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þótt skylim nú eða í gær deyja;
kveld lifir maðr ekki
eftir kvið norna."
31. Þar fell Sörli
at salar gafli,
enn Hamðir hné
at húsbaki.[34]
29. "In fashion of wolves
it befits us not
Amongst ourselves to strive,
Like the hounds of the Norns,
that nourished were
In greed mid wastes so grim.
30. "We have greatly fought,
o'er the Goths do we stand
By our blades laid low,
like eagles on branches;
Great our fame though we die
today or tomorrow;
None outlives the night
when the Norris[24] have spoken."
31. Then Sorli beside
the gable sank,
And Hamther fell
at the back of the house.[35]
The Norns
C. E. Brock.
Since the norns were beings of ultimate power who were working in the dark, it should be no surprise that they could be referred to in charms, as they are by Sigrdrífa in Sigrdrífumál:
17. Á gleri ok á gulli
ok á gumna heillum,
í víni ok í virtri
ok vilisessi,
á Gugnis oddi
ok á Grana brjósti,
á nornar nagli
ok á nefi uglu.[36]
17. On glass and on gold,
and on goodly charms,
In wine and in beer,
and on well-loved seats,
On Gungnir's point,
and on Grani's breast,
On the nails of Norns,
and the night-owl's beak.[37]
Prose Edda[edit]
In the part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda which is called Gylfaginning, Gylfi, the king of Sweden, has arrived at Valhalla calling himself Gangleri. There, he receives an education in Norse mythology from what is Odin in the shape of three men. They explain to Gylfi that there are three main norns, but also many others of various races, æsir, elves and dwarves:
Most sundered in birth
I say the Norns are;
They claim no common kin:
Some are of Æsir-kin,
some are of Elf-kind,
Some are Dvalinn's daughters."
The three main norns take water out of the well of Urd and water Yggdrasil:
I know an Ash standing
called Yggdrasill,
A high tree sprinkled
with snow-white clay;
Thence come the dews
in the dale that fall--
It stands ever green
above Urdr's Well.
...and the youngest Norn, she who is called Skuld, ride ever to take the slain and decide fights...Faroe stamp by Anker Eli Petersen depicting the norns (2003).
Snorri furthermore informs the reader that the youngest norn, Skuld, is in effect also a valkyrie, taking part in the selection of warriors from the slain:
Legendary sagas[edit]
Some of the legendary sagas also contain references to the norns. The Hervarar saga contains a poem named Hlöðskviða, where the Gothic king Angantýr defeats a Hunnish invasion led by his Hunnish half-brother Hlöðr. Knowing that his sister, the shieldmaiden Hervör, is one of the casualties, Angantýr looks at his dead brother and laments the cruelty of the norns:
32. Bölvat er okkr, bróðir,
bani em ek þinn orðinn;
þat mun æ uppi;
illr er dómr norna."[39]
"We are cursed, kinsman,
your killer am I!
It will never be forgotten;
the Norns' doom is evil."[40]
In younger legendary sagas, such as Norna-Gests þáttr and Hrólfs saga kraka, the norns appear to have been synonymous with völvas (witches, female shamans). In Norna-Gests þáttr, where they arrive at the birth of the hero to shape his destiny, the norns are not described as weaving the web of fate, instead Norna appears to be interchangeable and possibly a synonym of vala (völva).
One of the last legendary sagas to be written down, the Hrólfs saga kraka talks of the norns simply as evil witches. When the evil half-elven princess Skuld assembles her army to attack Hrólfr Kraki, it contains in addition to undead warriors, elves and norns.
This romantic representation of the norns depicts one of them (Verdandi according to the runes below) with wings, contrary to folklore.
Runic inscription N 351 M[edit]
The belief in the norns as bringers of both gain and loss would last beyond Christianization, as testifies the runic inscription N 351 M from the Borgund stave church:
Þórir carved these runes on the eve of Olaus-mass, when he travelled past here. The norns did both good and evil, great toil ... they created for me.[41]
Franks Casket[edit]
Three women carved on the right panel of Franks Casket, an Anglo-Saxon whalebone chest from the eighth century, have been identified by some scholars as being three norns.
A number of theories have been proposed regarding the norns.[42]
Matres and Matrones[edit]
The Germanic Matres and Matrones, female deities venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD depicted on votive objects and altars almost entirely in groups of three from the first to the fifth century AD have been proposed as connected with the later Germanic dísir, valkyries, and norns,[42] potentially stemming from them.[43]
Three norns[edit]
Theories have been proposed that there is no foundation in Norse mythology for the notion that the three main norns should each be associated exclusively with the past, the present, and the future;[2] rather, all three represent destiny as it is twined with the flow of time.[2] Moreoever, theories have been proposed that the idea that there are three main norns may be due to a late influence from Greek and Roman mythology, where there are also spinning fate goddesses (Moirai and Parcae).[2]
Appearances in media and popular culture[edit]
Viking death metal band Amon Amarth has an album titled Fate of Norns. The band itself has many songs involving Norse mythology.
Norns feature in the prologue of Richard Wagner's opera Götterdämmerung.
The 1990s Disney Cartoon Gargoyles features Three sisters (Referred to by the cast as the "Weird Sisters") that are inferred to be Norns.
In the 2010 series Lost Girl, there was a Norn who could be petitioned to change fate, for a price. Her price was always the one thing her petitioner values most, whether they realize it or not.
Anime and manga[edit]
The main love interest of Oh My Goddess! is the Norn Verðandi, rendered as Belldandy. Her elder sister Urðr (rendered as Urd) and younger sister Skuld also show up, living with the protagonist Keichii Morisato and their sister Belldandy. Aside from sticking loosely to the theme of Belldandy representing the present, Urd the past and Skuld the future, they are only loosely related to their mythic namesakes in this media.
The terminals that Yggdrasil from Digimon created for the New Digital World experiments consisting 3 layers are named Ulud, Versandi, and Skuld which are representing for past, present, and future. Ulud Urðr is a past plain which is a volcanic wasteland, inhabited by Dinosaur type and draconic Digimon. Versandi Verðandi is the "present" region which is a world of lush greenery and is home to beast, bird, plant and other nature Digimon. Skuld is the "future" region, a high-tech city where machine and insect Digimon inhabit.
The three Norns also appear as antagonists in Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, along with various other figures from Norse mythology, including Thor, Heimdallr, Freyr, Freyja, Fenrir, Jormungandr, and the eponymous Loki.
In the Calibur arc of Sword Art Online, Urðr appears to Kirito's party and gives them a quest to retrieve the sword Excalibur from Thrymheim before the last beast-type Evil God is killed, restoring Jötunheimr to its former glory. Upon successful completion of this quest, Urðr reappears to Kirito's party, along with her sisters Verdandi and Skuld. They thank them for completing the quest, and allow them to keep Excalibur. Other figures and elements from Norse mythology also appear in this arc, including Thrym, Freyja, Thor, and Mjölnir.
Video Games[edit]
See also[edit]
1. ^ The article Dis in Nordisk familjebok (1907).
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The article Nornor in Nordisk familjebok (1913).