Yaarel
🇮🇱 🇺🇦 He-Mage
The Alfr is a celestial being who lives in the sky. Here is one of the more well known texts that refers to this concept.
Snorris Edda (Prose Edda), Gylfaginning 17
Then Gangleri spoke:
You know great reports about the sky to say. What of capitals is there, more than [the capital] at Urðarbrunni [in Ásgarðr]?
Hárr said:
Many places are there [in the sky], noble ones. That place which is called Alfheimr is one [of them] there. There dwell that people, which are named Bright Alfar [Ljósalfar].
But Dark Alfar [Døkkalfar] dwell below in the ground. And they are unlike them [in] appearance - and [even] more greatly unlike [them in] actuality. In appearance, Bright Alfar are more beautiful than [the] sun. But the Dark Alfar are more black than pitch.
Þá mælti Gangleri:
Mikil tíðendi kannt þú at segja af himninum. Hvat er þar fleira höfuðstaða en at Urðarbrunni?"
Hárr segir:
Margir staðir eru þar göfugligir. Sá er einn staðr þar, er kallaðr er Álfheimr. Þar byggvir fólk þat, er Ljósálfar heita.
En Dökkálfar búa niðri í jörðu, ok eru þeir ólíkir þeim sýnum ok miklu ólíkari reyndum. Ljósálfar eru fegri en sól sýnum, en Dökkálfar eru svartari en bik.
This text from Snorris Edda is the only one with an ‘encyclopedic’ description, as Snorri tries to systematize all of the Skald oral traditions for future readers. Elsewhere, the rest of the textual references in the Norse literature mention the Alfr in passing without much explanation. Still these references appear in contexts that evidence enough information. Here Snorri presents the information in the format of a play. A Human, Gangleri, stands before an animistic spirit of the sky, Óðinn, who is roaming the earth incognito under the name Hárr. Gangleri asks Hárr many questions. The answers are the literary device to convey the basic worldview that the Skald lore frequently alludes to in its tradition of cryptic kennings.
Glangleri asks Hárr what he knows about those spirits who live in the sky. Specifically he asks for information about their ‘capitals’ (hǫfuðstadir). The term literally means the ‘head places’, referring to places where a town-monarch has a throne room. One of these towns in the sky is Alfheimr, where the sky spirits called the Alfar live.
From here it is clear, the Alfar have a separate kingdom, with their own capital, and their own royal throne. Elsewhere in the Eddas and Sagas, texts occasionally mention a king of the Alfar in passing without description, but this king lives here in Alfheimr in the sky. The royal title is the ‘Singer of the Alfar’ (Alfa Ljóði) - this king is also a Skald - who knows the eighteen kinds of magical songs (Ljóð) of the chanting magic (Galdr) that heals and protects the Alfar people. Curiously in Vǫlundarkviða, Vǫlundr who is the paradigmatic creator of magic items is himself called, the ‘Singer of the Alfar’ and the ‘Ruler of the Alfar’ (Vísi Alfa). In Norse, the noun ‘vǫlundr’ comes to mean any kind of magic item creator, especially metal smiths. This text records a tradition that identifies Vǫlundr himself as an Alfr, indeed an Alfr king. One story has Vǫlundr and his two brothers romancing radiantly beautiful ‘swan women’, who are apparantly female Alfar, their lovers, that know shapeshift magic (Hamfari). Later Vǫlundr himself will create a cloak that he uses to shapeshift into an eagle. All of these Alfar fly home to sky, his two brothers and the three women, except Vǫlundr decides to remain behind to dwell on the earth. The association of this magic item creator with the Alfar relates the understanding that the Alfar are a people known for their powerful magic item creations.
The Alfar of Alfheimr are more ‘beautiful’ than the sun. In the cold dark arctic north, the sun is a beautiful thing, but the Alfar are even more beautiful. In context, these Bright Alfar (Ljósalfar) who are skydwellers contrast the Dark Alfar who are grounddwellers.
‘Appearance’
The noun ‘Light’ (Ljós) means a firelight, daylight, and sunlight. The Alfar especially associate with the sunlight, calling the sun itself the ‘splendor of an Alfr’ (álfröðull). Meanwhile, the adjective ‘Bright’ (Ljós-) means ‘shining’, ‘bright’, ‘clear’, shining like daylight, glowing like fire, luminous. The ‘Bright’ Alfar are radiant like sunlight.
The concepts of attractiveness and luminosity relate symantically in Norse. Visually, the word ‘beautiful’ (fagr) connotes luminosity and bright colors. It is a cognate of the English word ‘fair’, which preserves some similar sense with ‘fair maiden’ meaning a beautiful woman and a ‘fair complexion’ meaning blond hair and blue eyes. The bright sun is called ‘beautiful’, the bright blue daylight sky is called ‘beautiful’, bright colors like ‘beautiful green’ (fagrgrœnn), and so on. By extension, light blond hair is called ‘beautiful-hair’ (fagrhárr) and ‘bright-hair’ (ljóshárr). Similarly, milk-white skin is ‘beautiful’, and light blue eyes are ‘beautiful’ and ‘bright’. A detailed description of the Norse ideal of beauty appears in the description of Baldr, who is the nature spirit that personifies the daylight. He has the blond hair, blue eyes, and milk white skin, and is so radiantly beautiful he literally shines a bright aura of light, whence comes the daylight. Later folklore describes the luminosity of a Ljósalfr as radiating an aura of soft white light.
Outside of Scandinavia, in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) texts, a related term ‘Elf Shine’ (Ælfsciene) appears in biblical poetry to describe an enchanting supernatural beauty, which is so radiant it ‘shines’ magically.
Humans too can be described as ‘bright’, but the sky and the spirits of the sky inherently radiate light. Similarly, humans can polish metal to make it shine, but in the places in the sky, they polish metal so well it literally glows in the dark as a lightsource. The connotations of luminosity find supernatural fulfillment.
In the context of complexion, all Scandinavians have light skin, and terms mainly refer to hair color. The ‘bright’ complexion of the Light Alfr desribes blond hair. In contrast, the ‘black’ complexion of the Dark Alfr describes black hair. Elsewhere in Alvismál, the skin of a Dvergr is described as sunless and ‘pale’ (fǫlr) in a sickly sense. Often the term ‘black’ (svartr) connotes ‘blackish’ and ‘swarthy’, in the sense of someone who can tan well. The modern actor Sean Conory seems a good example of someone that a Viking Age Scandinavian might describe as ‘swarthy’. Several Viking kings are said to be ‘black’, referring to their black hair. Normally, the Dvergr are referred to as ‘Black Alfar’ (Svartalfar), but here Snorri unusually refers to them as ‘Dark Alfar’ in contrast to his equally unusual term ‘Bright Alfar’. Normally, the Bright Alfar are simply called ‘Alfar’, the Alfar proper, who are bright celestial beings.
‘Actuality’
Beyond superficial appearance, the Alfr is as beautiful on the inside as on the outside, and has a ‘bright/beautiful’ mindset. The Alfr is one of the animistic nature spirits who are helpful to humans. There are others that are hostile to humans. The ‘Black Alfr’ Dvergr is somewhere in between, hating to help others, but sometimes doing so grudgingly or being tricked into doing so. In contrast to the bright mood of the Alfar, the Dark Alfar are ‘black in actuality’, where their black mood refers to the bleak ‘baneful’ nature of killers who kill life easily.
Elsewhere in Kormákssaga, there is story of an ‘Alfr’ who lives in the ground in a mound, who can heal a fatal wound, and who appears to be an example of one of these ‘Dark Alfar’ who live ‘below in the ground’. The Black Alfr can be helpful, but grudgingly so. So at least certain Dvergar that are known to magically help Humans seem to be called an ‘Alfr’. There is also a Human king who came to be called the ‘Alfr’ of Geirstaðr, after Humans who visited his burial site received magical help from him as an ancestral spirit. Probably these surprising uses of the term ‘Alfr’ are a poetic kenning, an honorific nickname to poetically describe them as helpful spirits. Ultimately these abstract uses of the term ‘Alfr’ mean the Alfar folk themselves are the principle animistic spirits that the Humans turn to for magical help, healing, protection, psychic advice, and so on.
‘Dwelling’
The ‘Bright’ Alfar are celestial spirits who live in Alfheimr, which is in the sky. Other places in the sky include the estates where the Æsir dwell. The Æsir are a separate kind of sky spirit that personify celestial phenomenon. Óðinn personifies the skydome, Þórr personifies thunder clouds, Baldr personifies daylight, Hodr personifies nightdarkness, and so on. These sky spirits live in the sky, in separate locales. However, they often gather together elsewhere to hold their government national assembly in their capital town of Ásgarðr. The Æsir are animistic spirits that associate with celestial features, lifeforce, and physical strength. Relatedly, the Alfar associate with the celestial sunlight, the solar aura and sunbeams, and atmospheric winds. In Alvismál, their poetic names for cosmic features describe the skydome as their own ‘roof’ of their ‘room’ (salr). They live above the cloud level, and call the upper sky their home, which forms a celestial dome-shaped grand hall. Their light source for their room is the sun, nicknamed the ‘Alfr Splendor’ (Alfrǫdull). In Nornagestssaga, King Ólaf Trigvasson has an encounter with an Alfr who can material and dematerialize as wind and who passes thru the keyhole of a locked door. As ‘winds’ of ‘success’, whence fertile weather, the Alfar and their home Alfheimr associate to some degree with the fertility spirit Freyr in his celestial aspect of gentle rains and glowing sunbeams which bring terrestrial plants to life.
The descriptions of the places in the sky go on to mention Gimli. In the south, from the perspective of the northerners thus likely referring to the center of the world, there is a place in the sky, called Gimli. It probably means something like ‘Gem Shelter’, referring to its celestial luminous appearance. Like the Bright Alfar, Gimli too is described as ‘more beautiful than the sun’. It is said to locate at the highest level of the sky, called Viðbláinn, meaning the ‘Wide Blue’, which possibly refers to a level of the sky that is above the skydome, on top of it. That supra-celestial place of refuge will survive the cosmic destruction to come. Currently, only the celestial Bright Alfar live there. Likely, the Alfar themselves built this magical place called Gimli. By it - and by means of their fateful foresight and success - the Alfar will survive the destruction of the cosmos.
Snorris Edda (Prose Edda), Gylfaginning 17
Then Gangleri spoke:
You know great reports about the sky to say. What of capitals is there, more than [the capital] at Urðarbrunni [in Ásgarðr]?
Hárr said:
Many places are there [in the sky], noble ones. That place which is called Alfheimr is one [of them] there. There dwell that people, which are named Bright Alfar [Ljósalfar].
But Dark Alfar [Døkkalfar] dwell below in the ground. And they are unlike them [in] appearance - and [even] more greatly unlike [them in] actuality. In appearance, Bright Alfar are more beautiful than [the] sun. But the Dark Alfar are more black than pitch.
Þá mælti Gangleri:
Mikil tíðendi kannt þú at segja af himninum. Hvat er þar fleira höfuðstaða en at Urðarbrunni?"
Hárr segir:
Margir staðir eru þar göfugligir. Sá er einn staðr þar, er kallaðr er Álfheimr. Þar byggvir fólk þat, er Ljósálfar heita.
En Dökkálfar búa niðri í jörðu, ok eru þeir ólíkir þeim sýnum ok miklu ólíkari reyndum. Ljósálfar eru fegri en sól sýnum, en Dökkálfar eru svartari en bik.
This text from Snorris Edda is the only one with an ‘encyclopedic’ description, as Snorri tries to systematize all of the Skald oral traditions for future readers. Elsewhere, the rest of the textual references in the Norse literature mention the Alfr in passing without much explanation. Still these references appear in contexts that evidence enough information. Here Snorri presents the information in the format of a play. A Human, Gangleri, stands before an animistic spirit of the sky, Óðinn, who is roaming the earth incognito under the name Hárr. Gangleri asks Hárr many questions. The answers are the literary device to convey the basic worldview that the Skald lore frequently alludes to in its tradition of cryptic kennings.
Glangleri asks Hárr what he knows about those spirits who live in the sky. Specifically he asks for information about their ‘capitals’ (hǫfuðstadir). The term literally means the ‘head places’, referring to places where a town-monarch has a throne room. One of these towns in the sky is Alfheimr, where the sky spirits called the Alfar live.
From here it is clear, the Alfar have a separate kingdom, with their own capital, and their own royal throne. Elsewhere in the Eddas and Sagas, texts occasionally mention a king of the Alfar in passing without description, but this king lives here in Alfheimr in the sky. The royal title is the ‘Singer of the Alfar’ (Alfa Ljóði) - this king is also a Skald - who knows the eighteen kinds of magical songs (Ljóð) of the chanting magic (Galdr) that heals and protects the Alfar people. Curiously in Vǫlundarkviða, Vǫlundr who is the paradigmatic creator of magic items is himself called, the ‘Singer of the Alfar’ and the ‘Ruler of the Alfar’ (Vísi Alfa). In Norse, the noun ‘vǫlundr’ comes to mean any kind of magic item creator, especially metal smiths. This text records a tradition that identifies Vǫlundr himself as an Alfr, indeed an Alfr king. One story has Vǫlundr and his two brothers romancing radiantly beautiful ‘swan women’, who are apparantly female Alfar, their lovers, that know shapeshift magic (Hamfari). Later Vǫlundr himself will create a cloak that he uses to shapeshift into an eagle. All of these Alfar fly home to sky, his two brothers and the three women, except Vǫlundr decides to remain behind to dwell on the earth. The association of this magic item creator with the Alfar relates the understanding that the Alfar are a people known for their powerful magic item creations.
The Alfar of Alfheimr are more ‘beautiful’ than the sun. In the cold dark arctic north, the sun is a beautiful thing, but the Alfar are even more beautiful. In context, these Bright Alfar (Ljósalfar) who are skydwellers contrast the Dark Alfar who are grounddwellers.
‘Appearance’
The noun ‘Light’ (Ljós) means a firelight, daylight, and sunlight. The Alfar especially associate with the sunlight, calling the sun itself the ‘splendor of an Alfr’ (álfröðull). Meanwhile, the adjective ‘Bright’ (Ljós-) means ‘shining’, ‘bright’, ‘clear’, shining like daylight, glowing like fire, luminous. The ‘Bright’ Alfar are radiant like sunlight.
The concepts of attractiveness and luminosity relate symantically in Norse. Visually, the word ‘beautiful’ (fagr) connotes luminosity and bright colors. It is a cognate of the English word ‘fair’, which preserves some similar sense with ‘fair maiden’ meaning a beautiful woman and a ‘fair complexion’ meaning blond hair and blue eyes. The bright sun is called ‘beautiful’, the bright blue daylight sky is called ‘beautiful’, bright colors like ‘beautiful green’ (fagrgrœnn), and so on. By extension, light blond hair is called ‘beautiful-hair’ (fagrhárr) and ‘bright-hair’ (ljóshárr). Similarly, milk-white skin is ‘beautiful’, and light blue eyes are ‘beautiful’ and ‘bright’. A detailed description of the Norse ideal of beauty appears in the description of Baldr, who is the nature spirit that personifies the daylight. He has the blond hair, blue eyes, and milk white skin, and is so radiantly beautiful he literally shines a bright aura of light, whence comes the daylight. Later folklore describes the luminosity of a Ljósalfr as radiating an aura of soft white light.
Outside of Scandinavia, in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) texts, a related term ‘Elf Shine’ (Ælfsciene) appears in biblical poetry to describe an enchanting supernatural beauty, which is so radiant it ‘shines’ magically.
Humans too can be described as ‘bright’, but the sky and the spirits of the sky inherently radiate light. Similarly, humans can polish metal to make it shine, but in the places in the sky, they polish metal so well it literally glows in the dark as a lightsource. The connotations of luminosity find supernatural fulfillment.
In the context of complexion, all Scandinavians have light skin, and terms mainly refer to hair color. The ‘bright’ complexion of the Light Alfr desribes blond hair. In contrast, the ‘black’ complexion of the Dark Alfr describes black hair. Elsewhere in Alvismál, the skin of a Dvergr is described as sunless and ‘pale’ (fǫlr) in a sickly sense. Often the term ‘black’ (svartr) connotes ‘blackish’ and ‘swarthy’, in the sense of someone who can tan well. The modern actor Sean Conory seems a good example of someone that a Viking Age Scandinavian might describe as ‘swarthy’. Several Viking kings are said to be ‘black’, referring to their black hair. Normally, the Dvergr are referred to as ‘Black Alfar’ (Svartalfar), but here Snorri unusually refers to them as ‘Dark Alfar’ in contrast to his equally unusual term ‘Bright Alfar’. Normally, the Bright Alfar are simply called ‘Alfar’, the Alfar proper, who are bright celestial beings.
‘Actuality’
Beyond superficial appearance, the Alfr is as beautiful on the inside as on the outside, and has a ‘bright/beautiful’ mindset. The Alfr is one of the animistic nature spirits who are helpful to humans. There are others that are hostile to humans. The ‘Black Alfr’ Dvergr is somewhere in between, hating to help others, but sometimes doing so grudgingly or being tricked into doing so. In contrast to the bright mood of the Alfar, the Dark Alfar are ‘black in actuality’, where their black mood refers to the bleak ‘baneful’ nature of killers who kill life easily.
Elsewhere in Kormákssaga, there is story of an ‘Alfr’ who lives in the ground in a mound, who can heal a fatal wound, and who appears to be an example of one of these ‘Dark Alfar’ who live ‘below in the ground’. The Black Alfr can be helpful, but grudgingly so. So at least certain Dvergar that are known to magically help Humans seem to be called an ‘Alfr’. There is also a Human king who came to be called the ‘Alfr’ of Geirstaðr, after Humans who visited his burial site received magical help from him as an ancestral spirit. Probably these surprising uses of the term ‘Alfr’ are a poetic kenning, an honorific nickname to poetically describe them as helpful spirits. Ultimately these abstract uses of the term ‘Alfr’ mean the Alfar folk themselves are the principle animistic spirits that the Humans turn to for magical help, healing, protection, psychic advice, and so on.
‘Dwelling’
The ‘Bright’ Alfar are celestial spirits who live in Alfheimr, which is in the sky. Other places in the sky include the estates where the Æsir dwell. The Æsir are a separate kind of sky spirit that personify celestial phenomenon. Óðinn personifies the skydome, Þórr personifies thunder clouds, Baldr personifies daylight, Hodr personifies nightdarkness, and so on. These sky spirits live in the sky, in separate locales. However, they often gather together elsewhere to hold their government national assembly in their capital town of Ásgarðr. The Æsir are animistic spirits that associate with celestial features, lifeforce, and physical strength. Relatedly, the Alfar associate with the celestial sunlight, the solar aura and sunbeams, and atmospheric winds. In Alvismál, their poetic names for cosmic features describe the skydome as their own ‘roof’ of their ‘room’ (salr). They live above the cloud level, and call the upper sky their home, which forms a celestial dome-shaped grand hall. Their light source for their room is the sun, nicknamed the ‘Alfr Splendor’ (Alfrǫdull). In Nornagestssaga, King Ólaf Trigvasson has an encounter with an Alfr who can material and dematerialize as wind and who passes thru the keyhole of a locked door. As ‘winds’ of ‘success’, whence fertile weather, the Alfar and their home Alfheimr associate to some degree with the fertility spirit Freyr in his celestial aspect of gentle rains and glowing sunbeams which bring terrestrial plants to life.
The descriptions of the places in the sky go on to mention Gimli. In the south, from the perspective of the northerners thus likely referring to the center of the world, there is a place in the sky, called Gimli. It probably means something like ‘Gem Shelter’, referring to its celestial luminous appearance. Like the Bright Alfar, Gimli too is described as ‘more beautiful than the sun’. It is said to locate at the highest level of the sky, called Viðbláinn, meaning the ‘Wide Blue’, which possibly refers to a level of the sky that is above the skydome, on top of it. That supra-celestial place of refuge will survive the cosmic destruction to come. Currently, only the celestial Bright Alfar live there. Likely, the Alfar themselves built this magical place called Gimli. By it - and by means of their fateful foresight and success - the Alfar will survive the destruction of the cosmos.
