Ymir

The first living being in the Norse cosmos, formed from primordial venom-ice at the meeting of Niflheimr and Múspellsheimr. Ymir was neither a god nor a hero—a primordial giant, enormous and incomprehensible in scale.

Ymir did not create the world. The three brothers Odin, Vili, and Vé murdered him and constructed the cosmos from his body: his flesh became earth, his blood became oceans, his bones became mountains, his teeth became rocks, and his skull became the sky.

The frost giants born from Ymir’s sleeping sweat would never forget this murder. The cosmic conflict between gods and giants is, at its root, a blood feud originating from the murder of their ancestor.