Snakes in Norse mythology appear as enormous cosmic threats, creatures beneath Yggdrasil, instruments of punishment and recurring forms in Viking Age art. The most famous is Jörmungandr, the World Serpent that surrounds Midgard and is destined to fight Thor at Ragnarök.
Jörmungandr is not the only Norse serpent. Nidhogg gnaws beneath the World Tree, several other named snakes are listed beneath Yggdrasil, and a venomous serpent plays an important role in Loki’s punishment.
What is less certain is the simple symbolic meaning often attached to these creatures today. The surviving Norse texts strongly connect serpents with danger, destruction, cosmic disorder and the boundaries of the world, but ideas such as “eternity” or universal protective snake symbolism should be treated as interpretation rather than something the Eddas explicitly tell us.
Table of Contents
Snakes in Norse mythology at a glance
| Serpent | Role in Norse mythology |
|---|---|
| Jörmungandr | The World Serpent, child of Loki, enemy of Thor and one of the central monsters of Ragnarök |
| Nidhogg | Serpent or dragon-like creature that gnaws beneath Yggdrasil |
| Goin and Moin | Two serpents named beneath Yggdrasil in Grímnismál |
| Grabak and Grafvollud | Additional serpents associated with Yggdrasil |
| Ofnir and Svafnir | Two more serpent names listed beneath the World Tree |
| The serpent above Loki | A venomous snake whose poison drips toward the bound Loki while Sigyn tries to catch it |
Jörmungandr: the World Serpent
Jörmungandr is the giant snake most people mean when they refer to the serpent in Norse mythology. He is also called the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent.
In the Prose Edda, Jörmungandr is one of three children born to Loki and the giantess Angrboda. The others are Fenrir, the enormous wolf, and Hel, who rules the realm associated with many of the dead.
The gods regard Loki’s children as dangerous. Odin throws Jörmungandr into the ocean surrounding Midgard. There the serpent grows until his body encircles the human world and he can take his own tail in his mouth.
This image has led to frequent modern comparisons with the ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail. It is reasonable to notice the visual similarity, but the surviving Norse sources do not explicitly say that Jörmungandr represents eternity, rebirth or an endless cycle. In the myths themselves, he is primarily an immense world-encircling threat and a destined enemy of Thor.
An English translation of the Prose Edda can be read through Project Gutenberg.
Thor and the Midgard Serpent
Thor and Jörmungandr are linked long before their final fight at Ragnarök.
One of the best-known stories appears in the Eddic tradition when Thor goes fishing with the giant Hymir. Thor uses the head of an ox as bait and hooks the enormous serpent beneath the sea.
Jörmungandr rises toward the boat while Thor prepares to strike him with Mjölnir. Versions of the episode differ in some details, but the serpent survives the encounter because his final confrontation with Thor still lies in the future.
The story establishes a rivalry that becomes one of the defining confrontations of Ragnarök.
Jörmungandr and Thor at Ragnarök
At Ragnarök, the restraints holding back the destructive forces of the Norse cosmos finally fail. Jörmungandr emerges and joins the conflict.
Thor fights the World Serpent and kills him. The victory is fatal. After defeating Jörmungandr, Thor manages only nine steps before dying from the serpent’s venom.
This is one reason Jörmungandr occupies such an important place in Norse mythology. He is powerful enough that even Thor, one of the strongest of the gods, cannot defeat him and survive.
What does Jörmungandr symbolize?
There is no single explanation in the Eddas saying, “Jörmungandr symbolizes this.”
Based on his actual role in the stories, Jörmungandr can reasonably be associated with several ideas:
- The boundary around the human world: his body literally surrounds Midgard.
- Uncontrollable natural or cosmic forces: even the gods cannot simply remove him from existence.
- Threat and destruction: his emergence forms part of Ragnarök.
- Fate: Thor and Jörmungandr are destined to destroy one another.
The tail-biting image can also evoke circularity to a modern viewer, but treating Jörmungandr as a straightforward Norse symbol of eternity goes farther than the surviving texts allow.
Nidhogg: the serpent beneath Yggdrasil
Nidhogg, usually written Níðhöggr in Old Norse forms, is another major serpent or dragon-like being in Norse mythology.
Unlike Jörmungandr, Nidhogg is associated with Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
In Grímnismál, Yggdrasil is described as suffering damage from several directions. Animals browse its upper parts, its trunk deteriorates, and Nidhogg gnaws beneath it.
The Prose Edda also places Nidhogg among the serpents connected with the roots of Yggdrasil. The squirrel Ratatoskr travels up and down the tree carrying hostile messages between Nidhogg and the eagle above.
Nidhogg appears again near the end of Völuspá, where the dragon comes flying with bodies associated with the dead. This makes Nidhogg a darker and more complex figure than simply “the snake that eats the World Tree.”
Other snakes beneath Yggdrasil
Nidhogg is not the only serpent associated with Yggdrasil.
Grímnismál names several others beneath the World Tree:
- Goin
- Moin
- Grabak
- Grafvollud
- Ofnir
- Svafnir
The poem gives us their names but little individual mythology about them. That is worth emphasizing because modern retellings sometimes build elaborate characters and symbolic meanings around figures that receive only a brief mention in the surviving source.
Loki and snakes in Norse mythology
Loki has two important connections with serpents, but he is not a Norse snake god.
First, Loki is the father of Jörmungandr. That alone connects him to one of the most destructive creatures in Norse cosmology.
His second connection comes through his punishment.
After the death of Baldr and the events surrounding Loki’s capture, the gods bind Loki. A venomous serpent is placed above him so that venom drips toward his face.
Loki’s wife Sigyn remains beside him holding a vessel beneath the serpent. When she has to empty it, venom reaches Loki and he twists violently in pain. The story explains earthquakes as the result of his struggling.
The serpent in this story is therefore an instrument of torment. The text does not identify it as Jörmungandr.
Was there a Norse god of snakes?
No major Norse deity is identified in the surviving mythology as a dedicated god of snakes.
Jörmungandr is sometimes mistaken for a snake god because of his enormous scale and cosmic importance, but he is a monstrous being and child of Loki rather than one of the gods.
Loki is also strongly connected with serpent stories, but he is not described as the god of snakes.
Viking snake meaning
Snake-like creatures and long interlaced animal bodies appear frequently in Viking Age art. They can be found on carved stones, metalwork and other decorated objects.
However, there is no single documented Viking snake symbol with one universal meaning.
Viking art developed several styles using elongated animals, ribbon-like bodies and serpentine forms. In the later Urnes style, for example, thin snake-like creatures intertwine with larger animals. Serpentine ornament also appears on runestones and other objects.
That does not mean every carved snake represents Jörmungandr or that every Viking serpent means protection, rebirth or eternity. Meaning depended on the object, image and context, and in many cases we simply cannot know exactly what the maker intended.
For examples of these changing animal styles, see this overview of Viking Age art.
What is the Old Norse word for snake?
The Old Norse word ormr could refer to a snake or serpent and could also be used more broadly for dragon-like creatures.
This survives inside the name Miðgarðsormr, the Midgard Serpent. Related forms of orm still survive in modern Scandinavian languages.
The old Cleasby-Vigfusson Icelandic-English dictionary includes ormr in a range of serpent-related words and mythological compounds.
What did snakes represent in Norse mythology?
It is safer to talk about recurring themes than to assign every Norse serpent the same symbolic meaning.
- Danger: Jörmungandr’s venom kills Thor, while another serpent torments Loki.
- Destruction: Jörmungandr emerges during Ragnarök and Nidhogg damages Yggdrasil.
- Cosmic boundaries: Jörmungandr surrounds Midgard at the edge of the human world.
- Fate: Thor and the World Serpent are bound to a confrontation neither survives.
- Decay: Nidhogg’s constant gnawing is part of the damage suffered by Yggdrasil.
Protection, eternity and renewal are possible interpretations of particular images, especially when modern viewers compare Norse serpent imagery with snake symbolism from other cultures. But they should not be presented as a single established Viking belief.
This is one reason comparing cultures can be useful as long as the traditions remain separate. Egyptian snake mythology, Greek snake mythology and Japanese snake mythology each use serpents differently.
Why Jörmungandr remains the most famous Norse snake
Jörmungandr combines several of the biggest ideas in Norse mythology in one creature. He surrounds the human world, is directly connected to Loki, repeatedly confronts Thor and finally helps bring the old cosmic order to an end at Ragnarök.
Nidhogg and the other serpents beneath Yggdrasil show that snakes were not limited to one isolated myth. Serpent imagery appears at the edges, roots and breaking points of the Norse cosmos.
That makes snakes an important recurring presence in Norse mythology, but not one with a neat universal meaning. The surviving stories are more interesting than that: different serpents play different roles, from Thor’s world-sized enemy to the creatures continually damaging the World Tree.
For the broader pattern across cultures, see the main guide to snakes in mythology.