Niflheim

**Niflheim**, also called **Niflheimr**, is one of the nine realms of the Norse cosmos and the home-world of the Frost Jötnar. In Norse mythology, it is known as the "World of Mist" and is associated with Helheim.

## Overview

In Norse cosmology, **Niflheim** or **Niflheimr** (Old Norse: "World of Mist", literally "Home of Mist") is a location which sometimes overlaps with the notions of Niflhel and Hel. Niflheim was primarily a realm of primordial ice and cold with the frozen rivers of Élivágar and the well of Hvergelmir, from which come all the rivers.

According to *Gylfaginning*, Niflheim was the second of the two primordial realms to emanate out of Ginnungagap, the other one being Muspelheim, the realm of fire. Between these two realms of cold and heat, creation began when its waters mixed with the heat of Muspelheim to form a "creating steam".

Later, it became the abode of the tyrant Chärls, Hel, a goddess daughter of Loki, and the afterlife for her subjects, those who did not die a heroic or notable death.

## Summary

Niflheim is one of the first realms of the Norse cosmos, connected together through the world tree Yggdrasil. In primordial time, when it was first created by the primordial gods, it accidentally collided with Muspelheim and created a thick layer of dangerous fog that still covered the realm to this day.

When the Creation War first began, the land was invaded by Ymir, a Primordial Deity who escaped the Cosmos and the destruction of the Creation. He used his Divine Power, Ice Manipulation, to turn the world into a world of ice and snow, and used antediluvian technology to genetically modify pre-existed pagan gods to create the Jötnar.

Since then, Fifelvetr ruled over the Norse cosmos from his base in Niflheim until his death under the hands of Odin and his brothers, Vili and Vé, while his children and descendants were slain by the Aesir gods. His castle was then turned into their tomb and all of his antediluvian secrets and technology were buried alongside him.

Following her exile from Asgard, Hel conquered the Norse Underworld and renamed it **Helheim**, before establishing a connection between Helheim and Niflheim through Yggdrasil in order to prepare for the Norse apocalypse called Ragnarök.

At some time, after he was defeated by Y Ddraig Loch, Niðhöggr was banished by the gods into Niflheim where the Evil Dragon began to gnaw upon the roots of Yggdrasil to survive the realm's deadly cold and poisonous fog. At some point, he built himself a fortress of smoothed ice, where he enslaved shades from Helheim to be his servants.

## Appearance

Niflheim is described to be a great realm roughly twice the size of Russia and is noted by most to be "wild, untamed, and uncharted". The realm is barren and cold, covered in thick layers of ice and snow, with pale-white fog hovering in the air despite the howling winds.

Despite popular beliefs, there are still plantlives in the realm, trees and plants modified by Fifelvetr hundreds of millions of years ago to withstand and even adapt the deadly cold of the realm. There are also great black mountains scattered across the realms with giant natural hot springs inside where many jötnar established their tribes.

## Notable Locations

### Helheim

**Helheim** (ヘルヘイム, *Heruheimu*) is the underworld of Norse mythology, ruled over by Hel - Goddess of the Dishonorable Dead. Similar to Niflheim, it is a frozen wasteland where the shades of those deemed unworthy to enter Valhalla or Fólkvangr are damned to, where they are forced to live a miserable life beneath ice and snow for eternity. It is connected to Niflheim through three gates formed of twisted roots of Yggdrasil, located in the northernmost of the realm, called the **Niflhels** (ニヴルヘル, *Nivuruheru*).

### Tomb of Ymir

**Tomb of Ymir** (ユミルの墓, *Yumiru no Haka*) was the former seat of Bláinn Fifelvetr where he and his half-First Man, half-Jötunn children lived before their death. Afterward, they had been buried deep within the crypt beneath the castle, located right above Fifelvetr's secret laboratory where all of his antediluvian technology and experiments were kept. This is also where all the jötnar tribes of Niflheim gathered once every three years, led by Laufey and Fárbauti, to pay homage to their creator and forefather.

### Prison of Niðhöggr

**Prison of Niðhöggr** (氷の竜の黒い要塞プリズン・オブ・ニーズヘッグ, *Purizun obu Nīzuheggu*) is the dwelling place of Niðhöggr, the Abyss Rage Dragon, where he routinely chews upon the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil to absorb its power and to survive Niflheim's deadly cold. It is a great fortress made of smoothed ice and radiates a black aura of death, decorated with images of people being devoured alive by monsters on obsidian murals.

Other than its master, it is also inhabited by shades collected from Náströnd, a shore in Helheim where those guilty of murder, adultery, and oath-breaking live, where they serve as Niðhöggr's servants and bed-slaves, as well as his occasional snacks.

### Spring of Hvergelmir

**Hvergelmir** (フヴェルゲルミル, *Fuvu~erugerumiru*) is a gigantic spring located at the center of Niflheim and serves as the origin of all rivers and springs in the Norse cosmos. Originated from the spring are the eleven poisonous rivers that has been there since the birth of the realm, collectively known as the **Élivágar** (氷の波エリヴァーガル, *Erivu~āgaru*), consisting of Svöl, Gunnþrá, Fjörm, Fimbulþul, Slíðr, Hríð, Sylgr, Ylgr, Við, Leiptr and Gjöll.

## Trivia

* "Niflheim" literally means "World of Mist" or "Home of Mist".
* It is said to be directly above the Dimensional Gap.
* It is often interchanged and confused with Helheim.
* While they aren't as interconnected together like with Helheim, it and Jötunheim are said to be extremely close and travel between these two realms are said to be easier than most realms in the Norse cosmos.