Ymir

Account

In the yawning void called Ginnungagap, where the heat of Muspellheim met the killing ice of Niflheim, the first life stirred. From melting rime rose Ymir - also named Aurgelmir, the clay-roarer - neither fully god nor fully giant, but the wet, roaring beginning of both. The primeval cow Auðumbla licked the ice for salt and nourished him; from the sweat of his body other giants were born, and from under his arm a man and a woman took shape. Thus the jötunn line began before the gods had names.