1.
Nifelheim
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Nifelheim is a Swedish black metal band. The band was formed in 1990 by the twin brothers Erik and Per Gustavsson, under the stage names Tyrant, Nifelheim was founded in 1990 and recorded the demo tape Unholy Death between 1992 and 1993. The band signed to Necropolis Records and recorded the debut album Nifelheim at Studio Fredman, during this period the band fired their first guitarist Morbid Slaughter for having a girlfriend. After this they were joined by John Zweetsloot and Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection on guitars, the band was banned from the studio. After a documentary about heavy metal fans which aired in Sweden in 1998, Tyrant, in 1998, Nifelheim contributed Die in Fire to the Bathory tribute album In Conspiracy with Satan – A Tribute to Bathory. The band left Necropolis Records and recorded Servants of Darkness in March 2000, in 2001, the band played their first concert as headliner at the 2heavy4you festival in Sweden, followed by other concerts in Europe. Nifelheim plays old-school black metal inspired by bands like Venom, Bathory, Brazilian thrash metal bands Vulcano, Holocausto and Sarcófago and they are also influenced by Iron Maiden, for example, in some arrangements. The bands lyrics treat Satanism and other topics typical for black metal, Nifelheim rejected this characterization and cited it as a reason for ceasing to give interviews anymore. In a statement released to Blabbermouth. net, the band later verified that they had made, further, he stated that he is not hating either of these musicians, nor did he intend to put any disgrace upon their memory. It is unclear if Tyrant was saying the statement was out of context. Apparently due to the controversy, that interview has been their last to date and they also mentioned people labeling them as non serious as another reason to not give interviews anymore. Hellbutcher - vocals Tyrant - bass Satámas - guitar Savage Aggressor - guitar Disintegrator - drums 1993 - Unholy Death 1994 - Nifelheim 1997 - Devils Force 1997 - Headbangers Against Disco Vol
2.
Norse cosmology
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The cosmology of Norse mythology has nine homeworlds or nine realms, unified by the world tree Yggdrasil. Mapping the nine worlds escapes precision because the Poetic Edda often alludes vaguely, the Norse creation myth tells how everything came into existence in the gap between fire and ice, and how the gods shaped the homeworld of humans. A cosmic ash tree, Yggdrasil, lies at the center of the Norse cosmos. Three roots drink the waters of the homeworlds, one in the homeworld of the gods, the Æsir, Asgard, one in the homeworld of the humans, Midgard, and one in the homeworld of the dead, Helheim. Beneath the root in the world of the frost giants is the spring of Mímir, whose waters contain wisdom, the root in the Æsir homeworld taps the sacred wellspring of fate, the Well of Urðr. The tree is tended by the Norns, who live near it, each day, they water it with pure water and whiten it with clay from the spring to preserve it. The water falls down to the earth as dew, animals continually feed on the tree, threatening it, but its vitality persists evergreen as it heals and nourishes the vibrant aggression of life. On the topmost branch of the tree sits an eagle, the beating of its wings cause the winds in the world of men. At the root of the tree lies a great dragon, Niðhǫggr, gnawing at it continuously, the squirrel Ratatoskr carries insults from one to the other. Harts and goats devour the branches and tender shoots, in the beginning, there were two regions, Muspelheim in the south, full of fire, light and heat, and Niflheim in the north, full of arctic waters, mists, and cold. Between them stretched the yawning emptiness of Ginnungagap, and into it poured sparks and smoke from the south and layers of rime, as heat and cold met in Ginnungagap, a living jǫtunn, Ymir, appeared in the melting ice. From his left armpit, the first man and woman were born, from his legs, the frost jötnar were born, making Ymir the progenitor of the jǫtnar. Most sources identify Ymirs oldest son as Þrúðgelmir, who bore Ymirs grandson, the other jǫtnar are usually unnamed. Ymir fed on the milk of the cow Auðumbla and she licked the blocks of salty ice, releasing Búri. Búris son Borr had three sons, the gods Odin, Vili and Vé, the three slew Ymir, and all of the jötnar except for Bergelmir and his wife, who were drowned in the blood of the others. From Ymirs body, they made the world of humans, his blood the seas and lakes, his flesh the earth, his bones the mountains and his teeth the rocks. From his skull they made the dome of the sky, setting a dwarf at each of the four corners to hold it high above the earth and they protected it from the jötnar with a wall made from Ymirs eyebrows. Next they caused time to exist, and placed the orbs of the sun, Odin, passing through the world of the jötnar, found two beautiful young giants named Sól and Máni, sun and moon
3.
Norse mythology
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The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worlds that flank a central cosmological tree, Yggdrasil. Units of time and elements of the cosmology are personified as deities or beings, various forms of a creation myth are recounted, where the world is created from the flesh of the primordial being Ymir, and the first two humans are Ask and Embla. These worlds are foretold to be reborn after the events of Ragnarök, there the surviving gods will meet, and the land will be fertile and green, and two humans will repopulate the world. Norse mythology has been the subject of scholarly discourse since the 17th century, by way of comparative mythology and historical linguistics, scholars have identified elements of Germanic mythology reaching as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology. In the modern period, the Romanticist Viking revival re-awoke an interest in the subject matter, the myths have further been revived in a religious context among adherents of Germanic Neopaganism. The majority of these Old Norse texts were created in Iceland and this occurred primarily in the 13th century. The Prose Edda was composed as a manual for producing skaldic poetry—traditional Old Norse poetry composed by skalds. Originally composed and transmitted orally, skaldic poetry utilizes alliterative verse, kennings, the Prose Edda presents numerous examples of works by various skalds from before and after the Christianization process and also frequently refers back to the poems found in the Poetic Edda. The Poetic Edda consists almost entirely of poems, with some prose narrative added, in comparison to skaldic poetry, Eddic poetry is relatively unadorned. Numerous further texts, such as the sagas, provide further information, the saga corpus consists of thousands of tales recorded in Old Norse ranging from Icelandic family histories to Migration period tales mentioning historic figures such as Attila the Hun. By way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology, comparisons to other attested branches of Germanic mythology may also lend insight, wider comparisons to the mythology of other Indo-European peoples by scholars has resulted in the potential reconstruction of far earlier myths. Of the mythical tales and poems that are presumed to have existed during the Middle Ages, Viking Age, Migration Period, numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts. In the mythology, Thor lays waste to numerous jötnar who are foes to the gods or humanity, the god Odin is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts. One-eyed, wolf and raven-flanked, and spear in hand, Odin pursues knowledge throughout the worlds, Odin has a strong association with death, Odin is portrayed as the ruler of Valhalla, where valkyries carry half of those slain in battle. Odins wife is the powerful goddess Frigg who can see the future but tells no one, and together they have a beloved son, Baldr. After a series of dreams had by Baldr of his death, his death is engineered by Loki, and Baldr thereafter resides in Hel. Odin must share half of his share of the dead with a powerful goddess and she is beautiful, sensual, wears a feathered cloak, and practices seiðr. She rides to battle to choose among the slain, and brings her chosen to her afterlife field Fólkvangr, Freyja weeps for her missing husband Óðr, and seeks after him in far away lands
4.
Hel (location)
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In Norse mythology, Hel, the location, shares a name with Hel, a female figure associated with the location. In late Icelandic sources, varying descriptions of Hel are given, in the Poetic Edda, Brynhildrs trip to Hel after her death is described and Odin, while alive, also visits Hel upon his horse Sleipnir. In Snorri Sturlusons Prose Edda, Baldr goes to Hel on his death, the Old Norse feminine proper noun Hel is identical to the name of the entity that presides over the realm, Old Norse Hel. The word has cognates in all branches of the Germanic languages, including Old English hell, Old Frisian helle, Old Saxon hellia, Old High German hella, all forms ultimately derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun *xaljō or *haljō. In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the form of the Proto-Indo-European root *kel-, *kol-, to cover, conceal. The term is related to Modern English hall and therefore also Valhalla. Hall and its numerous Germanic cognates derive from Proto-Germanic *hallō covered place, hall, related early Germanic terms and concepts include Proto-Germanic *xalja-rūnō, a feminine compound noun, and *xalja-wītjan, a neutral compound noun. This form is reconstructed from the Latinized Gothic plural noun *haliurunnae, Old English helle-rúne, the compound is composed of two elements, *xaljō and *rūnō, the Proto-Germanic precursor to Modern English rune. The second element in the Gothic haliurunnae may however instead be an agent noun from the verb rinnan, which would make its literal meaning one who travels to the netherworld. )Proto-Germanic *xalja-wītjan is reconstructed from Old Norse hel-víti hell, Old English helle-wíte hell-torment, hell, Old Saxon helli-wīti hell, and the Middle High German feminine noun helle-wīze. The compound is a compound of *xaljō and *wītjan, in reference to Hel, in the poem Völuspá, a völva states that Hel will play an important role in Ragnarök. The Völva states that a crowing sooty-red cock from the halls of Hel is one of three cocks that will signal one of the events of Ragnarök. The other two are Fjalar in Jotunheim and Gullunkambi in Valhalla, in Grímnismál stanza 31, Hel is listed as existing beneath one of the three roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. One of the two leads to the frost jötnar and the third to Mankind. In the short poem Helreið Brynhildar, Hel is directly referenced as a location in the title, while riding along a road on the border of Hel in a lavish cart, Brynhildr encounters a dead giantess at a burial mound belonging to her. This results in an exchange, during which Brynhildr tells of her life. In Baldrs draumar, Odin rides to the edge of Hel to investigate nightmares that Baldr has had and he uses a spell to bring to life the corpse of a Völva. Odin introduces himself under a name and pretense and asks for information from the völva relating to Baldrs dreams. The völva reluctantly proceeds to produce prophecies regarding the events of Ragnarök, Niflhel is mentioned as being just outside Hel
5.
Gylfaginning
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Gylfaginning, is the first part of Snorri Sturlusons Prose Edda after Prologue. The Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the Norse gods, the second part of the Prose Edda is called the Skáldskaparmál and the third Háttatal. This is why he journeys to Asgard, but on the way he is tricked by the gods and arrives in some other place, inside the palace he encounters a man who asks Gylfis name and so king Gylfi introduces himself as Gangleri. Gangleri then is taken to the king of the palace and comes upon three men, High, Just-As-High, and Third, Gangleri is then challenged to show his wisdom by asking questions, as is the custom in many Norse sagas. Each question made to High, Just-As-High, and Third is about an aspect of the Norse mythology or its gods, in the end all the palace and its people just vanish and Gylfi is left standing on empty ground. It is then implied that as Gylfi returns to his nation and it can be argued that Snorri used this narrative device as a means of being able to safely document a vanishing and largely oral tradition within a Christian context. Gylfaginning in Old Norse at heimskringla. no Text of all original manuscripts The text with modern Icelandic spelling English translation
6.
Hvergelmir
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In Norse mythology, Hvergelmir is a major spring. Hvergelmir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from traditional sources. Some of these lead to the dwelling of the gods. Hvergelmir is mentioned several times in the Prose Edda, later in Gylfaginning, Just-as-High describes the central tree Yggdrasil. Just-as-High says that three roots of the support it and extend very, very far and that the third of these three roots extends over Niflheim. Beneath this root, says Just-as-High, is the spring Hvergelmir, additionally, High says that Hvergelmir contains not only Níðhöggr but also so many snakes that no tongue can enumerate them. Hvergelmir is mentioned a time in the Prose Edda where Third discusses the unpleasantries of Náströnd. Third notes that Hvergelmir yet worse than the venom-filled Náströnd because—by way of quoting a portion of a stanza from the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá—There Nidhogg torments the bodies of the dead
