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Hvergelmir

The spring from which all rivers flow, fed by the dripping horns of a hart in Valhall; Snorri puts it in Niflheim under a root of Yggdrasil, swarming with serpents.

Hvergelmir is the spring at the source of all rivers. In Grímnismál the hart Eikþyrnir stands on Odin's hall and bites the branches of the tree Lærað; from his horns "a stream into Hvergelmir drops, / Thence all the rivers run", and the poem then lists them, some flowing through the gods' fields and some among men, until they "fall to Hel" Grímnismál 26 Grímnismál 28.

Snorri moves the spring to the bottom of the world. In his creation story it lies "midmost" in the Mist-World, Niflheim, long before the earth was shaped, and the rivers it feeds freeze into the rime from which Ymir comes Gylfaginning 4. Under the tree Yggdrasill it lies beneath the root over Niflheim, where Níðhöggr gnaws Gylfaginning 15, and so many serpents live in it with him "that no tongue can tell them" Gylfaginning 16. Snorri keeps Grímnismál's hart as well, letting its water come down into Hvergelmir Gylfaginning 39. Last, in his account of the afterlife, he says the worst place of all is Hvergelmir, where "the cursed snake tears dead men's corpses" Gylfaginning 52.

The sources therefore give two pictures: a life-giving fountain fed from the gods' hall, and a pit of serpents beneath the dead. Snorri combines them without comment.

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.

From his horns a stream into Hvergelmir drops, Thence all the rivers run.
Grímnismál 26 The hart Eikþyrnir stands on Valhall and the water from his horns feeds Hvergelmir, the source of all rivers.
midmost within it lies the well that is called Hvergelmir, from which spring the rivers
Gylfaginning 4 In Snorri's creation story the spring lies in the middle of the Mist-World before the earth exists.
the third stands over Niflheim, and under that root is Hvergelmir, and Nídhöggr gnaws the root from below.
Gylfaginning 15 Snorri puts Hvergelmir under the root of Yggdrasill over Niflheim, where Níðhöggr gnaws.
so many serpents are in Hvergelmir with Nídhöggr, that no tongue can tell them
Gylfaginning 16 The spring is full of serpents.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Grímnismál places the water's source on the gods' hall Valhall; Snorri places the spring in Niflheim at the bottom of the world. He reconciles them only by having the water flow down from the hart into Hvergelmir (Gylfaginning 39).
  • Snorri's Gylfaginning 52 quotes 'There the cursed snake tears dead men's corpses' as being in Hvergelmir; in Völuspá the corresponding scene is at Náströnd.

In modern culture

Not from the medieval sources.

Hvergelmir rarely appears in modern retellings except on diagrams of Yggdrasil's three wells.

Myths with Hvergelmir

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

Niflheimr The cold, misty world of the north in Snorri's creation story, source of the rivers and later Hel's realm; the poems know only Niflhel, a deep region of the dead. Yggdrasil Yggdrasill The world-ash at the centre of the Norse cosmos: its roots reach the realms of gods, giants and the dead, and the gods hold court beneath it every day. Níðhöggr The dragon that gnaws the root of Yggdrasil from below and feeds on the dead at Náströnd; at the end of Völuspá it flies up with corpses on its wings. Eikþyrnir The hart that stands by Valhalla browsing the tree Læraðr; from his antlers drips the water that fills Hvergelmir, source of all rivers. Urðarbrunnr The holy well beneath Yggdrasil where the Norns live and the gods hold their daily court; its white water keeps the world-tree green. 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. 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. 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.