Teutonic mythology

Body of traditional stories and beliefs held by the ancient peoples of Scandinavia and west Germany. The gods of its pantheon were divided into two groups: the Aesir, principal warrior gods headed by Odin or Wotan, father of the gods; and their original rivals the Vanir, gods of fertility and magic led by Njord and his children Frey and Freya, later wife of Odin. The mischevious god-giant Loki and Balder, the beloved god, were major Aesir, along with Thor, god of thunder, and Tyr, god of battles.

Teutonic mythology has been preserved extensively in the Icelandic verse and prose of Edda.

The Scandinavians imagined a creation myth with the emergence of a frost giant, Ymir, and a war between his descendants and Odin and his brothers. The triumphant Aesir (warrior gods) lived in Asgard at the top of Yggdrasil, a giant ash tree encoiled by the great world-snake, which held together the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology. Hel, the dark goddess of death dwelt at its roots in Niflheim or Hel, and the human race lived in Midgard.

It was believed that this order would be destroyed at Ragnarök (Germanic Götterdammerüng), a final cataclysmic battle between the gods and powers of evil resulting in the birth of a new heaven and earth.