Heimdall

The tale of Heimdall

Heimdall is the watchman of the gods. He lives in his hall Himinbjörg, "sky cliffs", at the end of Bifröst, the burning rainbow bridge between Asgard and the world of humans, and he guards it day and night against the giants.

He is made for the task. He needs less sleep than a bird. He can see a hundred leagues by night as well as by day. His hearing is so sharp that he can hear the grass growing in the fields and the wool growing on the sheep. His teeth are made of gold, and he is called "the white god", the brightest of them all. Strangest of all, he was born of nine mothers, nine sisters who were waves of the sea.

The horn at the end of the world

Heimdall carries a great horn called Gjallarhorn, the "resounding horn". It waits, kept under the roots of the world tree, for the one day it will be blown. When Ragnarök comes, and the giants march on Asgard and the fire giants ride across Bifröst until the bridge breaks under them, Heimdall will raise Gjallarhorn and blow a blast that is heard in all nine worlds, calling the gods to their last battle.

On that day he will face his old enemy Loki. The two once fought before, both in the shape of seals, over Freya's stolen necklace Brísingamen, and Heimdall brought it back. At Ragnarök they will fight for the last time, and each will kill the other.

The father of people

An old poem tells how Heimdall, under the name Ríg, walked the earth. He stayed three nights in three houses: first with a poor old couple in a hut, then with a farming couple in a hall, and last with a rich lord and lady in a mansion. Nine months after each visit a son was born, and from those three sons came the three kinds of people in old Scandinavian society: thralls, free farmers and nobles. That is why some poems call all of humankind "Heimdall's children".

Heimdall in Battle of Myths

Heimdall is a cost 3 Norse guardian and hunter. His ability, Gjallarhorn, sounds the horn: he gains a shield, and every ally gains attack speed and armor for a few seconds. As his quote says, he heard you coming an hour ago. Like every Norse hero, he grows stronger with Ragnarök the longer a fight lasts.

Did you know?

• The Völuspá, the great poem of the creation and end of the world, opens by asking for silence from "all the holy races, the greater and the lesser sons of Heimdall".
• Bifröst is often said to be the rainbow, and its red band is fire that keeps the giants from crossing.