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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.

Niflheimr, "mist-world", is the cold pole of Snorri's cosmos. The name itself is found only in his prose. The poems speak instead of Niflhel, "misty Hel", a deep place of the dead.

In the creation story

Snorri begins before the earth. "Many ages before the earth was shaped", he writes, the Mist-World was made, with the well Hvergelmir at its centre, from which spring rivers named Svöl, Gunnthrá, Fjörm and others; the last of them, Gjöll, flows "hard by Hel-gates" Gylfaginning 4. To the south lies the burning world of Múspell. Between them is Ginnungagap. The rivers from the north freeze into layers of rime, sparks blow in from the south, and where the two meet the ice drips and comes to life as the giant Ymir Gylfaginning 5. "Just as cold arose out of Niflheim, and all terrible things", Snorri says, so heat came from Múspellheim Gylfaginning 5.

Snorri also places Niflheim under the tree: one root of Yggdrasill stands over it, with Hvergelmir beneath and Níðhöggr gnawing from below Gylfaginning 15.

As the realm of the dead

Later Niflheim becomes the land of the dead. Odin casts Hel "into Niflheim, and gave to her power over nine worlds", to receive those who die of sickness or old age Gylfaginning 34. Snorri also says the wicked go "to Hel and thence down to the Misty Hel", which is "down in the ninth world" Gylfaginning 3, and Thor's blow sends the giant builder "down below under Niflhel" Gylfaginning 42.

The poems use only this second sense. Odin rides "down to Niflhel deep" in Baldrs draumar and meets a hound "that came from hell" Baldrs draumar 2; Vafþrúðnir has visited nine worlds and "Niflhel beneath, / The home where dead men dwell" Vafþrúðnismál 43. No poem in the Poetic Edda places Niflhel at the beginning of the world. A common reading is that Snorri built his primeval Mist-World out of the poets' misty Hel, adding the cold-and-fire scheme to explain how life began; this is an inference, not something he states.

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.

It was many ages before the earth was shaped that the Mist-World was made; and midmost within it lies the well that is called Hvergelmir
Gylfaginning 4 Snorri's Niflheim (Brodeur: 'Mist-World') exists before the earth, with the spring Hvergelmir at its centre.
Just as cold arose out of Niflheim, and all terrible things, so also all that looked toward Múspellheim became hot and glowing
Gylfaginning 5 Cold from Niflheim meets heat from Múspellheim in Ginnungagap, and Ymir quickens from the melting rime.
Hel he cast into Niflheim, and gave to her power over nine worlds
Gylfaginning 34 Odin sends Hel to Niflheim, which becomes the realm of the ordinary dead.
Thence rode he down to Niflhel deep, And the hound he met that came from hell.
Baldrs draumar 2 The poem's term is Niflhel: Odin rides down to it to raise a dead seeress.
To nine worlds came I, to Niflhel beneath, The home where dead men dwell.
Vafþrúðnismál 43 Vafþrúðnir puts Niflhel below the nine worlds as the home of the dead.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • The name Niflheimr occurs only in Snorri's prose; the poems use Niflhel. Whether they are the same place is not certain.
  • Snorri does not reconcile his Niflheim of creation with his Niflheim of the dead, or with the 'Misty Hel' in the 'ninth world' (Gylfaginning 3).

In modern culture

Not from the medieval sources.

Niflheim appears in most modern lists of the nine worlds as a realm of ice and fog, and in games such as God of War (2018) as a poisonous mist-maze. The cold-world-versus-fire-world opening of modern retellings follows Snorri's account.

Myths with Niflheimr

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

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. 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. 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. Hel Loki's daughter by Angrboða, half dark and half flesh-coloured, whom Odin cast down to rule the dead in Niflheim; she holds Baldr and sets the price of his return. Hel (the realm) Hel The underworld of the dead, ruled by Loki's daughter Hel: reached by the Hel-way and the Gjöll bridge, set down and to the north, under one root of Yggdrasil. 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. 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. 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.