Ymir is known as the first being in Norse mythology. He was a giant created from the drops of water that formed when the ice of Niflheim mixed with the heat of Muspelheim. He was considered the father of all ice giants. The Norse creation narrative says that his hermaphroditic body produced beings that would continue to endure countless generations. His journey ended in tragedy, but due to his evil nature, no one can feel sorry for the giant. His death led to the creation of humans and Earth.
Origins
In the Norse creation myth, the story begins like many other creation stories. In the beginning, there was nothing. However, long before the Earth was made, Niflheim was created. It contained a spring that flowed into 12 rivers.
In the south was Muspell, which was incredibly hot and guarded by a giant named Surt who carried a flaming sword. In the north was Ginnungagap. The rivers froze here, and everything was covered in ice. The hot air from Muspell reached the coldness of Ginnungagap, causing the ice to melt and drip. The drops thickened and began to form into the shape of a man.
This was the creation of Ymir, the ancestor of all frost giants. The ice continued to drip and eventually formed a cow. She was called Audumla and produced four rivers of milk from which Ymir fed. The cow fed by licking the salty stones around her. The myth says that as the days passed and Audumla began to lick the stones, a man began to appear.
On the first day, the man’s hair was revealed. On the second day, his entire head emerged from the stones. On the third day, he was completely uncovered and emerged from the stones. He was named Buri and eventually had a son named Bor, who proposed marriage to the daughter of a giant named Bestla. Odin, one of his sons, would become known as one of the most powerful gods, while the brothers together are known as the rulers of heaven and earth.
Legends and Stories
The creation of Ymir is fascinating in itself, but it is also responsible for the creation of Earth, though not in the way one might think.
The Creation of Earth
Ymir eventually became an evil being. Bor’s three sons found themselves in a fight with the frost giant and were eventually forced to kill him. So much blood flowed from his body that all but one drowned, and he only survived by building an ark for himself and his family.
His blood became the sea and his bones became rocks and boulders. His hair became trees. His skull was turned toward the sky, where the brothers added sparks and molten rock from Muspell to make the stars. Ymir’s brains were thrown into the sky to form clouds. The earth was flat, so they used Ymir’s eyelashes to block off the areas of the earth where they wanted to keep the giants contained.
Odin and his brothers found two tree trunks on the seashore and turned them into people. One brother gave the people life and breath, while another gave them movement and consciousness. The last brother gave them speech, hearing, sight, and faces. This was the beginning of humans. All subsequent generations trace their ancestry back to these two people.
They then left the heavens without light during their creation. One of the descendants of the two people created from the logs had two sons. These children were simply awe-inspiring, and their father honored them with the names Sun and Moon. It was said that the gods were jealous of the children, and when their father seemed less than worthy of them, they took it as a sign to snatch the children away and put them in the sky.
Sun was ordered to drive a chariot, carrying the sun across the heavens. He drives so fast in the north because he is being chased by a giant wolf. Moon takes the same path across the sky after his sister, but he is not as hurried as she is.
The siblings made sure there was a path between the sky and the earth during its creation. A rainbow is meant to serve as a bridge between the two worlds. Its perfect shape and vibrant colors symbolize its origins from the gods. It is said that the rainbow will break when the men of Muspell try to climb it to reach the sky.
Family
Ymir did not marry or have children in the traditional sense. However, his myth says that while he slept, he perspired. From this perspiration, a man and a woman emerged from his arms. Together, their legs produced a six-headed son. Although Ymir was a giant, his existence is indirectly responsible for the human race, as his body became the Earth, and the trunks of the Earth became humans.
Symbolism
Ymir is typically depicted with his cow, which can be said to be his main symbol. The cow was both his companion and his source of food. Other well-known artistic tributes to Ymir show him in battle with the three brothers that would end with the loss of his life but with the creation of the Earth.
The story of Ymir and creation often serves as a lesson for those who have heard it. It is speculated that his death represents the taming of the wild and the unstoppable force in humans that is necessary for the creation of anything progressive. His death also symbolizes how something that is ugly and chaotic can be reformed and reimagined into something beautiful.
