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Norse Pantheonvehicle

Skidbladnir

Illustration of Skidbladnir, a vehicle of the Norse Pantheon
Illustrative imageIllustration of Skidbladnir. Generated with an AI image model; not a historical artifact. About our images
  • Favorable Winds
  • Flight
  • Size Manipulation
  • All-terrain Travel

The greatest ship ever built, capable of sailing on any sea or flying through the air. It always has favorable wind and can fold up small enough to fit in a pocket.

About Skidbladnir

Freyr's folding ship

Snorri lists Skiðblaðnir among the Sons of Ivaldi's work, given to Freyr: it always has a following wind, can hold all the Aesir, and folds like a cloth into a pouch. Ynglinga saga adds euhemerizing travel. It is a treasure-list ship, not a boat-burial we can label. Favorable wind and impossible storage are the two gifts the prose needs. No Norwegian grave is Skiðblaðnir; the craft is dwarf-work in the same catalogue as Sif's hair and Gungnir.

Origin

Built by the Sons of Ivaldi as a gift to the gods, part of the treasures created after Loki cut off Sif's hair.

Sources and further reading

Source notes

These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.

  • Prose Edda, Gylfaginning

    Catalog date: c. 1220 CE

About this entry

By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. . Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.

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