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Key Details
Type
RealmMythology
Norse Pantheon
Realm
Mythological / Non-physical
About This Location
The middle yard
Midgard is the human world, walled with Ymir's eyebrows in Snorri's creation account, encircled by the sea where Jormungandr lies. The Poetic Edda uses Midgard as the inhabited middle against Utgard and the gods' garths. It is not a country with a capital. Thor is its defender; the poems send him out of it to fight giants. There is no Midgard cult. The word is a cosmology, the place people already live.
Primary Sources
“Of Ymir's flesh the earth was shaped, of his blood the sea, of his bones the hills; they made Midgard for the sons of men.”
More from Norse Pantheon
Asgard
RealmOne of the Nine Worlds and home to the Aesir tribe of gods, connected to Midgard by the rainbow bridge Bifrost.
Niflheim
RealmThe primordial realm of ice, mist, and cold. Its frozen rivers combined with Muspelheim's fire to create the first life.
Muspelheim
RealmThe primordial realm of fire, ruled by the fire giant Surtr, whose flames will consume the world at Ragnarok.
Jotunheim
RealmThe land of the frost giants and other jotnar, a harsh wilderness of mountains and forests bordering Asgard.
Vanaheim
RealmHome of the Vanir gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and nature—including Freya, Freyr, and Njord.
Svartalfheim
RealmThe underground realm of the dwarves (dark elves), master craftsmen who forged Mjolnir, Gungnir, and other legendary items.