Also called Nidhogg, Nidhug, Malice-striker.
Their story
Níðhöggr lies beneath Yggdrasil by the spring Hvergelmir and gnaws at its root, with more serpents than anyone can count. The squirrel Ratatoskr runs up and down the trunk carrying insults between him and the eagle at the top. In Völuspá he sucks the corpses of murderers, oath-breakers and seducers in Náströnd, and in the poem's last stanza he is seen flying with corpses in his wings over the renewed world.
Best times to give to them
- when reflecting on what eats at us
- autumn
What they like being given
- a broken promise mended
- compost made from fallen things
How to honour them
- Reflect on the grudges and slanders that gnaw at the roots of a life.
- Keep your oaths; the poem sends Níðhöggr to feed on oath-breakers.
How they can help you
- understanding decay and renewal
- the cost of dishonesty
Symbols
- a dragon
- the roots of Yggdrasil
- corpses of oath-breakers
- the spring Hvergelmir
Sources
- Poetic Edda, Grímnismál 32 and 35
- Poetic Edda, Völuspá 39 and 66
- Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 16 and 52