Ask and Embla – the First Human Pair

The world was ordered, the sun ran its course – but the shore lay empty. Then three gods found on the sea-strand two pieces of driftwood and made from them the first human pair: Ask and Embla. From them, says the Edda, we all descend.

Ask (‘ash’) and Embla (probably ‘elm’, or a word for a vine) were at first lifeless logs without fate. Only the gifts of the gods made them human.

Three gifts, one human

According to the Völuspá, three Æsir came to the shore: Odin, Hönir and Lodurr (in Snorri: Odin, Vili and Vé). They found Ask and Embla ‘without breath, without fate’. Odin gave them önd – breath, the spirit of life; Hönir gave óðr – mind and motion; Lodurr gave lá and litr góðr – warmth, blood and blooming hue. So from dead wood came a living human, at home in Midgard.

“Soul they had not, sense they had not, / heat nor motion, nor goodly hue; / soul gave Othin, sense gave Hönir, / heat gave Lothur and goodly hue.”Völuspá 18, translation after Henry Adams Bellows (public domain)

The first humans

Ask and Embla are in Norse mythology the first humans. The gods found them as lifeless logs or pieces of wood on the seashore and woke them to life – the origin of the whole human race.

Three gods, three gifts

According to the Völuspá three gods gave the two their humanity: Odin breath and life, Hœnir reason and movement, Lóðurr warmth, colour and form. Only through all three gifts together did living humans arise from wood.

Born from trees

The names themselves point to trees: "Ask" means ash, "Embla" is often interpreted as elm or vine. In this idea humanity comes from wood – a deep image of the bond between human and tree.

An origin for all

From Ask and Embla, according to legend, all humans descend. They are the Norse counterpart to the creation couples of other cultures – simple, poetic and closely interwoven with nature.

Evidence: Ask and Embla and the three divine gifts stand in the Völuspá (Poetic Edda) and in Snorri (Gylfaginning).

Myth check: In the Völuspá the three creators are called Odin, Hœnir and Lóðurr; Snorri instead names Odin and his brothers Vili and Vé. Which version is older is unclear – the sources contradict each other.

Sources. The making of Ask and Embla stands in the Völuspá (st. 17–18) and in Snorri's Gylfaginning. Notably, the three givers are named differently in the two sources (Hönir/Lodurr vs. Vili/Vé). The reading of the tree-names is not wholly certain – ‘ash’ for Ask is secure; ‘Embla’ is usually taken as elm or as a word for a vine.

Myth & meaning. That the human is made from trees is an ancient, widespread image – and in the tree- and timber-rich North especially fitting. The human carries three divine gifts within: breath, mind and warm blood. For a workshop that works in wood, the thought is a lovely one: there is life in the material, if you give it the right form.

Laser-engraved wooden tree-slice with a Yggdrasil motif by Glanz & Gravur — Made from the wood – laser-engraved **tree-slices & wooden signs**. Wood in the shop →

Sources & literature

Völuspá (Poetic Edda), English public domain: Henry Adams Bellows (1923). Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning. Scholarship: Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology; John Lindow, Norse Mythology.

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Ask and Embla – the First Human Pair

Three gifts, one human

The first humans

Three gods, three gifts

Born from trees

An origin for all

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Sources & literature

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