Description: The ship Naglfar sailing to the Ragnarök. In the Prose Edda, the
helmsman is Loki., but in Völuspá
it is the giant Hrymr . This scene is from Louis Moe's Ragnarok: En
Billeddigtning.
Source: Ragnarok: En Billeddigtning
Folio or Page: [65]
Medium: Not known
Date: 1929
Dimensions (mm): 175 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. This one has the number 27, likely indicating the year
1927.
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.
Loki is counted among the gods but is a giant by birth.
Artifacts
Naglfar (non.)
The "ship of the dead" which will set sail at Ragnarok and be
captained in most sources by the giant Hymir or according to Völuspá by
Loki. Naglfar was said to have been built using the uncut nails of the
dead, and this belief is reflected in the custom of cutting the nails of
the dead before burial in order to delay the arrival of the ship and the
battle.
Giants and Giantesses
Hrymr (non.)
According to Snorri in Gylfaginning, Hrymr is the giant who steers the
ship Naglfar at the Battle of Ragnarök. However, in Völuspá it is Loki
who steers the ship.
Myths
The Battle of
RagnarökThe myth concerning the final great battle between
the gods and the giants.
Mythological Events
Ragnarök (non.)
Ragnarok (en.)
The final great battle between the gods and the giants.
Source Materials:
Prose Edda (is.)
Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse
mythology and poetics.
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.
