by lending him a girdle of might, iron gloves and her staff.
Gunnlöð
Suttungr's daughter, set to guard the mead of poetry inside a mountain. Odin spends three nights with her and leaves with all the mead; Hávamál remembers her as a woman he wronged.
Gymir
A rich giant of Jötunheim, father of Gerðr, whose guarded house Skírnir rode to when he came to woo Gerðr for Freyr.
Hel
Loki's daughter by Angrboða, half dark and half flesh-coloured, whom Odin cast down to rule the dead in Niflheim; she holds Baldr and sets the price of his return.
Hræsvelgr
A giant in eagle's shape who sits at the end of heaven; the wind comes from the beating of his wings.
Hrungnir
The strongest of the giants, with a head, heart and shield of stone. He races Odin into Ásgard, gets drunk there, and dies when Thor's hammer shatters his whetstone and his skull.
Hrymr
The giant who comes from the east at Ragnarök with his shield held high; Snorri makes him the steersman of the ship Naglfar and leader of the frost-giants.
Hymir
The sea-giant who takes Thor fishing for the Midgard Serpent and owns the great kettle the gods need to brew ale; Hymiskviða makes him Týr's father.
Hyndla
A cave-dwelling giantess whom Freyja wakes and rides with to recite the ancestry of her favourite, Óttarr. She names his forebears, foretells the end of the world, and parts from Freyja with insults.
Hyrrokkin
The giantess who rode a wolf with vipers for reins to Baldr's funeral and launched his ship, which the gods could not move, with a single push.
Laufey
Loki's mother, also called Nál; known only as a name, but so often used for her son that he is regularly called 'Laufey's son'.
Logi
Útgarða-Loki's man who beats Loki in an eating contest by devouring meat, bones and trough together, because he is wildfire itself.
Mökkurkálfi
The clay giant, nine miles tall, built by the giants to stand with Hrungnir against Thor. He has a mare's heart, wets himself in fear, and falls to Thor's servant Þjálfi.
Mundilfari
The father of the Sun and the Moon; Snorri says the gods took his children into the sky because he dared to name them after the heavenly lights.
Nörfi
The giant of Jötunheim who is the father of Night; the poems call him Nor. Not to be confused with Loki's son Narfi.
Rán
Ægir's wife, the sea as a taker of lives: she owns a net in which she catches everyone who goes to sea, and the drowned are said to go to her.
Surtr
The fire-giant who guards Múspell with a flaming sword; at Ragnarök he rides out from the south, kills Freyr and burns the whole world.
Suttungr
The giant who takes the mead of poetry from the dwarves as compensation for his father's murder, hides it inside a mountain with his daughter Gunnlöð, and loses it to Odin.
Þjazi
A giant who, in the shape of an eagle, forced Loki to lure Iðunn and her apples out of Asgard. The gods burned his wings at their walls and killed him; his eyes became stars.
Þökk
The giantess in a cave who alone refused to weep Baldr out of Hel, so that he had to stay with the dead; Snorri says men believed she was Loki in disguise.
Þrúðgelmir
A primeval frost-giant named once in Vafþrúðnismál: son of Aurgelmir and father of Bergelmir, in the generation between the first giant and the survivor of the flood.
Þrymr
The giant king who steals Thor's hammer and demands Freyja as his bride, and is killed at his own wedding feast when the 'bride' turns out to be Thor.
Útgarða-Loki
The giant king of Útgarðr who beats Thor and his companions in a series of contests by illusion, then admits the truth: they nearly destroyed him.
Vafþrúðnir
The all-knowing giant whom Odin, disguised as Gagnráðr, challenges to a contest of wisdom with their heads at stake. He loses to a question only Odin could answer.
Ymir
The first being, a giant who woke in the melting rime of the primeval void. Odin and his brothers killed him and built the world from his body.