Yggdrasil- Norse LocationLocation · Landmark"The World Tree"

The World Tree

Yggdrasil is the immense cosmic ash tree at the center of Norse cosmology. Its branches spread over every world, its trunk forms the pillar of the universe, and its three roots reach into the deepest realms of being.

Yet the tree suffers constant distress: gnawed from below by serpents, browsed from above by stags, its trunk rotting at the sides. It endures more anguish than anyone can know, yet the Norns keep it perpetually green. Honeydew drips from its branches to nourish the bees below.

The Nine Worlds

Within Yggdrasil lie the Nine Worlds, though no single source maps their arrangement with precision. The cosmos is vertical: Asgard and Álfheim look down from the heights. Midgard, the world of humans, sits in the middle, ringed by the ocean where Jörmungandr coils. Below lie Niflheim's ice and Muspelheim's fire, and the cold halls of Hel.

The worlds are connected by the tree. The gods ride daily across Bifröst to hold court at the Well of Urðr. Giants climb toward Asgard. The dead descend along the Helvegr. All paths lead through the tree.

The Three Roots and Three Wells

Three great roots extend from Yggdrasil into the depths of the cosmos, each reaching a different realm and a different well.

The first root reaches into Asgard, to the Well of Urðr (Urðarbrunnr), the well of fate. Here the three Norns dwell: Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld. They draw water from the well and pour it over Yggdrasil's roots to keep the tree healthy. The water is so holy that all things it touches turn white as the membrane inside an eggshell.

The second root extends to the realm of the frost giants, reaching the Well of Mímir (Mímisbrunnr). This well contains wisdom and understanding, and its keeper is the wise being Mímir. Odin sacrificed one of his eyes for a single drink from it. Mímir's severed head, preserved by Odin with herbs and magic, continues to counsel the Allfather with secrets from the well.

The third root stretches down to Niflheim, reaching the spring Hvergelmir ("the roaring cauldron"). From this spring flow all the rivers of the world, including the eleven Élivágar that existed before the world was made. The dragon Níðhöggr dwells there, gnawing at Yggdrasil's root, and countless serpents writhe in the waters.

The Creatures of the Tree

At the crown sits an enormous eagle whose name is never given. Between its eyes perches the hawk Veðrfölnir. Far below, at the roots, the dragon Níðhöggr gnaws perpetually at the wood. Between eagle and dragon runs the squirrel Ratatoskr, carrying insults from one to the other.

Four stags roam among the branches and feed on the foliage. More serpents lie beneath the tree than any fool could imagine, as the Grímnismál puts it.

The Norns and the Preservation of the Tree

Despite the gnawing and browsing, Yggdrasil endures because of the Norns' tending. The Völuspá says: "An ash I know, Yggdrasil its name, a tall tree, showered with shining loam. From there come the dews that drop in the valleys. It stands forever green over Urðr's well."

The Norns draw water from the Well of Urðr and mix it with the white clay, the aurr, that lies around the well. They pour this mixture over Yggdrasil's roots, healing the damage done by the creatures that plague it. The Grímnismál declares that the tree endures more anguish than anyone knows, yet the sacred water and clay restore what is gnawed and browsed each day.

Odin's Sacrifice

The tree's name commemorates its darkest moment. Yggdrasil means "Odin's Horse": Yggr ("the Terrible One") is one of Odin's names, and the gallows was called "the hanged man's horse" in skaldic poetry. The World Tree is Odin's gallows.

His own account of the sacrifice stands in the Hávamál. "I know that I hung on a wind-battered tree, nine full nights, pierced with a spear and given to Odin, myself to myself, on that tree of which no man knows from what root it springs. They did not comfort me with bread, nor with any drinking horn. I peered down, I took up the runes, screaming I took them, then I fell back from there."

Ragnarök and Beyond

At Ragnarök, "Yggdrasil shakes, and the ash stands quaking." Fenrir breaks free, Jörmungandr rises from the sea, Surtr's fire engulfs the worlds. But Yggdrasil does not fall. While Bifröst shatters and the halls of Asgard burn, the World Tree endures.

Within its shelter, in Hoddmímis holt, two humans will hide from the fires: Líf ("Life") and Lífþrasir ("Yearning for Life"), surviving on morning dew. From them, a new human race will spring. The Vafþrúðnismál recounts this promise. The gallows of one age becomes the cradle of the next.