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Gjallarhorn

Heimdall's horn, whose blast is heard in all worlds. He will sound it to wake the gods when Ragnarök begins; Snorri also has Mímir drink from it at his well.

The Gjallarhorn is the horn of Heimdall, the gods' watchman. Snorri says "its blast is heard throughout all worlds" Gylfaginning 27, and it has one job in the story of the world: to announce its end. In Völuspá, as the giants and the dead move against the gods:

Fast move the sons of Mim, and fateIs heard in the note of the Gjallarhorn;Loud blows Heimdall, the horn is aloft,In fear quake all who on Hel-roads are.Völuspá 46

Snorri retells it: Heimdall will "blow mightily in the Gjallar-Horn, and awaken all the gods; and they shall hold council together", and then Odin rides to Mímir's well for advice Gylfaginning 51. See Ragnarök.

Snorri also mentions the horn in a quite different setting. Mímir, keeper of the well of wisdom under Yggdrasil, "is full of ancient lore, since he drinks of the well from the Gjallar-Horn" Gylfaginning 15. He does not say how Heimdall's horn came to be at Mímir's well, or whether it is the same horn. An earlier stanza of Völuspá speaks of "the horn of Heimdall, hidden Under the high-reaching holy tree", with a stream pouring over it "from Valfather's pledge" Völuspá 27. Bellows translates the word as "horn"; other scholars read it as Heimdall's "hearing", pledged at the well as Odin pledged his eye. The question is still open.

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.

Fast move the sons of Mim, and fate Is heard in the note of the Gjallarhorn; Loud blows Heimdall, the horn is aloft
Völuspá 46 The horn sounds as Ragnarök begins.
He has that trumpet which is called Gjallar-Horn, and its blast is heard throughout all worlds.
Gylfaginning 27 Snorri makes the horn Heimdall's possession.
then shall Heimdallr rise up and blow mightily in the Gjallar-Horn, and awaken all the gods; and they shall hold council together.
Gylfaginning 51 The horn wakes the gods for the last battle.
He is full of ancient lore, since he drinks of the well from the Gjallar-Horn.
Gylfaginning 15 Snorri also uses it as Mímir's drinking-horn.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Whether the Gjallarhorn is a war-horn, a drinking-horn or both. Snorri uses it as both (gylfaginning 15, gylfaginning 51) and never explains.
  • Whether 'the horn of Heimdall, hidden Under the high-reaching holy tree' (Völuspá 27) is this horn; the Old Norse word there may mean 'hearing' rather than 'horn'.

Myths with Gjallarhorn

Odin's eye and Mímir's well Odin gave one of his eyes as a pledge for a drink from the well of wisdom kept by Mímir. The sources tell it in a few lines, and the eye's hiding-place becomes one of the secrets the seeress of Völuspá throws back at the god. Ragnarök: the doom of the gods The end of the Norse world as told in Völuspá, Vafþrúðnismál and Snorri's Gylfaginning: winter and war, the wolf and the serpent loose, the gods killed one by one, and Surtr's fire over the earth.

Related

Heimdall Heimdallr The watchman of the gods, born of nine mothers, who guards Bifröst from his hall Himinbjörg and will blow the Gjallarhorn when Ragnarök begins. 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. Mímir The wise guardian of the well beneath Yggdrasil, where Odin pledged an eye for a drink. In the poems only his head survives, and Odin consults it for secret knowledge. Mímisbrunnr The well of wisdom under a root of Yggdrasil, kept by Mímir. Odin left one of his eyes there as the price of a single drink. Himinbjörg Heimdall's hall at the edge of heaven, where Bifröst meets the sky; from here the watchman of the gods guards the bridge. Bifröst The bridge between earth and heaven, which Snorri identifies with the rainbow; the gods ride over it each day, Heimdallr guards it, and it breaks at Ragnarök.