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Nidhogg smite2/28/2023 ![]() ![]() He also feated on the decaying bodies of the dead in Hel’s realm. A great venomous serpent, he chewed on the root of Yggdrasil that lay over the ice realm of Niflheim. Nidhogg was one of the creatures that lived in Yggdrasil, the World Tree, in Norse mythology. While some honorable men will try to maintain the old ways, corruption and dishonor will eventually lead to the end of civilized life. ![]() The implication is that Norse society as a whole will someday be overcome by níð. Although Odin will have gathered an army of valiant and honorable warriors at Valhalla, they will be outnumbered and fall to the dead of Hel. Nidhogg, the monster of níð, will one day allow all of society’s villains to be released. In this interpretation, Ragnarök can be interpreted as the end of Norse culture rather than the world as a whole. If Nidhogg can be tied to the concept of lost status and rejection from society, his enmity toward the eagle may be symbolic of hatred for the knowledge and wisdom represented by these birds. It meant the loss of status and honor, resulting in a person being labeled as a villain and cast away from society. In Viking Age culture, the word níð referred to a specific social stigma. The name Níðhöggr contains a possible explanation for the appearance of the serpent at the base of the World Tree. While they will win their fight, they will be entirely destroyed in the process. The dead will face off against Odin’s warriors from Valhalla, led by Hel and Loki. He will be closely followed by Hel’s army of the dead who will leave Niflheim after him. Nighogg will go to Midgard, the world of men. When that happens, the serpent will be able to leave Niflheim. The common interpretation of this poem is that Nidhogg will one day cause enough damage to Yggdrasil’s root that it will break, possibly weakening the entire structure of the World Tree. Nidhogg is mentioned in relatively few ancient sources, but one poem implies that he is one of the many portents of Ragnarök. Ratatoskr scurried up and down Yggdrasil’s trunk to convey insults between the wyrm and the eagle that lived on opposite ends of the World Tree. Instead, a squirrel named Ratatoskr ran back and forth between the two. In fact, some images of Nidhogg imply that he was pinned down by Yggdrasil’s roots so that he could not travel along the World Tree and cause further problems. Nidhogg and the eagle were enemies but never left their respective places to engage one another face to face. ![]() The unnamed eagle had a hawk called Veðrfölnir perched on its forehead. While Nidhogg lived near one of Yggdrasil’s roots, the tree’s canopy was home to a great eagle. ![]() While the World Tree was strong enough to support the Nine Worlds, Nidhogg cause rot to slowly creep into one of its three roots. The combination of this decay and the snake’s own venom was hazardous to Yggdrasil. Hel’s realm was often said to contain the souls of those shunned from the halls of the gods for their misdeeds in life, and the serpent chewed on their rotting corpses. In addition to chewing on Yggdrasil’s root, Niddhogg was also said to feast on the souls of the dead in Niflheim. The world of primordial ice and cold had become the home of Hel and her legions of the dead. The root that Nidhogg was usually said to live near was placed over Niflheim. It was usually described as a great serpent who continuously gnawed at the tree’s root, weakening it and the World Tree as a whole. Nidhogg, transliterated from Old Norse as Níðhöggr, lived at the base of one of Yggdrasil’s roots. While most beings lived in one of the Nine Worlds, some made their home in the roots and branches of Yggdrasil itself. It had three large roots that each fed from a well in one of the Nine Worlds. Yggrasil was a great ash tree that connected and supported the Nine Worlds of the Norse universe. In Norse cosmology, Nidhogg was one of many creatures who lived in Yggdrasil, the World Tree. It was also a reference to a threat felt more closely by the people of the Viking Age, the corruption and decline of their own culture. Nidhogg was more than just a monstrous serpent, however. The Norse believed that one day Nidhogg would kill Yggdrasil’s root, weakening the World Tree enough to release the dead into the world of the living as one of the armies of Ragnarök. His venom and the decay of Niflheim’s dead slowly poisoned the World Tree, threatening the foundation of the universe. In the frozen realm of Niflheim, the serpent Nidhogg chewed on one of Yggdrasil’s roots. In Norse cosmology, the Nine Worlds were supported by Yggdrasil, the World Tree.Īlthough Yggdrasil held the entirety of creation in its branches, it was still vulnerable. ![]()
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