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God of War Ragnarokcontinues Kratos and Atreus’s journey through the Nine Realms as they face the consequences of killing Baldur. The death of the god prompted the Norse apocalyptic event called Ragnarok, the Doom of the Gods.
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There are several prominent characters that serve important roles, but there’s one that is overlooked. Yggdrasil the World Tree supports the universe and all of the Nine Realms; Kratos travels to each of the realms by running across its branches. We take a look at the history of Yggdrasil and what role it plays in Ragnarok.
Odin’s Horse
Yggdrasil is described as being agiant green ash treewith branches that connect to all the Nine Realms. The name of the tree is a combination of two words:Yggranddrasill. The former isanother name for Odinand the latter meanshorse in a symbolic way, translating Yggdrasil into Odin’s Horse.
Odin made manysacrifices to obtain hidden knowledgeand one of those acts involvedhanging himself from Yggdrasil. He hung fornine days and nightsin order to gain knowledge of other worlds and learn how to understand runes.
Yggdrasil’s Roots
The World Tree hasthree rootsthat extend intoNiflheim, Jotunheim, and Asgardand have special wells next to each one of them. The well located far beneath Niflheim in the underworld is calledHvergelmiror Roaring Kettle. It’s said that thefirst living being was created from this well.
The great dragon Nidhogg spends most of his time gnawing on the root until he hears the Hellhound Garmr approaching. When that happens, Nidhogg will fly to the entrance of Hel and feast on corpses until Garmr leaves. While Nidhogg chews on the root, he’s often ridiculed by insults fromRatatoskr.
Kratos meets this squirreloutside of Sindri’s house,and the rodent asks the Spartan to help him with a variety of tasks.
Urdrarbrunnris the Well of Fate and is located in Asgard. The well is maintained by theNorns, three sisters who canclosely predict future events. The Norns draw water from the well, as well as moist soil around it, and pour it over the root tokeep the tree healthy. Without the Norns caring for Yggdrasil, the tree would rot and destroy the realms.
The Well of Fate is also the location where the gods and goddessesconduct daily meetingsand cast judgment.
Jotunnheim is home to the third wellMimisbrunnr, otherwise called Mimir’s Well. Mimir’s Well is a magicalsource of wisdomwhere many have paid a heavy price to obtain knowledge. Odin sought knowledge from the well and Mimir allowed him to drink in exchange for hisright eye. Mimir drinks from the well himself using a drinking horn called Gjallarhorn. The horn shares thesame name as Heimdall’swhich will signal Ragnarok.
Surviving Ragnarok
Although Ragnarok means the Doom of the Gods, that doesn’t necessarily include Yggdrasil. The World Tree managed to survive Ragnarok in some capacity despite themajority of the Norse pantheon meeting their ends.
When Ragnarok arrives, it’s said that Yggdrasil will tremble, causing mountains and trees to collapse. The shockwaves cause thechain that held Fenrir capture to break, allowing the wolf to escape. When Surtr struck his weapon into Asgard, the fires of Muspelheim spread throughout the tree and consumes the Nine Realms.
In God of War Ragnarok,Surtr only destroyed Asgardand Yggdrasil survived and allowed Kratos and Freya to continue traveling to the other realms.
Even though Yggdrasil suffered significant damage and several gods perished in Ragnarok,new life emerged from the World Tree. The two survivors, Lif and Lifhrasir, found shelter among woods calledHoddmimir. The name is similar to Mimir, implying that the woods could bean indication that Yggdrasil was rebornin the aftermath of Ragnarok.
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