Víli
Víli
Víli is a deity in Norse mythology, son of Borr and brother of Odin and Vé. Together with his brothers, he takes part in the creation of the world by slaying the primordial giant Ymir, and grants the first humans reason and the ability to move.
Key Facts
- Son of Borr and the giantess Bestla, grandson of Buri, the first god
- Together with Odin and Vé, he slays the primordial giant Ymir, whose body is used to form the world
- Grants the first humans (Ask and Embla) reason (vit) and the ability to move, according to the Prose Edda
- Mentioned in the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson (c. 1220) and in the Völuspá of the Poetic Edda
- Represents, together with his brothers, the creative triad of Norse cosmology
Works & Achievements
Together with Odin and Vé, Víli slew the giant Ymir and shaped his body into the universe: his flesh became the earth, his blood the seas, his bones the mountains, and his skull the sky. This foundational cosmic act is the most significant deed of the divine triad.
Víli bestowed upon the first humans, Ask and Embla, the faculties of vit (reason) and hræring (movement), making them capable of thought and action. Without this essential gift, humankind could not have existed as conscious beings.
Taking part in the establishment of the gods' celestial realm, Víli helped create the cosmic order that structures the Norse universe into nine worlds connected by the world-tree Yggdrasil.
In the Gylfaginning, Snorri Sturluson records Víli's precise role in the creation of the world and of humanity. Without this foundational text, the figure of Víli would today be almost entirely forgotten.
This seminal poem of the Poetic Edda evokes the three creator gods who breathed life into the first humans, implicitly referencing Víli and Vé alongside Odin as co-creators of humanity.
Anecdotes
Together with his brothers Odin and Vé, Víli took part in the slaying of the primordial giant Ymir, whose colossal body was transformed into the universe: his flesh became the earth, his blood the oceans and lakes, his bones the mountains, and his skull the vault of the sky. This spectacular cosmogony is one of the richest creation myths in the entire Norse tradition.
During the creation of the first humans, the three brothers found two trees washed up on the shore — Ask (the ash) and Embla (the elm). Odin breathed life and soul into them, Víli gave reason and movement, and Vé granted the senses, appearance, and speech. Without Víli's gift, the first humans would have had neither thought nor the ability to act in the world.
The name Víli literally means 'Will' in Old Norse, making this god the personification of an essential faculty: the capacity to want and to decide. His brothers Odin ('Spirit') and Vé ('the Sacred') form with him a divine trinity representing the three fundamental aspects of conscious being according to Norse cosmology.
In the poem Lokasenna from the Poetic Edda, the god Loki, during a divine quarrel, accuses Víli and Vé of having taken Frigg — Odin's wife — for themselves during a lengthy absence by their brother. This scandalous episode reflects the complex and sometimes troubling nature of relationships among the Norse gods, as they were recounted by the skalds.
Although Víli is one of the creators of the world and of humankind, he plays almost no independent role in the myths preserved after the creation. He appears almost exclusively as part of a trinity with Odin and Vé. Some scholars believe that his functions and attributes were gradually absorbed by Odin in the later tradition, as the myths were committed to writing during the 13th century.
Primary Sources
Borr had three sons: the first was called Odin, the second Vili, the third Vé. [...] Odin, Vili, and Vé slew Ymir the frost giant. When he fell dead, so much blood poured from his wounds that the entire race of frost giants drowned in it, all except Bergelmir.
They found on land Ask and Embla, without strength. Odin gave them breath and life; Vili gave them reason and movement; Vé gave them form, speech, hearing, and sight.
Until three came, mighty and loving, from that assembly of gods; they found on land Ask and Embla, scarcely capable of living.
Loki said to Frigg: 'Be silent, Frigg, you are Fjörgyn's daughter and you have always been eager for men: both Vili and Vé you took for yourself, you the wife of Víðrir [Odin].'
Key Places
The primordial yawning void that existed before the creation of the world. It was in this space that the opposing forces of fire and ice met, giving birth to the first beings from whom the ancestors of Víli and his brothers descended.
The celestial realm of the Aesir gods, created by Odin, Víli, and Vé after their victory over Ymir. Home of the Norse gods and connected to the world of men by the rainbow bridge Bifröst, it is here that Víli dwells and deliberates with his brothers.
The world of men, literally 'the middle enclosure', forged from the body of Ymir by the three divine brothers. This is where the humans created by Víli and his brothers live, populating the earth shaped from the giant's flesh.
Site of the Þing (Icelandic parliament) and center of medieval Norse culture. It was in Iceland that Snorri Sturluson wrote the Prose Edda in the 13th century, preserving for posterity the myths of Víli and his brothers.
The world of mist and eternal ice, one of the two primordial realms whose icy vapors met the fire of Muspelheim to create Ymir — the cosmic giant whom Víli and his brothers would slay to build the universe.