World Creation
Before life as we know it, before Aesir, Vanir, Jotunn, and humans, there was Ginnungagap, a void, and in this void were two worlds, spinning around each other.
One was Niflheim, an ice world, cold and dark, and the other was Muspelheim, a world of flaming rivers and volcanoes, breathing smoke and ash into Ginnungagap.
A large glowing rock broke off from Muspelheim and was thrown into Ginnungagap.
At the same time, a large chunk of ice broke off from Niflheim.
The two collided, and a big mist formed. After an infinite amount of time, the mist started to disappear, leaving behind a large, naked, oval rock.
First Beings
On the rock, an enormous creature was sleeping, and next to him, a large cow-like creature was standing, licking a salt rock from Niflheim.
The creature was Ymir the Jotunn, and the cow was Audhumla.
When Ymir was hungry, he drank from Audhumla’s udders.
After eating, he was tired and lay down to sleep.
As he slept, sweat from his armpit fell to the ground, and from the ground, two human-like creatures crawled up, one male and one female.
Under his feet, more sweat hit the ground, and another creature crawled up.
Ymir named his creations after himself, Jotunn, and they started to reproduce and populate the world.
From the salt stone Audhumla was licking, another creature started to emerge.
It was a male, and he was sleeping.
When Audhumla had freed him from the stone, she blew air on his head, and he woke up. This was Buri.
Buri found himself a Jotunn woman and had a son called Borr.
Borr found a wife called Bestla, and they had three sons: Vili, Vé, and Odin
Ymir's Death
Ymir was made from Muspelheim and flaming rocks from there.
He admired the power and strength of the flames, and where life gathered and made peace, Ymir came and destroyed.
Vili, Vé, and Odin decided the best course of action was the death of Ymir.
One day, while Ymir was drinking from Audhumla and then sleeping, the three brothers attacked and killed him.
Ymir was so large and powerful that when his blood hit the water, it began to rise violently, nearly flooding the whole world.
Only Vili, Vé, Odin, and the Jotunn Bergelmir and his wife survived.
Vili, Vé, and Odin took Ymir's body, cut the meat from his bones, and placed it around the world.
Where they mixed it with the soil, plants started to grow.
Where they buried his bones, mountains grew high into the sky.
Splinters of bone turned into large stones, and from his skull, the brothers made the firmament around the world.
Today, four dwarves protect the firmament: Nordri, Sudri, Austri, and Vestri.
From Muspelheim, they took two embers, one so big that the world started to revolve around it, the other so small that it revolved around the world.
These became the sun and the moon.
Nótt and Dagr
Vili gave the Jotunn woman Nótt a chariot and a horse named Hrímfaxi, whose mane and tail are always wet.
He gave Dagr a chariot and the horse Skinfaxi, who was so bright he illuminated the whole sky and ground below.
Dagr was Nótt's son, and his father was Delling.
Nótt was set to be the guardian of the moon, and Dagr of the sun.
When Nótt rides in the night, everything around becomes damp and wet.
When Dagr rides in the day, no clouds appear in the sky, and everything is so bright it is hard to see.
Máni and Sól
Mundilfari was a Jotunn who had two children so beautiful he named them after the sun and the moon.
When Vé heard of this, he became so angry he punished Mundilfari by taking the children and forcing them to ride across the sky to simulate the sun and the moon's movement. To ensure they did not stop, he allowed two Jotunn wolves to hunt them.
Sól’s chariot was pulled by the horses Árvakr and Alsviðr and chased by the wolf Sköll. Máni's chariot was pulled by Alvís and chased by the wolf Hati.
Human Creation
One day, Vili, Vé, and Odin were walking on a beach.
They found two logs, one from an ash tree and the other from an elm tree, that had washed ashore.
Odin carved two sculptures from the logs, one of a man and one of a woman.
He named the man Ask and the woman Embla, and used rune sorcery to breathe life into the two sculptures.
Vili gave them understanding and wisdom, and Vé gave them senses and emotions.
To protect their creation from their enemies, the Jotunn, they called the world Midgard and made a wall braided with Ymir's eyelashes.
The world outside became Jotunheim, where they chased the Jotunn.
In another realm, they made Asgard, the world of the Aesir, where the brothers built their homes.
After creating Bifrost, a bridge to connect all the realms, they set Heimdall as its guardian.