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The
names of the three main goddesses in AMG are derived
from the Norse goddesses called the Norns.
The
Norse goddesses of time, fate and destiny were most
commonly called the Norns. They also presided over the
related function of universal or divine law. They were
also called the Dises, Idises and Hagedises,
root meaning of which was derived from Indo-European
words for 'spirit' or 'soul'. The Norns were fathered
by Norvi (Time), who descended from Nott
(Night).
The
Norns are comprised of three sisters, commonly named
Urd (original spelling: Urthr), Verthandi,
and Skuld. They were essentially the weavers
of fate of both men and gods. Urd and Verthandi wove
the cloth of a man's life, only to be eventually shredded
and scattered by the youngest sister Skuld, thus ending
the life of a person. Thee Norns were not subject to
the other deities, though they obeyed the wishes of
Orlog (fate), who is the eternal law of the universe.
They appeared at the end of the Golden Age under the
tree of Yggdrasil, residing by the sacred well Urdar
(Urd's Well).
Aside
from being the weavers of fate, the Norns were in charge
of keeping maintaining or keeping Yggdrasil alive. The
sisters would mix clay and water from Urd's Well and
place them on the World Tree's roots to prevent it from
rotting. The Norns were also charged with the duty to
guard the precious golden apples that grow from the
branches of the Yggdrasil, and permit no one except
Idun to pick them so that she could feed them to the
gods. They also care for two swans, which swim on the
mirror-like surface of the Urd Well. The swans are symbolic
of the spirits of all living things. The Norns adorn
themselves with feathers from these swans and sometimes
use the power of the feathers to appear as swans on
Midgard, and bequest to mortals knowledge of the future.
As
indicated in the site of Studio Proteus, the Norns are
fairly recent additions in the Norse pantheon. Their
names are not names but are "speaking names"
or descriptions of their functions. Verdandi
was a verb form of the Old Scandinavian word "vertha,"
"to become." Likewise, urdr meant "what
has happened," and skuld "what shall
be," or "what shall come to pass." It
is in this context that each of the Norns had a time
domain, the past being the realm of Urd, the present
for Verthandi and the future for Skuld.
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