Ymir and the Origins of Giants
So here I am layout the foundation of the origins of Giants - specifically Rime Giants. So let's start with some definitions.
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| Yes, graphic design is my passion. |
Typically what we see is that giants, jotuns (plural: jötnar) and mountain/hill-giants (berg-rísi / bergrísar) belong and live in Jotunheim and are often mythological allies with the Vanir and Aesir. Meanwhile thurses (þursar) are from Múspellsheimr and Niflheimr and are the only ones who seem to be "malignant" according to the sources. However we lose a lot of the strict definition in this through translations, as everything just becomes "giant"... which means as a result our modern understanding is that all "giants" are enemies of the gods, when that isn't completely true.
Gylfaginning 5
"[...] Just as cold arose out of Niflheim, and all terrible things, so also all that looked toward Múspellheim became hot and glowing; but Ginnungagap was as mild as windless air, and when the breath of heat met the rime, so that it melted and dripped, life was quickened from the yeast-drops, by the power of that which sent the heat, and became a man's form. And that man is named Ymir, but the Rime-Giants call him Aurgelimir; and thence are come the races of the Rime-Giants, as it says in Völuspá the Less:
All the witches | spring from Witolf,
All the warlocks | are of Willharm,
And the spell-singers | spring from Swarthead;
All the ogres | of Ymir come."
This is the creation of Ymir (also referred to as Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn), the first giant - and the first being, essentially. It's interesting here that Jotuns in this context is translated to "Ogres" - jötnar allir frá Ymi komnir (All the ogres | of Ymir come). It continues:
"But concerning this says Vafthrúdnir the giant:
Out of the Ice-waves | issued venom-drops,
Waxing until | a giant was;
Thence are our kindred | come all together,--
So it is | they are savage forever.
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| Jakob Sigurðsson. The Deluding of Gylfi. From: Reykjavik: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. SÁM 66. 1765. 78r. Hand copied paper manuscript. MyNDIR: My Norse Digital Image Repository. Ed. P. A. Baer. 2024. Edition 2.6. Victoria, B. C.: Humanities Computing and Media Centre, University of Victoria. 2024. |
Ymir wasn't considered a god (or God, as by the time this was written, people had been generally Christianised), but from him, the other giants came. In Gylfaginning 6 it is told that Auðumbla (Auðhumla, Audumla) licked on the what I'm sure was very tasy salty ice for 3 days, until a whole-ass "man", Búri (Buri) appeared.
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| Jakob Sigurðsson. Auðhumbla and Búri. From: Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Bibliotek. NKS 1867 4to. 1760. 95r. Hand copied paper manuscript. MyNDIR: My Norse Digital Image Repository. Ed. P. A. Baer. 2024. Edition 2.6. Victoria, B. C.: Humanities Computing and Media Centre, University of Victoria. 2024. |
[6]. "She licked the ice-blocks, which were salty; and the first day that she licked the blocks, there came forth from the blocks in the evening a man's hair; the second day, a man's head; the third day the whole man was there. He is named Búri: he was fair of feature, great and mighty. He begat a son called Borr, who wedded the woman named Bestla, daughter of Bölthorn the giant; and they had three sons: one was Odin, the second Vili, the third Vé. And this is my belief, that he, Odin, with his brothers, must be ruler of heaven and earth; we hold that he must be so called; so is that man called whom we know to be mightiest and most worthy of honor, and ye do well to let him be so called."
And the"Rime giants" (hrímþursa) - came from Ymir;
[7] Then said Gangleri: "What covenant was between them, or which was the stronger?" And Hárr answered: "The sons of Borr slew Ymir the giant; lo, where he fell there gushed forth so much blood out of his wounds that with it they drowned all the race of the Rime-Giants, save that one, whom giants call Bergelmir, escaped with his household; he went upon his ship, and his wife with him, and they were safe there. And from them are come the races of the Rime-Giants, as is said here:
Untold ages | ere earth was shapen,
Then was Bergelmir born;
That first I recall, | how the famous wise giant
On the deck of the ship was laid down."
So, Ymir is absolutely carved up, and all that remains is Bergelmir, left to repopulate the giants (what a stud). However, we do see some contradictions throughout the sources on whether or not Bergelmir was actually The Last Giant, namely the parentage of Heidr (which is further discussed here). Perhaps it's possible that not all giants were wiped out by the blood-flood of their forefather, and this explains the different lines of giants? Another loose thread lost to time, possibly as a localised interpretation of a myth, or perhaps an explanation never existed. Yay, poetry.
But I did say that I like the weird shit, and this is my blog after all. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have some spicy takes on things, and giants, thurses, whatever - that's prime spicy take territory.
