Ymir, Baldr, and the Grand Narrative Arc of Mythological History

Abstract

The Baldr story is now often linked with the killing of Ymir and seen as the pivotal point in a great mythological narrative that outlines the history of the flawed order of Óðinn from creation to destruction. This article discusses two related points with a bearing on the foundations of this theory. The first deals with the interpretation of the killing of Ymir and its significance for subsequent mythological events. Rather than seeing the killing of Ymir as a foundational crime, it is argued that the sources present it as a benign creative act. The second main point deals with the interpretation of the Baldr story as a murder within the family which, it is argued, is a story about the inevitability of fate.