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"Nornir" (ca. 1884) by
J.L. Lund, depicting Verðandi with wings.
Verðandi (possibly "happening" or "present"[1]), sometimes anglicized as Verdandi, is a Norn in Norse mythology. Along with Urðr (Old Norse "fate"[2]) and Skuld (possibly "debt" or "future"[3]), Verðandi makes up a trio of Norns that are described as deciding the fates of people.
[edit] Etymology
Verðandi is literally the present tense of the Old Norse verb "verða", "to become", and is commonly translated as "in the making" or "that which is happening/becoming"; it is related to the Dutch word worden and the German word werden, both meaning "to become".
[edit] Attestation
"Norns weaving destiny" (1912) by Arthur Rackham.
[edit] Völuspá
She appears in the following verse from the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, along with Urðr and Skuld:
- Þaðan koma meyjar
- margs vitandi
- þrjár, ór þeim sal
- er und þolli stendr;
- Urð hétu eina,
- aðra Verðandi,
- skáru á skíði,
- Skuld ina þriðju;
- þær lög lögðu,
- þær líf kuru
- alda börnum,
- örlög seggja.
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- Thence come maidens
- much knowing
- three from the hall
- which under that tree stands;
- Urd hight the one,
- the second Verdandi,
- on a tablet they graved,
- Skuld the third;
- Laws they established,
- life allotted
- to the sons of men,
- destinies pronounced.
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[edit] Modern influence
"Die Nornen" (1889) by Johannes Gehrts.
The Norns have been the subject of a number of artistic depictions and references in modern culture, where the concept of the trio is more often used than the individual Norns, thus no depictions of Verðandi alone exist. The book series The Wyrd Museum features Verðandi as one of the three surviving Fates; known as Veronica she, along with her sisters Ursula (Urðr) and Celandine (Skuld) guard the last surviving root of Yggdrasil from the war-god Woden. The Japanese manga series Ah! My Goddess stars three norns, one of which is Belldandy, based on Verðandi. Verdandi, the name of a Swedish radical student organization founded in 1882 by Karl Staaff, derives its name from Verðandi.[4] The name is also featured in modern music, where a small number of song and album titles are influenced by Verðandi. These include the neofolk band Verdandi, two albums with the same name by the Ukraninian ambient black metal band Moloch and the Russian black metal band Raven Dark, and a handful of song titles by various artists.[5] In Digimon anime, manga series and franchise, Verdandi is the name of the present server of the new Digi-World that Yggdrasil (the God of the Digi-World) has created to replace the old Digi-World. The other two servers are Urd (past) and Skuld (future).
[edit] References
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