Ymir

The Giant Who Became the World

The poem Vafthrudnismal in the Poetic Edda says Ymir formed where drops of poison or icy rivers came together in the primal cold. Snorri Sturluson gives a fuller account in the Prose Edda. Frost from Niflheim enters Ginnungagap, while heat arrives from Muspelheim. The rime melts, and life quickens in the drops. The first figure is called Ymir. Another name, Aurgelmir, appears in the sources, and poems also use the names Brimir and Blain in connections with his body. Ymir is neither an ordinary human nor simply a huge monster. He is the earliest ancestor of the frost giants. While he sleeps, a male and female grow from beneath his arm, and one of his legs produces a son with the other.

The details are strange because this is a time before normal families and natural rules have settled. His children multiply into the race of jötnar. Audumbla, the primeval cow, feeds Ymir with four streams of milk. Meanwhile, Audumbla licks Buri out of the salty ice. Buri’s son Borr marries Bestla, who is herself descended from the giants. Their sons are Odin, Vili and Ve. The two family lines are therefore not completely separate. The future gods have a jötunn mother, while their great-grandfather emerged beside Ymir. Norse myths often show gods and jötnar marrying, sharing knowledge and feasting together even while they remain dangerous rivals. Odin, Vili and Ve kill Ymir. His blood floods out so violently that almost all the frost giants drown.

Bergelmir and his wife escape in an object described with a word that may mean a box, chest or mill-container. They continue the giant family. The flood scene explains why later jötnar survive even though their first ancestor is dead. The brothers carry Ymir’s body into Ginnungagap and transform it. His flesh becomes the earth, his blood becomes seas and lakes, his bones become mountains, and his teeth and broken bones become stones. His skull forms the sky, held up by four dwarfs named North, South, East and West. His brains become clouds. His eyebrows are used to make Midgard, a fortified region for human beings. Sparks from Muspelheim become lights in the heavens.

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