Mythical Creatures

Welcome to Norse creatures!

Sleipnir

Odin's Eight-Legged Horse

Sleipnir is Odin’s extraordinary eight-legged horse. He can carry his rider across land, through the air and into the world of the dead. The Prose Edda calls him the best of all horses. He is grey, swift and connected with some of the strangest adventures in Norse mythology. His family story is especially surprising because Loki is his mother. Sleipnir might look unusual, but nobody in the myths treats his eight legs as a problem. They make him faster and more powerful.

Fun fact: Sleipnir has eight legs and carries Odin between worlds.

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Ratatoskr

The Mischeivous Squirrel

Ratatoskr is the squirrel who runs up and down Yggdrasil, the enormous tree at the centre of the Norse cosmos. He carries messages between an eagle high in the branches and the dragon Nidhöggr below the roots. Unfortunately, they are not friendly messages. Ratatoskr repeats spiteful words and helps keep their quarrel alive. He has only a small role in the surviving myths, yet his constant racing makes the whole world tree feel busy, noisy and alive.

Fun fact: Ratatoskr carries insults between Yggdrasil’s eagle and Nidhoggr below.

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Huginn & Muninn

Odin's Watchful Ravens

Huginn and Muninn are Odin’s two ravens. Every day they fly across the world, observe what is happening and return to tell him what they have learned. Their names are usually understood as “Thought” and “Memory” or “Mind”. They make a perfect team for a god who will sacrifice almost anything to gain knowledge. I picture them as Odin’s flying scouts, but they are more than magical cameras. Their names connect information with the thinking and remembering needed to understand it.

Fun fact: Odin’s ravens Huginn and Muninn represent thought and memory.

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Jörmungandr

The Serpent Around the World

Jörmungandr was an enormous serpent and one of Loki’s three terrifying children. Odin threw him into the ocean surrounding Midgard, where he grew so huge that his body stretched right around the world and he could bite his own tail! Jörmungandr became known as the Midgard Serpent and was the great enemy of Thor. In one famous story, Thor went fishing and actually caught him using an ox’s head as bait. Their final battle was said to happen during Ragnarök. Thor would defeat the serpent, but Jörmungandr’s deadly venom would also bring about Thor’s death. Definitely not your average fishing trip!

Fun fact: Odin’s ravens Huginn and Muninn represent thought and memory.

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Fenrir

The Monstrous Wolf

Fenrir is the enormous wolf whose strength terrifies the Norse gods. He is a child of Loki and the jötunn Angrboda, and his siblings are Jörmungandr and Hel. The gods raise him in Asgard, but only Tyr is brave enough to feed him. When Fenrir grows too powerful, they trick him into testing a magical ribbon and bind him. At Ragnarok he breaks free, kills Odin and is slain by Odin’s son Vidar. I find his story exciting and sad because fear makes the gods betray him before the foretold battle begins.

Fun fact: Fenrir bites off Tyr’s hand when the gods finally bind him.

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Níðhöggr

Dragon Beneath the World Tree

Nidhöggr is a fearsome dragon or serpent who gnaws at a root of Yggdrasil, the world tree. His name is often translated as “Malice Striker”, although the exact meaning is debated. He lives beneath the worlds, near the realm of the dead, and exchanges spiteful messages with the eagle above through Ratatoskr. Nidhöggr is not the villain of one long adventure. He is a constant danger under the structure of the cosmos, always biting at the roots that hold everything together.

Fun fact: Nidhoggr gnaws at a root of Yggdrasil beneath the worlds.

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Kraken

The Terror Beneath the Waves

The Kraken is a gigantic sea creature from later Scandinavian folklore. Today it is usually pictured as a huge octopus or squid wrapping tentacles around a ship. Older descriptions are less definite. Some make it resemble an island, a mass of seaweed or an enormous many-armed animal. The Kraken does not appear in the Poetic Edda or the main Viking Age myths, so it does not belong in Odin’s family tree. It comes from seafaring tales recorded many centuries later.

Fun fact: The Kraken belongs to later Scandinavian folklore, not ancient Greek mythology.

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