ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE
Ymer grew in wit and became more evil every passing moment and began a war with the gods alongside his fellow frost giants. Eventually Odin, Vile and Ve killed him. Odin and his brothers then took Ymer’s body into Ginnunagap and created Midgard (the human realm). In Midgard, in the middle of a frozen land, they threw Ymer, causing an ocean to form due to Ymers blood-leaking wounds. They struck his flesh constantly, over and over; to create hills and valleys. They cut his bones into mountain ridges, and his teeth and toes into rocks and pebbles. Ymer’s hair was transformed into trees and his remaining flesh became soil; this is where Dwarves were created and emerged from.
Before everything was created there was Niflheim, a cold land towards the North and Muspelheim, a hot land to the South. When both fire and ice combined in the middle of the North and South (Ginnunagap), it created two beings- Ymer, a frost giant and Auðhumla a peaceful cow. Auðhumla lived to feed Ymer with milk to survive. Throught time, more frost giants were born, though the sweat of Ymer, (through his left armpit). Similarly, Auðhumla licked and drank the salty ice and within the time frame of three days, her tongue uncovered a man from the ice, Bure. Bure had a son, Bor. Bor then had three sons of his own; Odin, Vile and Ve. These were the first of the gods.
The three brothers ordered four of the Dwarves to raise Ymer’s skull to create the sky. Odin ordered a frost giant (in the form of an eagle), to create wind. Odin then threw Ymer’s brain to create clouds. Sparks forming from Muspelheim were put into the sky by the brothers to create stars. Exceeding the sea and close to the dryest shores was Jotunheim, home to the frost giants.
While the three brothers were walking along the shore, they stumbled upon an ash tree trunk and an elm tree trunk. From these trees, they created Ask and Embla, the first humans; man and woman who became the ancestors of human beings. Odin breathed the spirit of life into them, Vile gifted them with feelings and thought and Ve gave them their senses of hearing and sight. The three
brothers needed somewhere to inhabit, and watch over humanity as they began their existence, so they created Asgard; realm of the gods and goddesses.
“The Nordic Creation story reflects the beliefs and values of animistic-polytheistic religion. It shows a deeply spiritual view of the order of the natural world.”
Below is part 1 of a several part series on the creation story of the Nordic Faith: