Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil is the immense world-tree of Norse mythology, whose branches and roots extend through the cosmos and connect its realms.

Norse cosmology: The mythological structure of the universe in pre-Christian Scandinavian tradition. Yggdrasil is the central structure linking the cosmos’s different regions.
Ratatoskr: A squirrel in Norse mythology that runs along Yggdrasil, carrying insults between an eagle and Níðhöggr. Its messages connect beings at opposite ends of the tree.
Poetic Edda: A collection of Old Norse mythological and heroic poems preserved chiefly in the medieval Codex Regius. Its poems provide some of the earliest surviving accounts of Yggdrasil.
Fate in Norse mythology: The shaping and unfolding of events by forces and beings in Norse mythological tradition. The Norns’ work at the tree’s well ties cosmic structure to destiny.
Nine Realms: The worlds inhabited by gods, humans, giants, and other beings in Norse mythology. The realms are commonly situated in relation to Yggdrasil’s branches and roots.
Eagle of Yggdrasil: An unnamed eagle perched in Yggdrasil’s crown in Norse mythological sources. It occupies the tree’s upper reaches, opposite Níðhöggr below.
Prose Edda: A medieval Icelandic handbook of Norse mythology and poetics written by Snorri Sturluson. Snorri gives a detailed prose description of the tree and its surroundings.
Cosmogony: An account or theory of how the universe originated. Yggdrasil gives Norse creation stories a spatial framework for the cosmos.
Well of Urðr: A sacred well beneath one of Yggdrasil’s roots, associated with the Norns and fate. The Norns tend this well and shape the tree’s destiny.
Veðrfölnir: A hawk described as sitting between the eyes of the eagle atop Yggdrasil. The hawk is nested within the tree’s remarkable chain of inhabitants.

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