People in the Legends
Snorri Sturluson was a poet, historian and politician of medieval Iceland.
His Edda (the Prose Edda, or Snorri’s Edda), written around 1220, is one of the most important sources preserving Norse mythology as a system. It records Yggdrasil, Ymir, Fenrir, Jormungandr and Sleipnir, as well as light elves and dark elves and the master smiths who made the gods’ weapons, the prototypes of elves and dwarves.
A serpent in Norse mythology so huge it encircles the world. A child of the evil god Loki and brother of Fenrir, he was thrown into the sea and grew until he surrounded the human world, biting his own tail. At Ragnarok, the final battle, he and the thunder god Thor kill each other.
In Norse mythology, the primordial giant who appeared first, before the world was born. Ancestor of the frost giants, he was killed by Odin and his two brothers, and the world, including earth, sea, sky and mountains, was made from his body.
In Norse mythology, the giant ash tree, the "World Tree," that rises through the nine worlds. At its roots is a well where the goddesses of fate live, and the chief god Odin hung from it to win the secret of the runes. It witnesses the world from beginning to end.
The eight-legged grey divine horse ridden by Odin, chief god of Norse mythology. The fastest of all horses, it races across sky, land and sea and can even go to the land of the dead. It is also a child of the trickster god Loki.
A giant wolf in Norse mythology, the son of the god Loki. Feared by the gods, he was bound with the magic fetter Gleipnir. He is foretold to swallow the chief god Odin at Ragnarok, the end of the world.
A fairy people rooted in Norse mythology, said to include light elves and dark elves. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings created the standard fantasy image of a long-lived, beautiful race.
In Norse mythology, a race of master smiths who live underground and inside rocks. They are said to have made the gods' weapons, such as Mjolnir and Gungnir. In fantasy, they are the classic stubborn, bearded craftsmen.
