The Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán

The Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán are the named daughters of the jotunn Ægir and the goddess Rán found within the stories of Norse Religion. Very little is known about them specifically, aside from their names. Their names are used as poetic terms for the waves of the ocean rather than featuring in the stories.

Both Ægir and Rán were beings personified with the sea, Ægir their jotun father, and Rán their goddess mother. Within the logic of myth it follows that their nine daughters shared the same association. While their parents were the personification of the sea itself, the Nine Daughters personified the waves of the sea. (Although whether that association was always there is uncertain, because it is challenging to see how some of their names have anything to do with the sea.)

The Norse used poetic names for the sea such as the “husband of Ran” and the “land of Ran and of Ægir’s daughters.” The Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán themselves — Himinglæva, Dúfa, Blódughadda, Hefring, Udr, Hrönn, Bylgja, Bára, and Kolga — were used as allusions to the waves of the sea in myth. To speak of “Ægir’s storm-glad daughters” and “Ægir’s dreaded daughters” was talk about the waves, in this case specifically, the enormous, violent, dreaded waves of the stormy seas.

“Helgi had the high sails heightened,
the unfailing crew rallying through
the rollers, Ægir’s dreaded daughters trying
to overthrow their stay-bridled sea-steeds.”

— Helgakviða Hundingsbana I (Norse Poem from the Poetic Eda)

References To The Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán In Myth

In the Skáldskaparmál — ‘The Language of Poetry’, Book II in the Prose Edda — tells the intertwined story of the Aesir gods and the origin of poetry through a dialogue between Bragi, the god of poetry, and Ægir, the god of the sea, the sea personified, and the father of the nine.

Verse XXV of the book collects a number of poetic terms for the sea in the fashion of previous verses. Verse XXIII opens with the question “How should the heaven be periphrased?” proceeding to list poetic terms for heaven like the Skull of Ymir, Burden of the Dwarves, or the Helm of the Air and the Earth and the Sun. Verse XXIV records poetic terms for the Earth (Odin’s Bride, the Mother of Thor, the Flesh of Ymir, and a few more).

Verse XXV of Skáldskaparmál does the same with the sea, opening with the lines “How should one periphrase the sea? Thus: by calling it Ymir’s Blood; Visitor of the Gods; Husband of Rán; Father of Ægir’s Daughters, of them who are called Himinglæva, Dúfa, Blódughadda, Hefring, Udr, Hrönn, Bylgja, Bára, Kolga.” [2]

The names of the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán given above are one of two such lists given in the legends of the Norse that have survived the ages. The second occurs later in verse LXI (61) of the same text, yet curiously gives a slightly different set of names, Dröfn taking the place of Bára.

It is also questioned whether the Nine Daughters were always associated with the waves of the sea — if legendary figures of ancient stories of their culture that came to be associated with the waves in time, rather than being created — on account of it being difficult to see how some of the names have anything to do with the sea at all. The daughter Blóðughadda (“Bloody-hair”) calls to mind a red-haired woman rather than any part of the ocean.

The meanings of the names of the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán, to the best of our knowledge, are: [1]

• Blóðughadda — “Bloody-hair”
• Bylgja — “Billow”
• Dröfn or Bára — (Dröfn: “comber” or “foaming sea”, Bára: “wave”)
• Dúfa — “Wave”
• Hefring (Hevring) — “Lifting”
• Himinglæva — “Transparent-on-top”
• Hrönn — “Wave”
• Kólga — “Cool-Wave”
• Uðr or Unn — “Wave”

The Nine Daughters and the Nine Mothers of Heirndallr

Many scholars believe that the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán are the same as the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr. Just based on the association of nine women as a group, that alone is fairly indicative as it seems less likely (though by no means impossible) that a single culture would have two distinct groups nine women — nine sisters no less — important enough to be remembered in mythology.

The main argument against is that the list of names of the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr is completely different than the known names of the Nine Daughters. However, names are an ever-changing quantity. Even from generation to generation.

If the two traditions grew in isolation from one another for any length of time they could have drifted, and names would be one of the first things to evolve. We could be seeing the possible existence of more than one tradition of Heimdallr, or perhaps another set of names for the Nine Daughters from a tradition within the family of Norse Religion. We have also just seen in the Skáldskaparmál how names can change over the course of a single text.

The Link Between The Nine Daughters and Other Cultures

One of the most prominent possible connections between the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán and the myths of other cultures, is to the Nine Muses of Greek Mythology. Although we have differences between their names and associations, we again have a group of nine women who were daughters of the gods, making them divine in their own right, all sisters. Furthermore, if Heimdallr is indeed the son of the Nine Daughters of the sea, this aligns as well, since the great musician of Ancient Greece, Orpheus, was also raised by the Nine Muses.

The major themes of the two myths — the Nine Muses of Greece and the Nine Daughters of the Norse — line up well with one another. Is this a coincidence? Was the myth transmitted from one to the other at an early date and incorporated into their theology? Or is this a truly deep layer of myth that was shared by both the Indo-European Greeks and Norse when they were still one people?

Notes

Resources

1. Nine Daughter of Ægir and Rán. Wikipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Daughters_of_%C3%86gir_and_R%C3%A1n>. Accessed 24 April 2024.
2. XXV, Skáldskaparmál. The Prose Edda.