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Älvalek (Elfplay or Dancing Fairies) (1866) by August Malmström. In Norse mythology, Dökkálfar ("Dark Elves") [a] and Ljósálfar ("Light Elves") [b] are two contrasting types of elves; the dark elves dwell within the earth and have a dark complexion, while the light elves live in Álfheimr, and are "fairer than the sun to look at".
Svartálfaheimr ("world of black-elves") appears in the Prose Edda twice, [3] [7] in each case as the place where certain dwarfs can be found to be living: [8] In Gylfaginning 33, the "world of black-elves" is where the dwarfs are sought by the gods to craft the fetter Gleipnir to bind the wolf Fenrir. [9]
The Prose and Poetic Eddas, which form the foundation of what we know today concerning Norse mythology, contain many names of dwarfs.While many of them are featured in extant myths of their own, many others have come down to us today only as names in various lists provided for the benefit of skalds or poets of the medieval period and are included here for the purpose of completeness.
Many places are there, and glorious. That which is called Álfheimr is one, where dwell the peoples called Light-Elves; but the Dark-Elves dwell down in the earth, and they are unlike in appearance, but by far more unlike in nature. The Light-Elves are fairer to look upon than the sun, but the Dark-Elves are blacker than pitch.
Niðavellir has often been interpreted as one of the Nine Worlds of Norse legend. The problem is that both Niðavellir and Svartalfheim are mentioned, and it is unclear if the sixth world is a world of dwarfs or one of black elves. The dwarfs' world is mentioned in the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson as Svartálfaheimr.
Völuspá (37) mentions "a hall of gods, of the lineage of Sindri" [2] located northward, in Niðavellir.There are several reasons to think that Sindri is a dwarf: [3] his name is related with forging and the hall is made of gold (dwarves are said to be skillful smiths), the location of the hall is Niðavellir, which possibly means "dark fields" (dwarves live away from the sunlight).
In Norse mythology, four stags or harts (male red deer) eat among the branches of the world tree Yggdrasill. According to the Poetic Edda, the stags crane their necks upward to chomp at the branches. The morning dew gathers in their horns and forms the rivers of the world. Their names are given as Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór. An ...
Two dwarfs as depicted in a 19th-century edition of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá (1895) by Lorenz Frølich. A dwarf (pl. dwarfs or dwarves) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Accounts of dwarfs vary significantly throughout history; however, they are commonly, but not exclusively, presented as living in mountains or stones ...