Ýmir sucks at the udder of Auðumbla as she licks Búri out of the ice.
Ýmir is a primeval being born of primordial elemental poison and the ancestor of all jötnar or Frost Giants. Another name for Ymir in some Old Norse poems is Aurgelmir (“Sand/Gravel Screamer”).
History[]
Origins[]
Ýmir was born when fire from Muspelheim and ice from Niflheim met in the abyss of Ginnungagap. Ýmir was suckled by the cow Auðumbla for his nourishment, and several other giants spontaneously sprang from his sweat.
Despite being the progenitor of the Jötunar and gods, Ýmir was by no means considered a god, and is stated that "he was evil and all his descendants". Ýmir is the ancestor of all jötnar (specifically hrimthursar), and that it is said that when Ýmir slept, he sweated, and from his left arm and right arm grew a male and a female, and his left leg produced a son with his right leg, and from them came generations.
The cow licked salty rhinestones to produce the milk that is necessary to sustain Ýmir. The first day Auðumbla licked the rime stones it uncovered that evening the hair of a man. The second day it uncovered his head. The third day a man was uncovered from the ice. This man was named Búri, and was large, powerful, and beautiful to behold. Búri later produced a son by the name of Borr who married a giantess named Bestla. The two had three sons; Odin, Vili and Vé.
Midgardian Corpse[]
Odin, Vili, and Vé later decided to attack and successfully kill Ýmir, and his body produced so much blood from his wounds that within it drowned all the jötnar but two, Bergelmir, who, on a lúðr with his (unnamed) wife, survived and repopulated the jötnar.
The Nordic lands were fashioned from his flesh, from his blood the ocean, from his bones the hills, scree and stones his teeth, molars, and bones. From his hair the trees, from his brains the clouds, from his skull the heavens, and from his eyebrows the middle realm in which mankind lives, Midgard. When his blood laid upon the foundations of Muspelheim, its fires made the blood boil and from it came the Orcs.