Ymir

Ymir's History

In Norse mythology, before the creation of the world, there existed two realms - the icy realm of Niflheim and the fire realm of Muspelheim. When the icy rimes of Niflheim met the heat from Muspelheim, drops formed which shaped the first being - Ymir/Aurgelmir, a frost giant. Ymir fed from the udders of the cosmic cow Audhumla. As Audhumla licked salty rime stones, she licked into shape the first man, Buri. Ymir was able to reproduce asexually. Under his arm pits grew a male and female, and his feet reproduced another giant with six heads. From Ymir came all the early races of frost giants.

Buri's son Bor married a giantess and they had three sons - Odin, Vili and Ve. These became the first gods. Odin and his brothers killed Ymir, and his massive blood flow drowned all giants except for one family. The gods used Ymir's body to form the world - his flesh was the earth, his blood the seas, his bones the mountains, his teeth stones, his skull the sky vault held by four dwarves. Ymir's eyebrows or eyelashes were used to form the barrier around Middle Earth (Midgard), the realm of humanity.So Ymir played a pivotal primordial role in Norse creation myths as the first being who was then sacrificed by the gods to shape the world.