Bergelmir- Norse GiantGiant
Also known as: Bergelmer
Description
Clinging to a hollowed tree trunk as Ymir's blood drowned the world, Bergelmir and his wife alone survived the deluge that followed the primordial giant's slaughter. From this pair descended all the frost giants of later ages.
Mythology & Lore
The Blood-Flood
When Odin, Vili, and Vé killed Ymir and carved the world from his body, the blood that poured from the primordial giant was enough to drown everything alive. Every frost giant in existence perished in the flood. Every one except Bergelmir.
In Vafþrúðnismál, the giant Vafþrúðnir tells Odin that Bergelmir was "set upon a lúðr" with his wife and so survived. The word lúðr has been read as a hollowed log, a coffin, a flour-bin. Snorri, retelling the story in Gylfaginning 7, says Bergelmir climbed up onto the lúðr and that this saved him. Whatever the vessel was, it floated on Ymir's blood while the world filled with it.
From Bergelmir and his wife came all the frost giants who would later fill Jötunheimr, raise halls in the mountains, and war against the gods. The race that Odin tried to annihilate by killing their ancestor survived on a single piece of wood.
Relationships
- Family