Seiðr Loom

place

Vígríðr

The plain, a hundred leagues each way, where the gods and their enemies meet in the last battle of Ragnarök.

Vígríðr is the battlefield of Ragnarök. In Vafþrúðnismál the giant tests the disguised Odin with the question of its name, and Odin answers: "Vigrith is the field where in fight shall meet / Surt and the gracious gods; / A hundred miles each way does it measure" Vafþrúðnismál 17-18.

Snorri quotes that stanza and fills the field with its armies. The sons of Múspell ride there under Surtr; Fenrir and the Midgard Serpent come too, and Loki and Hrymr with the frost-giants and all the champions of Hel. The sons of Múspell form a separate, shining company. "The field Vígrídr is a hundred leagues wide each way" Gylfaginning 51. The gods advance onto it led by Odin in his golden helmet.

Fáfnismál has a different name. When Sigurd asks the dying Fáfnir where the gods and Surtr will fight, the answer is Óskópnir, an island, where Bifröst will break as they cross Fáfnismál 14-15. Whether these are two names for one place, or two traditions, cannot be told from the sources.

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.

Vigrith is the field where in fight shall meet Surt and the gracious gods; A hundred miles each way does it measure.
Vafþrúðnismál 18 Odin answers the giant's question about the last battlefield.
The Sons of Múspell shall go forth to that field which is called Vígrídr, thither shall come Fenris-Wolf also and the Midgard Serpent
Gylfaginning 51 Snorri gathers all the enemies of the gods on this plain.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Fáfnismál names a different place for the same battle: the island Óskópnir (Fáfnismál 14-15).

Myths with Vígríðr

Odin's contest of wisdom with Vafþrúðnir Against Frigg's advice, Odin goes in disguise to the wisest of the giants and stakes his head on a contest of questions about the creation, the gods and the end of the world. He wins with a question only he can answer. 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

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. 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. Fenrir The giant wolf fathered by Loki on Angrboða, raised by the gods, bound with the fetter Gleipnir at the cost of Týr's hand, and fated to swallow Odin at Ragnarök. Loki The giant-born trickster counted among the Æsir: father of Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent and Hel, contriver of Baldr's death, bound until Ragnarök. 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. Muspellsheimr The burning world of the far south, guarded by Surtr: its sparks lit the sun and stars at creation, and its 'sons' ride out to destroy the world at Ragnarök.