Hildeburh
Active Member
"In the beginning was the void, Ginnungagap. In it grew two realms; Muspelheim and Niflheim. Eons passed until they touched, and from their collision was born Ymir, the first giant.
Is this a quote? If so from where?
There are three versions of the Norse creation myth non contain the phrase "in the beginning was the void ". Snorri's in the Prose Edda, which is a particularly unreliable source for a number of reasons) uses the phrase is "In the beginning God almighty created heaven and earth" but this is in the Prologue and is unrelated to Snorri's version of the Norse creation myth.
Snorri' s version of the creation myth is in Gylfaginning ( the delusion of Gylfi), Gylfi asks the High, " What was in the beginning, or how did things start? What was there before? The High answers by referencing The Sibyl's Prophecy (possibly the same as the seeress from Voluspa):
"The earth was not found nor the sky above. Ginnungagap was there but grass nowhere".
The creation myth from the Voluspa also (poem from the Poetic Edda) does not mention "in the beginning there was the void"
"Earth had not been, nor Heaven above. But yawning gap and grass nowhere."
Muspelheim and Niflheim as abodes are also not attested anywhere but Snorri’s Prose Edda. The is no mention of them growing:
" Niflheim was made many ages before the earth was created". And " First, however there was that world in the southern region which is called Muspell.
Ymir (also called Aurgelmir) is attested in Grímnismál (poem from the Poetic Edda) and Snorri’s Prose Edda, and neither state that he was born from the collision of Muspelheim and Niflheim. Grímnismál has nothing to say regarding the origin of Ymir and Snorri’s Prose Edda says:
"At the point where the icy rime (from Elivagar a rivers from Niflheim) and the warm winds ( from Muspelheim) meet. There was quickening in these flowing drops and a life sprang up. The likeness of a man appeared and he was called Ymir".
As Ymir slept, the elements that formed his body became solid. He began to sweat, giving birth to the frost giants.
From the Gylfaginning in Prose Edda:
" It is said that as he slept he sweated. The, from under his left arm grew a male and a female, while one his legs begot a son with the other. From here the clans that are called the frost giants".
Far from Ymir, Auðumbla the cow was born. Made from purity, Auðumbla began to lick the ice upon which she stood. Three days passed before the body of Búri, father of the Gods, was revealed.
Audhumla is aslo only found in Snorri's version of the creation myth. Audhumla was formed not born and certainly not from purity: From the Gylfaginning in Prose Edda:
"Next it happened that as the icy rime dripped, the cow called Audhumla was formed".
Búri gave birth to a son named Borr, who in turn married Bestla. Together, they had three sons; Vili, Vé and Óðinn.
Buri did not give birth to Borr, Snorri simply states " he had a son" like Audhumla he just appears without birth. Don't tidy up the myths Snorri did enough of that on his own.
Those born
from ice and fire were of a good soul, whist those born from tainted elements carried darkness in their hearts.
What???? The gods and giants share Ymir as a common ancestor who, as Snorri writes "sprang up from the point where the icy rime and warm winds met"
Ymir is father to the giants and related (?grandfather) through Bestla to Odin Villi and Ve.
What are these tainted elements, good soul and darkness in their hearts? .... Sniffs air, this talk of taint, good souls and darkness I smell the stink of Christian theology superimposed on Norse mythology. Even Snorri doesn't go that far.
The Creation Myth is complete."
The Ginnungagap is the empty void that permeates our universe. Anti-matter, in a word.
The clash of Muspelheim (heat) and Niflheim (cold) is the Big Bang; the creation of the cosmos.
From then we see the gathering of matter, and an eon where chaos rules the cosmos.
Order begins to emerge, and "slays" chaos. Our universe is made livable.
Not quite complete you left us out.
Order doesn't slay chaos, this is a constant battle for the gods, perhaps one of their own creation since they are responsible for the killing of the father of the giants and their own ?grandfather on their mothers side. Ah, the tangled web of the genealogy of the gods.
All quotes from
Völuspá - Norse and Germanic Lore site with Old Norse / English translations of the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda
Snorri Sturluson: Prose Edda, Penguin Books.
Grimnismol from: The Poetic Edda: Grimnismol