Modern Illustrations

Since the seventeenth century, artists have grappled with the difficulty of representing the World-Tree and its place in the Norse cosmos. The responses range from naturalistic representations, to complex and colourful schematics that bear little resemblance to anything surviving from the Viking Age. We have gathered some examples below.

Illustration of Yggdrasill from AM 738 4to

This colourful illumination is one of the most famous depictions of the World-Tree, from a manuscript produced in Iceland in 1680. It is based primarily on Snorri's Prose Edda, contained in the manuscript. For the full image, visit handrit.is

Illustration of the Norse Cosmos by Finnur Magnússon

Finnur Magnússon was one of the first scholars to try to represent the Norse cosmos as a whole. This stunning image represents an enormous tree both supporting Miðgarðr (the world of men) and growing towards the heavens.

Illustration of Yggdrasill by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine

This etching from 1886 was produced by Frederich Wilhelm Heine to illustrate Wilhelm Wägner's popular account of Norse myth, Asgard and the Gods. It depicts the world rather like a snow-globe nestled in the canopy of Yggdrasill.

Illustration of Yggdrasill by Lorenz Frølich

This 1895 etching by Lorenz Frølich opts for a more naturalistic portrayal of a venerable tree growing in a field. Underneath we can see one of the three wells, but there is little attempt to include other details from the literary sources.

Mural of Yggdrasil by Axel Revold in the National Library, Oslo

This colourful mural of Yggdrasill adorns Oslo University Library. It was painted in 1933 by artist Axel Redvold, who suggests the scale of the tree by focusing on its trunk. This image was released as part of Norway's Digitalt Museum initiative.

Photograph of Dagfin Werenskiold's relief of Deer Grazing on Yggdrasill

Also from Oslo comes this mid-twentieth-century depiction of the deer grazing on Yggdrasil, part of the series of 16 wooden reliefs in the series 'Yggdrasil' produced by Dagfin Werenskiold and adorning the entrance to the City Hall.

Asgard: The Nine Worlds diagram by Marvel

This depiction of Asgard and the Nine worlds appears in an Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, published in 1985. Here the nine worlds are depicted as islands, and the roots of Yggdrasill are ribbons connecting these floating worlds together.

Diagram of the Norse Cosmos by Wolfgang Werner

This detailed diagram of the Norse cosmos was produced by Wolfgang Werner. It is the most comprehensive of the schemas featured here, but also serves to illustrate the sheer complexity of representing the World-Tree and the Norse cosmos.