Hvergelmir- Norse LocationLocation · Landmark"The Roaring Cauldron"
Titles & Epithets
Description
Before the world existed, rivers poured from this spring into the void of Ginnungagap and froze. When the ice thawed, life began. Hvergelmir still boils beneath Yggdrasil's root in Niflheim, where Níðhöggr coils in the dark water.
Mythology & Lore
Before the World
Hvergelmir, "the roaring cauldron," is a spring in Niflheim beneath one of Yggdrasil's three roots. From it, according to the Gylfaginning, flowed eleven rivers called the Élivágar, the ice waves. They poured into the void of Ginnungagap and froze into layers of rime. When heat from Muspelheim reached the ice, it thawed. From the quickening drops came Ymir, the first giant, and Auðumbla, the primordial cow. Every river in the world traces back to this spring.
Grímnismál 26 names many of these rivers: Svöl, Fjörm, Slíðr, and Gjöll, the river that borders Helheim.
The Root and the Dragon
Níðhöggr dwells in Hvergelmir and gnaws at Yggdrasil's root from below. Grímnismál 34 says more serpents coil beneath the tree than any fool can imagine and names several: Góinn, Móinn, Grábakr, Ófnir. They chew alongside the dragon. What they destroy, the Norns repair, pouring water from Urðarbrunnr over the roots to keep the tree alive.
The spring that fed creation now houses the creature eating it from within.