Live Your Myths

Norse Myth | The Creation of the First Humans

There was no strange light from the great beyond when humans came to be. Instead, there was art. And there were the great Gods who breathed life into that art.

***

Odin, not too long after the creation of the universe as a whole, found himself strolling along the shore of one of the newly formed land masses. Along with him were two more gods; in one version, these gods were his brothers Vili and Ve; in another, these gods were the obscure figures Hoenir and Lodurr.

The Völuspá, which can be found in the Poetic Edda, is the source of the Old Norse renditions of the narrative.

The three gods walked along the shore and discovered two tree trunks, or possibly pieces of driftwood, lying there. The dwarves had crafted the first forms of Ask and Embla from those pieces. The dwarves were known as the master artisans of the universe and had created the first human forms.

They had the appearance of a man and a woman, yet neither of them had any vitality or power of their own. These magnificent pieces of craftsmanship lacked the liveliness that came with human nature. The Gods couldn't allow that. Therefore, the three gods concluded that they should provide them with what they were missing and turn them into genuine people. The gods were the ones who brought these forms to life.

Odin instilled in them the breath of life, while his two companions bestowed upon them mental activity, a healthy complexion, and the capacities of speech, hearing, and sight, respectively.

They gave the man the name "Ask" and the woman the name "Embla," and then they outfitted them in appropriate clothing. The realm of human civilization, known as Midgard, was provided to Ask and Embla as their dwelling place after that.

Ask, and Embla were the first humans to roam Midgard. They ended up becoming the biological parents of the entire human species.

The name Ask comes from the Ancient Norse word Askr which means Ask tree. It seems fitting as Ask did come from the root of a tree. Now Embla's origin has been debated many times in various studies. Some say the origin of the word is Elm or vine. Others believe it to be a bit more spiritual in nature.

The human race, curious by nature, has ever since tried to find the truth behind this myth.

Two wooden figures of "greater than human height" were discovered in a peat bog in Braak, which is located in Schleswig, Germany. These figurines are known as the Braak Bog Figures. The figures portray a nude male and a nude female. In her commentary, Hilda Ellis Davidson suggests that these figures may represent a "Lord and Lady" of the Vanir, which is a collection of Norse gods. She also suggests that "another memory of these wooden deities may survive in the tradition of the creation of Ask and Embla, the man and woman who founded the human race, created by the gods from trees on the seashore."

In the Anglo-Saxon genealogy for the kings of Kent, a character with the name sc, which translates to "ash tree" in Old English, appears as the son of Hengest.

Consequently, several hypotheses have been developed according to which the figures may have originated in pre-Norse Germanic mythology.

Based on the etymology of the word Embla, which means "vine," it has been hypothesized that the two words have a Proto-Indo-European origin. A comparison is drawn between the building of fire pits and sexual encounters in the communities that originated in Indo-Europe. A fire started when a drill made of a more durable type of wood on top of the vines was set and employed as a flammable wood. It has been hypothesized that a representation on a stone plate found on a Bronze Age burial in Kivik, Scania, Sweden provides additional proof of the practice of ritually creating fire in Scandinavia.

Attested in the work Origo Gentis Langobardorum written in the seventh century AD by Paul the Deacon, it has been suggested that there are connections between Ask and Embla and the Vandal monarchs Assi and Ambri. There, they make their plea for success to the god Godan, who is actually Odin. Like Embla, the name Ambri most likely originates from the root *Ambil.

Ask and Embla has been the subjects of a variety of references and artistic renderings over time.

A sculpture that Stig Blomberg constructed in 1948 that depicts the two may be found in Solvesborg, located in southern Sweden.

Dagfin Werenskiold portrays Ask and Embla on two of the sixteen wooden panels that are located in Oslo City Hall.

Askr and Embla are the two central fighting countries in the video game Fire Emblem Heroes. The player, who takes on the role of the Summoner, finds themself in Embla, which has been at war with the Emblian Empire since the game began. Askr is one of the primary warring kingdoms in the game. Later on, it was discovered that both kingdoms got their names from a pair of Ancient Dragons, with Askr being the male and Embla being the female.

Regardless of the many interpretations of the myth, mysteries remain. And these mysteries make this myth attractive to us all. What do you think is the origin of humankind?