The watchman of the Gods, Heimdall is the strong silent type and guards Bifrost, the gateway to Asgard. He can see for a hundred leagues night or day, and can hear the grass growing.

Apart from guard duty, Heimdall is the ever-watchful sentinel who waits with his horn to announce the end of the world. His horn is called Gjail or Gjallar. When Ragnarok arrives, he’ll blow the most amazing note and the last battle will commence. Listen out for further announcements.

Heimdall’s father is Odin and, according to his birth certificate, he has nine mothers. All giantesses. We are not sure how that works and neither is anyone else. Perhaps Odin wondered what it would be like to have his wicked way with nine of them simultaneously — and the naughty thought alone was potent enough to make them the joint mother of Heimdall. All nine of them have to share a single family allowance.

Incidentally, the Nine Mothers of Heimdall are occasionally identified with the nine Wave Maidens. Mostly because there are nine of them.

Although he seems to be the most placid and stationary God, Heimdall has been known to sneak off duty under the name Rig and have exciting adventures. He also rescued Freya’s precious necklace after it was stolen by Loki.

Apparently there were two seals sitting on a rock, looking at a bright shiny thing by their feet. They nodded a cursory ‘Good Morning’ to each other and continued to gaze down at what was actually the infinitely precious Brisingamen.

One of these seals was Loki. He’d stolen the necklace and retreated to the safety of an obscure sea-bound rock in the guise of a seal. Blending in with the seal population was proving somewhat difficult, but it was his best chance to avoid detection.

The other seal, having sat quietly on the rock for several hours with hardly a glance in his direction, hauled itself up, brushed itself down and unexpectedly punched Loki in the face. It was Heimdall, come to rescue the necklace. He’d disguised himself as a seal, positioned himself on the rock first and lulled Loki into the most embarrassingly false sense of security.

The Brisingamen was returned to Asgard for safekeeping, but we understand Freya wasn’t allowed near it ever again.

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Article last revised on September 21, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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