Viking mythology focuses on the stories of the gods – the Aesir and Vanir gods – and the jotun – the giants. But they are not the only supernatural beings that feature in Norse myth. There are a great number of supernatural beings that feature in stories who are called alfar, which we translate as “elves”.
There are various types of elves: alfar (elves), ljosalfar (light elves), svartalfar (black elves), dokkalfar (dark elves), and dverge (dwarves). These are generally divided into two categories in modern scholarship, just light elves, called elves for short, and dark elves, usually referred to as dwarves.
Very little information survives about the alfar, and the information that does survive are snippets and passing mentions sprinkled throughout the sources that must be put together as an incomplete puzzle, but this is what we know about the Norse elves.
Origins of the Elves
According to the Norse creation myth, the dwarves, called dverger in this context, were born from the body of the primordial giant Ymir, killed by Odin and his two brothers, who then used his body to shape the world. Some stories describe dwarves emerging from Ymir’s dead body like maggots. Other sources suggest that they were made from the blood of Brimir [fire] and the bones of Blainn [death], both sometimes considered alternative names for Ymir.
Because the term dverger is used in this source, we cannot say whether all elves came from Ymir, or whether it was just the dark elves, also called dwarves, who were born in this way. No other suggested origin is given for the light elves. However, they may have been defied ancestors because they are sometimes described as haunting burial mounds, which were portals between the world of the living and the world of the dead. They are also sometimes referred to by humans as their ancestors, without any suggestion that they themselves have elven blood.
Some primordial dwarves are also given a role in the construction of the Norse cosmos. When Odin and his brothers killed Ymir, they hung his head in the air as the sky. It is held aloft by four dwarves, Austri, Vestri, Nordri, and Sudri (East, West, North, and South), holding aloft the four corners of the sky with their colossal strength.
Homelands of the Elves
The Norse cosmos is described as having nine worlds. There is Asgard, the realm of the Aesir god, Jotunheim, the realm of the Jotun, and Midgard, the realm of men. The light elves were believed to live in a realm called Alfheim (elf home) or Ljosalfheim (light elf home).
We are told that it is a heavenly realm located near Asgard. There is a strange reference in the Prose Edda, when Odin in the disguise of High is explaining the nature of the universe and what will happen at the end of days, which suggests it might be a heavenly realm higher than Asgard. Odin suggests that there are three heavenly realms south of Asgar. South meant that it was further up in the branches of the world tree Yggdrasil, and further away from the chaotic lower realms.
Odin says that it is in one of these realms that the survivors of Ragnarök will gather after the apocalypse to rebuild the world. The first of the three realms is called Andlangr and the last Vidblainn. While the gods will move into these realms after Ragnarök, he says that only the light elves inhabit these lands at the moment. It is conceivable that the unnamed third realm is Alfheim.
The only other important piece of information that survives about Alfheim is that it was ruled over by Freyr, one of the Vanir gods. Freyr is described as being gifted the realm of Alfheim to rule as a tooth gift, which was a gift commonly given to infants when they cut their first tooth. This suggests that Freyr received the realm before becoming a resident of Asgard, by which time he must have been an adult to have been married to his sister, so when he was still living among the Vanir in Vanaheim.
The dwarves lived in Svartalheim, which is described as located beneath Midgard. It is described as a vast underground world of caves, lit only by the mighty forges that the dwarves use as the best blacksmiths in the Norse world.
Characteristics of the Light Elves
We know very little about the appearance and behaviour of the light elves. We are told that they are fairer to look at than the sun, that they have a close connection with nature, and that they were expert in the practice of magic. All of this makes them seem very similar to the Vanir gods, who were deities associated with nature and the patrons of Seidr magic.
Just as it is almost impossible to draw clear lines between the Aesir gods and the Vanir gods, the elves seem to be very closely related to them. In Old Norse poetry there is a common alliterative phrase “Aesir ok Alfar”, or gods and elves, so they were frequently mentioned in the same breath. In the Lokasenna they are also described as being drinking companions and lovers of the gods, and there are several mentions in surviving sources of them receiving sacrifices.
Elves sometimes feature in sagas, usually as sort of demi-gods who make mischief for men or seduce them. It is also clear that they can be vengeful and bring bad luck if they are crossed.
Dwarves: The Master Craftsmen of the Norse Cosmos
The dwarves appear more frequently in Norse mythology, and they are described as a people pitch black in colour who are the master craftsmen of the Norse cosmos. Most encounters with them describe them creating incredible objects, including many of the weapons carried by the gods, most of which were procured by Loki.
The first round of weapons was procured when Loki, as a joke, cut off the golden hair of Sif, Thor’s wife. An enraged Thor demanded that Loki find a way to replace the hair. Loki went to two dwarven brothers known as the sons of Ivaldi and asked them to make Sif a wig from finely spun gold and to enchant the wig to have the magic ability to grow on her head.
Loki also convinced the brothers to make additional gifts to appease the other gods for his behaviour. The brothers made Sklidbladnir, a ship that was gifted to the god Freyr and was enchanted to always have a fair wind and to sail on air as well as on water. It was large enough to hold all the gods with their mounts at the same time but could also be folded down and kept in someone’s pocket. Loki also procured Gungnir, a mighty spear for Odin that was enchanted to always his its mark, regardless of the skill of the wielder.
Loki was so pleased with the items that the brothers made that he declared them the best of all smiths. Two other dwarven brothers, Brokkr and Eitri, overheard this and wagered with Loki that they could make three presents for the gods of equal excellence to those of the Ivaldi. Loki agreed to the wager, staking his own head.
While Loki tried many things to sabotage the dwarves, they did indeed create three amazing treasures. They made Gullinbursti, a boar with golden hair so bright that it turned night into day wherever the bore ran. This too was eventually given to Freyr, and it could run faster on land, water, and air than any horse. They also made Draupnir, a ring of immense beauty that also possessed the magic to replicate itself eight times every ninth day. Finally, they made Mjolnir, which had the power to level mountains and became the weapon of the god Thor.
Loki tried to steal these weapons and take them back to Asgard alone, but Brokkr and Eitri followed him there and demanded payment for their work. The gods agreed that the treasures were at least as the original treasures and that Loki must pay the required price. Loki tries to get out of the agreement by telling the dwarves that he had promised them his head, and not his neck. The dwarves settle for sewing Loki’s mouth shut.
Loki was not the only Norse god to solicit treasures from the dwarves. The gods asked the dwarves to create Gleipnir, a light but strong chain to bind the great world Fenrir when nothing else would. The goddess Freyja also agrees to spend a night each with four dwarves, Alfridd, Berling, Dvalin, and Grerr, in exchange for the necklace Brisingamen, the most beautiful known in the Norse world.
The dwarves also made the Mead of Poetry. They did this by killing Kvasir, the wisest being ever to exist made from the mixed spittle of the Aesir and Vanir gods at the end of their conflict. They used his blood as a magical ingredient for the drink, which would give any person power over the spoken word.
Dwarven Shapeshifters
In other stories, the dwarves are often described as shapeshifters, a talent usually associated with the jotun.
The dwarf Andvari lived under a waterfall and had the power to turn himself into a pike to guard and protect the many treasures that he hid there. This included a beautiful ring known as Andvaranaut. Loki borrowed a net from the goddess Ran to catch Andvari as a pike and steal his treasure, including the great ring. Andvari managed to escape, but before fleeing to the mountains, he cursed the ring to always bring death and sadness to whoever possessed it.
Loki needed to obtain the riches, including the ring, to pay a ransom to the dwarven king Hreimdar. His sons were also shapeshifters, and one had a habit of changing himself into an otter. While traveling to see the king with Odin and Hoenir, Loki killed a handsome otter and then tried to gift the pelt to the king. But the dwarven king immediately recognized his son’s skin and demanded a high price for the murder.
When the king received the ring, he quickly became obsessed with the ring Andvaranaut, as did his two remaining sons Fafnir and Regin, who were upset that their father would not share the ring with them. The brothers eventually kill their father, and then Fafnir shapeshifts into a dragon to drive off his brother and keep all the treasure for himself, including the ring. Years later, Regin sends his adopted son Sigurd to slay the dragon Fafnir and bring him the ring, with the intention of then killing Sigurd to prevent him also desiring the ring. But Sigurd is warned of his adopted father’s plan, kills Regin, and keeps the ring for himself, with disastrous consequences for his family.
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