Móðguðr
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In Norse mythology, Móðguðr (Old Norse: , "Furious Battler"; also Modgud) refers to the female guardian (tutelary deity) of the bridge over the river Gjöll ("Noisy"), Gjallarbrú. She allowed the newly dead to use the bridge to cross from one side of the river Gjöll to the other if the soul stated their name and business and possibly in turn prevented the dead beyond the river from crossing back over Gjöll into the lands of the living.
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- ''Gylfaginning''
- Notes
- References
In Norse mythology, Móðguðr (Old Norse: , "Furious Battler"; also Modgud) refers to the female guardian (tutelary deity) of the bridge over the river Gjöll ("Noisy"), Gjallarbrú. She allowed the newly dead to use the bridge to cross from one side of the river Gjöll to the other if the soul stated their name and business and possibly in turn prevented the dead beyond the river from crossing back over Gjöll into the lands of the living.
==Gylfaginning== In the book Gylfaginning at the end of Chapter 49, the death of Baldr and Nanna is described. Hermóðr, described as Baldr's brother in this source, sets out to Hel on horseback to retrieve the deceased Baldr. To enter Hel, Hermóðr rides for nine nights through "valleys so deep and dark that he saw nothing" until he arrives at the river Gjöll ("Noisy") and its bridge, Gjallarbrú, which is guarded by Móðguðr. The bridge is described as having a roof made of shining gold. Hermóðr crosses it before being challenged at the far end by Móðguðr.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Móðguðr” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.