Modgudr

Modgudr ( Old West Norse : Móðguðr) is the guardian of the Gjallarbrú bridge over the hereafter , which leads into the realm of the dead Hel . There she asks for the names and origins of the travelers.

Móðguðr is only mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Gylfaginning (originated between 1220 and 1225) in connection with the ride of Hermodr (Hermóðr). Her name means angry fight .

swell

En þat er at segja frá Hermóði, at hann reið níu nætr dökkva dala ok djúpa, svá at hann sá ekki, fyrr en hann kom til árinnar Gjallar ok reið á Gjallarbrúna. Hon var þökð lýsigulli. Móðguðr er nefnd mær sú, er gætir brúarinnar. Hon spurði hann at nafni eða at ætt ok sagði, at inn fyrra dag riðu um brúna fimm fylki dahðra manna - "en eigi dynr brúin minnr undir einum þér, ok eigi hefir þú lit lastuðra manna á helá helíríðr þú hér?" Hann svarar, at - "ek Skal ríða til Heljar at leita Baldrs, eða hvárt hefir þú nakkvat sét Baldr á helvegi?" En hon sagði, at Baldr hafði þar riðit um Gjallarbrú, "en niðr ok norðr liggr helvegr."

But it can be said of Hermodhr that he rode deep, dark valleys for nine nights, so that he saw nothing until he came to the Giöll River and rode over the Giöll Bridge, which is covered with shining gold. Modgudr is the name of the maiden who guards the bridge: she asked him his name and gender and said that yesterday five heaps of dead men rode across the bridge, “and it is not thundering any less beneath you alone, and you are not the color of dead men : why are you riding the Helweg? ”He replied: I should ride to Hel to look for Baldur. Did you see Baldurn on the Helweg? Then she said: Baldur had ridden over the Giöllbrücke; "But north the way goes down to Hel."

Web links

Wikisource: The Edda (Simrock 1876) / Snorra-Edda / Gylfaginnîng  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). Kröner, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-520-36801-3 , p. 271.
2. ↑ Guðni Jónsson's edition ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2005) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

literature

• Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). Kröner, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-520-36801-3 .