Muspelheim

Origins

According to Norse cosmogony, the dawn of time was dominated by Ginnungagap—the “Yawning Void.” As time wore on, the fires of Muspelheim and the ices of Niflheim encroached on Ginnungagap. Slowly but surely, the heat of Muspelheim melted Niflheim’s frost, and the vapors coalesced into Ymir, the first giant. The melting ice also revealed a cow, Audumla, who nursed Ymir and fed on the salty blocks of ice.

In time, Audumla’s voracious licking revealed Buri, progenitor of the Aesir tribe and grandfather of Odin. Snorri Sturluson recounted this event in the Gylfaginning, of the Prose Edda:

‘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.’^[1]

It was not long before Ymir’s cruelty and lust for power became intolerable, leading Buri and his sons to slay the giant and end his tyranny once and for all. Afterwards, they filled Ginnungagap with his dismembered body, using it to create the earth, the seas, and the skies.

The Fires of Ragnarök

Just as the fires of Muspelheim created the world, so too would they destroy it. According to the prophecies of Ragnarök, the fire giant Surt would lead his vanguard out of Muspelheim (or Jotunheim, in some sources) to do battle with the gods:

In this din shall the heaven be cloven, and the Sons of Múspell ride thence: Surtr shall ride first, and both before him and after him burning fire; his sword is exceeding good: from it radiance shines brighter than from the sun; when they ride over Bifröst, then the bridge shall break, as has been told before. The Sons of Múspell shall go forth to that field which is called Vígrídr, thither shall come Fenris-Wolf also and the Midgard Serpent; then Loki and Hrymr shall come there also, and with him all the Rime-Giants. All the champions of Hel follow Loki; and the Sons of Múspell shall have a company by themselves, and it shall be very bright.^[2]

The fiery molten lava of Muspelheim would then consume the world, returning it to the nothingness of Ginnungagap.