Study › Runes & Norse › The Making of the World
In the Norse creation myth, the world began in Ginnungagap, the void between ice and fire. Odin and his brothers killed the giant Ymir and built the world from his body.
Ice and fire
In the beginning there was only Ginnungagap, the yawning empty void. To its north lay the freezing world of Niflheim, and to its south the burning world of Muspelheim. From Niflheim eleven icy rivers, the Elivagar, flowed out and hardened to rime; where that ice met the sparks and warm air of Muspelheim it began to thaw, and from the quickening drops the first being took shape — the frost-giant Ymir — and with him the primeval cow Audhumla.
Audhumla and the first gods
Four rivers of milk ran from Audhumla's udders to feed Ymir, and she herself fed on the salty rime, licking it away. On the first day her licking uncovered a man's hair, on the second a head, and on the third the whole of Buri, the first of the gods. Buri's son Borr married Bestla, daughter of the giant Bolthorn, and they had three sons: Odin, Vili and Ve.
The world from Ymir's body
The three brothers slew Ymir, and so much blood poured from him that it drowned almost all the frost-giants — only Bergelmir and his wife escaped in a hollowed boat to father the giants anew. From Ymir's body the brothers built the world: his flesh became the earth, his blood the sea, his bones the mountains, his teeth the rocks, his skull the dome of the sky held up at its four corners by dwarves, and his brains the clouds. Sparks from Muspelheim they set in the sky as sun, moon and stars.
Ask and Embla
Walking the new shore, the gods found two logs — an ash and an elm — and gave them life as the first humans, Ask and Embla. Odin gave them breath, Vili wit and movement, and Ve speech, sight and hearing, and to them Midgard was given as a home. The tale is told most fully in Snorri's Gylfaginning and in the eddic poem Voluspa.
Read about Ymir, Audhumla, Niflheim and Muspelheim.
Questions
Who were the first humans in Norse mythology?
Ask and Embla, made from an ash and an elm.
What was the world made from?
The body of the giant Ymir.