Yggdrasil
From Freepedia
- For other uses of the term Yggdrasil, see Yggdrasil (disambiguation)
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil (actually Yggdrasill [ˈygˌdrasil:]; the extra -l is a nominative case marker) also sometimes called Mimameid or Lerad was the "World tree", a gigantic tree, thought to connect all the nine worlds of Norse cosmology. It is often suggested to be an ash tree, an interpretation generally accepted in the modern Scandinavian mind. Another possibility is that the tree was formerly conceived of as a yew, consistent with its Eddic attribute of being evergreen. Ásgard, Álfheim and Vanaheim rested on the branches of Yggdrasil. The trunk was the world-axis piercing through the center of Miðgarð, around which Jotunheim was situated, and below which lay Nidavellir or Svartálfheim. The three roots stretched down to Helheim, Niflheim and Muspelheim, although only the first world hosted a spring for Yggdrasil (see below).
Contents |
Etymology and alternative names
The most commonly accepted etymology of the name is ygg "terrible" + drasil "steed". Yggr is taken to be an epithet of Odin, giving a meaning of "Odin's steed", taken to refer to the nine nights Odin is said to have spent hanging from the tree in order find the runes. The gallows are sometimes described in Old Norse poetry as the "horse of the hanged." Another interpretation of the name is "terrible horse", i. e. the association with Odin may be secondary. A third interpretation, with etymological difficulties, is "yew-column", associating the tree with the Eihwaz rune ᛇ.
Fjölsvinnsmál, a poem in the Poetic Edda, refers to the World Tree as Mimameid (ON: Mímameiðr, "Mimir's tree" ). Most probably, the tree is also identical to Lerad (ON: Læraðr) a tree whose leaves and twigs reach down to the roof of Valhalla and provide food for the goat Heiðrún and the stag Eikþyrnir that both live on the roof.
Yggdrasil in the Edda
Three roots supported the trunk, with one passing through Asgard, one through Jotunheim and one through Helheim. Beneath the Asgard root lay the sacred Well of Urd (Urðabrunnr), and there dwelt the three Nornir, over whom even the gods had no power, and who, every day, watered the tree from the primeval fountain, so that its boughs remained green. Beneath the Jotunheim root lay the spring or well of Mimir (Mímisbrunnr); and beneath the Helheim root the well Hvergelmir ("the Roaring Cauldron").
In the top of the tree was perched a giant rooster, or more often an eagle named Vidofnir, and sitting upon its forehead was a hawk named Vedrfolnir (Old Norse: Veðrfolnír). The Niflheim roots of Yggdrasil were gnawed at by a dragon, Nidhogg. Ratatosk, a squirrel, scurried up and down the tree between Nidhogg and the eagle, forwarding insults between them. There were also four stags feeding on the bark of Yggdrasil: Duneyrr, Durathror, Dvalin, and Dainn.
Image:AM 738 4to Yggdrasill.png
The name Yggdrasil, interpreted as "Odin's steed," is taken to Odin's self-sacrifice described in the Havamal (although the tree is not explicitly identified as Yggdrasil):
- I hung on that windy tree for nine nights wounded by my own spear.
- I hung to that tree, and no one knows where it is rooted.
- None gave me food. None gave me drink. Into the abyss I stared
- until I spied the runes. I seized them up, and, howling, fell.
The Germanic custom of hanging sacrificial victims from trees was probably in reference to this myth (see also Human sacrifice, Tyr). In 1950, the preserved corpse of the so-called "Tollund Man" was found in a peat bog in Jutland. The excellent level of preservation made it possible to deduce that he had been ritually hanged and respectfully consigned to the bog, not more than a hundred yards from where a ritually hanged woman had been found some decades previously.
Many people have discussed the parallels between Odin's self-sacrifice in search of knowledge and the Crucifixion, particularly as Odin, like Jesus, was pierced with a spear before death. However, while possibly influenced by Christianity the myth certainly has pre-Christian origins.
Yggdrasil is also central in the myth of Ragnarok, the end of the world. The only two humans to survive Ragnarok (there are some survivors among the gods), Lif and Lifthrasir, are able to escape by sheltering in the branches of Yggdrasil, where they feed on the dew and are protected by the tree.
"The bellowing fire will not scorch them; it will not even touch them, and their food will be the morning dew. Through the branches they will see a new sun burn as the world ends and starts again."
Yggdrasil apparently had smaller counterparts as the enormous evergreen of unknown species that stood at the Temple at Uppsala and Irminsul, which was an oak venerated by the pagan saxons and which was said to connect heaven and earth. The Old Norse form of Irmin was Jörmun and interestingly, just like Ygg, it was one of Odin's names. It appears, then, that Irminsul may have been representing a world tree corresponding to Yggdrasil among the pagan Saxons.
It has been proposed as an explanation for the World Tree myth that the Cirrus clouds – to a ground standing observer appearing to be virtually stationary on the sky – was imagined to be the branches of a gigantic tree, turned seemingly pale the same way that far away mountains do. Accordingly, rain was held to be the dew dropping from the World Tree. Two old German synonyms for clouds, Wetterbaum and Regenbaum, are said to attest to this hypothesis.
Popular culture
- * The world-ash features in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle.
- * Yggdrasil is the name of a folk band from the Faroe Islands founded by Kristian Blak.
- * In the anime/manga Oh My Goddess!, Yggdrasil is a powerful computer used by Heaven to run the universe.
- * In the roleplaying game Nobilis, Yggdrasil fills the same function as in Norse mythology
- * Yggdrasill is a character in the novel, Infintrinity: The beginning, by Eric Nordgren
- * Yggdrasill is considered to be the highest of the Angelus Realm in the novel, Infintrinity.
- * Yggdrasill is a character featured in the Real-Time RPG Tales of Symphonia. Also in the Tales series, the name of Yggdrasil is used in the Super Famicom game Tales of Phantasia.
- * In Breath of Fire III he was the Tree of Wisdom and incarnated in the form of Peco, and in Breath of Fire IV he was a Dragon whose help could be called upon through Evocation.
- * Yggdrasil is also mentioned in Valkyrie Profile - though some liberties are taken, it is fairly faithful to the original myth.
- * In the Korean MMORPG Ragnarok Online Yggdrasil leafs, berries, and seeds all provide beneficial effects to ones character.
- * Yggdrasil is the name of Bart's ship in Xenogears.
- * For an even more esoteric reference, Yggdrasil is one of the "Spirit Cards" that appears in weapon-smithing in Legend of Mana, but that plays no role in the story at all.
- * Yggdrasil is the default name of the Zerg Overlord Hero in StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War expansion pack.
- * Yggdrasil is the last word in the novel House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. The book has many ambiguous mythological references. The house presumably referred to in the title is on Ash Tree Lane, leading many of the book's readers to believe that the "House of Leaves" is in fact a metaphor for Yggdrasil.
- * "Yggdrasill" is the name of a tree ship in Dan Simmons' novel Hyperion.
- * In the Forgotten Realms setting, Yggdrasil is a giant magical tree located on the island of Ruathym and engraved in magical runes. This tree makes the magic runes even more powerful.
- * "Nordrassil", undoubtedly based off Yggdrasil, is a gigantic tree in the Warcraft Universe, and is known as the "World Tree". It is a great source of magic and gives the Night Elves their power over nature and their immortality.
- * In the computer-generated imagery anime movie Digimon X-Evolution, Yggdrasill is the sentient supercomputer that controls and oversees the goings-on in the Digital World.
- * The 1992 demo of the Norwegian Black Metal band Enslaved was called "Yggdrasill".
- * Swamp Thing, of DC Comics fame, was displaced in time and wound up 400 million years in the past, where he creates the original Yggdrasil.
- * Achaea, a MUD MMORPG, includes Yggdrasil as the World Tree. Within it, the Flame of Yggdrasil burns as a huge, heatless, lavender-scented flame.
- * Yggdrasil appears in the GameBoyAdvance game "Riviera: The Promised Land", a game highly influenced by Norse mythology.
- *Yggdrasil is the name of the military operation to recreate the monster Gaia in the RPG Grandia, at the end of the game, after Gaia is defeated, it does in fact turn into a giant tree.
- *Yggdrasil is depicted on several occassions in the Dark Horse Comics series Hellboy. The villain Rasputin planted half of his soul in the roots of Yggdrasil, and goes there to visit the Baba Yaga in the epilogue to "Wake The Devil." It appears again briefly in "The Corpse," "Box Full of Evil," and in the epilogue to "Conqueror Worm."
- * Yggdrasil appears as a sentient tree like energy form in the 'Just Imagine...' series by Stan Lee, that give this worlds Green Lantern his powers, and brings the heroes together one way or another.
- * Yggdrasil also appears in the manga Angel Sanctuary as the keeper of the dead. An entity appearing as an old man lives in the tree and decides who comes into the land of the dead.
- * The Fire Emblem continent name Jugdral (pronounced YOOG-druhl), the continent where the import classic Super Famicom game Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu takes place, derives from the name of Yggdrasil, in both spelling and pronunciation.
- * Yggdrasil is a Tyrannosaurus Rex who is perceived by the local population as a God in the comic strip "The Legend of Yggdrasil", which was drawn by Don Lawrence.
In Agatha Christie's mystery novel "The Hollow", one of the characters has a distinguishing habit of drawing the tree Yggrasil on napkins and pieces of paper when bored or nervous.
See also
| List of Norse gods | Æsir | Vanir | Giants | Elves | Dwarves | Valkyries | Einherjar | Norns Odin | Thor | Freyr | Freya | Loki | Balder | Tyr | Yggdrasil | Ginnungagap | Ragnarök Sources: Poetic Edda | Prose Edda | The Sagas | Volsung Cycle | Tyrfing Cycle Rune stones | Old Norse language | Orthography | Later influence Society: Viking Age | Skald | Kenning | Blót | Seid | Numbers | |
| The nine worlds of Norse mythology | People, places and things |
