Poetic Edda: Did you mean...?

Midgard is the realm of human beings in Norse mythology. The Old Norse word garðr literally means an enclosure (yard), and miðr (middle) refers to its position as a circle with both an interior ocean, and an outer ocean beyond which there...

Elves and dwarves represent minor divine figures in Norse mythology. Elves (álfar) and dwarves (dvergar) have in common their talent for creating precious objects, skill, agility, and moral ambiguity. Dwarves appear in several important stories...

A Valkyrie is a figure in Norse mythology depicted as a warrior woman on horseback, a wolf or boar, and armed with a spear, who decides the fate of warriors in battle and carries the dead to Odin’s Valhalla. Valkyrie means "chooser of the...

Title page of one of the manuscripts from Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda showing various figures of Norse mythology, 18th century CE.

Illustration of Jörmungandr (the World Serpent) from the Edda oblongata, a 17th-century illuminated manuscript of the 13th-century CE Prose Edda, which is the basis for modern understanding of Norse mythology. Made c. 1680. Árni Magnússon...

Illustration depicting the Norse god Heimdall, from the Edda oblongata, a 17th-century illuminated manuscript of the 13th-century CE Prose Edda, which is the basis for the modern understanding of Norse mythology. Made c. 1680 CE. Collection...

Loki is a god in Norse mythology who is often simply described as the 'trickster' god for his love of playing pranks on both his fellow gods and his or their opponents. Sworn brother of Odin and often the one to dig the other gods out of...

In Norse mythology, the Sun and the Moon appear as personified siblings pulling the heavenly bodies and chased by wolves, or as plain objects. Written sources, such as the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, have surprisingly little to say about...

Valhalla ("Hall of the Slain") is the afterlife realm in Norse mythology for fallen heroes selected by Odin’s Valkyrie to become members of the army that will fight against the forces of chaos at Ragnarök. The concept of Odin’s Hall seems...

Sif is a fertility goddess in Norse mythology, wife of the thunder god Thor, best known for the story in which the trickster god Loki cuts her hair as a prank and is forced to replace it with a magical headpiece, leading to the creation of...