Norse and Viking symbols
The signs of Norse myth, Viking Age art and later Scandinavian and Icelandic magic, and when each is first recorded.
Norse and Viking symbols come from three different worlds, centuries apart, and each page here says which one a symbol belongs to. The first is Norse myth: Thor’s hammer Mjölnir, Odin’s spear Gungnir, his horse Sleipnir and his ravens Huginn and Muninn, and the world tree Yggdrasil. The myths are known mainly from the Poetic Edda and Snorri’s Prose Edda, which the National Museum of Denmark notes were written down by Christian writers at the start of the Middle Ages, and from Viking Age objects such as Thor’s hammer pendants and the picture stones of Gotland. The second is Viking Age art: the ring-chain of the Borre style, the gripping beast and the great beast of Harald Bluetooth’s stone at Jelling. The Danish encyclopedia Lex divides Viking art, from about 800 to the first half of the 1100s, into styles named after places where finds were made: Borre, Jelling, Mammen, Ringerike and Urnes. The third is much later: the magical staves of Icelandic manuscripts and the folk magic of Scandinavia. The vegvísir, sold today as a Viking compass, is first recorded in an Icelandic manuscript of 1860, and the troll cross in Swedish folk belief of recent centuries.
Gods and their attributes
- Mjölnir (Thor’s hammer)The hammer of Thor, the Norse thunder god, and his weapon against the giants. In the Viking Age small hammer pendants were worn as amulets; followers of modern Ásatrú wear them today as a sign of their faith.
- GungnirThe spear of Odin in Norse myth. It never misses its mark, and Odin opens the first war in the world by throwing it over the enemy host.
- SleipnirOdin’s eight-legged horse in Norse myth, grey and the best of all horses, able to cross between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
- Huginn and MuninnOdin’s two ravens in Norse myth. Their names mean “thought” (or “mind”) and “memory”, and each day they fly over the world and bring Odin news of all that happens.
- YggdrasilThe world tree of Norse myth: an evergreen ash that stands at the centre of the world, its branches spreading over everything and its three roots reaching into the realms of gods, giants and the dead.
- ValknutThree interlocked triangles carved on Viking Age picture stones from Gotland. Scholars read it as a sign of Odin and of death in battle; today it is called the valknut, “knot of the slain”.
- Triple horn of OdinThree drinking horns interlaced at their tips, carved on the Snoldelev runestone in Denmark about 700–800. It is called the triple horn of Odin today; the stone itself names no god.
Viking Age art and emblems
- Raven bannerA Viking war banner bearing a raven. Chroniclers say the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok raided England under one, and that the raven’s look in the wind was read as a sign of victory or defeat.
- Dragon-head prowThe carved beast’s head on the stem of a Viking ship. In the sagas the finest warships carry a dragon’s head at the prow and a tail at the stern.
- Borre ring-chainAn interlace of bands running through rings and lozenges, the signature motif of the Borre style of Viking art, about 850–950. It is named after harness mounts from a ship grave at Borre in Vestfold, Norway.
- Gripping beastA lively animal seen face-on, its paws gripping everything within reach: a favourite motif of Viking art from the late 8th century for about 200 years.
- Great beast of JellingThe great beast carved on King Harald Bluetooth’s runestone at Jelling, about 965: a striding animal with a snake wound around it. Its meaning is disputed.
Later Icelandic and Scandinavian magic
- VegvísirAn Icelandic magical stave meant to keep its bearer from losing the way in storms. It is first recorded in the Huld manuscript, compiled in Akureyri in 1860; it is not a Viking Age symbol.
- Ægishjálmur (Helm of Awe)The “helm of awe”: in the Eddic poems and the Völsunga saga, a helmet that terrified all who saw it; in Icelandic grimoires of the early modern period, a protective magical stave of eight armed spokes.
- SvefnþornThe “sleep thorn”: in the Eddic poems and the Völsunga saga, the thorn with which Odin cast the valkyrie Brynhild into a long sleep; in the Huld manuscript of 1860, a magical stave to keep a sleeper from waking.
- Troll crossA protective mark of Swedish folk belief: a cross cut into buildings, furniture and cattle gear, and small iron crosses hung on animals, to keep witchcraft and evil beings away. It is not a Viking Age symbol.
The old religion today
The old religion has followers again. The National Museum of Denmark describes modern believers who meet in the open air, honour the gods with toasts and offerings, and hold their feasts at the solstices and equinoxes; it calls this “more of a revival and reinterpretation of the old religion” than a direct continuation. In Denmark the largest society, Forn Sidr, was founded in 1997 and officially approved in 2003.
Sources
- The old religion, National Museum of Denmark
- The old Nordic religion today, National Museum of Denmark
- Vikingekunst (Lex), Lex, Danmarks Nationalleksikon
- Blot (Store norske leksikon), Store norske leksikon
- Skyddet för födan, Nils Ålenius, Uppland 1943, pp. 86–91, Upplands fornminnesförening (Årsboken Uppland)
- Origins of the “vegvísir” symbol, Tomáš Vlasatý, 5 April 2019, Projekt Forlǫg
Last reviewed September 26, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research