Seiðr Loom

god or goddess

Borr

Son of Búri and father of Odin, Vili and Vé by the giantess Bestla. His sons killed Ymir and raised the earth, and the poems often call them simply 'Bur's sons'.

Borr matters because of his sons. In Snorri's Gylfaginning he is the son of Búri, who was licked out of the ice; he married Bestla, daughter of the giant Bölþorn, and they had three sons: Odin, Vili and Vé Gylfaginning 6. So the gods' line is half giant from the start.

The poems never tell a story about Borr himself. They use his name as a way of naming the creators. Völuspá says "Bur's sons lifted the level land" and made Mithgarth Völuspá 4, without naming the sons individually; Hyndluljóð calls Odin "the heir of Bur" Hyndluljóð 31. Snorri likewise refers to "the sons of Borr" when they kill Ymir and build the world Gylfaginning 7 Gylfaginning 8.

Bellows spells the name Bur, Brodeur Borr. Snorri says nothing about Borr's death or later life, and he plays no part at Ragnarök.

In the sources

Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.

He begat a son called Borr, who wedded the woman named Bestla, daughter of Bölthorn the giant; and they had three sons: one was Odin, the second Vili, the third Vé.
Gylfaginning 6 Borr's place in Snorri's genealogy, between Búri and the three brothers.
Then Bur's sons lifted the level land, Mithgarth the mighty there they made
Völuspá 4 The oldest poem names the creators only as Borr's sons.
The father of Baldr was the heir of Bur
Hyndluljóð 31 Odin identified through his father in a genealogical poem.

Myths with Borr

Ask and Embla: the first humans Three gods walking by the shore find two lifeless pieces of wood, Ask and Embla, and give them breath, mind, warmth and colour. Völuspá and Snorri agree on the gifts but not on who gave them. The making of the world Before anything existed there was only a yawning gap. Fire and ice met in it, the giant Ymir woke out of the melting rime, and Odin and his brothers killed him and built the world from his body.

Related

Búri The first ancestor of the gods in Snorri's creation story: licked out of the salty ice by the cow Auðhumla, he was the father of Borr and grandfather of Odin. 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. Odin Óðinn Chief of the Æsir: a one-eyed god of wisdom, poetry, magic, war and the dead, who gave an eye and hanged himself on a tree for knowledge, and who dies at Ragnarök. Vili and Vé Vili ok Vé Odin's two brothers, sons of Borr and Bestla. With Odin they killed Ymir, built the world from his body and gave life to the first humans, then all but vanish from the myths. 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. Midgard Miðgarðr The world of humans, made by Odin and his brothers from the body of the giant Ymir and fenced with his eyebrows against the giants who live around the ocean's edge.