The Great Tree That Holds Up the World

Where do the great tree's roots reach?

Yggdrasil is a great ash tree. In The Seeress's Prophecy, it appears as a tall tree sprinkled with white mud. Dew falls from it into the valleys. Beside a spring, its leaves stay green all year.

The Sayings of Grimnir calls Yggdrasil the finest of all trees. Its 3 roots reach in different directions. Hel lives beneath one root, frost giants beneath another, and humans beneath the third.

In Gylfaginning, the roots reach different places: the Aesir, the frost giants, and over Niflheim. These widely spread roots support the tree. Its branches stretch across the whole world and reach above the heavens.

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