6.6.0 Back To Urdr's Servants, the Death Norns/disir

6.6.1 The most numerous of Urdr's servants on this side of the equation are the countless hamingjur and giptur , lower rank norns who deal with peoples lives and death. We'll begin with the hamingjur (or Vordhrs as they were also called).
These are feminine spirit beings who are assigned to every human being to act as their companion, conscious, guardian, and official observer (they may even be the birth disir who deliver the proto-being to its mother). Joining their subject before they're even born, they remain silently and invisibly by the side of those they watch over throughout their lives, appearing to them only in dreams or shortly before their death.

6.6.2 While initially affectionately neutral toward their living partner, these watchers can provide rewards for good behavior and help them avoid misfortune if they come to truly care for their charge. This benevolence can just as easily turn to wrath however if their companions turn to evil ways, inflicting punishments and ruining plans. But the worst thing they can do to a bad person is to leave them in disgust. Which they were capable of doing. (These hamingjur/vordhrs are considered by some mythologists to be the source of inspiration for the good and evil figures that sit on peoples' shoulders and debate the proper course of action they should take.)

6.6.3 The primary function of these spiritual observers though was to preserve a record of their companion's life. This is because of the unusual procedure the Norse evolved to judge the souls of the dead and decide where they would spend their afterlife. Unless they had knowledge of a special and secret set of runes, the dead were not allowed to speak after their death, including during their judgment before the gods. It was therefore up to their hamingjur/vordhrs to speak for them, making a faithful account of that person's life. With such a system in place, there was no danger that the judgments passed by the gods on the dead wouldn't be as fair and just as they were unappealable and everlasting.
This report was not unbiased however, hamingjur/vordhrs who were favorably inclined toward their subject made a far better appeal for a good judgment than those who were disinterested, or worse, antagonistic. And if the hamingjur/vordhrs had nothing to report because she'd abandoned her charge, one's chances of a positive judgment were essentially nil.
As an additional bit of information, there were also guardian spirits for families and clans, known as kynfylgjur and ættarfylgjur, who watched over those social units in a similar manner, although they didn't have a death report duty.

6.6.4 The giptur. While the hamingja/vordhr is the first to learn of it when her mistress Urdr(or maybe Skuld) has announced dauða orð - the doom of death against her companion, she learns of it from a gipta, another type of disir charged with carrying out Urdr/Hel's resolves. With this knowledge the hamingja immediately(*) leaves her charge to go to the lower world, the realm of the dead, and make preparations for their imminent arrival. (A gipta could also bring good news, instructing the hamingja/vordhr to help or aid their companion as Urdr directed. Gipta seem to have been general messengers for the norns.)
(*This is where the difference between hamingja, upper Scandinavia, and vordhrs, Denmark and points south, lies. The vordhr steps back while the death disir do their thing, but then it's her that accompanies her partner to the lower world.)
The hamingja/vordhr is then said to be horfin, gone, which if perceived by means of dreams or revelation, is an unmistakable sign of coming death. But unless the death-doomed person is a nithing, one whose hamingja/vordhr has abandoned them in disgust, then they are by no means permanently separated from their personal norn. The bond between human and watcher is like a spiritual marriage, and death does not part them, only sins and evil deeds.

6.6.5 But where and if they'll spend eternity together is up to the court of death held by Odin and the other Aesir gods daily near Urdr's fountain. For hamingja/vordhr, who have usually come to care for their companions, this judgment is all important. It will decide the eternal happiness or unhappiness of the person she has been a guardian spirit of, and her duty and inclination compels her to be there. She has always (hopefully) cared for and defended her companion during their life together, now it is of paramount importance that she should continue to do so now. The lips of the dead are sealed, but she is able to speak, knows all there is about her charge, and from the standpoint of the court, is a more reliable witness than the actual defendant. So her testimony will have the strongest weight.
(I found it fascinating how the relationship of these lesser Norn/Vordhrs to their human companions parallels the situation between the goddesses and their angels in Oh/Ah! My Goddess.
It's also interesting how this system, as described, explains why we've mostly only seen goddesses and female demons. It's implied by this mythology that the lower world is heavily populated with female disir (lesser goddesses or norns) who are involved in running most of the activities interacting with the mortal world. The men are all presumably tied up in military activities guarding the borders with (old)Jotunheim, Niflhel, the fire Jotun to the south, and the walls of Asgard.
I can't help but wonder if Mr. Fujishima was aware of these elements of the mythology and if they inspired him in any way. But there's no proof.)

6.6.6 The next class of Urdr's maid-servants are the ones which execute her dauða orð - the dooms of death, and then conduct the souls of the dead to the lower world. Essentially, these are the classic angels of death, they show up and you start breathing your last. A person's death can be quick or slow, painful or easy depending on the nature of the death disir that is dispatched. In some cases a target can even buy themselves some more time if they know the right runes, spells, herbs, or prayers, but eventually the Norns decisions will be executed (ha ha, a little humor there).
(I just noticed what section number this subject got. This wasn't planned, honest.)

6.6.7 Foremost among these attendants of the dead are the Valkyries. Tradition has these stately disir riding proudly across the clouds with their glittering helmets, shields, and spears as they go forth at the Valfather's biding to choose heroes and men of valor to bring back to sit in Asguard's Valhall and drink mead with the other einherjes (elite warriors) while waiting for Ragnorok. And when they aren't running the Valfather's errands the shield maidens keep themselves busy bringing mead-horns and meat to the Aesir and heroes as they feast.
It wasn't quite that simple though.

First, Odin didn't ACTUALLY choose who was to die in battle, and neither did the Valkyries (well, all but one of them didn't). That little detail was in the hands of the Norns, who decided who's fate it would be to die in battle. What Odin's privilege as spear lord was to choose WHEN a warrior's battle death would occur. A warrior destined to die in bed might be wounded, but not slain in battle. So he could call them in early or late in their military careers, and that's why HE'd send the Valkyries out to collect certain warriors at certain times. But not all battle deaths were by his choice. Most were left to the hands of chance and the warrior's battle skills, which brought the Norns back into the picture.

The third Norn, Skuld, is often numbered as one of the Valkyries, sometimes as their leader, more often as just a name on the role call. And while she may not have been totally responsible for issuing the doom of death for a warrior, she most certainly knew when one was and would make sure it was carried out. So the shield maidens were notified well in advance of when someone's number was coming up and were usually there waiting when it did. (Even though Skuld is included as a Valkyrie, it's not likely she stayed with them in Asgard. The three Norns are always seen together, so it's more likely Skuld lives with Urdr and Verthandi in the underworld and commutes to Valhalla each morning with the days list of targets. It's equally possible she was never considered a Valkyrie and was only added to the roster by later authors.)

Second, they didn't ride across the sky. The steeds of the Teutonic Norse COULD travel across the airy ocean overhead, but they had to swim it like a river. (The sky chariots of Day/Dag, Night/Nott, and Sol,Sun traveled roads built for them across the sky. The moon was a ship that that usually sailed a standard course but was seen to drift closer and further away on occasion. Thor's thunder chariot was unique in that it could traverse the sky at will.) That's why they needed Bifrost to connect Asgard to the underworld, it was easier and faster to travel on a solid surface than to dog paddle there.

And finally, they didn't bring the warrior dead directly to Valhalla (theValhall in Asgard). First they had to be judged and processed just like all the other souls and it wasn't until afterwards that Odin and Freyja got their chance to divide them up. So the actual job of the Valkyries was to basically round up the new recruits after fights and battles had taken place and then march them down to Hel to be judged. For this reason they brought extra horses for fallen warriors to ride part of the way back in order to speed their arrival. (Note, as proof for the fact that the deaths they attended weren't random, they always seemed to know how many horses would be needed on these trips.) After that, if the battle slain made the grade, their horses would be restored and the Valkyries would then escort them up Bifrost to their new home where Odin or Freyja would welcome them..

6.6.8 To those not destined to fall by the sword Urdr sent other servants, who could also come on horseback and who's appearance varied in accordance with the manner of death of those persons they'd been sent to accompany.
The kind-hearted disir who came for those who'd become bent and stooped beneath the weight of years were considered to be very benevolent. With tender smiles they'd gently remove the heavy burdens which Elli (Utgard-Loki's foster-mother - Age) had slowly placed on them until they'd become too heavy to bear. Then guide the now physically restored spirits to their judgment. And young children whose lives had hardly begun also got similar special treatment.

6.6.9 Other escorts were of a more terrible kind, and these were said to dwell in Niflhel. Amongst this crew of demonic and witch-like diser were those called the spirits of disease and those that caused misfortune. (Four of these spirits are named Topi (insanity), Opi (hysteria), Tjosul and Otholi (constant restlessness). Interestingly they also are referred to as Thurses, the same as Leikin and our three Norns.) Some death-dooms called for a torturous death by illness while others involved the recipient being slain by some “accidental” means such as falling from a horse and striking their head on a rock. These sorts of unexpected deaths were also the work of the death-disir and it was said that those who “die on a bed of straw” had been “visited by Loki's kinswoman.” But “Loki's kinswoman” and her minions had no authority to determine life and death, they only carried out the dispensations of the Norns. And even when it was Leikin and her unpleasant servants that deliver these terrible dauða orð - dooms of death, the fact that it involved them didn't imply that the doomed person was also damned. That had yet to be decided. How and when you die is in the Norns hands. What happens next is up to the gods.

6.6.10 There is a possible exception to this rule though, and that's death from seid, or sorcery. It's never made clear if death caused by the actions of magic is one of the dooms the Norns pronounce or if it's a case of a witch or sorcerer summoning a death-disir and directing their actions without Urdr's approval. That could be one of the reasons seid was considered such a terrible crime by the gods, it was usurping the Norns authority which would upset the natural order of things and hasten the world's collapse.


6.7.0 Getting There Is Half The Fun

6.7.1 Okay, you've died and your spirit guide says you have an appointment to keep, how do we get there? First of all you're going to rather passively follow your death disir's instructions. With the lose of Lodur's gift of the third elements of lá and læti, blood and animal will, the newly deceased lack the strength and inclination to think and act on their own, another reason guides are needed. If you're lucky, Hel-Horses will be available, otherwise you'll have to walk (unless there was a horse sacrifice accompanying your funeral), but either way your guide will set off shortly after you've passed, and you WILL follow.

6.7.2 If those you've left behind, friends, relatives, or strangers, are pious and rigorously follow the required traditions, your death form will either be ready or be improved on as you travel. All the cosmetic and ornamental actions taken on your corpse are reflected in its litur form, which for awhile retains a close association with its former co-components. (see 6.3.7 &8) Grave goods and offerings will also join the traveling spirit, so eventually you will be properly dressed, equipped, and ready to face your next challenge. (It was never made clear whether the newly dead stick around for their funeral or leave immediately. The impression given is that they start their trip almost immediately and got orientated on the way, but not always. Pressing emotional issues could cause the dead to tarry. I suppose the practical Norse just assumed it would depend on circumstances.)

6.7.3 The first part of the trip is across the landscape of the mortal world. There is only one official entrance for the dead to the lower world, the Hel-Gate situated below the eastern horizon of Midgard, and the deceased souls must all travel there from wherever they die. They usually travel at night and rest during the day, the sunlight being hard on their unprotected litur forms, and it may take several days so those grave provisions are appreciated (its implied in some versions they need to eat). This is an area where there is a great deal of variation in the sources. Many sources imply a rather short time period between the soul's death and it's arrival in the underworld for judging, usually 24 hours, while others imply the traveling time to be several days in length or much longer, faster than physical travel but still a sizable journey. In either situation, the Hel-Horses were meant to speed the journey considerably.

6.7.4 In the earlier versions of the mythology (the more Teutonic/Celtic ones) this journey is described in terms of the “wild hunt”. The spirit guides (the Proto-Valkyrie) leave the underworld at scheduled times, and then race across the world (either through the sky or on the land) gathering the souls of the recently dead and bringing them to the underworld. Living people should stay inside at such times as they might otherwise get swept up in the rush, but otherwise it was nothing to truly worry about. With the advent of Christianity, all the good souls were assumed to go straight to heaven, leaving only the evil ones to be so gathered up. At this point the “wild hunt” took on its more wildly demonic aspects and turned into the wild flight of the damned across the sky it's considered now. But in all cases, the mythology says the deceased must physically travel to the underworld.

6.7.5 Everyone who dies has to go to Hel, not only those whose destination is the realm of bliss, but also those who are going up to Asgard or down to the nine lower regions of torture in Niflhel. Thus the dead must all travel the same road. They come on foot and on horseback, and even in chariots, all guided by the different death disir appropriate to their demise. These include the beautiful warrior maids - the Valkyries, the blue-white daughter of Loki and her sombre spirits of disease, and the gentle maid-servants of old age and children.
They all follow the same route, and the same Hel-Gate opens daily for their entry into the lower world. Women and children, men and the aged, those who have practiced the arts of peace and those who have stained weapons with blood, those who have lived in accordance with the sacred commandments of the Norns and gods and those who have broken them - all have to journey the same way as Baldur went before them, down to the paths that lead to Urdr's well and their Final Judgment.

6.7.6 The Hel-Gate is located just below the eastern edge of Midgard and has a watchman and a key called gillingr or gilling. (Skald's who celebrate the ancestors in their songs, and thus bring the memory of those now in the underworld back to the living, are said to recall the tribute paid to Gilling.) From this gate the highway of the dead travels below the earth in a westerly direction through deep and dark dales. It requires between seven to nine days before they emerge into the regions of light and reach the golden bridge across the river Gjoll that flows from north to south. On the other side of this river the road forks. One branch heads directly north through Mimir's realm, passing the noble manor where Baldur, Nanna (his wife), and Hodnir (his brother and inadvertent murderer) await the aftermath of Ragnarok, Mimir's grove where his well is located, the sacred citadel of the ásmegir, where death and decay cannot enter, and the halls of Nott, Dag, Sol, Delling and Billing, the gods that display the passing of time. This northern road is not, therefore, the one to be taken by the dead. The other trail heads to the south, and as Urd's realm is situated south of Mimir's, this is the path the dead must have followed.

6.7.7 Somewhere along this stretch of Hel's Highway, those with horses must finally dismount and walk the last stretch. This is where the Hel-shoes become important as the fields and streams they must now cross over are not kind to the feet. At the end of this trail is the dead souls common goal, Urd's fountain and the Judgment Site of the gods, the Death-thing. This judgment is not immediate however. While the gods come daily to sit in judgment, the dead must wait at least a day before their turn comes up. There are even occasional backlogs when they may have to wait as long as nine days, but eventually the deceased souls all get to face their makers.

6.8.0 All Rise For The Honorable Judges
So having traveled all this way and finally reached the Thingstead of the Gods, the Court of Judgment for the newly dead, what happens next?

6.8.1 Regardless of when they actually arrive, the deceased souls must wait until the next day when the gods arrive to sit in judgment. Odin and the others are busy deities and the dead must wait on their schedule. This also gives the deceased's hamingjur a chance to rejoin their charges and prepare their testimony, and the dead aren't usually in a hurry to face what's going to happen. (Not that the assembled dead could complain if they wanted to. Their voices are stilled and they can only sit dumbly and await their fate unless they know those very special runes that will let them speak.)

6.8.2 Each day the Aesir travel down from Asgard along the southern arch of the bridge Bifrost to the Óskópnir/Vígríður plain (possibly the Ida Plains mentioned in the Ragnorok myth) just outside of the southern Hel-Gate of the lower world. They all ride specifically named horses for this journey except Thor, who has to walk because he is said to be too massive for a horse to bear and cannot drive his thunder chariot because its flames would damage Bifrost. Still, this is an important duty, so Thor does it each day. Having reached Jormungund, the gods then enter through the southern Hel-Gate and proceed to Urdr's well, crossing four rivers (which Thor has to wade through). Once the gods have arrived from Asgard, dismounted from their horses and taken their judges' seats, the proceedings begin, for the dead are already in their places, tongues mute, dressed in their best, Hel-shoes shined, hair combed, armor and weapons bloody, and their hamingjur/vordhrs standing by ready to act as their advocates in the court. (I believe this is might be a possible source for term “mouthpiece,” meaning lawyer.)

6.8.3 While they cannot speak, or even really show their emotions, the assembled dead must face this event with a great deal of fear and trepidation, for the decisions made here will be for eternity and there is no appeal. Some are destined for Asgard, others for the subterranean regions of bliss, and still others for Niflhel's halls of torture. All will be decided according to the laws which in mythological ethics distinguish between right and wrong, innocence and guilt, that which is pardonable and that which is unpardonable. Great care has been taken to make sure that the facts to be presented will be true and accurate and that the witnesses will be honest and fair in their testimony. Which is hopefully of some comfort to the deceased, as it is their happiness or unhappiness that is about to be determined.

6.8.4 There are basically two outcomes from the judgements of this court. A good decision, or orðs tírr (fair renown), will send the deceased to Hel's regions of bliss or to Valhalla. There they will live in comfort amongst friends and ancestors who have passed before them, lacking in nothing and suffering no want. They can learn about the past from people who saw it first hand, meet those divine beings they had worshiped in person, perfect skills and handcrafts (both warlike and peaceful) that had brought them satisfaction in life (in some cases learning from the first masters), and in general living the good death. (At least until Ragnorok.)

6.8.5 To earn this reward required that the deceased had lived their lives in accordance with the wishes of Odin and his associate judges. If these had been helpful, honorable lives, free from deceit and without fear of death, with acts of mercy and charity toward those in need, respect for the gods, for the temples, and for their duties to kindred and to the dead, the soul on trial could expect a positive outcome. The bond of kinship was especially sacred, and someone who'd slain a kinsman or “sells the dead body of his brother for rings” (I love this one!) is said to be, “Niflgóðr”, or “good for the realm of damnation." For those who in all respects had conducted themselves in a blameless manner toward their kinsmen, such as hesitating to take revenge if their kin had wronged them, they shall “reap great advantage therefrom after death”. Acts such as these were the alpha and the omega of the heathen Teutonic/Norse moral code, and if the dead soul had observed these virtues in life (been ”vamma varir”, on the look-out against blameworthy and criminal deeds), they might, as the old skald sang, "gladly, with serenity and without discouragement, wait for Hel."

6.8.6 The high court seems to have judged very leniently in regard to certain human faults and frailties. Long sessions with the drinking-horn certainly did not lead to any punishment worth mentioning, along with a fondness for female beauty, if it didn't involve meddling with the sacred ties of matrimony. With frankness and humor, the Aesir-father himself freely confessed to his own failings along those lines and, while warning against too much drinking and uncontrolled longing for the fairer sex, admitted without hypocrisy that he himself was once exceptionally drunk at Fjalar's hall and that his acts of impropriety toward Billing's maid had nearly caused him great grief. His attitude toward such infractions was that men should not judge each other too harshly in such matters, with the implied assurance that he certainly wouldn't. Those who stood before the gods with no more serious failings to be charged against them than these might feel assured that their judgment would be positive.

6.8.7 But if the judges of the dead were lenient in these respects, they were inexorably severe in other matters. Lies uttered to injure others, perjury, murder (or assassinations and secret killings not justified as blood-revenge), adultery, the profaning of temples, the opening of grave-mounds, treason, and the breaking of oaths, were all causes for extreme punishment. Unutterable terrors awaited those who were guilty of such sins, and the heiptir (the “furies” of Teutonic/Norse mythology) stood by with scourges of thorns ready to inflict them. Such acts during ones life, unless justified somehow by circumstances, would result in a declaration of námæli, an unfavorable judgment by the gods.

6.8.8 With such a declaration, the deceased soul's case was closed except for having a “magni” (one of the judges who acted as the “dispenser of requital”) announce the damned person's final doom. Afterwards the heipter would flog the condemned sinners down the Hel-road north to the Na-Gates of Niflhel where they would die their second death and face an afterlife of torment. Once declared, there was no way to avoid this doom, for Urdr would cast chains on the condemned that were by definition inescapable. And skill and bravery in combat, as admired as those were, could not save a nithing. The mythological records confirm that men slain by the sword who had lived a wicked life were sent to the world of torture and not to Valhalla as one might have expected from other sources.

6.8.9 A final comment on how the Teutonic/Norse felt about this system of thelesser norns testifying before the judgments seats of the gods is to point out how the hamingjur of such damned souls were considered to continued to feel a great deal of sympathy for them afterwards. Even after they'd abandoned that person they'd been assigned to accompany through life because of their disgust at his or her evil acts, the hamingjur would still weep tears of sorrow when the judgment of námæli was pronounced against their unworthy favorites. (Nornir gráta nái - "the norns (hamingjur) bewail the náir")


6.9.0 One For The Road

6.9.1 So after being judged, what happens to the dead? Well, if the gods decree is orðs tírr (fair renown), the hamingjur welcomes the newly blessed souls with song and joy and then gives them a tour of their new homes in the “green lands” that lie north, south and west of Urdr's fountain. These are the realms of bliss in the lower world, almost identical to the “Elysian Fields” of the classical Greeks, and are characterized as being places of perpetual summer. The lush green of its groves, the colors of its blooming meadows and its fields of waving grain were never touched by decay or frost, and as such they survived in popular memory for centuries after the introduction of Christianity. Even Dante had to include them as the first circle in his description of Hell. But before the dead leave the Thingstead near Urd's fountain, something which obliterated the marks of earthly death had to happened to those who were judged favorably.
(Children who died in their youth were given especially gentle treatment. For them a special area had been set aside where they were watched over by a being noted as being extremely friendly to them. This guardian was called “Gauta spjalli” meaning "the one with whom Odin counsels or Odin's friend" This has been interpreted to mean either Mimir or Hoenir/Vé , but which is uncertain. Both are good candidates as they have other associations with children and were considered kind and gentle, but Hoenir/Vé might have a slight edge because of his connections with the Birth-Disir (see 6.2.2).

6.9.2 Pale, cold, mute, and bearing the marks left by the spirits of disease and weapons of their foes, they had left Midgard to travel down to Jormungund. Now they will leave the Death-Thing full of the warmth of life, a-glow with health, with speech, and more robust than they were on earth. The shades have become once more corporal. When a few score of those slain by the sword first ride across the golden bridge over the river Gjöll to Urdr's fountain, scarcely a sound is heard under the hoofs of their horses. Later; when they ride away from the fountain over Bifrost on their way to Valhalla, the rainbow bridge resounds under the trampling horses. Something has happened to them.

6.9.3 The life of bliss presupposes not only health, but also forgetfulness of earthly sorrows and cares. Various poems and sagas of the middle ages mention a Hades-Potion which brought freedom from sorrow and care without obliterating dear memories or those that could be remembered without longing or pain. This drink could also restore the vigor of life in those deceased souls that drank of it. Teutonic/Norse mythology describes a drinking horn of the lower world that is filled with a mead made by mixing the waters of the three wells. “Grimhild (a Valkyrie) handed me in a filled horn to drink a cool, bitter drink, in order that I might forget my past afflictions. This drink was prepared from Urd's strength, cool-cold sea, and the liquor of Son."

6.9.4 From Son (aka Mimir's fountain), comes the liquid of creative power and of poetry. From Urdr's fountain comes Magnis, the liquid of strengthening that gives the warmth of life to Yggdrasil and protects it from the cold. And from Hvergelmir was taken the liquid called Cool-cold-sea, water that contains all the life giving elements the world mill is scattering into the worlds oceans. These are the liquids that are sucked up by the roots of the world-tree, and then blended in its stem into the sap which gives Yggdrasil its imperishable strength of life. In the same manner these liquids are mixed into a mead that restores a form of life to the dead souls that are deemed worthy.

6.9.5 The drinking horn this mead is served from is a magical item in itself. It is described as being extensively engraved and painted with emblems of the lower world, the chief of which is a dragon which winds just below the upper rim. The dragon's name is Fánn and it possesses a life of its own, manifesting itself to protect the drinking horn from those not entitled to handle it. The dead spirits do not touch the horn save to drink from it, rather it is handled by one of the lesser norns (perhaps their own hamingjur) while they sip from it. The owner of this horn is Odin, the chief judge of the Death-Thing, but it was kept in the care of Mimir, and after his death Mimir's heirs, Urdr and the Norns.

6.9.6 The drinking horn is the security given for the agreement between the Aesir dwelling in the heavens and the powers that lived in the lower world. An agreement that permits the Aesir gods to be the judges of the mortal dead. While the lower world has the exclusive authority over all things concerning the afterlife, this treaty secured to the Aesir the power necessary ( in connection with their control of mankind on midgard and with their claim to be worshiped by them) to dispense happiness and unhappiness in accordance with the laws of religion and morality they had established. Without this power the Aesir would have been of but little significance and Urdr and Mimir supreme. From this "Valfather's pledge" Mimir would drink mead every morning from his fountain of wisdom and then water his root of the world tree with the same horn. In Urdr's hands it is used to revive those dead souls that have been judged worthy of it by the Aesir.

6.9.7 Those damned to unhappiness must also partake of a drink that is "much mixed with venom and forebodes them evil”. They are compelled to drink it before they enter the regions of misery beneath Niflhel and it has much the opposite effect as the mead of happiness. It does not restore speech, warmth, and strength of movement to the doomed dead, but instead robs them of these attributes even further. In the regions of misery in the lower world, it is only the torturing demons that speak. The dead are silent, their tongues made speechless with cold, and they must suffer their agonies without uttering a sound. However, when the spirits of torture feel motivated to make the effort, the damned can be forced to howl. The only emotion left to these lost souls is hatred, and they can only express it with staring eyes.


6.10.0 Well, They Probably Had It Coming

6.10.1 Having been condemned to eternal torment (at least until Ragnarok), the criminal dead are force marched north by the heipter across Urdr and Mimer's domains to the Na-Gates set into the black perpendicular walls of the Nida mountains that separate the lands of Bliss from Niflhel. Along the way they get to see the glories of the Glittering Fields and the Regions of Bliss so they will realize what they have forfeited. The sights along the way include Mimir's fountain and grove, the splendidly decorated mansions of Baldur and the ásmegir, the golden hall of Sindri's race (the dwarves), and the castle where the goddess Nott rests during the day. The grandeur of this route is intentional, it makes the terror the damned souls feel when they finally enter the dark gloom of Niflhel's black borders and climb the stairway to the Na-gates as intense as possible. As they pass the gates of Niflheim the demonic dogs (led by Garm) that guard them howl and bark while overhead wheel and swoop the winged monsters of this land, Nidhogg, Ari, Hræsvelgur, and their like, picking out their prey. This terror is the last “free” emotion the damned will feel, as once inside these gates they will die their “second death.”

6.10.2 Understanding the term “Nair” is important to understanding this next section. It essentially means “corpse” but with the added provision that this corpse is still alive in some way. As a legal term it meant someone who had been condemned to die and was in the process of being executed (so was as good as dead), but was still alive at the moment. The deceased souls, once they have entered Niflhel, are sometimes referred to as “Nair” in the mythology. They're dead in every technical sense of the term, as in inert corpse, but can still think and feel sufficiently to know what's happening to them.

6.10.3 Once they pass the Na-Gates, the Hel-liquid they'd had to drink after their judgment takes effect, possibly triggered by the terror they feel facing the reality of Niflhel. The remaining elements of their original six, numbers 4, 5 &6 (form, intellect, and spirit) come apart and try to flee separately, loosing their original cohesion. But the Hel-liquid and Urd's Hel-bonds won't let them actually depart from each other, so the second death leaves the remaining parts of the deceased soul's being united in one place, but no longer able to move or function on its own. It still remembers everything, including why its there, and can feel its torments, it just can no longer respond to them. Thereafter the damned must suffer and endure whatever happens to them without comment or movement (unless the demons of torment want them to). The worst torment the Teutonic/Norse could come up with was the total loss of one's freedom and will.

6.10.4 Those who have been marched to this terrible fate are sinners of various classes and degrees. Niflhel consisted of nine regions of punishment below a general area of misery. These seem to have corresponded to nine kinds of unpardonable sins, six of which probably were - Perjury, Murder (unjustified and not battle related), Adultery, Oath Breaking, Bearing False Witness, and Knowingly Opposing the Rule of the Gods (violating the laws of living and morality as decreed by the Aesir or actively fighting against them). Souls found guilty of these are doomed to Niflhel forever, or at least for a very, very long time. For those whose ONLY sin was they were uncharitable or lacked mercy, it's known that they had already suffered greatly on their way to Urd's fountain, so it was possible that they, and others in a similar position, might have been able (with the help of their hamingjur) to ransom their fates. This doubtlessly was the major function of their trial and judgment.

6.10.5 When the damned come within the Na-gates, winged demons rush forward with horrible screeches and grasp those damned souls designated for the lower regions, carrying them down through Niflhel's narrow passages and foggy ravines to the realms of torture appointed for them (which I'm not going to get into). A mythological skald who supposedly entered this realm of torture describes how he saw the air filled with "scorched" birds, which were not birds but souls, flying "as numerous as gnats".


6.11.0 There's Damned, and Then There's DAMNED!!!!

6.11.1 The actual regions of torment (Niflhel) are underneath Niflheim proper. The lands above it are part of (old)Jotunheim, the land of the frost giants (Rimthurse) from before the upper worlds were built. The surface here is of two extremes, either steep jagged rocks or a marsh-like bog filled with putrid water and a horrible stench. The river Slid flows north out of Hvergelmir into this region, winding sluggishly across it in a muddy stream before oozing down into the abyss that gives access to the nine regions (or halls) of punishment. Overhead looms Niflheim's dismal sky, the mist and fume obscured bottom of Midgard. It is here that those damned souls that did not earn eternal torment must dwell, and for them it is possible that someday they may be pardoned back to the lands of Bliss.

6.11.2 This is also the underworld home of the frost-giants, the subterranean giants, and of the spirits of disease. Here live the offspring of Ymir's feet, the primeval giants strangely born and strangely bearing, who drowned in the flood after Ymir's death and now await the liberation of Loki in order that they may take revenge on the gods in Ragnarok. As they wait, they spend their time contriving futile plans of attack on the fountain of Hvergelmir and Heimdall's fortress at the north end of the Bifrost bridge. Here also are the halls where the demons of restless uneasiness, of mental agony, of convulsive weeping, and of insanity (Otholi, Morn, Opi, and Topi) fulfill their duties as handmaidens to their queen, Loki's daughter Leikin, whose threshold is precipice, whose table is starvation, and whose bed is disease.

6.11.3 The surrounding lands are barren, cold, and rocky, but around the Na-gates the region is thickly populated, the marshy landscape filled with great halls and mean hovels where the lesser damned must live. But if a living person were to enter they'd see naught but flickering shadows, as the inhabitants have lost all elements of life as the living can perceive it. Lack the first three elements of mortal life, the dead cannot exist for long in the upper world of (new)Jotunheim and Midgard, and can only leave this region by means of the Bifrost bridge, which is heavily guarded by Heimdalll and the Aesir.