NÍÐHÖGGR

THE DRAGON BENEATH THE ROOTS

The name Níðhǫggr comes from Old Norse and is pronounced approximately “NEETH-hogg-r”, with the stress on the first syllable. The letter ð sounds like the “th” in “this.”

The name is often interpreted as “the malicious striker” or “the one who strikes with dishonour,” although its exact meaning remains debated.

Níðhǫggr is also commonly written as Níðhöggr or Nidhöggr in modern languages.

THE ANCIENT LEGEND

In Old Norse mythology, Níðhǫggr is a dark serpent or dragon who dwells beneath Yggdrasil—the immense World Tree connecting the worlds.

Hidden among its deepest roots, he gnaws endlessly at the tree from below. High above sits a great eagle. Between them runs the squirrel Ratatoskr, carrying hostile words and insults from one to the other.

But Níðhǫggr is more than a creature beneath a tree.

In the final vision of the Old Norse poem Völuspá, the dark dragon rises from below and flies across the land, carrying the dead beneath his wings.

He embodies decay, destruction and the ancient forces that wait beneath the ordered world.

IN THE CHRONICLE OF ELDR

For ages, Níðhǫggr remained beneath the roots—gnawing, listening and waiting.

Then something changed.

A force older than kingdoms had reached the world. Its presence moved through stone, root and forgotten places like heat beneath the earth.

Níðhǫggr felt it.

The First Flame was unlike anything that belonged to Yggdrasil. It carried the power of creation, possibility and transformation—and to the ancient dragon beneath the roots, such power could only be a threat.

For the first time in an age, Níðhǫggr stopped gnawing.

The roots trembled.

Then he began to climb.

THE ROOTS TREMBLE. THE DRAGON RISES.