Norse Mythology

Welcome back everybody to Raisa’s Mythological Creature Blog! Today we have 10 animals from Norse Myths!

First up are Huginn and Muninn. They are the chief god Odin’s two pet ravens. Their names mean Thought (Huginn) and Memory (Muninn). They bring information from around the worlds to Odin. In one Scandinavian book, the Poetic Edda, Odin reveals to us that he worries that they might not return from their daily flights.

Next is another twosome, Geri and Freki. They are Odin’s wolves. Their names both mean ‘the greedy one’ or ‘ravenous’. There is a myth where Odin feeds them the meat of a wild boar, Sahrimnir. Each day, Sahrimnir is reborn and the two wolves get fed it again.

Now, we have Ratatosk. Ratatosk is a squirrel that climbs up and down Yggdrasil, the tree where were all of the Nordic Worlds bark. His name means ‘drill tooth’. Along with Nidhogg, the dragon, and the eagle, they live on the world tree. The squirrel brings swear words from Nidhogg, who was on the bottom of Yggdrasil to the eagle that sat at the very top.

Tanngrisnir and Tanngjostr are next. They are the thunder god, Thor’s, two goats. Tanngrisnir means ‘Teeth Barer’ and Tanngjostr means ‘Teeth Grinder’.  They are said to pull Thor’s chariot. One myth about them says that they are cooked by Thor at night and in the morning they are brought back to life.

Next is Fenrir. He is Loki and Angrbody’s wolf son and he is brother of the goddess of the dead Hel (sometimes called Hela) and the serpent Jormungandr. Tyr, the Norse god of war and justice, is the only one that is brave enough to feed this magnificent howler. Unfortunately, one day, Fenrir bit his hand off. At Ragnarok, a god named Vidar manages to kill Fenrir for revenge because the wolf killed his father Odin.

There is another dog in mythology, guardian of the underworld, 4 eyed Garm (he is like Cerberus from Greek Mythology.). Some Scandinavians believe that he is Fenrir’s twin brother. Garm is Hel's pet dog.

Next up is Jormungandr (Midgardsorm). He is Loki and Angrbody's  monstous serpent son.  Along with his brother Loki and sister Hel, they want to end the world, split Yggdrasil and start Ragnarok, the doom of the gods. One myth says that Loki's 'World Serpent' son was tossed into the water and became the World Serpent. During Ragnarok, Thor will fight with the monster, kill it, but after only nine steps gets poisoned by his deadly breath.

And then, there is Svadilfari, a horse that belongs to a giant. This giant has offered to build a wall around the kingdom of the gods Asgard, to keep invaders away. He was a massive horse. The giant offered to build the wall of Asgard during winter. He wanted the sun, moon and the goddess Freya as payment. But cheeky Loki transformed into a mare (female horse) and he dragged Svadilfari away from his work all night, that's why they didn't finish it and gods didn't need to pay him. Some time later, Loki gave birth to a magical 8-legged horse, Sleipnir.

Talking of Sleipnir, as we mentioned before, was Loki's and Svadilfari's son. He belongs to Odin.  His name means ‘Slippy’. He was the fastest horse of all. He could even run on water and was the only horse who could travel to the underworld. On his hooves, he had good runes (magical symbols). 

Lastly for today, we have Gullinbursti. This is a wild boar. Its name means ‘Golden Mane’. When Loki cut off the magical gold hair of Sif, two dwarves, Eitri and Brokkr, who were amazing craftsmen, decided to craft an animal from it. They threw the hair and some pig skin into a furnace and together created Gullinbursti. According to myth, they created Gullinbursti to make a gift for the Vanir god Freyr.

That's it for today's creatures! See you tomorrow for more amazing animals! Bye!