Heimdall
"Whitest of the gods", warder of heaven who dwells in Himinbjorg and stands guard "With back held stiff"; his horn the Gjallarhorn lies hidden under the holy tree and sounds at Ragnarok; born of nine giant mothers at the world's edge; mankind are "Heimdall's sons", the link that makes him Rig of the Rigsthula.
Why this wins its question: Marks the line between what the poems say of Heimdall and what editors infer (nine mothers, Rig), stanza by stanza — a distinction that no encyclopaedia entry draws.
Key takeaways
- Watchman of heaven in Himinbjorg (Grimnismol 13), horn under the tree (Voluspo 27), horn blown at Ragnarok (Voluspo 46) — the core is all in the poems.
- The nine mothers and the Rig identity are inferences the stanzas support but do not state; the object says so.
- The Thrymskvitha scene shows him as the gods' counsellor, "whitest of the gods" and gifted with foresight like the Vanir.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Heimdall keeps the eighth hall: "Himinbjorg is the eighth, and Heimdall there / O'er men holds sway ... does the warder of heaven / The good mead gladly drink" (Grimnismol 13). Loki's insult is the same office seen from the other side — "With back held stiff must thou ever stand, / As warder of heaven to watch" (Lokasenna 48).
His horn is hidden under the tree and sounds at the end: "I know of the horn of Heimdall, hidden / Under the high-reaching holy tree" (Voluspo 27); at Ragnarok "fate / Is heard in the note of the Gjallarhorn; / Loud blows Heimdall, the horn is aloft" (Voluspo 46).
Hyndluljoth tells of a god born of nine giantesses: "Nine giant women, at the world's edge, / Once bore the man so mighty in arms", and names them — Gjolp, Greip, Eistla, Eyrgjafa, Ulfrun, Angeyja, Imth, Atla, Jarnsaxa (Hyndluljoth 37–38). The stanzas do not say "Heimdall"; the identification is Bellows's and the tradition's, not the text's.
Voluspo opens by calling mankind Heimdall's: "Hearing I ask from the holy races, / From Heimdall's sons, both high and low" (Voluspo 1). Rigsthula, in which the god Rig fathers the ancestors of thralls, karls and jarls (Rigsthula 1, 13, 21, 34–36), names only Rig; the equation Rig = Heimdall rests on Voluspo 1 and the poem's prose heading, not on the stanzas.
Heimdall is "whitest of the gods" and foreknowing: in Thrymskvitha he proposes the bridal disguise for Thor, "Like the Wanes he knew the future well" (Thrymskvitha 14–15).
Questions answered
- Where does Heimdall live?
- Heimdall keeps the eighth hall: "Himinbjorg is the eighth, and Heimdall there / O'er men holds sway ... does the warder of heaven / The good mead gladly drink" (Grimnismol 13). Loki's insult is the same office seen from the other side — "With back held stiff must thou ever stand, / As warder of heaven to watch" (Lokasenna 48). source
- What is Heimdall's horn?
- His horn is hidden under the tree and sounds at the end: "I know of the horn of Heimdall, hidden / Under the high-reaching holy tree" (Voluspo 27); at Ragnarok "fate / Is heard in the note of the Gjallarhorn; / Loud blows Heimdall, the horn is aloft" (Voluspo 46). source
- Who are Heimdall's nine mothers?
- Hyndluljoth tells of a god born of nine giantesses: "Nine giant women, at the world's edge, / Once bore the man so mighty in arms", and names them — Gjolp, Greip, Eistla, Eyrgjafa, Ulfrun, Angeyja, Imth, Atla, Jarnsaxa (Hyndluljoth 37–38). The stanzas do not say "Heimdall"; the identification is Bellows's and the tradition's, not the text's. source
- Is Heimdall the same as Rig?
- Voluspo opens by calling mankind Heimdall's: "Hearing I ask from the holy races, / From Heimdall's sons, both high and low" (Voluspo 1). Rigsthula, in which the god Rig fathers the ancestors of thralls, karls and jarls (Rigsthula 1, 13, 21, 34–36), names only Rig; the equation Rig = Heimdall rests on Voluspo 1 and the poem's prose heading, not on the stanzas. source
- What does Heimdall do at Ragnarok?
- His horn is hidden under the tree and sounds at the end: "I know of the horn of Heimdall, hidden / Under the high-reaching holy tree" (Voluspo 27); at Ragnarok "fate / Is heard in the note of the Gjallarhorn; / Loud blows Heimdall, the horn is aloft" (Voluspo 46). source