This article contains lore based on real-life sources from Norse mythology as introduced from the God of War Norse era.
Ymir was the original Jötunn, the first being that came into existence in the Nine Realms and the progenitor of all living creatures.
Quick Answers
What role does Ymir play in Norse mythology?
How did Ymir come into existence according to the God of War Norse era?
What is the significance of Ymir in the Nine Realms?
How is Ymir related to the Jötunn race in Norse mythology?
What is the relationship between Odin and Ymir?
Norse Mythology
Aurgelmir, also called Ymir, Brimir, or Bláinn was the first sentient being to come into existence; birthed from the drops of venom that dripped from the icy rivers of Élivágar that went onto the great and grassless void of Ginnungagap. Ymir is the ancestor of all the giants; he gave birth to a male and female from the pits of his arms, and his legs produced a six-headed being. He was known to suck at the udders of the primeval cow Auðumbla.
In the God of War Series
Background
In the beginning there was nothing, merely the great void known as Ginnungagap, along with the ancient elements of fire and ice. Fire and Ice would come together to form the life blood of Ymir and Auðumbla, the first Giants. Every God, Giant, Man, and Beast would be born from Ymir's flesh.
The Aesir, however, thought themselves superior and sought to rule over the other creations. To this end, Odin and his brothers fought their creator and Odin spilled Ymir's life blood with his spear within a place called The Rift. From Ymir's torn flesh, Odin fashioned the realm of Midgard for his own and in doing so, a tear into reality was formed, which would become the start of Odin's obsession to gaining the knowledge into the truth of creation. According to Odin, Ymir was more a force of nature, a vessel of power and believed he killed Ymir to protect his own kin.
Ymir's direct descendants, the Jötnar, were all drowned by the flood of his blood except for Bergelmir and his wife, who went on to find the realm of Jötunheim and repopulate his race, thus thwarting Odin's plan of eliminating the Giants for good.
In God of War (2018)
Ymir depicted in a Jötnar shrine and mentioned by Mimir on one of his stories. Both telling how Ymir was originated and how Odin slew the giant.
In God of War Ragnarök
Ymir's death would finally be avenged millennia later at Ragnarök. When the armies of Alfheim, Vanaheim, Helheim, Svartalfheim and Muspelheim broke through Asgard's walls, Kratos, Atreus and Freya finally confronted Odin, Ymir's murderer, and after a brutal struggle, Odin finally met his end at the very place where Ymir was murdered by him millennia ago - an ironic, if not karmic, death.
Ymir's "younger brother", Surtr, would truly destroy Asgard a little time later, due to have become the Ragnarök itself, destroying all that what was left of the All-Father's crumbling kingdom.
Personality
He may have been a benevolent giant, thus earning him respect and adoration among his kin. This can be seen on the giants' and even the foreign god Mimir's hatred on Odin for his atrocity on slaying Ymir, their originator.
Powers and Abilities
As the first being in existence in the Norse World, Ymir was one of the most powerful beings in the Nine Realms. Mimir describes Ymir as "a being of pure creation and chaos". However, he was still notably inferior to Aesir such as Odin, who stabbed Ymir with Gungnir and spilled his life-blood before fashioning six of the Nine Realms from his body (the exceptions being Muspelheim, Niflheim and Jötunheim). Nonetheless, Odin himself regarded Ymir as a "force of nature" and a "vessel of power".
- Immortality: Having lived for several ages, considering how it was the oldest being in existence and managed to live long enough for it's great-grandsons to be born, Ymir was immortal. Only a being as powerful as Odin was enough to truly end him.
- Sentient Life Creation: Ymir is responsible for creating most living beings in the Nine Realms, including the Gods and the Jötnar.
- Superhuman Strength: As the first being in existence of the Jötnar, Ymir must have had incalculable levels of superhuman strength, albeit likely inferior to that of Odin, his killer.
- Superhuman Durability: As the first and original Jotunn, Ymir must have been a tremendously durable being.
- Cryokinesis: As the first Frost Giant, Ymir must have had great power over the element of ice, which was what apparently his Jotnar children inherited from him.
- Essence Transferral: Despite his death and subsequent formation into Midgard, it seems that Ymir is still alive in some form as some of his essence has been transferred into stone creatures called Ancients.
- Extreme Size: Ymir was known to be extremely large. Ymir was large enough to form the realms (besides Niflhelm and Muspelheim) from his own corpse after Odin killed him. His blood alone nearly drowned all of creation.
Shrine Story
Atreus: "I have a question. If Ymir was the First Giant, where did he come from?"
Mimir: "In the beginning, there was Ginnungagap, the great void. There were no realms yet, only primordial forces. There was Fire, and there was Ice, and there in the Void, they met, and produced..."
Atreus: "Water?"
Mimir: "More than water – the mystic life blood of something entirely new. From this water, Ymir took form, and became a being of pure creation and chaos, mother and father to all that came after."
Atreus: "Even the Aesir?"
Mimir: "Aye, every God, man, and beast came first from Ymir's flesh. Though it was the Aesir who thought themselves so superior that they should hold dominion over the rest of creation. It was Odin who took arms against his creator and spilled Ymir's life-blood with his spear. A necessary evil, he would say, to bring Order to the realms. From Ymir's torn flesh, Odin would fashion the realm of Midgard for his own. Called himself "Allfather" – as if he was the creator, and not the creator's destroyer. A small... covetous... tyrant!"
Atreus: "Mimir...?"
Mimir: "Mm? Oh, sorry, m'boy. You know, I think it best we just leave it there actually."
Trivia
- Ymir's Greek equivalents (as being a primordial being whose body forged the world and the progenitor of many later deities) are the Primordials, particularly Ouranos who is believed as the creator of Greece.
- Atreus’s notes also state that the wind, trees, and sun came from Ymir's flesh, as well as maggots that would become dwarves.
- This contradicts Mimir's tale where he said that the sun comes from Surtr, the first Fire Giant and Ymir's younger brother.
- A marker also mentioned that Odin created the first man and first woman, Ask and Embla while Mimir said that everything comes from Ymir's flesh. According to the real-life mythology, Vili, Vé and Odin are walking along a beach and found two trees there. They took the wood and from it created Ask and Embla.
- This is not contradicted at all to Mimir's tale, as the trees may have originated from Ymir, as after Ymir's murder, Odin created Midgard (literally) from his corpse, turning Ymir the very land from which the trees grow.
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