![]() Thor, as he was prone to do, reacted by forcing Loki to go to the dark elves and making him ask them to craft her new hair made from gold. The story starts with the trickster god Loki cutting the hair of Thor's wife, Sif, leaving her bald. A prime example of this is the tale of how Thor got his hammer in the Skáldskaparmál of the Poetic Edda. The primary role of the dwarves in Norse mythology is to craft unusual or magical objects for the gods. Two dwarves as depicted in a 19th-century edition of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá (1895) by Lorenz Frølich. Before it died, the dragon told Sigurd that some of the Norn (female Norse deities who could predict the future and decide men’s fates) were related to Dvlain, one of the primary dwarves. The Fáfnismál section of the Poetic Edda tells the story of how the Norse hero Sigurd killed a dragon. This has led some scholars to conclude that dwarves and dark-elves are either the same or closely related.ĭwarves are usually depicted as being all male, but there is evidence that some were female. The difference between the two is that the light elves live in Alfheim, while the dark-elves live underground. The Prose Edda’s author, Snorri, also makes references to light-elves and dark elves. Revealing the True Nature of Elves: Dangerous Beauties and Diabolical Fiendsįreyja in the dwarfs' cave, book illustration from 1891 ( Public Domain ).Icelanders Believed in Elves, But it is Probably Not What You Think.In this story, it is stated that the dwarves resided in rocks and caves. This tells how the goddess Freyja slept with some dwarves to receive a splendid collar. This is backed up in another story, Sörla þáttr. It explains that they can live in soils or rocks. The Prose Edda describes how the dwarves first appeared from Ymir’s flesh like maggots but were granted sentience by the gods. There is also Lofar, who leads the dwarves from the mountains to find a new home, and Dvalin who, in the Hávamál, gives the rest of the dwarves magic runes that grant them their craftsmanship abilities. Other important elves include Norþri, Suþri, Austri, and Vestri, who represent the points of the compass and are responsible for holding up the sky. He also referred to the dwarves of his books as Durin’s folk, a clear reference to the Durin of stanza 9. Gandalf comes from the Norse Gandalfr which means magic elf. Tolkien actually used the names that appear between stanzas 9 and 16 as inspiration. Stanzas 9-16 act as a directory of dwarf names. In the next stanza, two potential candidates for the leader of the dwarves are mentioned, Motsognir and Durin. The giant Ymir predated the elves and dwarves in the Poetic Edda. The Diverse Nature of Elves in Norse Myth: Beings of Light or Darkness?.The Weird, Wonderful and Wicked Beings in Scandinavian Folklore.It is believed that Brimir and Blain are two other names for Ymir. In the poem’s ninth stanza, it states the gods had to decide who would lead the dwarves "out of Brimir’s blood and the legs of Blain". ![]() Before the gods, there was a giant called Ymir, from whom the gods created the Earth. The origins of the dwarves are explained in the Norse creation poem Völuspá, which is the first poem of the Poetic Edda. The dvergar, or dwarves, of Norse mythology do have one ability not shared with their modern counterparts however: the ability to shapeshift. While the old myths do not go into much detail as to their appearance, they are described as “dvergr of voxt” (short like a dwarf). This matches how they are portrayed in Norse mythology. Appearance-wise, they are usually depicted as being short and unattractive. In fantasy fiction, dwarves are predominantly associated with craftsmanship and smithing, as well as dwelling deep beneath the earth under mountains. ![]() Here is everything you need to know about the elves and dwarves of Norse myth. Several Norse myths feature dwarves crafting precious objects, while Old Norse poems feature elves accompanying the gods. Both elves and dwarves played important roles in Norse mythology. Yet what many people do not realize is that he took his inspiration for them from Norse mythology. Thanks to him, fantasy fiction goes hand in hand with elves and dwarves. Today if one thinks of either elves or dwarves, the first thing to come to mind is likely to be the works of J.R.R Tolkien. ![]()
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