The nine worlds
The Norse cosmos as the Poetic Edda names it: "Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the tree", says the seeress, and the giant Vafthruthnir has been "To nine worlds ... to Niflhel beneath". The poems never list the nine; they name Mithgarth, Jotunheim, Alfheim, Niflhel and Hel, and Alvissmol speaks of the separate tongues of men, gods, Vanir, giants, elves, dwarfs and the dead.
Why this wins its question: Answers "what are the nine worlds?" with what the poems actually say — a number and a handful of names — and marks the standard list as reconstruction rather than quotation.
Key takeaways
- "Nine" is the poems' number (Voluspo 2; Vafthruthnismol 43); the familiar list of nine names is a modern reconstruction.
- The worlds the poems do name are Mithgarth, Jotunheim, Alfheim, Hel and Niflhel; Asgard appears as "Asgarth" (Thrymskvitha 17; Hymiskvitha 7).
- Alvissmol's seven kinds of speakers are the nearest the Poetic Edda comes to a map of who lives where.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
The number is attested twice, the list never: "Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the tree / With mighty roots beneath the mold" (Voluspo 2); "To nine worlds came I, to Niflhel beneath, / The home where dead men dwell" (Vafthruthnismol 43). No stanza in Bellows's text enumerates them.
Mithgarth is the world the gods made for men: "Bur's sons lifted the level land, / Mithgarth the mighty there they made" (Voluspo 4); "Mithgarth the gods from his eyebrows made, / And set for the sons of men" (Grimnismol 41); Odin's ravens fly "O'er Mithgarth" (Grimnismol 20).
Jotunheim is the giants' land: giant-maids come "out of Jotunheim" (Voluspo 8), "All Jotunheim groans" at Ragnarok (Voluspo 48), and Thor "sought Jotunheim" in his bridal disguise (Thrymskvitha 21).
Alfheim, Hel and Niflhel: "Alfheim the gods to Freyr once gave / As a tooth-gift" (Grimnismol 5); Hel lies under the first root of the tree (Grimnismol 31); Odin rides "down to Niflhel deep" (Baldrs draumar 2).
Alvissmol's catalogue divides the cosmos by its speakers rather than its places: each thing has a name among men, the gods, the Vanir ("the Wanes"), the giants, the elves, the dwarfs and "in hell", as for heaven (Alvissmol 11–12), the moon (13–14) and fire (25–26).
Questions answered
- Does the Poetic Edda list the nine worlds?
- The number is attested twice, the list never: "Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the tree / With mighty roots beneath the mold" (Voluspo 2); "To nine worlds came I, to Niflhel beneath, / The home where dead men dwell" (Vafthruthnismol 43). No stanza in Bellows's text enumerates them. source
- What is Midgard?
- Mithgarth is the world the gods made for men: "Bur's sons lifted the level land, / Mithgarth the mighty there they made" (Voluspo 4); "Mithgarth the gods from his eyebrows made, / And set for the sons of men" (Grimnismol 41); Odin's ravens fly "O'er Mithgarth" (Grimnismol 20). source
- What is Jotunheim?
- Jotunheim is the giants' land: giant-maids come "out of Jotunheim" (Voluspo 8), "All Jotunheim groans" at Ragnarok (Voluspo 48), and Thor "sought Jotunheim" in his bridal disguise (Thrymskvitha 21). source
- What is Niflhel?
- Alfheim, Hel and Niflhel: "Alfheim the gods to Freyr once gave / As a tooth-gift" (Grimnismol 5); Hel lies under the first root of the tree (Grimnismol 31); Odin rides "down to Niflhel deep" (Baldrs draumar 2). source
- Where is Alfheim?
- Alfheim, Hel and Niflhel: "Alfheim the gods to Freyr once gave / As a tooth-gift" (Grimnismol 5); Hel lies under the first root of the tree (Grimnismol 31); Odin rides "down to Niflhel deep" (Baldrs draumar 2). source