Family trees of the

Norse gods

These are family trees of the Norse gods showing kin relations among gods and other beings in
Nordic mythology. Each family tree gives an example of relations according to principally Eddic
material however precise links vary between sources. In addition, some beings are identified by
some sources and scholars.

Key

Æsir are indicated with boldface

Vanir are indicated with italics
Other beings such as jötnar and humans are indicated with standard font.

Æsir
 Ymir[1][2]

Þrúðgelmir[1][2] Fornjót[3]

Búri[4] Bölþorn[5][note 1] Bergelmir[1][2] Ægir[6]

Fjörgynn[8] Borr[9] Bestla[9]

s

Frigg[15] Odin[9][16] Vili[9] Ve[9] Hœnir[note 2] H

Nepr[19]

Nanna[22] Baldr[23] Týr[24][note 3] Höðr[25] Hermóðr[26] Bragi[27]

Forseti[35]

Vanir
 Alvaldi[40]

Þjazi[40] Iði[40] Gangr[40]

Sister-wife
Gymir[41] Aurboða[42] of Njörðr[44] Skaði[45]
Njörðr[43]

Beli[46][note 6] Gerðr[47] Freyr[48] Freyja[49] Óðr[49]

Ynglings[50] Hnoss[49] Gersemi[49]

Angrboða and Loki

Nál
Fárbauti[51]
(Laufey)[51]

Sigyn[51] Loki[52] Angrboða[51] Býleistr[51] Helblindi[51]

Váli[51] Narfi[51] Fenrir[51] Jörmungandr[51] Hel[51]

Diversity in belief

While the above family trees are based principally on Eddic material, it is widely accepted that
the Eddas do not represent the worldview of all Nordic, or more widely Germanic heathens. Terry
Gunnell has similarly challenged the concept of all Germanic pagans throughout the Viking Age
believing in a single, universal pantheon of gods that all lived in Asgard and were ruled by
Odin.[53] Cultural exchange of both ideas and practices occurred across the soft cultural
boundaries with neighbouring peoples from broad cultural groups such as Celts, Sámi, Baltic
peoples, and, particularly later on, Christians. Geographical variation in religious practices and
beliefs was also seen, which together with external influence made the belief systems dynamic,
changing over time from the Nordic Bronze Age into the Viking age.[54]

In the Early Medieval period, Odin was principally a god of the warrior elite, however, due to his
close association with skalds, whose poetry was preserved in works such as the Prose Edda and
Heimskringla, he is highly represented in extant sources on Nordic pre-Christian religion. Snorri
Sturluson also seems to have a preference towards the aristocratic-centred cosmology as
opposed to the views more likely held by the wider population.[53][55] The rise to prominence of
male, war-oriented gods such as Odin, relative to protective female gods with a closer
association to fertility and watery sites, has been proposed to have taken place around 500 CE,
coinciding with the development of an expansionist aristocratic military class in southern
Scandinavia. .[56]

Very rarely in the Eddic stories are the gods described as forming a large family, instead typically
acting individually or in groups of three. Gunnell puts forward the idea that the stories did not
originate in the same cultural environment, but instead were collected over a wide geographic
area and later compiled. This variation may be the cause of the apparent conflicts between
sources, such as the most closely associated female god to Odin, which Gunnell suggests never
formed a single unified system. He further puts forward the idea that Odinic myths centred on
hierarchical assemblies and feasts originated in, and reflected, the halls of the elite, while the
rural population would be more familiar with tales regarding Freyr and Thor; these two gods have
a significantly more prominent position than Odin in Icelandic and Norwegian place names,
sagas and Landnámabók. Gunnell suggests that Freyr, whose cult was centred in Uppland in
Sweden, as another figure who acts more as an allfather (Old Norse: alfǫðr) than Odin, based on
his diverse roles in farming, ruling and warfare.[57]

Gunnell further argues that in stories regarding Thor, he is typically highly independent, requiring
little aid from other figures. He notes that Thor would fit well into the role of a chief god, being
associated with trees, high-seat pillars and rain, and is called upon for help at sea and against
Christian missionaries. Some sources, such as the prologue to the Prose Edda suggest that Thor
was viewed by some as the father of Odin, and it has been argued that Thor was known in
Northern Europe prior to the arrival of the cult of Odin, and thus would not have been originally
viewed there as his son.[58]
It has been argued that Odin began to increasingly incorporate elements from subordinated
gods and took on a role as the centre of a family that became depicted as living together. This
conception, more akin to the Olympian pantheon, may have been facilitated by large things in
which a diversity of peoples assembled, each potentially favouring an individual god.[59]

See also

Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies

Horses of the Æsir

List of Germanic deities

Norse cosmology

Notes

1. Bölþorn is only mentioned in Hávamál stanza 140 and Gylfaginning chapter 5. In these sources, the
relationship with Bestla is established but the exact line of parents back to Ymir, progenitor of all jötnar, is
not.[5]

2. In Völuspá 18, Hœnir is listed as one of the three gods who created the first humans, Ask and Embla,
along with Lóðurr and Odin, while in Snorri Sturluson's account, it is Odin, Vili and Vé. Hœnir may be
identified with either Vili or Vé, however this is equivocal.[14]

3. The father of Týr is ambiguous. In Hymiskviða, Týr is called the son of the jötunn Hymir, while Snorri
Sturluson in the Prose Edda names his father as Odin.[24]

4. Járnsaxa is named as a tröllkona in the Nafnaþulur, while in Skáldskaparmál chapter 21, she is identified
with Sif.[34]

5. While Móði's father is named as Thor in Hymiskviða 34, Gylfaginning 52 and Skáldskaparmál 4, his
mother is never explicitly identified.[37]

6. The identification of Beli with the brother of Gerðr is only through Freyr killing both her unnamed brother
and Beli. Due to the sparse evidence, the conclusion is equivocal.[46]

References

1. Simek 2008, p. 24.

2. Orchard tr. 2011, p. 44, Vafthrúdnismál: The lay of Vafthrúdnir, stanza 29.

3. Simek 2008, pp. 88, 151.

 4. Simek 2008, p. 47.

5. Simek 2008, p. 40.

6. Simek 2008, pp. 1–2.

7. Simek 2008, p. 238.

8. Simek 2008, p. 86.

9. Sturluson 2018, Gylfaginning, chapter 6.

10. Lindow 2002, p. 169.

11. Simek 2008, p. 226.

12. Branston 1955, pp. 65–66.

13. Simek 2008, p. 55.

14. Simek 2008, p. 17.

15. Sturluson 2018, Gylfaginning, chapter 9 & Skáldskaparmál, chapter 19.

16. Faulkes 1995, p. 69.

17. Faulkes 1995, pp. 25–26, 77.

18. Simek 2008, p. 22.

19. Simek 2008, p. 229.

20. Simek 2008, pp. 359–360.

21. Simek 2008, pp. 265–266.

22. Simek 2008, p. 227.

23. Simek 2008, pp. 26–27.

24. Simek 2008, p. 337.

25. Simek 2008, p. 155.

26. Simek 2008, p. 143.

27. Nafnaþulur (ON), 18. Synir Óðins.

28. Simek 2008, pp. 171–172.

29. Simek 2008, p. 291.

30. Simek 2008, pp. 101–102.

31. Simek, 2008 & p283.

32. Sturluson 2018, Skáldskaparmál, chapter 24.

33. Orchard tr. 2011, p. 94, Lokasenna: Loki's home truths, stanza 58.

34. Simek 2008, p. 178.

35. Simek 2008, p. 88.

36. Simek 2008, p. 339.

37. Simek 2008, p. 220.

38. Sturluson 2018, Skáldskaparmál, chapter 4 & 21.

39. Sturluson 2018, Skáldskaparmál, chapter 17.

40. Simek 2008, pp. 170–171.

41. Simek 2008, pp. 126–127.

42. Simek 2008, p. 23.

43. Gunnell 2018, p. 129.

44. Simek 2008, pp. 233–235.

45. Simek 2008, p. 286.

46. Simek 2008, p. 33.

47. Simek 2008, p. 105.

48. Simek 2008, pp. 91–93.

49. Simek 2008, pp. 90–91.

50. Simek 2008, pp. 378–379.

51. Simek 2008, p. 195.

52. Grimes 2010, p. 313.

53. Gunnell 2015, p. 55.

54. Gunnell 2015, p. 58.

55. Simek 2008, pp. 288, 378.

56. Gunnell 2015, p. 58-59.

57. Gunnell 2015, pp. 57, 60–61, 64, 66–67.

58. Gunnell 2015, pp. 64–65.

59. Gunnell 2015, p. 70.

Bibliography
Primary
The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore (https://books.google.com/books?id=piCTi0XQEccC) .
Translated by Orchard, Andy. London: Penguin Books. 2011. ISBN 9780141393728.

Sturluson, Snorri (2018). The Prose Edda. Translated by Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist. Franklin
Classics Trade Press. ISBN 9780344335013.

"Nafnaþulur (Old Norse)" (https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Nafna%C3%BEulur) . heimskringla.no.

Retrieved 22 September 2022.

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Branston, Brian (1955). Gods of the North
(https://archive.org/details/GodsOfTheNorth_185) . Thames & Hudson. Retrieved
2016-03-05.

Faulkes, Anthony (1995). Edda. Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87616-3.

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5R8C&pg=PA311) . Boston: Hollow Earth Publishing. pp. 311–313. ISBN 978-1879196025.
Retrieved 2013-06-03.

Gunnell, Terry (2015). "Pantheon? What Pantheon? Concepts of a Family of Gods in Pre-
Christian Scandinavian Religions" (http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A8
83369&dswid=5691) . Scripta Islandica: Isländska sällskapets årsbok. Isländska sällskapet.
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Gunnell, Terry (2018). "Blótgyðjur, Goðar, Mimi, Incest, and Wagons: Oral Memories of the" (htt
ps://www.academia.edu/es/36066115/Bl%C3%B3tgy%C3%B0jur_Go%C3%B0ar_Mimi_Incest_
and_Wagons_Oral_Memories_of_the) . Old Norse Mythology—Comparative Perspectives. Ed.
Pernille Hermann, Stephen A. Mitchell, and Jens Peter Schjødt, with Amber J. Rose. Retrieved
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Leeming, David (2005). The Oxford Companion to World Mythology (https://books.google.com/

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 Simek, Rudolf (2008). A Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Hall, Angela. BOYE6.
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