Consider the World Tree, the great pillar upon which all things that ever have been and ever will be sit! To deny it is pure ignorance! To wish its destruction - madness!
Description[]
Yggdrasil, also commonly referred to as The World Tree, is thought of as an Old One, but is also considered to be much greater than that. It is thought of by many religious scholars as the shape which upholds the entire Void, an impossibly immense tree with the roots branching out into all of the Mortal Realms, while the branches themselves act as many of the higher planes, with the highest belonging to the Heaven Planes and Valhalla. Anserak and the Well of Sins lies at the bottom, as does the mysterious dark-place called Niflheim. The trunk is the Well of Souls, and when the souls of the dead have passed from the roots to the Well of Sins they move to the upper branches, where they nourish other aspects of the tree, burning off all of their uniqueness before moving down the branches into the trunk, and then passing back to the roots - being re-born on the Mortal Planes. All outside of this World Tree concept - Aether, Nether, Xether - are considered to be parts of Ginnungagap, the primordial gap of space.
It is said that in the dark-place Niflheim there dwells a dragon, the mighty Nidhogg, who, along with many lesser dragons, undertakes a mad quest to gnaw through the roots of the World Tree, bringing about a true and final Ragnarok, the end of all things, where the souls of the unborn spill freely into Ginnungagap and pollute all that is, was, and ever will be into an entropic nothingness. Atop Yggdrasil is said to roost an Eagle, and atop that Eagle is Vidofnir - the enigmatic Rooster rumored to stand higher than any god, and having seen things no Gods have. Other denizens of the tree itself - and not merely a branch or root - include Ratatosk, the strange squirrel said to serve as Nidhogg's messenger, and a quartet of enigmatic stags who may or may not serve Vidofnir. Also said to be present within the high branches of the World Tree are the Norns, or Fates.
Affiliations[]
Yggdrasil does not have any formal affiliations in any texts regarding it, and it is even debated whether the World Tree is even self-aware, or if it simply is. It is sometimes thought to be a contemporary of the enigmatic and unknowable Lady in the Dark, And simultaneously ally and parent to both Gaia and Thanatos, who are sometimes represented as the living and dead parts of the branches, roots, bark, leaves, and buds of the Yggdrasil.
Nidhogg is said to be an enemy of Yggdrasil, though the reason is entirely unknown, as is what if any relationship exists between the World Tree and Vidofnir.
See Also[]
The Index of Gods and the Index of Realms.