Hringhorni – Baldr’s Funeral Ship

When the shining god Baldr dies, the Æsir give him the most splendid funeral of the North – upon Hringhorni, the greatest of all ships.

A Pyre Upon the Sea

Baldr’s body is carried onto the ship and a mighty pyre built upon it. But when the gods try to launch Hringhorni, it will not move. They summon the giantess Hyrrokkin from Jötunheim. She comes riding a wolf, with vipers for reins, and pushes the ship off with a single shove so powerful that fire springs from the rollers and the whole earth quakes. Thor, angered at the raw force, is ready to raise his hammer.

The End of Grief

Baldr’s wife Nanna collapses dead of sorrow and is laid beside him on the pyre. Odin lays his ring Draupnir with them and whispers a secret in his dead son’s ear. Then Thor kindles the pyre. So the fairest ship of the North burns out to sea with the purest of the gods.

The ship of the dead god

Hringhorni is in Norse mythology the ship of the god Baldr – and becomes the scene of one of the most moving scenes of the whole Edda: his funeral. It was regarded as the greatest of all ships.

The burial at sea

After Baldr's death the gods laid his body on Hringhorni to burn it there – a solemn ship burial. His wife Nanna, according to legend, died of grief and was laid with him on the pyre.

The giantess Hyrrokkin

The ship was so heavy that the gods could not push it into the water. Only the giantess Hyrrokkin, who rode up on a wolf with serpents as reins, pushed Hringhorni into the sea with a single shove so powerfully that the earth shook.

An image of grief and greatness

The burial on Hringhorni combines grief, power and dignity. It is one of the most impressive images of Norse mythology – and an echo of the real importance of ship and burial in the north.

The Funeral of the Gods

Snorri paints the scene in glowing colours. To the funeral come all the powers: Odin with the valkyries and the ravens, Freyr on the golden boar Gullinbursti, Heimdall on his steed Gulltopp, Frigg and the goddesses, even frost-giants and mountain-giants. As Thor hallows the pyre with his hammer, a dwarf named Litr runs before his feet – and Thor kicks him straight into the fire.

Such ship burials are no mere poet’s image: the graves of Oseberg, Gokstad and Sutton Hoo show that powerful dead were indeed buried with whole ships. Whether they were ever pushed burning out to sea, or burned and buried on land, is disputed – the myth of Hringhorni raises a real, awe-inspiring practice into the cosmic.

Read more with us

Baldr’s Death · Baldr · Hermod’s Ride to Hel · Draupnir.

Sources & literature

Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning 49. Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology; on ship burial: Neil Price and others.

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