Norse gods family tree: what the Poetic Edda says, and what only Snorri says

Claims

Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.

1. The oldest being is Ymir: "Of old was the age when Ymir lived" (Voluspo 3); "from Ymir sprang the giants all" (Hyndluljoth 35). Vafthruthnir says the earth was made "out of Ymir's flesh", the sky from his skull (Vafthruthnismol 21; Grimnismol 40–41), and that the giant, "who never a giantess knew", bred children under his arms and "foot with foot" (Vafthruthnismol 32–33); his line runs Aurgelmir, Thruthgelmir, Bergelmir (Vafthruthnismol 29).

   confidence 0.93The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primary

2. The gods enter as "Bur's sons", who "lifted the level land" and made Midgard (Voluspo 4); Odin is "the heir of Bur" in Hyndluljoth 31 ("The father of Baldr was the heir of Bur"). Odin also names his maternal line: he got nine songs "from the son of Bolthorn, Bestla's father" (Hovamol 141). The Poetic Edda does not name Bur's own father.

   confidence 0.9The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primary

3. The edges above Bur are Snorri's only: in the Prose Edda the cow Audhumla licks Buri out of the ice, Buri's son Bor marries Bestla, and their sons Odin, Vili and Ve kill Ymir and build the world from him. The Poetic Edda names Vili and Ve once, in Loki's taunt to Frigg (Lokasenna 26), without calling them Odin's brothers.

   confidence 0.85Wikipedia — Ymir · derivedWikipedia — Odin · derivedThe Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primary

4. Odin's sons in the poems: Thor — "I am Othin's son, Meili's brother, and Magni's father" (Harbarthsljoth 9; "my son" in Grimnismol 24), whose mother is Jorth or Fjorgyn, the earth (Thrymskvitha 1; Voluspo 56; Harbarthsljoth 56); Baldr, "the son of Othin" (Voluspo 32); Vithar, "Sigfather's mighty son" who avenges him (Voluspo 54; Grimnismol 17); Vali, whom "Rind bears … in Vestrsalir" and who fights one night old (Baldrs Draumar 11; Voluspo 33); and Meili (Harbarthsljoth 9). Frigg is Odin's wife, "wife of Vithrir" (Lokasenna 26), and Odin's death is "the joy of Frigg" falling (Voluspo 53).

   confidence 0.93The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primary

5. Loki is "the son of Laufey" (Thrymskvitha 17, 20) and "the brother of Byleist" (Voluspo 51; Hyndluljoth 42); he is not Odin's brother by birth but by oath: "in olden days … we both our blood have mixed" (Lokasenna 9). His brood is given in Hyndluljoth 42–43 (Bellows's numbering): "The wolf did Loki with Angrbotha win, / And Sleipnir bore he to Svathilfari"; he is "the wolf's father" (Lokasenna 10), and the world-serpent is "the brother of Fenrir" (Hymiskvitha 24).

   confidence 0.92The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primary

6. Hel as Loki's daughter is a Prose Edda genealogy: Snorri makes Hel, Fenrir and the serpent the three children of Loki and Angrboda. In the Poetic Edda "Hel" is a place — "'Neath the first [root] lives Hel" (Grimnismol 31), "the house so high of Hel" Odin rides to (Baldrs Draumar 3), "the people of Hel" in Loki's ship (Voluspo 51) — and no stanza calls her Loki's child.

   confidence 0.88Wikipedia — Hel (mythological being) · derivedThe Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primary

7. Njord came to the gods from outside: "In the home of the Wanes did the wise ones create him, / And gave him as pledge to the gods" (Vafthruthnismol 39; Lokasenna 34). His son is Freyr, "the noble son of Njorth" (Grimnismol 43), begotten "with thy sister" according to Loki (Lokasenna 36); his daughter is Freyja, "the daughter of Njorth out of Noatun" (Thrymskvitha 22). Freyr's wife is Gerth, daughter of the giant Gymir (Hyndluljoth 32; Skirnismol 39–42).

   confidence 0.93The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primary

8. Heimdall's nine mothers: Hyndluljoth 37–38 tells of one "of the race of the gods" whom "nine giant women, at the world's edge" bore — Gjolp, Greip, Eistla, Eyrgjafa, Ulfrun, Angeyja, Imth, Atla and Jarnsaxa. The stanzas do not name the child; the identification with Heimdall is the editors' reading, supported by Voluspo 1, where mankind are "Heimdall's sons".

   confidence 0.8The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primary

9. Two edges cross the god–giant line. Tyr calls the giant Hymir "my father" and is greeted at Hymir's hall as "thy son" (Hymiskvitha 5, 8, 11), whereas Snorri makes Tyr a son of Odin. Skadi is the daughter of the giant Thjazi and "the god's fair bride" living in her father's Thrymheim (Grimnismol 11; Hyndluljoth 32); Bragi and Idunn appear as a couple at Aegir's feast (Lokasenna 16–18).

   confidence 0.88The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri · primaryWikipedia — Týr · derived