Brimir
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In Norse mythology, Brimir is another name for the giant Ymir and also the name of a hall for the souls of the virtuous following the endtime conflict of Ragnarok.
In the Gylfaginning section of the Prose Edda Brimir refers to a hall in the heavens for good souls following Ragnarok where "plenty of good drink" will be available for those who take pleasure in it.
In stanza 9 of Völuspá, the first poem of the Poetic Edda, Brimir and Blain are both mentioned as alternate names for Ymir:
- "Then all the Powers went to the thrones of fate,
- the sacrosanct gods, and considered this:
- who should form the lord of the dwarfs
- out of Brimir's blood and from Blain's limbs?"
-
- — Larrington trans.
Quoted by Snorri in Gylfaginning, he expands upon this and tells us that the dwarves were created from the dead flesh of Ymir whose body was used by Odin and his brothers to form the earth ("Brimir's blood" referring to the sea and "Blain's limbs" referring to the mountains that were made from his bones).
Stanza 37 of the same poem mentions Brimir as the name of a giant who may or may not be Ymir as the owner of a beer hall:
- "To the north there stood on Dark-of-moon Plains
- a hall of gold of the lineage of Sindri
- and another stood on Never-cooled Plain,
- the beer-hall of the giant who is called Brimir."
-
- — Larrington trans.
Snorri used this stanza as his basis for Brimir as a hall in the afterlife in Gylfaginning but whether or not the two residences are identical is uncertain.
[edit] References
- Faulkes, Anthony (transl.) (1987). Edda (Snorri Sturluson). Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87616-3.
- Larrington, Carolyne (transl.) (1996). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World's Classics. ISBN 0-19-283946-2.
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