The world of primordial ice and cold had become the home of Hel and her legions of the dead. The root that Nidhogg was usually said to live near was placed over Niflheim. It was usually described as a great serpent who continuously gnawed at the tree’s root, weakening it and the World Tree as a whole.

Nidhogg, transliterated from Old Norse as Níðhöggr, lived at the base of one of Yggdrasil’s roots. While most beings lived in one of the Nine Worlds, some made their home in the roots and branches of Yggdrasil itself. It had three large roots that each fed from a well in one of the Nine Worlds. Yggrasil was a great ash tree that connected and supported the Nine Worlds of the Norse universe. In Norse cosmology, Nidhogg was one of many creatures who lived in Yggdrasil, the World Tree. It was also a reference to a threat felt more closely by the people of the Viking Age, the corruption and decline of their own culture. Nidhogg was more than just a monstrous serpent, however. The Norse believed that one day Nidhogg would kill Yggdrasil’s root, weakening the World Tree enough to release the dead into the world of the living as one of the armies of Ragnarök.

His venom and the decay of Niflheim’s dead slowly poisoned the World Tree, threatening the foundation of the universe. In the frozen realm of Niflheim, the serpent Nidhogg chewed on one of Yggdrasil’s roots. In Norse cosmology, the Nine Worlds were supported by Yggdrasil, the World Tree.Īlthough Yggdrasil held the entirety of creation in its branches, it was still vulnerable.