This Is The Most Awesome Definition of Asgard and Midgard
We might not know too well all the Nine Worlds in Norse mythology. But if we don't know about Asgard or Midgard, it is a big mistake. Fear not because this piece of writing is to give you the precise definition of Asgard and Midgard.
WHAT WAS ASGARD?
Asgard was the highest place among the Nine Worlds in Norse mythology. Asgard was located up in the top branch of Yggdrasil Tree of Life. This was the holy place for the ones living there were Norse Gods. Odin the Aesir chief god presided over the stronghold Asgard. The wall around the stronghold was to protect Asgard against any of the negative force outside. Life up in Asgard was what other people envied.
Modern depiction of Asgard
WHAT WAS MIDGARD?
Midgard was the land of the humanity. It was the only visible world to the human eyes in Norse mythology. Midgard had a very large ocean and it was encircled by Jormungand the Midgard Serpent. Midgard was like the Planet Earth in this day and age
THE MESSAGE IN THE NAMES
The clearest similarity among the names of Asgard and Midgard is the -gard element. It is the ancient Germanic concept of the Innangard and Utangard. The place of innangard "inside the fence" is a peaceful place with obedience, order, and civilization. Meanwhile, the place of utangard "outside the fence" is a completely reverse place where is full of chaos and wildness. In Norse mythology, in fact, there were up to three places that had the suffix -gard: Asgard, Midgard, and Utgard which was known as the Jotunheim the land of the giant. But this blog post is to focus on Asgard and Midgard only.
Asgard was the perfect model of the innangard place where everything was peaceful. Meanwhile, Jotunheim was the best place presenting the utangard place. Midgard, on the other hand was the place mixing both the Asgard and Utgard. Because it had the -mid element in the name, so we can say that it just lay somewhere in the middle of Asgard and Utagrd. Though it couldn't be as peaceful as Asgard, it didn't reach the chaos level of the Utagard. But it seemed that Midgard trying to turn its place into the place like Asgard where everything was so obedient and orderly. In other words, Asgard was the place that the Norsemen trying to pattern their world.
Norse Worlds up in Yggdrasil Tree
The name Midgard also pointed to the geographical location of the place. It definitely lay in the middle of something, right? And yes, it did. It lay in the middle of the Yggdrasil tree, beneath was the Jotunheim while above was Asgard. It was in the middle of an enormous ocean where Jormungand surrounded the whole Midgard.
