Norse Mythology Flashcards

Aesir: A race or tribe or branch of the gods. They live in Asgard. 

Alfheim: One of the nine worlds, inhabited by the light elves. 

Asgard: Home of the Aesir. The realm of the gods. 

Ask: The first man, made from an ash tree. 

Balder: Known as “the beautiful.” Odin’s second son, loved by all but Loki. . 

Bestla: Mother of Odin, Vili, and Ve, and wife of Bor. Daughter of a giant called Bolthorn. Sister of Mimir. 

Bifrost: The rainbow bridge that joins Asgard to Midgard. 

Bor: A god. Buri’s son, married to Bestla. Father of Odin, Vili, and Ve. 

Buri: The ancestor of the gods, father to Bor, grandfather of Odin. 

Einherjar: The noble dead who died bravely in battle, and who now feast and battle in Valhalla. 

Embla: The first woman, made from an elm tree. 

Fenrir or Fenris Wolf: A wolf. Loki’s son with Angrboda. 

Fimbulwinter: The winter before Ragnarok, which does not end. 

Frey: A god of the Vanir, who lives with the Aesir. Freya’s brother. 

Freya: A goddess of the Vanir, who lives with the Aesir. Frey’s sister. 

Frigg: Odin’s wife, the queen of the gods. Mother of Balder. 

Garm: A monstrous hound, who kills and is killed by Tyr at Ragnarok. 

Ginnungagap: A yawning gap between Muspell (the fire world) and Niflheim (the mist world) at the beginning of creation. 

Gjallerhorn: Heimdall’s horn, kept by Mimir’s well. . 

Heimdall: The watchman of the gods, far-seeing. 

Hel: Loki’s daughter with Angrboda. She rules Hel, the realm of the shameful dead, who did not die nobly in battle. 

Huginn: One of Odin’s two ravens. Its name means “thought.” 

Idavoll: The “splendid plain,” on which Asgard was built, and to which the surviving gods will return after Ragnarok. 

Jord: Thor’s mother, a giantess, who was also a goddess of the earth. 

Jormungundr: The Midgard serpent. One of Loki’s children and Thor’s nemesis. 

Jotunheim: Jotun means giant, and Jotunheim is the realm of the giants. 

Loki: Odin’s blood brother, the son of Farbauti and of Laufey. The shrewdest, most cunning of all the inhabitants of Asgard. He is a shapeshifter, and his lips are scarred. He has shoes that allow him to walk in the sky. 

Midgard: “Middle yard.” Our world. The realm of humans. 

Mimir: Odin’s uncle and keeper of the spring of wisdom in Jotunheim. A giant, perhaps also one of the Aesir. He was decapitated by the Vanir, and his head still gives wisdom and watches over the spring. Mimir’s well: A spring or well at the roots of the world-tree. Odin traded an eye to take a sip of its water, scooped up in Heimdall’s Gjallerhorn. 

Mjollnir: Thor’s remarkable hammer and most prized possession, made for him by Eitri. (Brokk worked the bellows.) 

Muninn: One of Odin’s ravens. Its name means “memory.” 

Muspell: The fiery world that exists at the beginning of creation. One of the nine worlds. 

Nidavellir, also called Svartalfheim: Where the dwarfs (also known as dark elves) live beneath the mountains. 

Nidhogg: A dragon who devours corpses and chews on the roots of Yggdrasil. 

Niflheim: A cold, misty place, there at the start of everything. 

Norns: The three sisters, Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, who tend the well of Urd, or fate, and water the roots of Yggdrasil, the world-tree. They, along with other norns, decide what will happen in your life. 

Odin: The highest and oldest of the gods. He wears a cloak and a hat and only has one eye, having traded the other for wisdom. He has many other names including all-father, Grimnir, and the gallows god. Odrerir: A kettle for brewing the mead of poetry. “Ecstasy-giver.” 

Sif: Thor’s wife. She had golden hair. 

Skuld: One of the norns. Her name means “that which is intended,” and her domain is the future. 

Sleipnir: Odin’s horse. The fastest of horses, eight-legged, the offspring of Loki and Svadilfari. . 

Thor: Odin’s red-bearded son, Aesir god of thunder. The strongest of the gods. 

Tyr: The one-handed god of war, a son of Odin; the stepson of Hymir the giant. 

Urd: “Fate.” One of the three norns. She determines our past. 

Urd’s well: The well in Asgard tended by the norns. . 

Valhalla: Odin’s hall, where the noble dead who die bravely in battle feast. . 

Valkyries: “Choosers of the slain.” Odin’s handmaidens, who collect the souls of the dead who die bravely on the battlefield and bring them to Valhalla. 

Vanaheim: The realm of the Vanir. 

Ve: Odin’s brother, a son of Bor and Bestla. 

Verdandi: One of the norns. Her name means “becoming,” and she determines our present. 

Vigrid: The plain where the great battle of Ragnarok will take place. 

Vili: Odin’s brother, a son of Bor and Bestla. 

Yggdrasil: The world-tree. 

Ymir: The first being, a giant bigger than worlds, the ancestor of all giants. Ymir was nourished by the