Norse gods FAQ: the questions people ask, answered by the Poetic Edda
Who is Thor's father, is Loki Odin's brother, who kills Odin at Ragnarok, what is Yggdrasil, who are the Aesir and Vanir, what is Mjollnir, who is Hel, does Thor die at Ragnarok — each answered from the Poetic Edda in Bellows's translation with the poem and stanza, and with a note where the familiar answer comes only from the Prose Edda.
Why this wins its question: Every answer is a stanza of the Poetic Edda, and the two answers most people expect from Snorri (Loki as brother, Hel as daughter) are marked as absent from the poems.
Key takeaways
- Thor is Odin's son (Harbarthsljoth 9); Loki is Odin's blood-brother by oath (Lokasenna 9) and Laufey's son by birth.
- At Ragnarok the wolf kills Odin, Vithar kills the wolf, Thor kills the serpent and dies of it (Voluspo 53–56).
- Hel is a place in the poems; Hel the daughter of Loki is Snorri's.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Thor's father is Odin and his mother the earth: "I am Othin's son, / Meili's brother, and Magni's father" (Harbarthsljoth 9); "Othin's son sought Jotunheim" and "so his hammer got Othin's son" (Thrymskvitha 21, 33); he is "the son of Jorth" (Thrymskvitha 1) and "the son of Fjorgyn" (Voluspo 56), and Fjorgyn "her son Thor" finds (Harbarthsljoth 56).
Loki is Odin's blood-brother, not his brother: "Remember, Othin, in olden days / That we both our blood have mixed" (Lokasenna 9). By birth he is "the son of Laufey" (Thrymskvitha 17, 20) and "the brother of Byleist" (Voluspo 51; Hyndluljoth 42).
The wolf kills Odin: "Othin fares to fight with the wolf … For there must fall the joy of Frigg" (Voluspo 53); "The wolf shall fell the father of men, / And this shall Vithar avenge" (Vafthruthnismol 53). Vithar "in the giant's son does … thrust his sword / Full to the heart: his father is avenged" (Voluspo 54). The wolf is Loki's son, "the wolf did Loki with Angrbotha win" (Hyndluljoth 42), named Fenrir (Voluspo 40; Lokasenna 38).
Yggdrasil is the world-ash: "An ash I know, Yggdrasil its name, / With water white is the great tree wet … Green by Urth's well does it ever grow", where the three norns "laws … made" (Voluspo 19–20); "Three roots there are that three ways run / 'Neath the ash-tree Yggdrasil; / 'Neath the first lives Hel, 'neath the second the frost-giants, / 'Neath the last are the lands of men" (Grimnismol 31); the squirrel Ratatosk, four harts and Nithhogg gnaw at it (Grimnismol 32–35); at the end "Yggdrasil shakes" (Voluspo 47).
The Aesir are the gods of Asgard — Bellows's "gods" — and the Vanir are Bellows's "Wanes", the other family that fought "the war …, the first in the world" (Voluspo 21–24) and made peace by hostage: Njord was created "in the home of the Wanes" and given "as pledge to the gods" (Vafthruthnismol 39; Lokasenna 34–35), so that he, Freyr and Freyja live among the Aesir (Grimnismol 16, 43; Thrymskvitha 22).
Mjollnir is Thor's hammer: when Thrym hides it "eight miles down deep in the earth" Thor recovers it disguised as the bride and kills the giants (Thrymskvitha 1–33); he silences Loki with "the mighty hammer, / Mjollnir", "Hrungnir's slayer" (Lokasenna 57–63); after the end "Mothi and Magni shall Mjollnir have / When Vingnir falls in fight" (Vafthruthnismol 51).
In the Poetic Edda Hel is the realm and house of the dead: "'Neath the first [root] lives Hel" (Grimnismol 31); Odin rides "down to Niflhel deep … Till the house so high of Hel he reached" (Baldrs Draumar 2–3); a cock crows "at the bars of Hel" (Voluspo 43), and Loki steers the ship "with the people of Hel" (Voluspo 51). No stanza names her parents; the Hel who is Loki's daughter belongs to the Prose Edda.
Thor dies at Ragnarok, killing the serpent: "Hither there comes the son of Hlothyn, / The bright snake gapes to heaven above … Against the serpent goes Othin's son. / In anger smites the warder of earth … Nine paces fares the son of Fjorgyn, / And, slain by the serpent, fearless he sinks" (Voluspo 55–56); his sons inherit the hammer (Vafthruthnismol 51).
Questions answered
- Who is the father of Thor?
- Thor's father is Odin and his mother the earth: "I am Othin's son, / Meili's brother, and Magni's father" (Harbarthsljoth 9); "Othin's son sought Jotunheim" and "so his hammer got Othin's son" (Thrymskvitha 21, 33); he is "the son of Jorth" (Thrymskvitha 1) and "the son of Fjorgyn" (Voluspo 56), and Fjorgyn "her son Thor" finds (Harbarthsljoth 56). source
- Is Loki Odin's brother?
- Loki is Odin's blood-brother, not his brother: "Remember, Othin, in olden days / That we both our blood have mixed" (Lokasenna 9). By birth he is "the son of Laufey" (Thrymskvitha 17, 20) and "the brother of Byleist" (Voluspo 51; Hyndluljoth 42). source
- Who kills Odin at Ragnarok?
- The wolf kills Odin: "Othin fares to fight with the wolf … For there must fall the joy of Frigg" (Voluspo 53); "The wolf shall fell the father of men, / And this shall Vithar avenge" (Vafthruthnismol 53). Vithar "in the giant's son does … thrust his sword / Full to the heart: his father is avenged" (Voluspo 54). The wolf is Loki's son, "the wolf did Loki with Angrbotha win" (Hyndluljoth 42), named Fenrir (Voluspo 40; Lokasenna 38). source
- What is Yggdrasil?
- Yggdrasil is the world-ash: "An ash I know, Yggdrasil its name, / With water white is the great tree wet … Green by Urth's well does it ever grow", where the three norns "laws … made" (Voluspo 19–20); "Three roots there are that three ways run / 'Neath the ash-tree Yggdrasil; / 'Neath the first lives Hel, 'neath the second the frost-giants, / 'Neath the last are the lands of men" (Grimnismol 31); the squirrel Ratatosk, four harts and Nithhogg gnaw at it (Grimnismol 32–35); at the end "Yggdrasil shakes" (Voluspo 47). source
- Who are the Aesir and the Vanir?
- The Aesir are the gods of Asgard — Bellows's "gods" — and the Vanir are Bellows's "Wanes", the other family that fought "the war …, the first in the world" (Voluspo 21–24) and made peace by hostage: Njord was created "in the home of the Wanes" and given "as pledge to the gods" (Vafthruthnismol 39; Lokasenna 34–35), so that he, Freyr and Freyja live among the Aesir (Grimnismol 16, 43; Thrymskvitha 22). source
- What is Mjollnir?
- Mjollnir is Thor's hammer: when Thrym hides it "eight miles down deep in the earth" Thor recovers it disguised as the bride and kills the giants (Thrymskvitha 1–33); he silences Loki with "the mighty hammer, / Mjollnir", "Hrungnir's slayer" (Lokasenna 57–63); after the end "Mothi and Magni shall Mjollnir have / When Vingnir falls in fight" (Vafthruthnismol 51). source
- Who is Hel?
- In the Poetic Edda Hel is the realm and house of the dead: "'Neath the first [root] lives Hel" (Grimnismol 31); Odin rides "down to Niflhel deep … Till the house so high of Hel he reached" (Baldrs Draumar 2–3); a cock crows "at the bars of Hel" (Voluspo 43), and Loki steers the ship "with the people of Hel" (Voluspo 51). No stanza names her parents; the Hel who is Loki's daughter belongs to the Prose Edda. source
- Does Thor die at Ragnarok?
- Thor dies at Ragnarok, killing the serpent: "Hither there comes the son of Hlothyn, / The bright snake gapes to heaven above … Against the serpent goes Othin's son. / In anger smites the warder of earth … Nine paces fares the son of Fjorgyn, / And, slain by the serpent, fearless he sinks" (Voluspo 55–56); his sons inherit the hammer (Vafthruthnismol 51). source