Heimdall Ihe Watchman of the Gods.

Heimdall was mysteriously born of nine mothers and the god Odin. Heimdall was tall and handsome, with a dazzling smile. He was sometimes called the god of light, the shining god, or the white god. Traveling under the name Rig, Heimdall conceived three sons, the ancestors of the three classes of human society.

Heimdall had a wonderful horn called Gjallarhorn, whose blast could be heard all over the Nine Worlds. Heimdall blew Gjallarhorn at Ragnarok, the end of the world. His horse was Gulltop (Golden Tuft), and his sword was Hofund. He lived in a fortress-like hall called Himinbjorg (Cliffs of Heaven).

Heimdall had amazing abilities. His eyesight was so sharp that he could see for 100 miles all around him. Some said he could see even farther or that he had “second sight” that allowed him to see into the future. It is certain that he saw all the comings and goings of those who crossed Bilrost, the Rainbow Bridge that led from Asgard, the home of the gods, to midgard (Middle Earth).

Heimdall spotted sly Loki from afar, after the trickster god had stolen Freya’s necklace and escaped with it into the sea, where he changed himself into a sleek seal. Heimdall, too, was able to change his shape. He dived, seal-like, into the water, barking and nipping. Heimdall vanquished Loki and took the necklace back to Freya. He and Loki were enemies from then on and in the end would kill each other at Ragnarok. Heimdall was clever, too. He had the brilliant idea of sending the thunder god, Thor, to Jotunheim dressed as a girl in bridal dress in order to get back Thor’s magic hammer from the giant Thrym, who had stolen it.

Heimdall’s hearing was so acute and finely tuned that he could hear the grass pushing up from under the earth and the wool growing on a sheep’s back. Heimdall needed so little sleep that it seemed he was always awake and alert.

Heimdall’s Nine Mothers

One obscure and fragmented myth, related in the Hyndluljoth of the Poetic Edda, told the following story about the origins of Heimdall, the watchman of the bridge Bilrost.

One day when the great god Odin walked along the seashore, he came across nine beautiful giantesses, sound asleep on the sand. They were the wave maidens, daughters of the sea god, Aegir. Their names were Alta (Fury), Augeia (Sand Strewer), Aurgiafa (Sorrow-Whelmer), Egia (Foamer), Gialp (Howler), Greip (Gripper), Jarnsaxa (Ironstone), Sindur (Dusk), and Ulfrum (She-Wolf ). Odin was so enchanted with their beauty that he married all nine of them, and together the nine giantesses brought forth a beautiful son named Heimdall. (Snorri Sturluson provides a different list of names for Aegir’s daughters in his Skaldskaparmal, but scholars have not been able to explain the differences in the two lists as they have survived in existing manuscripts.)

The nine mothers nurtured their son on the strength of the earth, the moisture of the sea, and the heat of the Sun. The new god thrived so well on this diet that he was soon tall enough and strong enough to hasten to Asgard, the home of the gods.

There the gods endowed Heimdall with marvelously keen senses and named him guardian of the Rainbow Bridge.