The Norns determine the fate of gods and mortals alike. Even Wodan, the All-Father, is subject to their decrees — his relentless pursuit of wisdom stems from his awareness that fate, as shaped by the Norns, cannot be overcome.
⚠ The Norns' dominion over fate is primarily attested in Norse sources (Völuspá); continental Germanic evidence for Norns-like fate figures is indirect, drawn from comparative reconstruction and folk tradition.
The Norse Norns and their Germanic counterparts descend from the same Proto-Germanic tradition of fate-determining female beings who preside over the destiny of gods and mortals alike.
The Norns score marks upon the wood of Yggdrasil, carving the fates of all beings into the world tree itself — binding destiny to the runes that order the cosmos.
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