# Hyrrokkin

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Figure in Nordic mythology

For the moon of Saturn, see [Hyrrokkin (moon)](/source/Hyrrokkin_(moon)).

It is believed that Hyrrokkin is featured on the stone DR 284 ([Hunnestad](/source/Hunnestad_Monument) 3), depicting an animal ridden by a woman with two [snakes](/source/Snake) in her hands.[1]

**Hyrrokkin** ([Old Norse](/source/Old_Norse): [\[ˈhyrˌrokːenː\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA)) is a female [jötunn](/source/J%C3%B6tunn) in [Norse mythology](/source/Norse_mythology). According to 13th-century poet [Snorri Sturluson](/source/Snorri_Sturluson), she launched the largest of all ships at [Baldr](/source/Baldr)'s funeral after the [Æsir](/source/%C3%86sir) gods were unable to budge the vessel.[2][3]

Hyrrokkin was a relatively important figure in the last decades of [paganism](/source/Paganism) in Iceland.[4] She appears to be depicted on one of the DR 284 stones from the [Hunnestad Monument](/source/Hunnestad_Monument) near Marsvinsholm, [Sweden](/source/Sweden).[1][5]

## Name

The Old Norse name Hyrrokkin has been translated as 'fire-withered' or 'fire-steamer'.[6][7] According to linguist [Jan de Vries](/source/Jan_de_Vries_(linguist)), it is a [compound](/source/Compound_(linguistics)) formed with the root *hyr-* ('fire') attached to *hrokkinn* ('curly; wrinkle').[8] Scholar [John Lindow](/source/John_Lindow) has proposed the translation 'fire-smoked', perhaps referring to a dark, shrivelled appearance.[9]

## Attestations

### *Prose Edda*

It is told in [Snorri Sturluson](/source/Snorri_Sturluson)'s *[Gylfaginning](/source/Gylfaginning)* that at [Baldr](/source/Baldr)'s funeral his wife [Nanna](/source/Nanna_(Norse_deity)) died of grief and was placed alongside him on his [pyre](/source/Pyre), thus joining her husband in [Hel](/source/Hel_(realm)). [Hringhorni](/source/Hringhorni), Baldr's ship, was the largest of all such vessels and was to serve as the god's funeral ship. No one, however, could seem to launch the boat out to sea.

The [gods](/source/%C3%86sir) then enlisted the help of Hyrrokkin, who came from [Jötunheimr](/source/J%C3%B6tunheimr), arriving on a giant wolf with vipers as reins. When she dismounted, [Odin](/source/Odin) summoned four [berserkers](/source/Berserker) to look after the animal but they were unable to control it without first rendering it unconscious. With her seismic strength, the giantess rolled the boat into the water. This caused the earth to quake and the rollers to set on fire, which angered [Thor](/source/Thor). He was about to kill Hyrrokkin with his hammer [Mjöllnir](/source/Mj%C3%B6llnir), but the other gods insisted that he spare her.

Guðni Jónsson's edition[10]

En æsirnir tóku lík Baldrs ok fluttu til sævar. Hringhorni hét skip Baldrs. Hann var allra skipa mestr. Hann vildu goðin fram setja ok gera þar á bálför Baldrs, en skipit gekk hvergi fram. Þá var sent í Jötunheima eftir gýgi þeiri, er Hyrrokkin hét. En er hon kom ok reið vargi ok hafði höggorm at taumum, þá hljóp hon af hestinum, en Óðinn kallaði til berserki fjóra at gæta hestsins, ok fengu þeir eigi haldit, nema þeir felldi hann. Þá gekk Hyrrokkin á framstafn nökkvans ok hratt fram í fyrsta viðbragði, svá at eldr hraut ór hlunnunum ok lönd öll skulfu. Þá varð Þórr reiðr ok greip hamarinn ok myndi þá brjóta höfuð hennar, áðr en goðin öll báðu henni friðar.

Translation:
Blackwell's translation[11]

The Æsir then took the dead body and bore it to the seashore, where stood Baldur's ship Hringhorn, which passed for the largest in the world. But when they wanted to launch it in order to make Baldur's funeral pile on it, they were unable to make it stir. In this conjuncture they sent to Jotunheim for a certain giantess named Hyrrokin, who came mounted on a wolf, having twisted serpents for a bridle. As soon as she alighted, Odin ordered four Berserkir to hold her steed fast, who were, however, obliged to throw the animal on the ground ere they could effect their purpose. Hyrrokin then went to the ship, and with a single push set it afloat, but the motion was so violent that the fire sparkled from the rollers, and the earth shook all around. Thor, enraged at the sight, grasped his mallet, and but for the interference of the Æsir would have broken the woman's skull.

Hyrrokkin by [Ludwig Pietsch](/source/Ludwig_Pietsch) (1865)

She is also mentioned in a [list](/source/Nafna%C3%BEulur) of troll women by an anonymous [skald](/source/Skald):[12]

Gjölp, Hyrrokkin, Hengikepta, Gneip ok Gnepja, Geysa, Hála, Hörn ok Hrúga, Harðgreip, Forað, Hryðja, Hveðra ok Hölgabrúðr.

### Skaldic poetry

The late 10th-century skald [Þorbjörn dísarskáld](/source/%C3%9Eorbj%C3%B6rn_d%C3%ADsarsk%C3%A1ld), in two preserved fragments of the *[Skáldskaparmál](/source/Sk%C3%A1ldskaparm%C3%A1l)* (4) addressed directly to [Thor](/source/Thor), mentions Hyrrokkin among the [jötnar](/source/J%C3%B6tunn) killed by the thunder-god at Baldur's funeral:[3]

Ball í Keilu kolli, Kjallandi brauzt þú alla, áðr draptu Lút ok Leiða, léztu dreyra Búseyru; heftir þú Hengjankjöftu, Hyrrokkin dó fyrri; þó var snemr in sáma Svívör numin lífi. Guðni Jónsson's edition[10] Thou didst smite the head of Keila, Smash Kjallandi altogether, Ere thou slewest Lútr and Leidi, Didst spill the blood of Búseyra; Didst hold back Hengjankjapta, Hyrrokkin died before; Yet sooner in like fashion Svívör from life was taken. Brodeur's translation (1923)[13] [Mjöllnir] struck on Keila's skull, Kjallandi you battered in full; Lút and Leida you'd already killed, Búseyra's blood you let flow; Hengjankjapta you finished off, Hyrrokkin died at an earlier stage, and similarly Svívör, earlier still, was likewise deprived of her life. Andy Orchard's translation (1997)[14]

Hyrrokkin pushes the ship, angering Thor. Illustration by [Emil Doepler](/source/Emil_Doepler), c. 1905.

The poem *[Húsdrápa](/source/H%C3%BAsdr%C3%A1pa)* ('House-Lay'), composed by [Úlfr Uggason](/source/%C3%9Alfr_Uggason) around 985 AD in western [Iceland](/source/Iceland) and partially preserved in the [Prose Edda](/source/Prose_Edda), also appears to refer to Hyrrokkin at Baldr's funeral: "The very powerful Hild of the mountains [giantess][a] caused the sea-Sleipnir [ship] to lumber forward, but the wielders of the helmet flames [warriors] of Hropt [Odin] felled her mount."[4]

## In popular culture

Hyrokkin is featured in the 2020 video game, *[Assassin's Creed Valhalla](/source/Assassin's_Creed_Valhalla)*, during the missions taking place in Jötunheimr. The missions being merely vision interpretations of the fictional precursor race, the Isu's history, an equivalence is made to [Juno](/source/Juno_(mythology)), who was mentioned in *[Assassin's Creed II](/source/Assassin's_Creed_II)* but made her first appearance in *[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood](/source/Assassin's_Creed%3A_Brotherhood)*.

## See also

- [Snake-witch stone](/source/Snake-witch_stone), a picture stone depicting a female grasping two snakes

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) Price, Neil (2006). "What's in a Name? An Archeological Identity Crisis for the Norse Gods (and Some of their Friends)". In Andrén, Anders; Jennbert, Kristina; et al. (eds.). [*Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interactions*](https://books.google.com/books?id=gjq6rvoIRpAC). Lund: Nordic Academic Press. p. 181. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [91-89116-81-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/91-89116-81-X).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOrchard199795_2-0)** [Orchard 1997](#CITEREFOrchard1997), p. 95.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELindow2001196_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELindow2001196_3-1) [Lindow 2001](#CITEREFLindow2001), p. 196.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELindow2001197_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELindow2001197_4-1) [Lindow 2001](#CITEREFLindow2001), p. 197.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Hyrrokkin"](https://web.archive.org/web/20060504230020/http://web.telia.com/~u85906673/asar/hyrrok.html). *web.telia.com*. Archived from [the original](http://web.telia.com/~u85906673/asar/hyrrok.html) on 4 May 2006. Retrieved 30 November 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEde_Vries1962276_6-0)** [de Vries 1962](#CITEREFde_Vries1962), p. 276.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOrchard199795,_194_7-0)** [Orchard 1997](#CITEREFOrchard1997), pp. 95, 194.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEde_Vries1962259,_275–276_8-0)** [de Vries 1962](#CITEREFde_Vries1962), p. 259, 275–276.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELindow2001196–197_9-0)** [Lindow 2001](#CITEREFLindow2001), pp. 196–197.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-auto_10-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-auto_10-1) [Edda Snorra Sturlusonar](http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508133411/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/snorre/index.php) heimskringla.no (in Norwegian)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** - *[Blackwell's translation](https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/14726)* at [Project Gutenberg](/source/Project_Gutenberg)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["skaldic poetry project"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110518035213/http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=verses&id=1105). *[University of Sydney](/source/University_of_Sydney)*. Archived from [the original](https://web.ahttp://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=verses&id=1105) on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Skáldskaparmal XI-XX"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070208112422/http://www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/ProseEdda/SkaldskaparmalXI-XX.htm#skald11). Archived from [the original](http://www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/ProseEdda/SkaldskaparmalXI-XX.htm#skald11) on 8 February 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOrchard1997164_14-0)** [Orchard 1997](#CITEREFOrchard1997), p. 164.

### Footnotes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Hild or [Hildr](/source/Hildr) in this context is simply a [kenning](/source/Kenning) for 'giantess' generally and Hyrrokkin specifically.

### Works cited

- [de Vries, Jan](/source/Jan_de_Vries_(linguist)) (1962). *Altnordisches Etymologisches Worterbuch* (1977 ed.). Brill. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-90-04-05436-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-04-05436-3). {{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date))

- Faulkes, Anthony, trans. (1987). *Edda* (1995 ed.). Everyman. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-460-87616-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-460-87616-3).

- [Lindow, John](/source/John_Lindow) (2001). [*Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC). Oxford University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-983969-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-983969-8).

- [Orchard, Andy](/source/Andy_Orchard) (1997). [*Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend*](https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnors0000orch). Cassell. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-304-34520-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-304-34520-5).

## Additional relevant literature

- Ásdísardóttir, Ingunn. 2025. “Hyrrokinn – Monster or Mighty Priestess?” *Good Thoughts on Folklore and Mythology: Festschrift in Honor of Terry Gunnell*, vol. 1.2 Folklore. Budapest: Trivent Publishing.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Hyrrokkin](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hyrrokkin).

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