asgard was called Andvaranaut. Loki gave the treasure to the magician Hreidmar in compensation for killing his son Otr. Eventually, Andvari’ s gold became the hoard guarded by the dragon Fafnir.
Angantyr( 1) A Berserker. According to the poem Hyndluljodh and the Icelandic Hervarar
Saga, Angantyr was one of the 12 sons of Arngrim and Eyfura and became a warrior with the strength of two men. In this heroic legend, Angantyr inherited the cursed sword Tyrfing from his father, who received the sword as a wedding gift when he married Eyfura. Tyrfing had been crafted by the dwarfs, Dvalin and Durinn.
Angantyr died after he and his 11 brothers fought a furious battle, before which they all entered a trance and became wild and ferocious beings. Angantyr’ s daughter retrieved the sword from her father’ s grave and passed it down through the family until it became the weapon of the legendary hero Angantyr( 2), a distant descendent.
Angantyr( 2) A human hero of the Icelandic legend of the cursed sword Tyrfing and the sword’ s final owner. Angantyr was the son of King Heidrek and a distant descendent of Angantyr( 1), the Berserker.
Angantyr appears primarily in the final portion of the heroic legend Hervarar Saga, which tells the story of several generations of owners of the sword. In the end of the tale, Angantyr, who has become the king of the Goths, kills his half-brother Hlod, who is king of the Huns, with the sword Tyrfing. This is the final act of the dwarfs’ curse.
Angrboda( Bringer of Sorrow) The giantess wife of Loki, the trickster god. According to 13thcentury poet Snorri Sturluson, Angrboda was the mother of three monsters by Loki: the wolf Fenrir; the goddess of death Hel( 1); and the Midgard Serpent known as Jormungand.
Her name is invoked in the poem Hyndluljod as the mother of the wolf.
Arnamagnaean Codex The first part of a manuscript apparently written in Iceland in the late 1100s or early in the 1200s, now located in the Árni Magnússon Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Arnamagnaean Codex, formally known as AM 748 Ia 4to, is a source of many of the poems that tell the stories of Norse mythology.
The six pages of this handwritten vellum manuscript contain the only known source of the poem
Baldrs Draumar. In addition, the Codex features all or parts of five of the poems from the Poetic Edda.
Grimnismal and Hymiskvitha are complete. Most of Skirnismal, Harbarthsljoth, and Vafthrudnismal are also in this manuscript. However, only the beginning of Volundarkvitha, a heroic legend that tells the story of the life of Volund, has been preserved.
Arvak( Arvakr; Early Waker) One of the two horses that pulled the Sun’ s chariot, driven by the fair maiden Sol, across the sky. The other horse was Alsvid. They are named in Grimnismal, part of the Poetic Edda, and by Snorri Sturluson in
Gylfaginning.
The horses’ names are often used in descriptions of the Sun. In the poem Sigrdrifumal, part of the Poetic Edda, Odin writes runes on Arvak’ s ear and Alsvid’ s hoof.
as, asa Prefixes in Old Norse that mean“ god.” Occasionally, some gods are known by two versions of their names in the Old Norse Icelandic manuscripts. One example is Thor, who is also called Asa-Thor. The word Asgard means“ realm of or enclosure of the gods.” The name As-Bru, an alternative name for the bridge Bilrost, means“ Aesir-bridge” or bridge to the gods.
Asgard The realm of the Aesir gods. Odin presides over Asgard, the topmost level of the Nine Worlds. Here the gods and goddesses had their palaces and mansions, called halls.
Asgard was surrounded and protected by a mighty wall constructed by the Giant Master Builder. In the center of Asgard was the green field Idavoll, around which stood the 13 halls of the gods. Among them were: Gladsheim, the main hall of the gods; Bilskirnir, the hall of Thor; Fensalir, which belonged to Frigg; Breidablik, where Balder and his wife, Nanna, lived; Himinbjorg, the abode of Heimdall; Glitnir, where Forseti presided; Sessrumnir, Freya’ s hall; and Valhalla, where Odin entertained the slain heroes of the world. Bilrost, the Rainbow Bridge, connected Asgard to Midgard( Middle Earth). At Ragnarok, the end of the world, all the beautiful mansions would be destroyed, but the golden playthings of the gods— chess pieces— would remain, and a new world would arise.
Asgard’ s Wall and the Giant Master Builder The Aesir gods wanted to build a new wall around