and their
Nine Daughters prepare a huge vat of
ale. 19th-century Swedish
book illustration of the
Poetic Edda. Ægir is attested in a variety of Old Norse sources.
Sonatorrek Ægir and Rán receive mention in the poem
Sonatorrek attributed to 10th century Icelandic
skald Egill Skallagrímsson. In the poem, Egill laments the death of his son Böðvar, who drowned at sea during a storm. In one difficult stanza, the skald expresses the pain of losing his son by invoking the image of slaying the personified sea, personified as Ægir (Old Norse
ǫlsmið[r] 'ale-smith') and Rán (
Ægis man 'Ægir's wife'): The skald later references Ægir by way of the kenning 'Hlér's fire' (
Hlés viti), meaning
gold.
Poetic Edda In the
Poetic Edda, Ægir receives mention in the eddic poems
Grímnismál,
Hymiskviða,
Lokasenna, and in the prose section of
Helgakviða Hundingsbana I. In
Grímnismál, the disguised god Odin references Ægir's status as a renowned host among the gods: :'Fleeting visions I have now revealed before the victory-gods's sons, :now the wished-for protection will awaken; :to the all the Æsir it will become known, :on Ægir's benches, :at Ægir's feast.' In
Hymiskviða, Ægir plays a major role. In the poem, the gods have become thirsty after a successful hunt, and are keen to celebrate with drink. They "shook the twigs and looked at the
augury" and "found that at Ægir's was an ample choice of cauldrons". Odin goes to Ægir, who he finds sitting in good cheer, and tells him he shall "often prepare a feast for the Æsir". Referring to Ægir as a jötunn, the poem describes how, now annoyed, Ægir hatches a plan: He asks Thor to fetch a particular cauldron, and that with it he could brew ale for them all. The gods are unable to find a cauldron of a size big enough to meet Ægir's request until the god
Týr recommends one he knows of far away, setting the stage for the events of the rest of the poem. According to the prose introduction to
Lokasenna, "Ægir, who is also called Gymir", was hosting a feast "with the great cauldron which has just been told about", which many of the gods and elves attended. The prose introduction describes the feast as featuring gold that shimmers like fire light and ale that serves itself, and that "it was a great place of peace". In attendance also were Ægir's servers,
Fimafeng and
Eldir. The gods praise the excellence of their service and, hearing this, Loki murders Fimafeng, enraging the gods, who chase him out to the woods before returning to drink. In the poem that follows the prose introduction (and in accompanying prose), Loki returns to the hall and greets Eldir: He says that before Eldir steps forward, he should first tell him what the gods are discussing in the hall. Eldir says that they're discussing weaponry and war, and having nothing good to say about Loki. Loki says that he will enter Ægir's halls and have a look at the feast, and with him bring quarrel and strife. Eldir notifies Loki that if he enters and causes trouble, he can expect them to return it to him. Loki enters the hall and the gods see him and become silent. In
Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, a great wave is referred to as "Ægir's terrible daughter".
Prose Edda Ægir receives numerous mentions in the
Prose Edda book
Skáldskaparmál, where he sits at a banquet and asks the skaldic god
Bragi many questions, and Bragi responds with narratives about the gods. The section begins as follows: Beyond this section of
Skáldskaparmál, Ægir receives several other mentions in
kennings. Section 25 provides examples for 'sea', including 'visitor of the gods', 'husband of Rán', 'father of Ægir's daughters', 'land of Rán and Ægir's daughters'. Kennings cited to
skalds in this section include 'the storm-happy daughters of Ægir' meaning 'waves' (Svein) and a kenning in a fragment of a work by the 11th century Icelandic skald
Hofgarða-Refr Gestsson, where Rán is referred to as '
Gymir's ...
völva': The section's author comments that the stanza "[implies] that they are all the same, Ægir and Hler and Gymir. Chapter 33b of
Skáldskaparmál discusses why skalds may refer to gold as "Ægir's fire". The section traces the kenning to a narrative surrounding Ægir, in which the jötunn employs "glowing gold" in the center of his hall to light it "like fire" (which the narrator compares to flaming swords in
Valhalla). The section explains that "Ran is the name of Ægir's wife, and the names of their nine daughters are as was written above ... Then the Æsir discovered that Ran had a net in which she caught everyone that went to sea ... so this is the story of the origin of gold being called fire or light or brightness of Ægir, Ran or Ægir's daughters, and from such kennings the practice has now developed of calling gold fire of the sea and of all terms for it, since Ægir and Ran's names are also terms for the sea, and hence gold is now called fire of lakes or rivers and of all river-names." In chapter 61 provides yet more kennings. Among them the author notes that "Ran, who, it is said, was Ægir's wife" and that "the daughters of Ægir and Ran are nine". In chapter 75, Ægir occurs in a list of jötnar.
Saga corpus In what appears to be a Norwegian genealogical tradition, Ægir is portrayed as one of the three elements among the sea, the fire and the wind. The beginning of the
Orkneyinga saga ('Saga of the Orkney Islanders') and
Hversu Noregr byggdisk ('How Norway Was Settled') tell that the jötunn king
Fornjót had three sons: Hlér ('sea'), whom he called Ægir, a second named Logi ('fire'), and a third called Kári ('wind'). ==Scholarly reception and interpretation==