Seiðr Loom

world

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.

Miðgarðr is the world of humans. Its name means "the middle enclosure", and both halves of the word count: it lies in the middle, and it is fenced in. Older Germanic languages had the same word for the inhabited earth, which suggests the idea is much older than the Eddas.

How it was made

Völuspá is brief: "Bur's sons lifted the level land, / Mithgarth the mighty there they made", and the sun warmed the stones until green leeks grew Völuspá 4. Grímnismál and Vafþrúðnismál add the grim detail that the world was built from the body of the giant Ymir — earth from his flesh, hills from his bones, sky from his skull — and that Miðgarðr itself was made from his eyebrows "for the sons of men" Grímnismál 40 Grímnismál 41 Vafþrúðnismál 21.

Snorri puts these pieces together into a map. The earth is ring-shaped, with the deep sea around it; the giants were given lands along the outer shore; and on the inner earth the gods raised Ymir's brows as a wall "against the hostility of the giants" and called it Midgard Gylfaginning 8. Then Odin and his brothers made the first humans, Askr and Embla, who "received a dwelling-place under Midgard" Gylfaginning 9. Only after that, Snorri says, did the gods build Ásgard for themselves.

A world under threat

Miðgarðr is defined by what lies outside it. The sea around it holds the serpent Jörmungandr, whom Brodeur calls the Midgard Serpent because he lies in the ocean "encompassing all the land" Gylfaginning 34. Thor's fights with giants are what keep it inhabited; in Hárbarðsljóð he boasts that without them "no men would there be in Mithgarth more" Hárbarðsljóð 23. Odin's ravens Huginn and Muninn fly over it every day Grímnismál 20.

Snorri uses the name loosely. In the story of the giant builder, the gods fear giants who "should come in over Midgard" Gylfaginning 42, which treats Midgard as the whole earth between the giants and the gods. Whether the poets meant the walled enclosure only or the whole human world is not clear; the two senses probably sat side by side.

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.

Then Bur's sons lifted the level land, Mithgarth the mighty there they made
Völuspá 4 The sons of Burr raise the land from the sea and build Miðgarðr.
Mithgarth the gods from his eyebrows made, And set for the sons of men
Grímnismál 41 Grímnismál: Miðgarðr was made from Ymir's eyebrows for humankind.
on the inner earth they made a citadel round about the world against the hostility of the giants, and for their citadel they raised up the brows of Ymir the giant, and called that place Midgard.
Gylfaginning 8 Snorri explains the geography: a ring-shaped earth, giants on the outer shore, Midgard walled within.
O'er Mithgarth Hugin and Munin both Each day set forth to fly
Grímnismál 20 Odin's ravens patrol the human world every day.
And large were the giants' throng if all were alive; No men would there be in Mithgarth more.
Hárbarðsljóð 23 Thor presents his giant-killing as what keeps Miðgarðr inhabited.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • The sources disagree on whether Miðgarðr is the whole inhabited earth or only the walled enclosure within it; Snorri uses it both ways.

In modern culture

Not from the medieval sources.

The Old English cognate middangeard and its Middle English descendant 'middel-erde' gave J. R. R. Tolkien his 'Middle-earth'. In Marvel's films and the God of War games Midgard is simply Earth, the human realm among the others.

Myths with Midgard

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 giant builder and the wall of Asgard A stranger offers to wall the gods' stronghold in a single winter, for the price of Freyja, the sun and the moon. When he is about to win, Loki saves the gods by turning himself into a mare — and gives birth to Sleipnir. 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

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. Asgard Ásgarðr The stronghold of the Æsir, walled against the giants, full of halls such as Valhall and Bilskirnir; Snorri also identifies it, confusingly, with Troy. Jötunheimr The land of the giants, at the edge of the world beyond rivers and sea, usually to the east of the gods and men. Thor goes there to fight, and gods go there to court and steal. Jörmungandr Loki's serpent son, thrown by Odin into the ocean, where it grew to encircle the whole earth; Thor's great enemy, whom he hooks once and kills at Ragnarök. Ask and Embla Askr ok Embla The first man and woman, made by three gods from two pieces of wood found on the shore. All humankind descends from them. The nine worlds níu heimar The Eddas say there are nine worlds but never list them; the familiar list of nine realms is a modern reconstruction built mostly from Snorri's place-names. Ginnungagap The empty chasm that existed before the world, between the ice of Niflheim and the fire of Múspell, where the giant Ymir came to life. 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. 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.