Verðandi- Norse SpiritSpirit"Norn of the Present"
Also known as: Verdandi
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Description
One of three women who came from the lake beneath Yggdrasill and ended the gods' golden age. Verðandi, whose name means "becoming," carves runes at the Well of Urðr beside her sisters, and pours its white water over the roots of the world tree.
Mythology & Lore
The Three Who Came from the Water
Völuspá 20 names Verðandi alongside Urðr and Skuld as three maidens who came from the lake that stands beneath Yggdrasill. Before they arrived, the gods lived without fate. They built halls, forged treasures, and played at tables with golden pieces. Then the three women appeared and set down laws, chose the lives of the children of men, and laid down their fates.
Snorri elaborates in Gylfaginning 15. The Norns sit at the Well of Urðr, and each day they draw water from it along with the white clay that collects around the well and pour it over the ash tree so that its branches will not rot or decay. Verðandi's name places her between Urðr, what has become, and Skuld, what shall be. She is the present tense of fate: the carving that is still underway, the water still falling over the bark.
Relationships
- Member of