60 Fun Facts About Norse Mythology

What is the name of the immense tree at the center of the Norse cosmos?

The Norns water it daily from the well of Urðr, and the gods hold their assemblies beneath it.

According to the surviving Norse sources, how many worlds are there?

The sources never actually give a full list of the nine, so scholars have to reconstruct it from scattered mentions.

Which realm do the gods inhabit, and which do humans?

Midgard sits at the center of the cosmos, encircled by the ocean where the world serpent lies.

Which Icelandic scholar wrote the Prose Edda in the 13th century?

Snorri was a lawspeaker and politician as well as an author, and was assassinated in his cellar in 1241 on the orders of Norway's king.

Which god hung himself upside-down on the world tree for nine days and nights to learn the runes?

He is also missing an eye, which he left in Mímir's well as the price of a drink of wisdom.

Which god was the most popular among Scandinavians during the Viking Age?

Around a thousand miniature hammer pendants have been dug up across the Nordic world, worn much as Christians wore crosses.

Frigg, Odin's wife, has which power that she keeps to herself?

Her foreknowledge did not save her son Baldr, whose death she tried to prevent by extracting oaths from every thing in the world.

The first human couple, Ask and Embla, were made by three gods from what?

Their names are usually read as "ash" and "elm," and each of the three gods gave them a gift: breath, wit and warmth.

The world was created from the flesh of which primordial being?

Odin and his brothers Vili and Vé killed him; his blood became the sea, his bones the hills and his skull the sky.

Which two humans hide in a wood and survive Ragnarök to repopulate the earth?

The earth rises green from the sea after the fire, and Baldr and Höðr return from Hel to rule alongside Thor's sons.

Besides Valhalla and Hel, the dead may be chosen by Freyja to dwell in her field, called what?

Freyja takes half of those who die in battle, and Odin gets the other half, a detail that surprises people who assume Valhalla was the only destination.

Odin's ravens Huginn and Muninn fly out over the world each day. What do their names mean?

They report back what they have seen and heard, and Odin admits in one poem that he fears Muninn will not return.

Odin gives all the food on his table to which two animals?

Odin himself lives on wine alone, according to the Prose Edda.

Which English weekday is named after Odin (Woden)?

Tuesday belongs to Týr, Thursday to Thor, and Friday to Frigg.

Who avenges Odin after the wolf Fenrir swallows him at Ragnarök?

Víðarr wears a shoe made of all the leather scraps ever discarded, plants it on the wolf's lower jaw and tears its mouth apart.

Thor's chariot is pulled by two of which animal?

He can eat them at night and resurrect them in the morning with his hammer, provided the bones are unbroken.

Besides Mjölnir, which two items complete Thor's kit?

The belt Megingjörð doubles his strength and the gloves Járngreipr let him grip the hammer's short handle.

Thor's wife Sif is famous for what physical feature?

Loki cut it off as a prank and had dwarves forge a replacement of real gold, the same commission that produced Mjölnir.

After killing the world serpent at Ragnarök, how many steps does Thor take before the venom kills him?

Nine is the sacred number throughout Norse myth: nine worlds, nine nights on the tree, nine mothers of Heimdall.

In the poem Þrymskviða, how does Thor get his stolen hammer back from the giant Þrymr?

Thor eats an entire ox and eight salmon at the wedding feast, and Loki, as bridesmaid, explains that the bride has fasted for eight days from longing.

Loki is the father of which three monstrous children by the giantess Angrboða?

Odin dealt with them by throwing the serpent into the sea, casting Hel down to rule the dead, and having the wolf bound.

Which eight-legged horse did Loki give birth to after turning into a mare?

The stallion Svaðilfari belonged to the giant building Asgard's wall, and Loki distracted it to make the builder miss his deadline.

While Loki is bound beneath a venom-dripping serpent, who holds a bowl to catch the poison?

When she leaves to empty the bowl, the venom hits his face and his writhing causes earthquakes.

What is the only thing that did not swear an oath to Frigg never to harm Baldr?

It was thought too young and harmless to bother with, which is exactly the loophole Loki exploited.

Which blind god was tricked into killing his brother Baldr?

He and Baldr are reconciled after Ragnarök and rule the renewed world together.

Hel agreed to release Baldr if every thing in the world wept for him. Who refused?

Baldr had been burned on his ship Hringhorni, the largest of all ships, with his wife Nanna, who died of grief.

Gleipnir, the fetter binding Fenrir, was made from six impossible things, including which of these?

The others were the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird, which is why none of them exist anymore.

Which god lost his right hand in Fenrir's jaws when the wolf realised he had been tricked?

He had placed it in the wolf's mouth as a pledge that the ribbon-like fetter was harmless.

Fenrir's two sons, Sköll and Hati, are destined to devour what?

They chase the two across the sky every day, and at Ragnarök they finally catch them.

Freyja rides a chariot pulled by which animals?

She also has a boar named Hildisvíni and a cloak of falcon feathers that lets the wearer fly.

What is the name of Freyja's famous necklace?

In one late story she pays four dwarves for it by spending a night with each, and it is later stolen from her.

Freyja and her twin brother Freyr belong to which family of gods?

They came to live among the Æsir as hostages after the war between the two tribes of gods, along with their father Njörðr.

Freyr's ship Skíðblaðnir has what remarkable property?

It also always has a favouring wind, and Freyr's boar Gullinbursti has bristles that glow to light his way.

Why is Freyr doomed to lose to the fire giant Surtr at Ragnarök?

He sent his servant Skírnir to woo Gerðr and handed over the sword as payment, leaving him to fight with an antler.

The gods gave Freyr which realm as a teething present?

He was also the chief god worshipped at the great temple of Uppsala in Sweden.

Which god guards the rainbow bridge Bifröst and will blow the Gjallarhorn to announce Ragnarök?

He has gold teeth, needs less sleep than a bird, can hear grass grow, and was born of nine mothers.

The watchman of the gods and which other figure are fated to kill each other at Ragnarök?

Their feud is old: the watchman once fought his rival in seal form to recover Freyja's stolen necklace.

What is the Fimbulwinter that precedes Ragnarök?

During it, brothers kill brothers and all bonds of kinship collapse, according to the Völuspá.

The ship Naglfar, which carries the enemies of the gods to Ragnarök, is made of what?

Which is why, the Prose Edda says, you should trim the nails of the dead, so as not to speed the ship's completion.

Which fire giant leads the sons of Múspell and burns the world at Ragnarök?

His sword shines brighter than the sun, and the Icelandic volcanic island Surtsey, born in 1963, is named after him.

Which god is killed by the hound Garmr at Ragnarök?

Garmr, chained at the mouth of Hel, is sometimes read as another name for Fenrir.

What kind of tree is the world tree at the center of the Norse cosmos?

An eagle sits in its top, the dragon Níðhöggr gnaws its roots, and four stags eat its leaves.

Which creature carries insults up and down the world tree between eagle and dragon?

Its name is usually translated as "drill-tooth" or "bore-tooth."

What does the word valkyrie mean?

They carry the chosen dead to Valhalla, where the warriors, called einherjar, fight all day and feast all night.

According to the Prose Edda, the roof of Valhalla is thatched with what?

Spear-shafts serve as rafters, and the hall has 540 doors, each wide enough for 800 warriors to march out abreast.

What do the einherjar eat every night in Valhalla?

Their mead comes from the goat Heiðrún, whose udder never runs dry.

Which primeval cow nourished Ymir with her milk in the beginning?

Licking the salty rime-stones, she uncovered Búri, grandfather of Odin.

Why is Mjölnir's handle so short?

The fly was Loki, trying to sabotage a bet with the dwarves Brokkr and Eitri, and it cost him his head, or nearly: the dwarves sewed his lips shut instead.

Which section of the Prose Edda has King Gylfi questioning three mysterious figures about the gods?

The title means "the tricking of Gylfi," and it is the fullest single account of Norse myth that survives.

What bait did Thor use to fish for Jörmungandr from the giant Hymir's boat?

He hooked the serpent and would have killed it, but the terrified Hymir cut the line.

At the hall of Útgarða-Loki, Thor failed to lift a grey cat off the floor. What was the cat really?

In the same contest he lost a drinking match because the horn was connected to the sea, and lost a wrestling match to Elli, who was old age itself.

Which god rode Odin's eight-legged horse to Hel to plead for Baldr's release?

Hel agreed on the condition that all things weep for Baldr, a condition that failed thanks to one uncooperative giantess.

The goddess Gefjon is credited with forming which modern Danish island?

She is one of the lesser-told deities, alongside the skaldic god Bragi and the gold-toothed Heimdallr, born of nine mothers.

The goddess Iðunn, wife of Bragi, is associated with bearing which fruit?

Her husband Bragi is the god of poets, and she is one of the deities the surviving sources mention only briefly.

Skaði, the ill-matched wife of a sea god, is the goddess of which pursuits?

The marriage failed because she could not bear to leave her mountains and her husband could not leave the seashore.

What is the name of Freyja's missing husband, for whom she weeps and searches far away?

She also wears a feathered cloak, practises seiðr and claims half of the battle-slain for her own hall.

Which hawk perches between the eyes of the eagle at the top of the world tree?

The eagle itself is said to have much knowledge, and a squirrel runs messages between it and the dragon gnawing the roots.

The Prose Edda was composed as a prose manual for producing what?

Skaldic verse leans heavily on kennings and alliteration; the Poetic Edda's Eddic poetry is comparatively plain.

In Norse cosmology, the Moon is personified as which god?

The Sun is a goddess, Sól, while day and night are personified as the god Dagr and the jötunn Nótt.

Which god, strongly tied to ships and seafaring, is the father of Freyja and Freyr?

The twins' mother is his unnamed sister; the sources say nothing more about her.