Asgard Wall

Asgard the stronghold of the Aesir gods was the most desirable place to dwell in. This place was not only orderly and happy but it was also peaceful and well protected against the chaos in the cosmos. The very first shield of it was the Asgard Wall or Asgard Fortification.

Origin of the Fort

The Asgard Fortification was not built by the Aesir gods. In fact, it was established by a giant builder with supernatural skills.

One day, one giant came to Asgard and asked the gods to let him build a protective walls surrounding Asgard stronghold to defend any hostile forces. The gods did not realize the builder was a giant at first. He asked to build the perfect wall within three consecutive seasons and asked for a payment of Sun, Moon, and Freya as his bride.

The Aesir gods assembled and discussed whether they should allow the builder to work for them. Goddess Freya obviously disagreed with the builder from the beginning. Then Loki the Norse trickster came up with an idea of permitting the builder to work within only one season without any external help but his horse. And surprisingly, the gods favored Loki’s idea and the fort construction was approved. Of course, the Aesir gods had no intention of paying the builder the Sun, Moon, and Freya.

The giant then set off constructing the Asgard fortification. He worked relentlessly days and nights. The gods were astonished at how fast the building smith could do. Actually, the horse was the one who did most of the job. His horse worked twice as much as himself. And when there were three days left before the deadline, the construction was nearly finished. Only some stones around the gates were not put in the place while everything was completed. The gods realized that the builder was a giant and this doubled their fear as they thought of losing Freya, Sun, and Moon to the hand of a giant whose race was the enemy of Gods.

Loki Troublemaker and Troubleshooter

The worried gods then blamed Loki for giving a foul advice, resulting in the gods’ worry and upcoming loss of Sun, Moon, and Freya. The gods threatened to execute Loki for his mistakes unless he could think of any solution to the problem. Loki, indeed, could not escape the threat and had to swear to spare his life that he would do anything to preserve Sun, Moon, and Freya.

That night, when Svadilfari, the giant’s horse, was finding stones deep in the forest, Loki, in the shape of a mare, approached to seduce the stallion. Svadilfari knew how special the mare was and started to chase the mare all night. Till the morning, the desperate giant realized that his horse was still missing and there was no way that he could finish the job in time. This ignited the wrath of the giant who was set to smash the Asgard stronghold. But much to his anger, the Aesir gods were not the ones that easily got beaten. What the gods paid back to the giant was a fatal blow from the Mjolnir hammer, smashing the skull of the giant into pieces.

Svadilfari horse attracted by Loki in the form of a mare

Meanwhile, Svadilfari deep in the forest caught up with Loki who mothered an eight-legged steed, Sleipnir. No kidding, Loki was the mother of Sleipnir who later became the favorite steed of Odin the Allfather.