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The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world.

The Norns (Old Norse: norn, plural: nornir) of Norse mythology are a trio of goddesses understood to measure and regulate the fates of all beings (humans and deities). They are also known as the Weird Sisters, (sometimes Wyrd Sisters or Three Weird Sisters), after Urd, the first of the Norns, whose name means itself "fate".

The Norns live beneath the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree at the center of the cosmos (although some accounts have it that they dwell above the arch of the Bifrost Bridge), where they weave the tapestry of fate. Each person's life is a string in their loom, and the length of the string is the length of the person's life.

In addition to the more specific use of the term to refer to the three goddesses mentioned above, the term "Norn" also signifies a general "spirit of destiny," which accompanies an individual through their life and ensures the achievement of their respective fate. This notion of a legion of individualized Norns, each assigned a particular being, possess some marked similarities to the Hellenic views on daemons and to the popular Christian understanding of guardian angels.

The Norns in a Norse Context

As Norse deities, the Norns belonged to a complex religious, mythological and cosmological belief system shared by the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples. This mythological tradition, of which the Scandinavian (and particularly Icelandic) sub-groups are best preserved, developed in the period from the first manifestations of religious and material culture in approximately 1000 B.C.E. until the Christianization of the area, a process that occurred primarily from 900-1200 C.E.^[1] The tales recorded within this mythological corpus tend to exemplify a unified cultural focus on physical prowess and military might.

Within this framework, Norse cosmology postulates three separate "clans" of primary deities: the Aesir, the Vanir, and the Jotun. The distinction between Aesir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried and reigned together after a prolonged war, which the Aesir had finally won. In fact, the most major divergence between the two groups is in their respective areas of influence, with the Aesir representing war and conquest, and the Vanir representing exploration, fertility and wealth.^[2] The Jotun, on the other hand, are seen as a generally malefic (though wise) race of giants who represented the primary adversaries of the Aesir and Vanir. Over and above these three, there also existed races of secondary supernatural spirits, including the alfár (elves) and the dwarves (craftsmen for the Aesir).^[3]

Among the deities of the Norse pantheon, the Norns are distinctive for their roles in determining the fates of both humans and deities. In this sense, their respective functions can be seen as more ontologically primary (i.e. more fundamental to the basic operation of the cosmos) than those of all other gods, despite their comparatively smaller place within the mythic corpus.

Attributes

In their most specific form, articulated by Snorri Sturluson in his syncretic Prose Edda, the Norns are depicted as three women who act as the personifications of fate, as well as its arbitrators.

A hall stands there [in Asgard], fair, under the ash [Yggdrasill] by the well [Urðarbrunnr, the "Well of Fate"]. and out of that hall come three maids, who are called thus: Urdr, Verdandi, Skuld; these maids determine the period of men's lives: we call them Norns.^[4]

This role is attested to by the etymology of their names:

Urd is similar to the past tense of the verb verđa, "to become" and thus means something like "Became" or "Happened." It is cognate with Old English wyrd, "fate, destiny" ansd related words in Old High German and Old Saxon. Verdandi is the present participle of verđa, "Becoming" or "Happening." Skuld is derived from the modal verb skulu, which is cognate with English "shall" and "should," and probably then means "Is-to-be" or "Will-happen."^[5]

In this way, they signify "the past, the present, and the future."^[6] Given both their number and their role(s), it is perhaps unsurprising that they have often been compared to the Greek Fates (Moirae).^[7]

The role of the Norns exemplifies the ultimately fatalistic nature of the Norse mythic/religious complex.^[8]The future was seen as preordained, as evidenced by Odin's sacrifice of an eye for a vision of the end times (Ragnarök) and Balder's precognitive dreams of his own demise. Indeed, every being, both divine and human, had an alloted place in the cosmic order, which was foretold by these three Wyrd (Urd) sisters.

In addition to their particularized forms, as Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, Norn also refers to a generalized class of fate-regulating being within the Norse cosmology. The account found in the Prose Edda, quoted above, continues by describing this broader understanding of the Norns:

There are many norns: those who come to each child that is born, to appoint his life; these are of the race of the gods, but the second are of the Elf-people, and the third are of the kindred of the dwarves.^[9]

It is here that the universality of the Norns is attested, as the three "races" of these beings suggests that they minister to the Aesir and humans, the elvish people, and to the dwarves (i.e. to all classes of natural and supernatural beings). Further, the overall quality of one's existence (in terms of the trials and tribulations one will suffer) is determine by the norns themselves: "Good norns and of honorable race appoint good life; but those men that suffer evil fortunes are governed by evil norns."^[10] In this, they possess a striking similarity to the Greek daemons, who provide positive and negative outcomes to all individuals.<source needed>

Mythic Accounts

This romantic representation of the Norns depicts one of them with wings, contrary to folklore.

<in addition to the account from the Prose Edda, quoted above...

Thence come the maidens | mighty in wisdom,

Three from the dwelling | down 'neath the tree;

Urth is one named, | Verthandi the next,—

On the wood they scored,— | and Skuld the third.

Laws they made there, and life allotted

To the sons of men, and set their fates.^[11]

These Norns who dwell by the Well of Urdr take water of the well every day, and with it that clay which lies about the well, and sprinkle it over the Ash (Yggdrasill), to then end that its limbs shall not wither nor rot; for that water is so holy that all things which come there into the well become as white as the film which lies within the egg-shell.^[12]

additional role in regulating the universe (Snorri 30) (also, voluspa)
importance in hero myths (use Munch)

"The Norns are often depicted at the birth of great heroes, and their role in determining the course of an individual's destiny is celebrated in numerous poems of the Poetic Edda ... as well as in other legendary narratives."^[13]

Notes

↑ Lindow, 6-8. Though some scholars have argued against the homogenizing effect of grouping these various traditions together under the rubric of “Norse Mythology,” the profoundly exploratory/nomadic nature of Viking society tends to overrule such objections. As Thomas DuBois cogently argues, “[w]hatever else we may say about the various peoples of the North during the Viking Age, then, we cannot claim that they were isolated from or ignorant of their neighbors…. As religion expresses the concerns and experiences of its human adherents, so it changes continually in response to cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Ideas and ideals passed between communities with frequency and regularity, leading to and interdependent and intercultural region with broad commonalities of religion and worldview.” (27-28).
↑ More specifically, Georges Dumézil, one of the foremost authorities on the Norse tradition and a noted comparitivist, argues quite persuasively that the Aesir / Vanir distinction is a component of a larger triadic division (between ruler gods, warrior gods, and gods of agriculture and commerce) that is echoed among the Indo-European cosmologies (from Vedic India, through Rome and into the Germanic North). Further, he notes that this distinction conforms to patterns of social organization found in all of these societies. See Georges Dumézil's Gods of the Ancient Northmen (especially pgs. xi-xiii, 3-25) for more details.
↑ Lindow, 99-101; 109-110.
↑ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning XV, Brodeur 28-29.
↑ Lindow, 245.
↑ ibid.
↑ Given that tales of three specific Norns (Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld) are relatively rare within the Norse corpus (Lindow, 244), and that Urd is often described alone (and as a more impersonal embodiment of fate) (Turville-Petre, 279-280), it seems reasonable to concur with Munch's theory that the parallel between the Norns and the Greek Fates was a purposefully, syncretic development (Munch, 301).
↑ See, for example, DuBois 49, which describes the reliance of the religious public upon instruments of "chance" to determine the correct course of action. Since the future was preordained, these apparently random outcomes would actually indicate one's fated course.
↑ Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning XV, Brodeur 29.
↑ ibid.
↑ Völuspá 20, translated by Henry Adams Bellow and accessed online at sacred-texts.com. Emphasis added.
↑ asd
↑ Orchard, 267.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

DuBois, Thomas A. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8122-1714-4.
Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Edited by Einar Haugen; Introduction by C. Scott Littleton and Udo Strutynski. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. ISBN 0-520-02044-8.
Grammaticus, Saxo. The Danish History (Volumes I-IX). Translated by Oliver Elton (Norroena Society, New York, 1905). Accessed online at The Online Medieval & Classical Library.
Lindow, John. Handbook of Norse mythology. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. ISBN 1-57607-217-7.
Munch, P. A. Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes. In the revision of Magnus Olsen; translated from the Norwegian by Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt. New York: The American-Scandinavian foundation; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1926.
Orchard, Andy. Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. London: Cassell; New York: Distributed in the United States by Sterling Pub. Co., 2002. ISBN 0-304-36385-5.
Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda. Translated from the Icelandic and with an introduction by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur. New York: American-Scandinavian foundation, 1916. Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/prose/index.php.
Turville-Petre, Gabriel. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. ISBN 0837174201.
"Völuspá" in The Poetic Edda. Translated and with notes by Henry Adams Bellows. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1936. Accessed online at sacred-texts.com.

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[1] Lindow, 6-8. Though some scholars have argued against the homogenizing effect of grouping these various traditions together under the rubric of “Norse Mythology,” the profoundly exploratory/nomadic nature of Viking society tends to overrule such objections. As Thomas DuBois cogently argues, “[w]hatever else we may say about the various peoples of the North during the Viking Age, then, we cannot claim that they were isolated from or ignorant of their neighbors…. As religion expresses the concerns and experiences of its human adherents, so it changes continually in response to cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Ideas and ideals passed between communities with frequency and regularity, leading to and interdependent and intercultural region with broad commonalities of religion and worldview.” (27-28).

[2] More specifically, Georges Dumézil, one of the foremost authorities on the Norse tradition and a noted comparitivist, argues quite persuasively that the Aesir / Vanir distinction is a component of a larger triadic division (between ruler gods, warrior gods, and gods of agriculture and commerce) that is echoed among the Indo-European cosmologies (from Vedic India, through Rome and into the Germanic North). Further, he notes that this distinction conforms to patterns of social organization found in all of these societies. See Georges Dumézil's Gods of the Ancient Northmen (especially pgs. xi-xiii, 3-25) for more details.

[3] Lindow, 99-101; 109-110.

[4] Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning XV, Brodeur 28-29.

[5] Lindow, 245.

[6] ibid.

[7] Given that tales of three specific Norns (Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld) are relatively rare within the Norse corpus (Lindow, 244), and that Urd is often described alone (and as a more impersonal embodiment of fate) (Turville-Petre, 279-280), it seems reasonable to concur with Munch's theory that the parallel between the Norns and the Greek Fates was a purposefully, syncretic development (Munch, 301).

[8] See, for example, DuBois 49, which describes the reliance of the religious public upon instruments of "chance" to determine the correct course of action. Since the future was preordained, these apparently random outcomes would actually indicate one's fated course.

[9] Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning XV, Brodeur 29.

[10] ibid.

[11] Völuspá 20, translated by Henry Adams Bellow and accessed online at sacred-texts.com. Emphasis added.

[12] sd

[13] Orchard, 267.

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@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 ==Attributes==
 In their most specific form, articulated by Snorri Sturluson in his syncretic ''Prose Edda'', the Norns are depicted as three women who act as the personifications of fate, as well as its arbitrators.
+:A hall stands there [in [[Asgard]]], fair, under the ash [''[[Yggdrasill]]''] by the well [''Urðarbrunnr'', the "Well of Fate"]. and out of that hall come three maids, who are called thus: Urdr, Verdandi, Skuld; these maids determine the period of men's lives: we call them Norns.<ref>Snorri Sturluson, ''Gylfaginning'' XV, Brodeur 28-29.</ref>
-This role is also attested to by the etymology of their names:
+This role is attested to by the etymology of their names:
 :Urd is similar to the past tense of the verb ''verđa'', "to become" and thus means something like "Became" or "Happened." It is cognate with Old English ''wyrd'', "fate, destiny" ansd related words in Old High German and Old Saxon. Verdandi is the present participle of ''verđa'', "Becoming" or "Happening." Skuld is derived from the modal verb ''skulu'', which is cognate with English "shall" and "should," and probably then means "Is-to-be" or "Will-happen."<ref>Lindow, 245.</ref>
-In this way, they signify "the past, the present, and the future."<ref>''ibid''.</ref>
+In this way, they signify "the past, the present, and the future."<ref>''ibid''.</ref> Given both their number and their role(s), it is perhaps unsurprising that they have often been compared to the Greek Fates ([[Moirae]]).<ref>Given that tales of three specific Norns (Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld) are relatively rare within the Norse corpus (Lindow, 244), and that Urd is often described alone (and as a more impersonal embodiment of fate) (Turville-Petre, 279-280), it seems reasonable to concur with Munch's theory that the parallel between the Norns and the Greek Fates was a purposefully, syncretic development (Munch, 301).</ref>
-Thus everything is [[preordained]] in the Norse belief system: even the [[deity|gods]] have their own threads, though the Norns do not let the gods see those. This clear subjection of the gods to a power outside their control and the implication that they, too, will have an End are major themes of the literature surrounding [[Norse mythology]].
+The role of the Norns exemplifies the ultimately fatalistic nature of the Norse mythic/religious complex.<ref>See, for example, DuBois 49, which describes the reliance of the religious public upon  instruments of "chance" to determine the correct course of action. Since the future was preordained, these apparently random outcomes would actually indicate one's fated course.</ref>The future was seen as preordained, as evidenced by [[Odin]]'s sacrifice of an eye for a vision of the end times ([[Ragnarök]]) and [[Balder]]'s precognitive dreams of his own demise. Indeed, every being, both divine and human, had an alloted place in the cosmic order, which was foretold by these three ''Wyrd'' (''Urd'') sisters.
-The counterparts of the Norns among the Greeks were the [[Moirae]], known to the Romans as the [[Parcae]].
+In addition to their particularized forms, as Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, Norn also refers to a generalized class of fate-regulating being within the Norse cosmology. The account found in the Prose Edda, quoted above, continues by describing this broader understanding of the Norns:
+:There are many norns: those who come to each child that is born, to appoint his life; these are of the race of the gods, but the second are of the Elf-people, and the third are of the kindred of the dwarves.<ref>Snorri Sturluson, ''Gylfaginning'' XV, Brodeur 29.</ref>
-*Ragnarok (see Voluspa)
+It is here that the universality of the Norns is attested, as the three "races" of these beings suggests that they minister to the Aesir and humans, the elvish people, and to the dwarves (i.e. to all classes of natural and supernatural beings). Further, the overall quality of one's existence (in terms of the trials and tribulations one will suffer) is determine by the norns themselves: "Good norns and of honorable race appoint good life; but those men that suffer evil fortunes are governed by evil norns."<ref>''ibid''.</ref> In this, they possess a striking similarity to the Greek daemons, who provide positive and negative outcomes to all individuals.<source needed>
-*use Munch for the discussion of the similarity to the Moirae (fates)
-*general use of Norn to describe a class of guardian "fate" spirits (like the greek daimons)
 ==Mythic Accounts==
 [[Image:Nornir_by_Lund.jpg|thumb|220px|This romantic representation of the Norns depicts one of them with wings, contrary to folklore.]]
 <in addition to the account from the Prose Edda, quoted above...
+:Thence come the maidens | mighty in wisdom,
+:Three from the dwelling | down 'neath the tree;
+:Urth is one named, | Verthandi the next,—
+:On the wood they scored,— | and Skuld the third.
+:''Laws they made there'', and life allotted
+:To the sons of men, and set their fates.<ref>Völuspá 20, translated by Henry Adams Bellow and accessed online at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm sacred-texts.com]. Emphasis added.</ref>
+:These Norns who dwell by the Well of Urdr take water of the well every day, and with it that clay which lies about the well, and sprinkle it over the Ash ([[Yggdrasill]]), to then end that its limbs shall not wither nor rot; for that water is so holy that all things which come there into the well become as white as the film which lies within the egg-shell.<ref> asd </ref>
 *additional role in regulating the universe (Snorri 30) (also, voluspa)