What Is Asgard?
Discover Asgard, the citadel of the Norse gods, the Bifrost bridge, its great halls like Valhalla, and its role in Norse cosmology.
Asgard (Old Norse Ásgarðr) is the fortified citadel of the Aesir gods and the central divine realm in Norse cosmology. According to the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, Asgard is one of the nine worlds, located high above the world of humans, joined to Midgard by the rainbow bridge Bifröst, and surrounded by a wall built by a giant craftsman. It contains the great halls of the gods, including Odin’s Valhalla, Thor’s hall Bilskírnir, and the high seat Hliðskjálf from which the Allfather sees all the worlds. Asgard is the seat of divine justice, the home of the slain, and the central place of order in the Norse cosmos — but it is also a place that is destined, like all things, to be destroyed at Ragnarok.
The Name and Meaning
The Old Norse name Ásgarðr is composed of two elements: Ás- (“god,” specifically a member of the Aesir), and -garðr (“enclosure” or “yard”). The name is sometimes translated “god-yard,” “divine enclosure,” or “the enclosure of the Aesir.” It is cognate with the Old English Oswalda (a personal name) and the Old High German Ansgar, and the basic sense is the same: the bounded space reserved for the gods.
In medieval Icelandic sources, the name is used in three different ways: as a generic term for the world of the gods, as a specific place within that world (the fortified citadel), and as a poetic name for the Norse gods in general. The “as” in Asgard is related to the first element of the name of the Norse supreme being Oss or Ansuz, the god of the gods. The root is ans-, “god” or “divine power.”
The Founding of Asgard
According to the Prose Edda’s Gylfaginning (chapter 9), the gods established Asgard after killing the primeval giant Ymir and forming the world from his body. The gods set up their dwellings in the middle of the world, and built a fortified enclosure for themselves. The first god to enter Asgard was Thor, who stood in the middle of the citadel and struck his hammer, sanctifying the place.
The founding myth has a parallel in the Völuspá (stanzas 17–18), which describes the gods as arranging the heavens and setting up the seats of judgment. Both texts agree that the gods constructed Asgard deliberately, with a clear plan, and that the citadel has a specific cosmological location.
The Wall of Asgard
One of the most famous myths about Asgard is the construction of its wall, told in the Prose Edda (Gylfaginning, chapter 42). A master builder, identifying himself only as “a certain man,” arrives in Asgard and offers to build a wall around the citadel in a single winter, in exchange for the goddess Freyja, the sun, and the moon. The gods, advised by Loki, agree to the deal on the condition that the builder works alone and finishes within the agreed time, with the further condition that he receives nothing if the work is not completed in one winter.
The builder asks only that he be allowed the help of his stallion Svaðilfari. The gods agree. The stallion proves to be the more efficient of the two workers, dragging huge stones into the citadel. As the work approaches completion, three days before the end of winter, the wall is almost complete. The gods, fearful of losing Freyja, the sun, and the moon, blame Loki for the bargain.
Loki, in a moment of quick-witted desperation, transforms himself into a mare, lures the stallion away, and the builder is forced to chase his horse. The stallion is lured so far that the work is not completed in time, and the builder, in fury, reveals himself to be a jotun (giant) of the northern lands. The gods call upon Thor, who smashes the giant’s skull with Mjölnir. Loki, meanwhile, has given birth to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir during his time as a mare, and gives the foal to Odin as a gift.
The myth of the wall of Asgard is told in the Gylfaginning in the context of the founding of the divine citadel. The wall is, in the narrative, the protective ring that distinguishes the gods from the giants, and the fact that a giant built it is a reminder that the boundary between Asgard and the giants is not absolute.
The Bifröst Bridge
The principal means of access to Asgard is the Bifröst (sometimes called Bilröst or Ásbrymr), the rainbow bridge that spans the gap between the world of the gods and the world of humans. The Gylfaginning (chapter 13) describes the Bifröst as a “trembling bridge” that is also known as the Ásbrú (“bridge of the gods”). The bridge is described as being made of fire, air, and water, and as the only path between the two worlds.
The Bifröst is the only bridge that connects the world of the gods to the world of humans. The watchman Heimdall stands at its head, and the bridge is described as breaking under the weight of the muster of the gods as they ride to the final battle at Ragnarok. The collapse of the Bifröst is one of the signs of the end of the world, and the image of the broken rainbow is one of the most enduring in Norse mythology.
The High Seat Hliðskjálf
Inside Asgard is the high seat Hliðskjálf, the throne from which Odin looks out on all the worlds. According to the Prose Edda, Odin is the only one of the gods who is allowed to sit on the throne, and the privilege of looking out from it is reserved to him alone. In the Younger Edda’s Skáldskaparmál, the god Freyr, Loki’s associate, is described as having sat on Hliðskjálf and looked out on the worlds, and this act is what leads to Freyr’s falling in love with the giantess Gerðr — a love that, like many of the Norse cosmic events, contributes to the chain of events leading to Ragnarok.
The image of the high seat is the central image of divine knowledge in Norse mythology. From Hliðskjálf, Odin can see the worlds, the giants, the dwarves, the elves, the humans, and the dead. The seat is a kind of panoramic chair, a vision of all that is. It is, in modern terms, the central point of the cosmos.
The Great Halls of Asgard
The citadel contains many named halls, each belonging to a different god or goddess. The most important are:
- Valhalla (Valhöll), the hall of the slain, ruled by Odin. Half of those slain in battle are brought to Valhalla by the Valkyries, and they fight and feast there until the end of the world.
- Bilskírnir, the hall of Thor, where the god of thunder presides over the warriors of his people.
- Breiðablik, the hall of Baldr, the most beautiful of the halls.
- Sessrúmnir, the hall of Freyja, in which the goddess of love presides.
- Árvakr and Alsviðr, the halls of the Day and Night — the two sons of Dellingr and Nótt who drive the chariot of the sun and the chariot of the moon.
- Iðavöllr, the plain in the middle of Asgard where the gods first met, the place of the original assembly of the Aesir. The plain is also the site of the first great temple of the gods, and the place of the great oath-ring.
- Fólkvangr, the meadow of the slain, where Freyja receives the other half of the warriors who die in battle.
The halls are described in the Grímnismál, the Gylfaginning, and the Skáldskaparmál with a richness that is unusual for Norse mythography. The halls are both figurative (representing the gods’ domains) and literal (real places in the world of the gods), and the medieval Icelandic imagination saw them as a kind of celestial city.
The Tree of the World and Asgard
Asgard is understood, in the surviving sources, to be located in or near the upper branches of Yggdrasil. The Gylfaginning (chapter 15) describes the three roots of Yggdrasil: one reaching the Well of Urd (where the Norns sit), one reaching Mímir’s well (where Odin sacrificed his eye), and one reaching the spring of Hvergelmir in Niflheim. The upper branches of the tree, by implication, support the upper worlds, including Asgard.
The exact location of Asgard is not specified in the surviving sources. The tree metaphor is sometimes taken to mean that Asgard is “in the tree,” or “on a branch,” but the metaphor is structural rather than literal. The point is that the world tree is the support of all the worlds, and that Asgard, as the home of the gods, is on the upper levels of that support.
Asgard and the Gods
Asgard is the principal place of the Aesir in the surviving sources. The gods are described as living there, holding their assemblies, making their decisions, and feasting with one another. The most famous assembly in Asgard is the one at the death of Baldr, when the gods gather to discuss what to do about the slaying of the most beautiful of the gods. The story of Baldr’s death, in Gylfaginning chapter 53, is a central Asgardian narrative.
The political structure of Asgard is the political structure of the Norse cosmos. Odin is the chief, with the Allfather sitting on Hliðskjálf and directing the affairs of gods and humans. Thor, his son, defends the citadel and the worlds from giants. Tyr, the one-handed, is the god of justice. Baldr, the beautiful, is the heir apparent. The structure is euhemerized by Snorri as the structure of a human kingdom, with the gods as the kings and queens of an old and mighty race.
The Destruction and Renewal of Asgard
At Ragnarok, Asgard is destroyed. The mustering of the gods, riding across the Bifröst, breaks the bridge. The fire giant Surtr brings fire to the citadel, and the gods fight their last battle. The citadel is consumed by flame, the bodies of the gods lie on the field, and the World Tree is shaken. According to the Völuspá (stanza 60), a new earth rises from the sea, and a new Asgard is built, in which the surviving gods live in peace.
The destruction of Asgard, in the surviving sources, is the destruction of divine order. The image of the citadel consumed by fire is the image of the world that is. The renewal is a new order, but it is, the poets say, an order of necessity: the new Asgard is not the same as the old, and the gods who survive are a different set of gods.
The Symbolism of Asgard
Asgard has been widely discussed in scholarship since the 19th century. The most common readings are as a “sky-temple” — a celestial place, perhaps identified with the sun, the moon, or the highest star; as a “world mountain” — a high peak in the center of the world; as a “fortified place” — a stronghold of divine power, with the walls as a symbol of the boundary between order and chaos. None of these readings is fully supported by the surviving sources, but each is suggestive of the depth of the symbol.
In modern Scandinavian and Germanic Heathenry, Asgard is the central place of the gods. The cult of Asgard is, in effect, the cult of the Aesir, and the cult of the Aesir is, in turn, the cult of the cosmos in its ordered, divine form. The Asatru religion, in its modern form, is the revival of the cult of the Aesir, and Asgard is the geographical focus of that cult.
Asgard in Modern Culture
The image of Asgard has been extraordinarily influential in modern culture. The phrase “the walls of Asgard” has become a common image in fantasy literature, and the name “Asgard” is used for many places in the modern world — restaurants, sports teams, and so on. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Asgard is one of the most famous modern reinventions: the films portray Asgard as a city on a planet, connected to other worlds by a rainbow bridge, and ruled by a line of warrior kings. The interpretation departs substantially from the medieval Icelandic sources, but it has, in turn, made the older mythology newly visible.