Sól is the sun goddess of Norse mythology, the shining figure who drives the chariot of the sun across the sky. Daughter of Mundilfari and sister of the moon-god Máni, she races westward each day with a ravenous wolf at her heels, destined to be caught only at the end of the world.
Who is Sól?
Sól — her name is simply the Old Norse word for "sun," and the Germanic peoples also knew her as Sunna. According to Snorri Sturluson's account in Gylfaginning, she and her brother Máni were the children of a man called Mundilfari, who thought them so beautiful that he named his daughter after the sun and his son after the moon. The gods, angered by such arrogance, set the pair in the heavens to guide the very lights they were named for. Sól took the reins of the sun's chariot, and so the day is measured by her course. Snorri counts her among the ásynjur, the goddesses of Asgard, and a skaldic verse names her the bride of a man called Glenr.
Her chariot and the pursuing wolf
Sól drives two horses, Árvakr ("early-riser") and Alsviðr ("very swift"), and before the burning disc stands a shield called Svalinn that shields the earth from its heat. She does not travel at leisure: behind her runs the wolf Sköll, one of the monstrous brood said to descend from Fenrir, forever straining to seize her. Her brother Máni is hunted in the same way by the wolf Hati. This chase is why the sun crosses the sky so swiftly — Sól flees, and the wolf gives no rest.
Ragnarök and rebirth
The pursuit ends at Ragnarök. The Poetic Edda foretells that Sköll at last overtakes Sól and swallows her, and the sun goes dark as the world falls into ruin. Yet the light is not lost forever. In Vafþrúðnismál it is said that before the wolf devours her, Sól bears a daughter as fair as herself, and after the world is reborn this daughter takes up her mother's path across the new sky. Sól belongs to the rune Sowilo, the rune of the sun — an emblem of light, guidance, and the wheel of day that turns even through the darkest ending.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Sól in Norse mythology?
Sól is the goddess who personifies the sun. Daughter of Mundilfari and sister of the moon-god Máni, she drives the sun's chariot across the sky each day, pursued by a wolf.
What wolf chases Sól?
The wolf Sköll pursues Sól across the heavens. At Ragnarök he finally catches and devours her, plunging the world into darkness.
What are the names of Sól's horses?
Sól drives two horses named Árvakr ('early-riser') and Alsviðr ('very swift'). A shield called Svalinn stands before them to protect the world from the sun's heat.
Does the sun survive Ragnarök?
Sól herself is swallowed by the wolf, but before that end she bears a daughter as radiant as herself. That daughter drives the sun across the sky of the renewed world.