Month: January 2026

By the time Þórr reaches the stronghold of Útgarða-Loki, his journey has already become decidedly strange. He and his companions have spent the night sheltering in what they thought was a building, only to discover the next morning that it was an enormous glove. Now they stand before a fortress so tall that they have […]

Along a shoreline, three gods find two pieces of wood. They don’t speak or breathe, and they have no understanding of the world around them. Then the gods begin to give them what they lack: breath, awareness, movement, senses and the qualities that turn lifeless material into living human beings. They are named Askr and […]

Ásgarðr: The Gods’ Enclosure Behind the Rainbow Before Ásgarðr had its great defensive wall, a builder arrived with an offer. He would raise a fortification strong enough to protect the gods against their enemies. In return, he wanted Freyja, the sun and the moon. In Snorri’s telling, the gods agreed to a bargain they believed […]

When Gylfi asks how anyone travels between earth and heaven, his mysterious host seems almost surprised that he needs to ask. Surely he’s seen the bridge already? The gods call it Bifröst. Gylfi would know it as the rainbow. It’s one of those wonderful moments in Gylfaginning where something completely familiar suddenly becomes part of […]