#jotnar

In the Norse creation mythology, the worlds were created mainly through the clashing of fire and ice, heat and moisture.  Among the first beings in existence were the fire giant/deity Surtr, the hrimthurs (ice giant/deity) Ymir, and the giant nourishing cow Audhumla.  From heat and moisture on his body, Ymir begat other beings, and they in turn produced their own offspring.  Odin was closely descended from Ymir on his mother’s side, and Odin’s paternal grandfather, Buri, was considered the first god.  Buri had been different from Ymir’s creations in that he had been created from the cow Audhumla’s licking of a block of ice (creation was again achieved through a meeting of heat and ice).

Odin and his immediate family, although partially descended from Ymir, considered themselves set apart from Ymir’s creations, dubbed the Jotnar.  Odin and his brothers saw Ymir as an enemy, and, fearing his immense power, they caught him unaware and slew him.

Ymir had been an enormous being, so his death did not come without collateral damage.  The blood that poured from Ymir’s body created a flood that killed Odin’s parents and all the Jotnar but one, Bergelmir (also known as Farbauti).  It is generally believed that the longstanding feud between the Aesir and Jotnar arose from this near destruction of all Jotnar and complete destruction of Ymir, as committed by the Aesir, and the ultimate battle of Ragnarok was to be the Jotnar’s revenge for the act.

Bergelmir and his wife had taken refuge on a small wooden boat, and thus escaped from the treacherous fate that befell the rest of the Jotunnar.  It is unclear whether Bergelmir’s wife Nal (also known as Laufey) was Jotunn or god (As).  Bergelmir is said by some sources to have been the only remaining Jotunn, but in other sources his wife is included with him (although this may have simply been an assumption made because it was a Jotunn to whom Nal was wed).  Whatever Nal’s ancestry though, it was the union of Bergelmir and Nal that repopulated the world’s tree with Jotnar once more.  The land to which they escaped became Jotunnheimr.

Among Bergelmir (or Farbauti) and Nal (or Laufey)’s offspring was Loki.  The myth concerning the conception of Loki states that Loki was born from Bergelmir (or Farbauti) striking Nal (or Laufey) with lightning.  Loki was originally a fire deity before he became more closely associated with the trickster archetype, and this better explains the odd story of conception.  Farbauti, meaning “fierce strike”, was a representation of lightning.  Nal meant “pine needles”, and her other name, Laufey, meant “leaves”.  In this way, Loki – fire – was created by Farbauti – lightning – striking Nal or Laufey – pine needles or leaves.  The story describes a natural phenomenon with representative personifications.

A jotunn, sometimes anglicized as jotun (pronounced yotun), is a giant in Norse mythology, a member of a race of nature spirits with superhuman strength, described as sometimes standing in opposition to the races of the tribles of the Aesir and Vanir, although they frequently mingle with or intermarry with these. In some legends and myths they are described as having the same height as humans. In later Scandinavian folklore, the nature spirits called trolls (deriving form the term for ‘magic’) take over many of the functions of the more ancient concept of the jotunn. The mountain range of southern Norway is likewise called in Norwegian Jotunheimen or the Jotunheim Mountains.

ORIGINS:

The first living being formed in the primeval chaos known as Ginnungagap was a giant of monumental size, called Ymir. When he slept a giant son and a giantess daughter grew from his armpits, and his two feet procreated and gave birth to a monster with heads. Supposedly, these three beings gave rise to the race of hrimpursar (rime giants or frost giants), who populated niflheim, the world of mist, chill and ice. The gods instead claim their origin from a certain Buri. When the giant Ymir subsequently was slain by Odin, Vili and Ve (the grandsons of Buri), his blood (i.e. water) deluged Niflheim and killed all of the giants, apart from one known as Bergelmir and his spouse, who then repopulated their kind.

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER:

Some of the giants are attributed with hideous appearances– claws, fangs, and deformed features apart from a generally hideous size. Some of them may even have many heads, such as Thrivvaldi who had nine of them, or an overall non-humanoid shape; so were Jormungandr and Fenrir, two of the children of Loki, viewed as giants. yet when giants are named and more closely described, they are often given the opposite characteristics. Very old, they carry wisdom from bygone times. It is the giants Mimir and Vafpruonir Odin seeks out to gain this pro-cosmic knowledge. Many of the gods’ spouses are giants. Njord is married to Skaoi, Geror becomes the consort of Frey, Odin gains the love of Gunnlod, and even Thor, the great slayer of their kind, produces a child with Jarnsaxa; Magni. As such, they appear as minor gods themselves, which can also be said about the sea giant Aegir, far more connected to the gods than to the other giants occupying Jotunheim. None of these fear light, and in comfort their homes do not differ greatly from those of the gods.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF GIANTS:

Frost Giants: Said to live in the coldest parts of the world and Jotunheimr. There are many Norse tales and legends that speak of frost giants catching unsuspecting travelers by luring them to sleep in the cold by whispering sweet words and lullabies when they become too exhausted to carry on. They mostly populated Niflheimr.

Fire Giants: Said to live in the lower parts of Jotunheimr where it is warm and has a scattering of volcanoes. During Ragnarok it is said that the fire giants will ride on great horses and burn Nidgard killing all the people, some of the gods, and all the fire giants themselves except a man and a woman sent by Odin in a great forest that was not destroyed by the chaos and flames.