Yggrasil

Yggdrasil is a great tree at the center of the world. The Nine Worlds of the Norse cosmos, the homes of the various beings of their universe, are arrayed amongst the branches, roots, and trunk of the tree.

It is said that when the branches of Yggdrasil begin to tremble, that this is the sign of the coming of Ragnarok, the end of times and destruction of the universe. [1]

The Cosmic Tree Yggdrasil

The word Yggdrasil in Old Norse literally is “Terrible Horse” which means “Odin’s Horse.” [1] Ygg translates as “Terrible”, which is one of the many names by which Odin was known, while Drasill means “horse” — thus “Horse of Odin.” [1]

“Horse of Odin” appears to be a reference to a story found within Norse Religion, when Odin sacrificed himself in order to gain the knowledge of runes by hanging himself from the boughs of Yggdrasil.

The dark imagination (and sense of humour, one might even say gallow’s humour) of the Norse conjured a grim metaphor for a hanging tree as a horse and rider [1] — which might derive from the eerie imagery of how a man swinging from the branches might appear to be riding on a branch (or in the branches) of the tree in which they are hanging. It appears that the mythical event of Odin hanging himself from the tree combined with the metaphor for hanging as “Horse and Rider” became the name for the tree at the center of the cosmos — Yggrasil, the “Horse of Odin.”

The Nine Worlds of Norse cosmology are connected by the great tree. Either they are found on the branches of the tree, or at the roots that support the world tree. One tradition says that Midgard is located at the base of one root, while Jotunheim and Hel (Niflheim) are located at the other two roots.

Yggdrasil is described as tall, reaching high into the sky. Harsh gusts of wind billow against it’s highest branches.

In the texts of Norse Religion Yggdrasil is often said to be an Ash tree. However, the mythologies of ancient religions tend to frequently contradict themselves internally (true for Vedic, Norse, Greek, Sumerian, and Abrahamic religions too) so at other times Old Norse literature states that the species of the tree is not known. [1]

The Roots of Yggdrasil

The roots of Yggdrasil reach deep into the Earth, described as emerging out of specific worlds ( of the Nine Worlds). The poem Grímnismál says that there are three roots at the base of Yggdrasil:

• One root in Midgard — the home of humanity built by the Aesir gods from the brow of the Jotunn Ymir.
• One root in Jotunheim — the home of the Jotnar (imprecisely known as the Frost-Giants).
• And the final root in Hel — the underworld, which is often conflated with Nifleheim.

The Völuspá mentions a (water) well beneath the roots of Yggdrasil called the “Well of Fate” (Old Norse: Urðarbrunnr, Well of Urd). [1] In the Prose Edda Snorri disagrees with the Voluspa on the number of wells beneath the roots, saying there are three, one for each of the roots.

The first well, the Well of Urd, is located in space, in the sky, and the first root of Yggdrasil grows out of it, bending upwards into the sky.

The second well is named Hvergelimir (“Bubbling Spring”) a primal spring out of which emerge 11 rivers that flow through the Nine Worlds. (When these froze over creating a great mass of ice on the land, their melting led to the birth of both the Jotnar and the Aesir.) The well of Hvergelmir is said to be located in Nifleim.

The third well is found in Jotunheim, the home of the Jotnar, and it is home to a wise being named Mimir. This being is actually associated with Yggdrasil in a way that is not fully understood, as Mímameiðr (“Post of Mimir”) [1] is another name for the tree, indicating a connection.

(This layer of detail is the type where many scholars believe Snorri was being artistic with some of the details of the myths he is recording, and perhaps inventing a few of his own. However, he could have access to texts that are now lost to us, as he was operating in the centuries after the Viking Age with access to far more contemporary and original source material. Moreover, variants of a myth from town to town could create innumerable versions, making it possible that some of these details were adopted from the living myth found in a surviving oral tradition.)

The Creatures of Odin’s Horse

At the base of Odin’s Horse lives the dragon Nidhogg and numerous snakes surrounding the roots of Yggdrasil, constantly eating away at them until one day, the tree will fall.

Four stags – named Dainn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, and Durathror – graze on the leaves of the tree, while a squirrel named Ratatoskr (“Drill-Tooth”[1]) makes the whole tree from roots to branches his home.

In addition to his normal squirrel affairs, Ratatoskr carries insults between the dragon Nidhogg who lives among the roots to an untamed eagle who has made the branches, a little messenger to maintain the rivalry.

Interpretation

When dealing with mythology, it is always hard to know exactly how ancient people viewed what they are describing (unless they are explicit) so in the case of Yggdrasil, it is impossible to know exactly how they thought of it.

When the Norse shamans were picturing the tree, could they conceive of empty space out of which the roots of a tree emerged and the discs of each of the Nine Worlds mentioned by the Norse arrayed amongst its roots and branches? A cosmic tree of sorts?

Or is that a modern invention, a capacity of the imagination suited more to our modern minds informed by a scientific and technological worldview, incredible media tech, and CGI. Did the ancient people imagine the roots of Yggdrasil as coming out of the Earth, and the worlds described in Norse myth and legend correlating places on the Earth when visualized in their mind?

We will never truly know.

Therefore the all interpretation is hindered by imprecise knowledge right down to the very foundations of what we know. With that being said, I believe that there are indications that the tree itself is a metaphor for something more than a tree. Perhaps it had a mystical interpretation, or perhaps it is a metaphor for the World and the various Worlds the Norse said were arrayed on the branches were actually physical locations on Earth.

Notes

Resources

1. Yggdrasil. Daniel McCoy. Norse Mythology for Smart People. <https://norse-mythology.org/cosmology/yggdrasil-and-the-well-of-urd/>. Accessed 13 Aug 2024.