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place

Gimlé

A golden-roofed hall brighter than the sun, where the righteous will live after Ragnarök; Snorri says it already stands at the southern end of heaven.

Gimlé is the hall of the righteous after the end of the world. Völuspá's seeress sees it near the close of her prophecy, after the earth has risen green again:

More fair than the sun, a hall I see,Roofed with gold, on Gimle it stands;There shall the righteous rulers dwell,And happiness ever there shall they have.Völuspá 64

Snorri mentions Gimlé three times, and the three do not quite fit together. First he says that Allfather gave man a spirit that lives on, and "all men shall live, such as are just in action, and be with himself in the place called Gimlé" Gylfaginning 3, which sounds like a heaven for the righteous dead. Later he places Gimlé at the southern end of heaven, "brighter than the sun," and says it will stand when heaven and earth are gone; but it is protected because it lies in a higher heaven, and "none but Light-Elves inhabit these mansions now" Gylfaginning 17. Finally, describing the world after Ragnarök, he says "it shall be best to be in Gimlé in Heaven," and sets it against the hall at Náströnd where oath-breakers and murderers suffer Gylfaginning 52.

Gimlé is one of the places where scholars most often suspect Christian influence, because a golden hall for the righteous, set apart from a place of punishment, closely resembles Christian heaven and hell. Others argue that the idea of a hall for the worthy dead is native, as Valhöll shows. The sources alone cannot settle it.

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.

More fair than the sun, a hall I see, Roofed with gold, on Gimle it stands; There shall the righteous rulers dwell, And happiness ever there shall they have.
Völuspá 64 The seeress's vision of the new world's hall.
At the southern end of heaven is that hall which is fairest of all, and brighter than the sun; it is called Gimlé. It shall stand when both heaven and earth have departed
Gylfaginning 17 Snorri makes Gimlé a hall that exists now and survives the end.
then it shall be best to be in Gimlé in Heaven
Gylfaginning 52 After Ragnarök, Gimlé is the best of the good dwellings.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Snorri's accounts do not agree on when Gimlé is inhabited: the righteous go there after death (Gylfaginning 3), only light-elves live there now (Gylfaginning 17), and it is the best place to be after Ragnarök (Gylfaginning 52).
  • Whether Völuspá's Gimlé owes something to the Christian idea of heaven is debated.

Myths with Gimlé

The world reborn After Ragnarök a green earth rises from the sea. Surviving gods meet on Iðavöllr, Baldr returns from Hel, two humans come out of hiding, and a new sun rides the sky. The sources do not agree on who survives.

Related

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. Náströnd The 'corpse-shore', where a hall woven of serpents, far from the sun, drips venom on oath-breakers and murderers; the Norse sources' clearest place of punishment. Líf and Lífþrasir Líf ok Lífþrasir The two humans who survive the end of the world hidden in Hoddmímir's wood, living on the morning dew, and from whom the new world is peopled. Valhalla Valhöll Odin's vast hall of the battle-dead, roofed with shields and raftered with spears, where the einherjar feast and fight each day until they march out to meet the wolf at Ragnarök. Álfheimr The home of the elves: in Grímnismál a hall given to Freyr as a tooth-gift, in Snorri a heavenly dwelling of the light-elves. 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.