Description: Hermóðr
riding Sleipnir over the gates of Hel. Hermóðr
had ridden for nine days and nine nights and had come to try and
persuade Hel to
release Baldr. This scene is from Louis
Moe's Ragnarok: En
Billeddigtning.
Source: Ragnarok: En Billeddigtning
Folio or Page: [21]
Medium: Not known
Date: 1929
Dimensions (mm): 110 x 195
Provenance:
Gift of Estate of Richard Beck to Special Collections at the
University of Victoria. This illustration from Den Ældre Eddas Gudesange was photographed by
P. A. Baer in August 2011.
Call number: NE962 N67M64
Rights:
This illustration from Ragnarok: En
Billeddigtning is in the public domain.
Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
Some of the illustrations in Ragnarok: En
Billeddigtning have two digit numbers, along with Louis Moe's name,
within the illustration. However, this illustration does not have a number or a
signature.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Moe,
Louis Maria Niels Peder
Halling. Ragnarok: En
Billeddigtning. København, A.F.
Høst, 1929.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Simek,
Rudolf.
Angela
Hall
. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. W
Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer,
2007.
Sleipnir (non.)
Óðinn´s eight-legged horse which Loki bore after mating with the Giant
Builder's stallion Svaðilfari.
Giants and Giantesses
Hel (non.)
A monstrous female being who is one of the three offspring of Loki and
his mistress, the giantess Angrboða.
Gods and Goddesses
Baldr (non.)
Balder (en.)
The god who was killed by his brother Höðr.
Hermóðr (non.)
Hermod (en.)
The god who rode Sleipnir to Hel to try and obtain the release of
Baldr.
Myths
Death of Baldr Myth
A myth concerning an accidental fratricide. It sometimes includes Loki
as an instigator who dupes Baldr's brother, Höðr, into the act and
actually guides his hand. In the Prose Edda,
Snorri says that Höðr was blind.
Hermóðr´s Ride to Hel
A part of the Death of Baldr myth. Hermóðr rides Sleipnir to Hel in
order to try and obtain the release of Baldr.
Mythological Events
Ragnarök (non.)
Ragnarok (en.)
The final great battle between the gods and the giants.
Mythological Places
Hel (non.)
In the Prose Edda, Óðinn assigns Loki and
Angrboða's daughter Hel to rule over a domain named Hel in
Niflheim.
Ragnarok: En Billeddigtning (da.)
Louis Moe's illustrated retelling of the Battle of Ragnarok and the
events that preceded it.
Source Persons
Moe,
Louis (no.)
b. 1857
d. 1945
Nationality: Norwegian/Danish.
Occupation: illustrator
Residence: Copenhagen
Moe was an illustrator who was born in Norway but became a Danish
citizen in 1919.
