Yggdrasil is the immense ash tree at the centre of Norse cosmology, its roots and branches binding together all nine worlds.
At a glance
- Old Norse
- Yggdrasill
- Meaning
- "Odin's steed" (the gallows-tree)
- Type
- Immense ash - the world tree
- Roots
- Three (Asgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim)
- Wells
- Well of Urd, Mimir's Well, Hvergelmir
- Keepers
- The three Norns (Urd, Verdandi, Skuld)
- Dwellers
- Eagle, Nidhogg, Ratatoskr, four stags
- Connects
- All nine realms
- Sources
- Poetic Edda, Prose Edda
Yggdrasil is the immense ash tree that stands at the axis of Norse cosmology. Its branches hold up the sky, its three roots reach into separate realms, and the whole structure binds all nine worlds into a single living frame.
What it is
In the Poetic Edda and in the Prose Edda, the medieval Icelandic collection written by Snorri Sturluson around 1220, Yggdrasil is called the greatest and best of all trees, an ash whose limbs spread over every world. It is the axis mundi of Norse myth, the fixed centre around which every realm is arranged. The gods ride to their daily council along its trunk, and the tree itself is described as constantly under attack, gnawed, grazed, and rotting, yet endlessly renewed by the waters at its foot.
The three roots
Three great roots hold Yggdrasil upright, and each one reaches toward a different realm and a different well. Between them the three roots stitch the upper, middle, and lower worlds into one structure.
| Root | Realm it reaches | Well beneath it |
|---|---|---|
| First root | Asgard | Well of Urd |
| Second root | Jotunheim | Mimir's Well |
| Third root | Niflheim | Hvergelmir |
The wells
Each root drinks from a well, and each well carries its own meaning in the myth. Between them, the wells explain why the tree keeps standing at all.
| Well | Tied to | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Well of Urd | The three Norns | Water and white clay from this well are packed over the bark each day so it does not rot. |
| Mimir's Well | Mimir, keeper of wisdom | Odin gave up an eye for a single drink, and its water holds the memory of everything that has happened. |
| Hvergelmir | The dragon Nidhogg | A roaring spring in the cold below that feeds many of the world's rivers. |
The Norns and the Well of Urd
At the root above Asgard sit the three Norns, the shapers of fate. Each day they draw water from the Well of Urd and use it, with white clay, to keep the tree's bark from rotting. In the same act they lay down orlog, the fate owed to every god and every mortal.
- UrdWhat has become
- The eldest Norn, keeper of the past and the well that carries her name.
- VerdandiWhat is becoming
- The Norn of the present moment, the fate now taking shape.
- SkuldWhat shall be
- The Norn of what is owed and still to come.
Creatures of the tree
Yggdrasil is crowded with life, and most of it is eating the tree alive. Its daily wounding by these creatures, matched by the Norns' daily repair, is the myth's picture of a living world under constant strain.
| Creature | Location and role |
|---|---|
| Eagle and Vedrfolnir | Highest branches - an unnamed eagle of great knowledge, with the hawk Vedrfolnir perched between its eyes. |
| Nidhogg | Lowest root - a dragon that gnaws the root from beneath, among the dead. |
| Ratatoskr | The trunk - a squirrel that races up and down, carrying spiteful words between the eagle above and Nidhogg below. |
| Dain, Dvalin, Duneyr, Durathror | The crown - four stags that browse endlessly on the fresh leaves. |