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Draupnir – Odin's Ring

Treasures Dwarven forge – origin of the ring Draupnir

A ring from which ever new rings arise: Draupnir is Odin’s golden treasure and one of the most striking images of Norse mythology. „The Dripper“ stands for endless abundance, for royal generosity – and, because Odin gave it to his dead son, for grief.

The name Draupnir (Old Norse Draupnir) means „the Dripper“ or „the Trickler“ – after its wondrous property: every ninth night, eight golden rings of equal weight drip from it. One ring becomes nine, nine soon become dozens. Draupnir is thus less an ornament than a symbol – of a king who does not hoard wealth but gives it away.

Origin: the smithing contest of Brokkr and Sindri

Draupnir came into being during the great contest of the dwarves that Loki had stirred up. After the sons of Ivaldi had forged three treasures (among them Odin’s spear Gungnir), Loki rashly wagered his own head with the brothers Brokkr and Sindri (also called Eitri) that they could not make anything better.

Sindri laid gold in the fire, and while Brokkr worked the bellows, Loki – transformed into a fly – tormented the smiths with his stings. So three masterpieces arose: the golden-bristled boar Gullinborsti, the ring Draupnir and the hammer Mjöllnir. The gods declared the hammer the most precious treasure – Loki lost the wager (but saved his head with a technicality).

Source. The forging of Draupnir is told in Snorri’s Skáldskaparmál (Prose Edda, c. 1220); the number „eight rings every ninth night“ is given by Skírnismál of the Poetic Edda. Standard reference: Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology.

Draupnir on Baldr’s pyre

The ring’s most moving moment is at once its most sorrowful. When the shining god Baldr died, Odin laid the ring Draupnir on his pyre at the funeral – the most precious gift for his beloved son. Later the gods’ messenger Hermod rode to the underworld to bring Baldr back; as a token, Baldr sent the ring Draupnir back to Odin from the world of the dead. So the ring of eternal wealth binds the world of the living to that of the dead.

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Myth & interpretation. The ring that gives birth to rings is an ancient image of kingship. In the Germanic world the ruler was called baugbroti – „ring-breaker“ – because he broke gold rings apart and distributed them among his followers. A ring that multiplies of its own accord is the mythical heightening of this ideal: a king whose generosity never runs dry. Draupnir, then, is not greed but its opposite – wealth that is passed on.

Draupnir and the other rings

Draupnir should not be confused with the cursed ring Andvaranaut, which brings misfortune in the Nibelung / Sigurd story. Draupnir is its exact counter-image: no curse but a blessing; not a ring that drags people to ruin, but one that bestows abundance. In the symbolic world of the North, the two rings stand for the two sides of gold – gift and greed.

From Aachen, for the North. We carry the ring motif and Norse signs as natural jewellery and engrave them on slate. Pendants and rings can be found in the natural-jewellery world, Odin motifs among the slate plaques. To the shop.

Read more with us

All the treasures of the Edda at a glance · Gungnir – Odin’s spear · Mjöllnir – Thor’s hammer · Odin (Wotan) · Sigurd & the hoard of Fafnir.

Sources & literature

Poetic Edda: Skírnismál (st. 21: eight rings on the ninth night). Snorri Sturluson, Prose Edda (Skáldskaparmál: the forging; Gylfaginning: Baldr’s funeral), c. 1220. English public domain: Henry Adams Bellows (1923). Scholarship: Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology; John Lindow, Norse Mythology (2001).

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