Niflheim

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Niflheim (or Niflheimr) ("Mist Home", the "Abode of Mist" or "Mist World") is one of the Nine Worlds and is a location in Norse mythology which overlaps with the notions of Niflhel and Hel. The name Niflheimr only appears in two extant sources, Gylfaginning and the much debated Hrafnagaldr Óðins.
According to Gylfaginning, it was one of the two primordial realms, the other one being Muspelheim, the realm of fire. Between these two realms of cold and heat, creation began. Later, it became the location of Hel, the abode of those who did not die a heroic death.
==Etymology==
Nif]Online Etymology Dictionary is cognate with the Old English Nifol ("dark")Online Etymology Dictionary and German nebel, "fog").
==Gylfaginning==
In Gylfaginning by Snorri Sturluson, Gylfi, the king of ancient Scandinavia, receives an education in Norse mythology from Odin in the guise of three men. Gylfi learns from Odin (as Jafnhárr) that Niflheimr was the first world to be created after Muspelheim:
Odin (as Þriði) further tells Gylfi that it was when the ice from Niflheimr met the flames from Muspelheimr that creation began and Ymir was formed:
In relation to the world tree Yggdrasil, Jafnhárr (Odin) tells Gylfi that Niflheimr is located under the third root, where Ginnungagap (Yawning Void) once was:
Gylfi is furthermore informed that when Loki had engendered Hel, she was cast into Niflheimr by Odin:
Hel thus became the mistress of the world of those dead in disease and old age. One last mention of Niflheimr appears where it is the last destination of the jotun who were killed by Thor after he had built Asgard:
==Hrafnagaldr Óðins==
In Hrafnagaldr Óðins, there is a brief mention of Niflheimr as a location in the North, towards which the sun (Alfr's illuminator) chased the night as it rose:
:Riso raknar,
:rann álfraudull,
:nordr at niflheim
:nióla sótti;
:upp nam ár Giöll
:Úlfrúnar nidr,
:hornþytvalldr
:Himinbiarga.Hrafnagaldr Óðins in Sophus Bugge's edition.	
:The powers rose,
:the Alfs’ illuminator
:northwards before Niflheim
:chased the night.
:Up Argjöll ran
:Ulfrun´s son,
:the mighty hornblower,
:of heaven's heights.Odin’s Ravens’ Song in translation by Benjamin Thorpe (1866), at Northvegr.	
==See also==
* Æsir
* Ginnungagap
==Notes and references==
Category:Norse mythology
Category:Afterlife