Norns

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This article is about the Norns from Norse mythology. See Norn language for the language once spoken in Scotland, and Norns (Creatures) for the computer game species.

The Norns (Old Norse: norn, plural: nornir) of Norse mythology are three dísirs by the names of Urd (the past), Verdandi (the being) and Skuld (what is to come). (Skuld was also the name of a Valkyrie.)

Overview

This romantic representation of the Norns depicts one of them with wings, contrary to folklore.

The Norns live beneath the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree at the center of the cosmos (although some accounts have it that they dwell above the arch of the Bifrost Bridge), where they weave the tapestry of fates. Each person's life is a string in their loom, and the length of the string is the length of the person's life.

Thus everything is preordained in the Norse belief system: even the gods have their own threads, though the Norns do not let the gods see those. This clear subjection of the gods to a power outside their control and the implication that they, too, will have an End are major themes of the literature surrounding Norse mythology.

The three weaving crones who control destiny exist at a deep mythic level, though probably not as old as the art of weaving itself. The counterparts of the Norns among the Greeks were the Moirae, known to the Romans as the Parcae.

Modern popular culture

Depictions of Norns appear infrequently in modern popular culture, often largely unrelated to their historical inspiration. See main article for more information.

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	The nine worlds of Norse mythology | People, places and things

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