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Skidbladnir

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

Description

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.

Primary Sources

“Skiðblaðnir is the best of ships. It has a fair wind wherever it must go, and it can be folded together like a cloth and kept in a pouch.”
Prose Edda, Gylfaginning(c. 1220 CE)

Powers & Abilities

Favorable WindsFlightSize ManipulationAll-terrain Travel