24 eikthyrnir
goats while the god was visiting the giant Hymir.
This Egil may have been the father of Thor’s human
servants Thialfi and Roskva.
Another Egil is the subject of a popular Icelandic
saga, or epic story, known today as Egil’s Saga. He was
a very skilled and talented archer and the brother of
Weland, the blacksmith best known from Germanic
mythology.
E ikthyrnir (E ik Þ yrnir ) (Oak
Thorny) The
fully grown male deer, or stag, that stood on the
roof of Valhalla, Odin’s famous palace, and nibbled
at the leaves of the great oak tree Laerad, around
which the hall had been built. Drops of an unnamed
fluid dripped from Eikthyrnir’s antlers, and from
it came all of the great rivers of the world. Besides
being named in Norse manuscripts, Eikthyrnir is
portrayed on the 10th-century carved stone cross
from Gosforth, Cumbria, England.
E inherjar (Lone
Fighters) The fallen human
warriors chosen by Odin to live and revel with him in
Valhalla until the end of time, known as Ragnarok.
These special warriors are described in many written
sources from Iceland. Older poems and stories
describe them as special warriors of Odin who are
served by the Valkyries. In other works, including
the P rose E dda written by Snorri Sturluson, the
Einherjar are dead warriors who go to live in Valhalla
with Odin. There they feast each day on the meat
of the magical boar Saehrimnir and practice their
warfare in preparation for Ragnarok, the final conflict
between the gods and the giants.
Scholars suggest that the image of the Einherjar
is based on a very ancient cult that worshiped Odin,
the god of the dead and of battle. Many kings and
princes of Scandinavia were followers of this cult
and dedicated themselves and the people they killed
in battle to Odin.
E ir A goddess and healer or physician. Little
is now known of Eir. She appears in the works
of Snorri Sturluson and is mentioned once in
the older P oetic E dda . Eir is one of the 12 or 13
highest-ranking goddesses, according to Snorri’s list
of deities. She is also one of the handmaids of the
beautiful giantess Menglod.
Eir means “peace,” “mercy,” or “clemency,” traits
some see as important to her role as a physician. That
Snorri and others even named this goddess suggests
to scholars that Eir once played an important role in
Norse religion.
E itri
A dwarf who was the son of Ivaldi and
brother of Brokk. The three were well-known crafts-
men among the dwarfs.
In the P rose E dda , Snorri Sturluson tells the
story of how the trickster god Loki persuaded Brokk
and Eitri to make Sif’s golden hair, the ship Skid-
bladnir, and Odin’s spear Gungnir. After this, Loki
bet Brokk that his brother could not make gifts for
the gods as wonderful as those the two had already
made together. Brokk accepted the bet and set out
to help Eitri make a boar with bristles and a mane
of gold, the golden ring Draupnir, and Thor’s great
hammer, Mjollnir.
Brokk worked the bellows to blow air on the
fire to keep it hot while Eitri crafted the objects.
Meanwhile, Loki turned himself into a fly to pester
Brokk. As Eitri worked on the final gift, Thor’s ham-
mer, Loki bit Brokk hard on the eyelid. When Brokk
swiped at the blood that dripped into his eye, he took
one hand off the bellows handle and caused the fire
to cool just enough to halt the complete formation
of the hammer’s handle. This is why Thor’s hammer
has a short handle. But despite Loki’s interference,
Brokk won the bet. (See “Treasure of the Dwarfs”
under Loki.)
E ldhrimnir (Sooty with Fire) The great ket-
tle in the kitchen at Valhalla in which the chef,
Andhrimnir, boils the magical boar, Saehrimnir,
each day. The boiled meat feeds the hordes of the
Einherjar, the fallen human heroes who dwell in
Odin’s great hall, every night.
This kitchen scene is depicted in the poem
G rimnismal and repeated by Snorri Sturluson in
G ylfaginning . The three names for kettle, cook, and
boar refer to the sooty conditions of the kitchen or of
the pot itself from hanging over the fire every day.
E ldir (Man
of Fire) One of the two servants of
the ancient sea god Aegir. Eldir was on duty as the
gatekeeper, or outer guard, to Aegir’s castle when
Loki tried to return to the banquet where he had
killed Aegir’s other servant, Fimafeng. Eldir chal-
lenged Loki, the trickster god, by making him feel
guilty for his acts, but Loki convinced Eldir to allow
him back into the castle.
E livagar
The collective name for 11 venomous
rivers that surged from the spring Hvergelmir in
the underworld, Niflheim. The rivers had fearsome
names that related to howling and boiling and storm-
ing: Fimbulthul, Fjorm, Gjoll, Gunnthra, Hrid,