Ships in Norse Mythology: Across the Ocean and Into the Wind

In Norse mythology, there were many powerful ships that not only carried the gods but also the giants into the final battle of Ragnarok. This blog post is to list out three powerful ships from Norse mythology. 

Naglfar 

Naglfar must be the most notorious Norse ship if you have done some research on Norse mythology. The ship's name meant "nail farer". The giants made the ship from nails of the deceased in Helheim. 

In the prophecy of the end of Norse Pantheon, ship Naglfar carried the army of Loki and the giant to join Ragnarok. Poetic Edda described Naglfar ship:

From the east comes Hrym with shield held high;
In giant-wrath does the serpent writhe;
O'er the waves he twists, and the tawny eagle
Gnaws corpses screaming;
Naglfar is loose.
O'er the sea from the north there sails a ship
With the people of Hel, at the helm stands Loki;
After the wolf do wild men follow,
And with them the brother of Byleist goes.

Skíðblaðnir 

Skidbladnir was the ship made by the dwarves in Svartalfheim. Dwarves were the most talented craftsmen in the cosmos. Some of their treasure to the gods included Mjolnir the hammer of Thor, Gungnir the spear of Odin the Allfather, etc. And here came the Skidbladnir the fastest ship ever. This fastest ship then wa gifted to god Freyr.

In days of old did Ivaldi's sons
Skithblathnir fashion fair,
The best of ships for the bright god Freyr,
The noble son of Njorth.

The dwarves creating treasures for the gods 

Hringhorni

Compared with the two aforementioned ships, Hringhorni ship was more obscure. 

In Norse mythology, Hringhorni was the ship that carried Baldur into the afterlife. Legend had it that after the murder by Loki, the gods brought Baldur down to the sea and placed his body on the ship named Hringhorni. 

After placing the burial goods with the shining god Baldur, other Asgard gods pushed the ship into the ocean and set it on fire. 

The funeral of Baldur