A while back I talked a bit about how the Norse believed that the world would end. So this time let’s talk a bit about how they believed that the world got started.

Unsurprisingly, it involves murder.

So, to start off we have this primordial darkness called Ginnungagap. From this darkness pops two realms, Muspelheim and Niflheim. Niflheim, which means “home of mists” is very damp and cold, and is covered in snow and ice. Muspelheim is the opposite, and is covered in fire and lava. Side note: this is the realm that the fire giants, most notably Surtr, would make their home.

At any rate, the lava from Muspelheim starts melting some of Niflheim’s frost, which form into the first giant, Ymir. Eventually Ymir decides to go take a nap and he gets some sleep sweats going. From his armpit and crotch sweat come some more giants. Which, ew.

Anyway, eventually Ymir comes across a cow named Audhumla. Not sure what a cow is doing at this stage of creation, but Ymir decides that he likes her milk so decides to keep her around. In return, Audhumla gets to lick salt out of the nearby ice.

Eventually, Audhumla’s licking uncovers a whole-ass god: Buri, the first of the Aesir. Buri then has a son named Bor, who marries a giantess named Bestla. These two get busy, and produce three half-god, half-giant children: Vili, Ve, and, of course, Odin.

So the three of them grow up and decide to just straight up murder Ymir for no discernable reason. But hey, it’s OK, because they use his severed body parts to make the world. His blood becomes various bodies of water, his flesh becomes the ground, his hair various plants and whatnot, his brain becomes clouds, and his skull the sky, held up by four dwarves.

That’s all well and good, so the three gods decide to try their hand at creating some people. They make two to start, of course, named Ask and Embla. Then they realize that the giants are not too happy with them for having murdered Ymir, and are pretty likely to try and start something with their new creations. So they make a new realm for them, called Midgard. Then they create a big ass wall around Midgard, to make it harder for the giants to fuck around.

And that is the story of how the Norse believed that the world came about. I find it kind of interesting that a lot of creation myths start the same way: with a primordial darkness. The Greek myth, for instant, starts with Chaos, and the Abrahamic one with God bringing light into darkness.

Though the Norse myth has less castration than the former, and more murder than the latter, so there’s that.

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