Ymir's Life: Getting To The Norn

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, there is also an initial state of chaos, which is the name that men give the complete mess that was the Universe, already hinting that men are a prominent feature in Ovid’s work, especially as he mentions them before the Gods. An unnamed God, given the name of The Creator, then appears, and starts to place everything in order. He lets Fire, the lightest element shoot up to its natural place at the furthest reaches of the Universe, and lets Air, a slightly heavier element settle below Fire. Below that he placest all the heavier elements, such as rocks and dirt, which collect at the centre of the universe, and form Earth, therefore making Earth the centre of the Universe. He then lets water flow all over it, makes mountains and fields, organises the different regions of earth and sky, and sends different winds to where they belong. Once everything was no longer in chaos, the stars came out, and The Creator then made animals to inhabit the world. Lastly, man was made, but it is unsure whether it was The Creator who made the men, or Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, who moulded men in the shape of the Gods (Ovid, 1922: 5-89.)

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. The Earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep”. There are many stories that talk about how the Earth are created and they all vary depending on the beliefs of the writers. In these stories there are many similarities but there are also a few differences. A good example of these similarities can be found in a few creation stories such as Genesis, Creation by the Hopi, and The World on the Turtle’s Back by the Iroquois. In these three stories there are differences and similarities found when looking at how the Earth was created, where all the evil and good came about from, and how all of the animals got their names.

“The World on the Turtle’s Back” is a story about how the earth was created by a woman. Later that woman gave birth to two twins. The right-handed twin was the honest one who always did everything he was supposed to do. The left-handed twin was the bad twin who always lied and was dishonest. The left-handed twin was the reason their mother died because he was born out of their mom’s armpit. In ‘Odin and Ymir’, Ymir was slain by the youngest son Odin. Odin was the most powerful of the gods. Ymir’s body after he was slain became the world. Ymir was the biggest and oldest of the frost giants and his size could not be matched.

Norse Mythology’s creation started with a giant named Ymir. He emerged from the ground and grew very large from cow’s milk. In time, the god Buri and his wife appeared and gave birth to Bor and Bor’s son was named Odin. Ymir, was evil, and the gods didn’t like it, so they killed him, making his huge body form the earth. His blood became the sea, his flesh became land, his bones became mountains, his hair became the trees, and his

In the beginning, it all started with the gods and goddesses Cronus (God of the Sky) and Rhea (Goddess of the Earth). They met and got married. While they were married they produced six offspring. These offspring would turn out to be some of the most famous in mythology. The offspring consisted

Out of Chaos, came Earth and Sky, and the very first gods. In this story, life came from nothingness-a void. From the Void there then came Darkness and Night. From Night came the Light and then Day. Earth, named Gaia, brought about Sky, known as Uranus, and then after lying with Sky, she birthed Ocean, along with the giants and Cyclopes, and immortals. Hesiod's story is similar to the Bible in that it describes children falling from grace and having to deal with the consequences and fallout. Also like the Bible, where Eve is the cause of the fall, it is a female-the "mother" who causes the same problem in the Theogeny. This mother gets together with Chornus, her son, who cut his father Sky's insides out of his own body. In the Bible, the Father has great love for his creation, but in Hesiod's story, the father hates his children, who he called the Titans. The Titans were the parents of the Greek gods of Mount Olympus, thus beginning the line of gods that rose from chaos. There is a similarity, though, in the hatred of the father of the Theogeny and the rebellion of the children that stemmed from this feeling, and the great flood of the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the children were punished for their disobedience by an angry Father or

The Norse story did not have one maker of good, but multiple elements and events that emerged from one evil giant in this creation myth. Ymir was malicious and wicked and when Odin and the other gods could no longer tolerate Ymir's evil acts, they united to kill the giant. "Ymir’s huge body formed the earth, his blood became the sea, his flesh became the land, his bones the mountains and his hair the trees" (Distant Train, Inc., 2011). The other gods and Odin shaped the sky with his skull, it was held up by four towering tall pillars. Odin created the sun and moon out of sparks of the fiery depths of Muspell and placed them in the sky. The ice began to melt in the new world of Ginnungagap from the illumination of the sun and moon and vegetation began to grow. Odin named the new world Midgard, meaning 'The Middle Land'. Odin discovered two fallen trees, of ash and of elm, which he then extracted from the mud and shaped the first woman and man. "Odin breathed life into the beings, gave them reason and feelings, hearing and sight" (Distant Train, Inc., 2011). Similar to the Genesis story of Adam and Eve, Odin then called the man Ask and the woman Embla.

In the beginning there was emptiness called Chaos, as well as Earth, Hell, and Love named Eros. Eros was half girl half boy and created the earth named Gaia. Gaia, out of her own fertility, created a male companion named Ouranos, sky (Stone 39). Ouranos and Gaia would begin to create all other creatures of the universe including the massive Titans. Some of their offspring were giant rats and lizards, some only had one eye in the center of their forehead, and others had fifty heads and one hundred arms. Ouranos was disgusted by these deformed creatures and hid them away deep within the earth. Gaia did not agree with this decision and vowed to get revenge upon him. She turned to the Titans for help and promised if one of them would use an adamant sickle against their father they would assume his role as the master of the universe and king of the Titans. Kronos, the largest of the Titans, stepped forward. That same night Kronos snuck up behind his father and cut off his genitals. Kronos raised the genitals in victory spraying blood everywhere. Some of the blood hit Gaia and seeped into her womb (Stone 40). Other drops dripped into Tartarus, the deepest part of the underworld, and created the Furies. Finally, drops would become the Giants of the Earth which would be impervious to death, even by the hands of a god. Although Kronos was now king of the Titans he was told by his mother and father that he would be

Then God made the land and water. He named the land “earth” and the water was called “sea”. Plants and animals were put on the land and fish and the other water creatures were in the sea. There were birds that flew above land. God told the all the animals, the fish, and the birds to be fruitful and multiply.

The Vikings lived in Scandinavia and they worshiped many gods. The Vikings believed that different gods were responsible for different areas of daily life. There were gods for harvests, love, family and war, and that they don’t just have to rely on one god. It is thought that the Vikings made animal or human sacrifices to the gods to get something they needed, such as a good harvest or success in a battle. For example if they needed

It presents the consolidating of ice and fire in a discretionary connecting of segments. At the point when the lukewarm inhales of Muspell experiences the chill of frigid Niflheim, ice breaks up and the ensuing water beads becomes animated, creating the insidious Ymir. While the titans sleep, sweat from his armpits creates the primary man and lady. The titans develop to severely dislike Ymir and the creation myth proceeds with the executing and deformation of the

In the beginning there was no time or gods, only land and sea. Where the sea meet the land a white mare burst forth from the sea foam, her name was Eiocha. Eiocha soon found some sea-foam seeds and ate them, soon they grew into a child in her, she gave birth to the god named Cernunnos. While she was giving birth her pain was so great that she ripped off a piece of bark that she catapulted into the sea, as it fell to the watery deeps of the sea it grew to deep-sea giants. As for poor lonely Cernunnos he felt that he was outnumbered for the great number of sea giants, he along with his horse-mother they created more gods, their names were Maponos, the God of Youth, Tauranis, the God of Thunder, Teutates, the Protector, and the fertility goddess, Epona. After Eiocha’s children grew into adults she became sad and depressed, while she longed for the sea she finally returned to her life as a sea-mare, and became known as Tethra, goddess of the deep. Soon the gods and goddesses created a paradise like land, while the deep-sea giants looked upon the gods with hatred they declared war upon the gods. After a great war and successfully making the giants return to the sea, the gods turned to the place they once called paradise. It was in ruin, as well as almost all humans were killed, all except for two that Epona had saved and they were charged with recreating the human

1. According to Hesiod, in the beginning there were four primordial beings. Chaos was the first entity to exist, then came Earth (Gaea), Tartarus and Eros . Chaos produced two offspring, Erebus and Night who made love and bore Aether and Day . Earth then gave birth to her son Heaven who would later become her partner. Gaea then through parthenogenesis bore the Mountains and the Sea. Gaea then along with Heaven created the Oceans, Cyclopes and the deities known as the Titans . Heaven fearing for himself after hearing of a prophecy in which his own son would usurp his position among the Gods kept his offspring trapped in the womb of Gaea . This act made Gaea extremely angry and so in order to free her children she crafted a silver sickle, which

One creation story says that long ago, two gods named Izanagi and Izanami were commanded by the primal gods to make and solidify the land of Japan. The two gods then threw a spear into the sea. The mud that dripped from the spear became an island, and there, Izanagi and Izanami built a palace and married each other. Over time, Izanami gave birth to the islands of Japan and many deities, but she died giving birth to her last one, who was a fire god. Angry, Izanagi beheaded his son and followed Izanami to Yomi, the Land of the Dead, urging her to return back with him.

The Mesopotamian creation myth incorporated many characteristics that define to most myths in general. One of the characteristics incorporated in the creation myth is that it takes place in the distant past, or in this case the beginning or pre-history. This characteristic is initially described in the opening passage of the Enuma Elish, “when on high [enuma elish] heaven and earth had not yet been named” (Leeming 19), and further codified by describing how the gods Apsu and Tiamat created “the silt deposits Lahmu and Lahamu, which we call ‘land’” (Leeming 19). A second characteristic of myths portrayed in this creation story is that it is a tale of supernatural beings, goddesses, or gods. Besides, Apsu, freshwater, and Tiamat, great saltwater