Viking Gods and Norse Mythology Vocabulary

Odin trades an eye for wisdom. Thor goes fishing for the Midgard Serpent. Loki is never far from trouble. The Viking gods are a large and quarrelsome family. Their stories are crowded with giants, dwarves, monsters, magic horses and a great tree that holds the nine worlds together. This glossary is your guide to who is who, and to the words you will meet along the way.

Norse mythology has two families of gods. The Aesir, led by Odin and Thor, live in Asgard. The Vanir, among them Njord, Freyr and Freyja, are gods of the sea, the harvest and good fortune. The two families once fought a war, then made peace and traded hostages. That is why Njord, Freyr and Freyja are counted among the gods of Asgard. Against them all stand the giants, the jotnar. They are the gods’ greatest rivals, yet they are also, again and again, their lovers, parents and in-laws.

The Vikings passed their myths along by word of mouth and wrote very little of them down. Runestones, carved picture stones and skaldic poetry give us glimpses, but most of what we know comes from two Icelandic books written after Iceland became Christian: the Prose Edda, composed around 1220 by the poet, historian and chieftain Snorri Sturluson, and the Poetic Edda, an anonymous collection of mythological and heroic poems preserved in a manuscript (the Codex Regius) from around 1270. Both were written down roughly 150 to 200 years after the Viking Age ended, so read them as precious, late, and sometimes Christian-tinted windows into the old beliefs.

How to use this glossary

Gods, Goddesses and Other Beings – the gods, goddesses, giants and dwarves of the myths, A to Z, from Aegir to Vor. Use the Jump to letters to skip ahead.

Other Norse Mythology Vocabulary – the groups, places, creatures and wonders, such as the Valkyries, Bifrost and Valhalla.

Spelling – We use plain English spellings without accents, so Thor rather than Þórr. Old Norse names are spelled many ways; we spell each one the same way across our site.

Links – A linked name has its own story on our site. Every entry also has its own anchor, so you can share a link to a single name.

Related pages – Odin alone goes by more than 150 names, gathered on Odin’s Many Names, and the Viking Timeline sets the myths beside the history. This page grows as we tell more of the stories.

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Gods, Goddesses and Other Beings

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Aegir – Giant (jötunn) of the sea, often counted among the gods, and famous host of the gods’ feasts, where his ale brews itself. Husband of Ran. Snorri says he lived on the island of Hlesey.

Andvari – A dwarf who guarded a hoard of gold in a waterfall. When Loki forced him to give it up, Andvari cursed his ring, Andvaranaut, and the curse follows the treasure through the Volsung legend. He is often compared to Alberich of the German Nibelungenlied, who owns a cloak of invisibility.

Annar – Father of Jord (Mother Earth) by Nott (the Night).

Baldur – Gentle and wise son of Odin and Frigg. Everything in creation swore never to harm him except the mistletoe, which seemed too young to ask. Loki put a sprig of mistletoe in the hand of Baldur’s blind brother Hod and guided his throw, killing Baldur. He will return after Ragnarok.

Bor – Son of Buri and father of Odin, Vili and Ve.

Bragi – Norse god of poetry and eloquence. Son of Odin and husband of Idun.

Buri – Ancestor of the Norse gods. The primeval cow Audhumla (Auðhumla) licked him free from blocks of salty ice over three days.

Day – Son of Night and Delling. Rides around the earth on his horse Skinfaxi.

Earth – Daughter of Night and Annar. Lover of Odin and mother of Thor. Also known as Fjorgyn and Jord.

Eir – Goddess of healing.

Forseti – God of justice. Son of Baldur and Nanna.

Freyja – Main goddess of the Vanir. Daughter of Njord and sister of Freyr.

Freyr – Important god of the Vanir. Son of Njord and brother of Freyja.

Frigg (Frigga) – Chief goddess of the Aesir, wife of Odin and mother of Baldur. She knows the fates of all beings, though she never speaks of them.

Fulla – Goddess servant of Frigga.

Gefion (Gefjon) – Goddess linked with the plow and with unmarried women. She tricked King Gylfi of Sweden: promised as much land as she could plow in a day and a night, she turned her four giant-born sons into oxen and tore away the island of Zealand.

Gullveig – A mysterious woman in the Voluspa whom the Aesir stab with spears and burn three times; three times she is reborn. Her treatment seems to spark the war between the Aesir and the Vanir. Some scholars identify her with Freyja.

Heimdall (Rig) – Watchman of the gods, who guards Bifrost and will blow the horn Gjallarhorn at the start of Ragnarok. Son of nine mothers. As Rig, he fathers the three classes of human society: thralls, free farmers and nobles (Rígsþula).

Hel – Daughter of Loki who rules Hel (sometimes called Helheim), the realm of those who die of sickness or old age.

Hermod – Son of Odin. Rode to Hel in an attempt to rescue his brother Baldur.

Hod – Blind son of Odin, whom Loki tricked into killing his brother Baldur. He will return after Ragnarok.

Honir – Long-legged, indecisive god. Sent to the Vanir to seal the truce between them and the Aesir. He will survive Ragnarok.

Idun – Guardian of the golden apples of youth and wife of Bragi.

Jarnsaxa – Mother of Magni by Thor, Jarnsaxa is a jotunn.

Kvasir – Wise poet created from the spittle of the Aesir and Vanir.

Lofn – Goddess of illicit unions.

Loki – Trickster god, son of the giant Farbauti and of Laufey. Also known as Lopt (‘air’), the Sly One and the Shape Changer. Blood-brother of Odin, father of Fenrir, Jormungandr and Hel, and bound until Ragnarok.

Magni – Son of Thor and the giantess Jarnsaxa. Will inherit Thor’s hammer Mjollnir with his brother Modi after Ragnarok.

Mimir (Mímir) – Wise god of the Aesir. Sent with Honir to the Vanir as a hostage to seal the truce. The Vanir beheaded him; Odin preserved the head with herbs and charms and still seeks its counsel.

Modgud – Maiden who guards Gjallarbru, the gold-roofed bridge over the river Gjoll on the road to Hel.

Modi – Son of Thor; his mother is not named in the sources. Will inherit Thor’s hammer Mjollnir with his brother Magni after Ragnarok.

Moon – Son of Mundilfari. Guides the moon on its course.

Nanna – Wife of Baldur and daughter of Nep.

Nari (Narfi) – Son of Loki and Sigyn. After Loki’s other son Vali (not Odin’s son Vali) was turned into a wolf and tore Nari apart, the gods bound Loki with Nari’s entrails.

Nep – Father of the goddess Nanna, son of Odin.

Night (Nótt) – Daughter of the giant Norfi (not Loki’s son Narfi) and mother of Day. She rides across the sky on her horse Hrimfaxi, whose foaming bit drips the morning dew.

Njord (Njörd) – Vanir god associated with wind and sea. Husband of Skadi and father of Freyja and Freyr.

Norns – The three women who shape destiny at the Well of Urd beneath Yggdrasil: Urd (‘what has become’), Verdandi (‘what is becoming’) and Skuld (‘what shall be,’ also ‘debt’).

Od – Missing husband of Freyja, whom she constantly mourns.

Odin (Óðinn; Woden, Wotan) – Chief of the Aesir and ruler of Asgard. God of wisdom, poetry, magic, runes, battle and the dead. Also called the All-father, the Terrible One (Yggr), the One-eyed and the Father of Battle. His disguises include Bolverk, Gangrad, Grimnir and Harbard. See our full list of Odin’s Many Names.

Ran (Rán) – Wife of Aegir, who dragged drowning men into the sea with her net.

Rind – Mother of Vali by Odin. Snorri counts her among the goddesses, but other sources call her a giantess or a human princess.

Saga – Goddess and drinking companion of Odin.

Sif – Wife of Thor, whose golden hair was cut off by Loki.

Sigyn – Wife of Loki.

Sjofn – Goddess of human passion.

Skadi (Skaði) – Giantess and goddess of winter, skiing and the hunt. Wife of Njord, though the marriage failed: he hated her mountains, and she hated his seashore.

Sun – Daughter of Mundilfari and guide of the sun.

Syn – Goddess of the accused at trial.

Thor – God of thunder and strength, protector of gods and humans against the giants. Son of Odin and Earth (Jörð), husband of Sif, and wielder of the hammer Mjollnir. Also called Oku-Thor, ‘Thor the charioteer,’ for the goat-drawn chariot he drives across the sky.

Thrud – Daughter of Thor. Promised to the dwarf Alvis.

Tyr (Týr) – God of war and oaths. When the gods bound the wolf Fenrir, Tyr placed his right hand in the wolf’s mouth as a pledge of good faith, and lost it. Snorri calls him Odin’s son; the poem Hymiskvida makes him the son of the giant Hymir.

Ull – God of archery and skiing; son of Sif and stepson of Thor.

Vali – Son of Odin and Rind, born to avenge Baldur; he killed Hod when he was only one night old. He will survive Ragnarok.

Var – Goddess of marriage oaths.

Ve – Son of Bor and brother of Odin and Vili.

Vidar – The silent god, son of Odin and the giantess Grid. At Ragnarok he avenges Odin by killing the wolf Fenrir, and he survives into the new world.

Vili – Son of Bor and brother of Odin and Ve.

Vor – Goddess who knows all.

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Other Norse Mythology Vocabulary

Aesir (Æsir) – A group of warrior gods led by Odin who inhabit Asgard.

Bifrost (Bifröst) – A shimmering, rainbow-colored bridge that reaches from Asgard to Midgard. Heimdall guards the bridge from the Jotnar.

Einherjar – Band of dead warriors in Valhalla awaiting Ragnarok.

Hrimfaxi – Horse of the goddess Night.

Skinfaxi – Horse of the god Day.

Sleipnir – Eight-legged horse ridden primarily by Odin. Son of Loki, who changed into a mare, and the stallion Svadilfari.

Valhalla – Odin’s enormous hall, roofed with shields, where half of those slain in battle feast and train for Ragnarok. The other half go to Freyja’s field, Folkvangr.

Valkyries – ‘Choosers of the slain.’ Warrior women who serve Odin, deciding who falls in battle and bringing chosen heroes to Valhalla.

Vanir – A group of gods linked with fertility, wealth and magic, including Njord, Freyr and Freyja. They fought a war with the Aesir, then made peace and exchanged hostages.

Yggdrasil – The great ash tree whose roots and branches bind the nine worlds together.