View source for Niflheim

{{short description|Realm of primordial ice and cold in Norse mythology}}
{{About|the realm in Norse mythology|the black metal band|Nifelheim}}
{{distinguish|Nephilim}}
In [[Norse cosmology]], '''Niflheim''' or '''Niflheimr''' ([[Old Norse]]: {{IPA|non|ˈnivlˌhɛimz̠|}}; "World of Mist",<ref>{{Cite web|title = Oxford English Dictionary: Niflheim|url = https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/niflheim|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180818150745/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/niflheim|url-status = dead|archive-date = August 18, 2018|access-date = 18 August 2018}}</ref> literally "Home of Mist") is a location which sometimes overlaps with the notions of [[Niflhel]] and [[Hel (location)|Hel]]. The name ''Niflheimr'' appears only in two extant sources: ''[[Gylfaginning]]'' and the much-debated ''[[Hrafnagaldr Óðins]]''.

[[File:WHEATON(1844) The Cosmos in the Norse mythology.jpg|thumb|An attempt to illustrate Norse cosmology by [[Henry Wheaton]] (1831)]]

Niflheim was primarily a realm of primordial ice and cold, with the frozen rivers of [[Élivágar]] and the well of [[Hvergelmir]], from which come all the rivers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Niflheim|title=Niflheim {{!}} Norse mythology|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2017-08-12|language=en}}</ref>

According to ''Gylfaginning'', Niflheim was the first of the two primordial realms to emanate out of [[Ginnungagap]], the other one being [[Muspelheim]], the realm of fire. Between these two realms of cold and heat, creation began when its waters mixed with the heat of Muspelheim to form a "creating steam{{cn|date=June 2025}}". Later, it became the abode of [[Hel (being)|Hel]], a goddess daughter of Loki, and the afterlife for her subjects, those who did not die a heroic or notable death.

==Etymology==
''Nifl'' ("mist";<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hell|title=hell - Origin and meaning of hell by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com}}</ref> whence the [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] ''[[wikt:en:nifl#Icelandic|nifl]]'') is a [[cognate]] to the [[Old English language|Old English]] ''nifol'' ("dark, gloomy"),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=nifol&searchmode=none|title=nifol - Search Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com}}</ref> ([[Middle Dutch|Middle]]) [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''[[wikt:nevel#Middle_Dutch|nevel]]'', [[Old High German]] ''[[wikt:nebul#Old_High_German|nebul]]'' ("[[fog]]")  and [[Ancient Greek]] ''[[wikt:νεφέλη#Ancient_Greek|νεφέλη]]'', {{IPA|grc|ne.pʰé.lɛː|}}, ("[[cloud]]").

==''Gylfaginning''==
In ''Gylfaginning'' by [[Snorri Sturluson]], [[Gylfi]], the king of ancient [[Scandinavia]], receives an education in Norse mythology from [[Odin]] in the guise of three men. Gylfi learns from Odin (as ''Jafnhárr'') that Niflheimr was the first world to be created after Muspelheim:
{{Blockquote|It was many ages before the earth was shaped that the Mist-World [Niflheimr] was made; and midmost within it lies the well that is called Hvergelmir, from which spring the rivers called Svöl, Gunnthrá, Fjörm, Fimbulthul, Slídr and Hríd, Sylgr and Ylgr, Víd, Leiptr; Gjöll is hard by Hel-gates.<ref>Section III of ''Gylfaginning'', in translation by [[Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur]] (1916), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_T1cAAAAMAAJ&dq=midmost+within+it+lies+the+well+that+is+called+Hvergelmir&pg=PA16 p. 16].</ref>}}
Odin (as ''Þriði'') further tells Gylfi that it was when the ice from Niflheimr met the flames from Muspelheimr that creation began and [[Ymir]] was formed:
{{quote|Just as cold arose out of Niflheim, and all terrible things, so also all that looked toward Múspellheim became hot and glowing; but Ginnungagap was as mild as windless air, and when the breath of heat met the rime, so that it melted and dripped, life was quickened from the yeast-drops, by the power of that which sent the heat, and became a man's form. And that man is named Ymir, but the Rime-Giants call him Aurgelmir; ...<ref> Section VII of ''Gylfaginning'', in translation by Brodeur (1916), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_T1cAAAAMAAJ&dq=Ginnungagap+was+as+mild+as+windless+air&pg=PA17 p. 17].</ref>}}

In relation to the [[world tree]] [[Yggdrasill]], ''Jafnhárr'' (Odin) tells Gylfi that frost jötnar is located under the second root, where Ginnungagap (''Yawning Void'') once was:
{{quote|The Ash is greatest of all trees and best: its limbs spread out over all the world and stand above heaven. Three roots of the tree uphold it and stand exceeding broad: one is among the Æsir; another among the Rime-Giants, in that place where aforetime was the Yawning Void; the third stands over Niflheim, and under that root is Hvergelmir, and [[Nídhöggr]] gnaws the root from below.<ref>Section XV of ''Gylfaginning'', in translation by Brodeur (1916), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_T1cAAAAMAAJ&dq=midmost+within+it+lies+the+well+that+is+called+Hvergelmir&pg=PA16 p. 27].</ref>}}

Gylfi is furthermore informed that when [[Loki]] had engendered [[Hel (being)|Hel]], she was cast into Niflheimr by Odin:
{{quote|Hel he cast into Niflheim, and gave to her power over nine worlds, to apportion all abodes among those that were sent to her: that is, men dead of sickness or of old age. She has great possessions there; her walls are exceeding high and her gates great.<ref>Section XLII of ''Gylfaginning'', in translation by Brodeur (1916), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_T1cAAAAMAAJ&dq=midmost+within+it+lies+the+well+that+is+called+Hvergelmir&pg=PA16 p. 42].</ref>}}
Hel thus became the mistress of the world of those dead in disease and old age. This is the only instance in which Niflheim and Hel are equated (the Poetic Edda mentions Hel but doesn't say anything about Niflheim).
However, there is some confusion in the different versions of the manuscript, with some of them saying Niflheim where others say Niflhel (the lowest level of Hel). Thus in the passage about the last destination of the ''[[jötunn]]'' who was killed by [[Thor]] after he had built [[Asgard]]:
{{quote| Now that the Æsir saw surely that the hill-giant was come thither, they did not regard their oaths reverently, but called on Thor, who came as quickly. And straightway the hammer Mjöllnir was raised aloft; he paid the wright's wage, and not with the sun and the moon. Nay, he even denied him dwelling in Jötunheim, and struck but the one first blow, so that his skull was burst into small crumbs, and sent him down below under Niflhel [Niflheim].<ref>Section XXXIV of ''Gylfaginning'', in translation by Brodeur (1916), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_T1cAAAAMAAJ&q=they+did+not+regard+their+oaths+reverently%2C+but+called+on+Thor&pg=PA16 p. 55].</ref>}}

==''Hrafnagaldr Óðins''==
In ''Hrafnagaldr Óðins'', there is a brief mention of Niflheimr as a location in the North, towards which the sun (Alfr's illuminator) chased the night as it rose:
{|
|
:Riso raknar,
:rann álfraudull,
:nordr at niflheim
:nióla sótti;
:upp nam ár Giöll
:Úlfrúnar nidr,
:hornþytvalldr
:Himinbiarga.<ref>''[http://etext.old.no/Bugge/forspjal.html Hrafnagaldr Óðins]'' in [[Sophus Bugge]]'s edition.</ref>
|
:The powers rose,
:the [[Elf|Alfs]]' illuminator
:northwards before Niflheim
:chased the night.
:Up [[Élivágar|Argjöll]] ran
:[[Heimdall|Ulfrun's son]],
:the mighty hornblower,
:of heaven's heights.<ref>''[http://www.germanicmythology.com/works/ThorpeEdda/thorpe04.html Odin’s Ravens’ Song]'' in translation by [[Benjamin Thorpe]] (1866).</ref>
|
|}

==See also==
* [[Æsir]]
* [[Aurgelmir]]
* [[Ginnungagap]]
* [[Gjöll]]
* [[Hel (location)|Hel]]
* [[Hvergelmir]]
* [[Níðhöggr]]
* [[Niflhel]]
* [[Rime-Giants]]
* [[List of Germanic deities]]

==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

{{Hell}}
{{Norse cosmology}}
{{Norse mythology}}

[[Category:Places in Norse mythology]]
[[Category:Norse underworld]]
[[Category:Ymir]]