Asgard

Origin Story

Asgard’s early history was related in the Gylfaginning, part of the Prose Edda, a compilation of Norse tales gathered by Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century. In the Gylfaginning, a Swedish king named Gylfi traveled to a place he thought was Asgard (the gods deceived him into believing this), where he was questioned about the history of the gods. Using the name Gangleri, Gylfi’s answers made up the core of the book.

According to Gangleri’s account, the existence of Asgard was unquestioned in Norse thought—it simply existed, as did the other Nine Realms, on the great world tree. Its history was informed by the doings of the Aesir, and especially those of the all-father Odin. In the early days, Odin brought law and order to the golden realm of Asgard; afterwards, he ordered the building of a town and two stout halls. Built in the field of Gladsheim, Vahalla was one of these halls, and would become a great gathering place for the gods. Sturluson’s work described Odin’s efforts in great detail:

In the beginning he established rulers, and bade them ordain fates with him, and give counsel concerning the planning of the town; that was in the place which is called Ida-field, in the midst of the town. It was their first work to make that court in which their twelve seats stand, and another, the high-seat which Allfather himself has. That house is the best-made of any on earth, and the greatest; without and within, it is all like one piece of gold; men call it Gladsheim. They made also a second hall: that was a shrine which the goddesses had, and it was a very fair house; men call it Vingólf. Next they fashioned a house, wherein they placed a forge, and made besides a hammer, tongs, and anvil, and by means of these, all other tools. After this they smithied metal and stone and wood, and wrought so abundantly that metal which is called gold, that they had all their household ware and all dishes of gold.^[2]

From the Aesir-Vanir War to Ragnarök

According to some traditions, Asgard was destroyed in the Aesir-Vanir War, a contest that pitted the two tribes against each other. Though the Aesir ultimately won the contest, their majestic realm was left in ruins.^[3]

To resurrect its fallen halls, the gods employed a giant to build a mighty fortress. The giant’s promises were great—he would complete the new hall by the first day of summer—but so were his demands, as he wished to claim the goddess Freya as his wife. The gods reluctantly agreed. When the giant’s work was nearing completion, however, they devised a scheme that would allow them to keep Freya. The trickster Loki took the lead, transforming himself into a mare in heat. In doing so, he distracted the giant’s horse, which had been indispensable to his labor. Without his horse, the giant could not possibly complete the task. The enraged giant attacked the treacherous gods, but was quickly struck down by the mighty Thor.^[4]

The Norse understood that all things must eventually fall. In time, even majestic Asgard would come to ruin. The citadel of the gods was fated to fall during Ragnarök, the sequence of events prophesied to bring about the end of the world and all existence. During Ragnarök, Surt with his flaming sword would lead the fire giants in a march on Asgard, bringing a terrible retinue of jötunn to its gates:

Surt fares from the south with the scourge of branches, The sun of the battle-gods shone from his sword; The crags are sundered, the giant-women sink, The dead throng Hel-way, and heaven is cloven.^[5]

The gods would meet them upon the fields of Vigrid, where all would be destroyed in an epic battle. Asgard would sink into oblivion, and the void would encompass all that once was.

More hopeful visions of the future held that the world would begin anew in this wake of such destruction. However, such prophecies did not specify if Asgard itself would be remade. As such, the realm’s ultimate fate remains unclear.