While Nidhogg isn’t overly active during the great Final Battle – only the Völuspá poem (Insight of the Seeress) describes him as flying out from beneath the roots of Ygdrassil – he is the undisputed cause of the whole cataclysm.ĭepending on which myth you read, Ragnarok can seem like it has several beginnings. One myth that’s definitely core to Norse mythology, however, is the story of Ragnarok. So, the most likely hypothesis here is that the Christian influence of the time led to “the big scary monster” Nidhogg being associated with a more Christianized version of the Norse underworld. In virtually all other Norse descriptions of Hel or Helheim, the Norse underworld isn’t a place of active torture and punishment but just a realm of eternal boredom and uneventfulness. However, while the Náströnd poem is a part of the 13th century Poetic Edda of the Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson, Nidhogg’s role in the underworld is generally ascribed to the Christian influence during that period. In the Náströnd poem (translated as The Shore of Corpses), Nidhogg resides over a particular part of Hel where adulterers, murderers, and perjurers are punished. This is something that one particular Nidhogg myth stands in contrast with. There, the heaven-like afterlife, called Valhalla and/or Fólkvangr, is full of battles, feasts, and alcohol while the hell-like afterlife – called Hel after its overseer – is described as a cold, mundane, and boring place. The Norse idea of an afterlife is very different from that of other cultures and religions.
Given that Yggdrasil was the World Tree that kept the Nine Realms of the Universe bound together, Nidhogg’s actions were literally gnawing at the roots of the cosmos. In Norse legends, Nidhogg is said to have had a brood of other minor reptilian monsters who helped him gnaw at the roots of Yggdrasil for all eternity. Nidhogg was a villain and a menace to all of existence. Nidhogg is named after a special Old Norse term for the loss of honor and the status of a villain – níð. Nidhogg, His Brood, and the Destruction of the Universe Nevertheless, Nidhogg was ever-present and his actions brought about the most crucial even in all of Norse mythology – Ragnarok. As such, Nidhogg wasn’t often featured or even mentioned in many Norse myths as those took place within the Nine Realms, including Asgard, Midgard, Vanaheim, and the rest. Nidhogg, or Níðhǫggr in Old Norse, is a horrifying dragon that lived outside of the Nine Realms and in the roots of Yggdrasil itself. In addition to Jörmungandr, the terrifying World Serpent and slayer of Thor, the other famous Norse dragon is Nidhogg – the ultimate symbol of decay, loss of honor, and villainy. Most cultures across the globe have legends of dragons and terrifying serpent-like monsters, and the Norse are no exception.
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