Nidhogg (Old Norse Níðhöggr, “He Who Strikes with Malice”) is one of several serpents or dragons in the Nine Worlds. The most famous serpent is Jormungand or the Midgard-serpent but Nidhogg is a dragon trapped beneath the Yggdrasil and constantly gnawing at its roots and corpses. Nidhogg is a force for chaos by destroying Yggdrasil, he will pull the Norse cosmos into chaos and away from balance.
Nidhogg presides over part of Helheim called Náströnd (“The Shore of Corpses”) where perjurers, murderers and adulterers are devoured by the dragon. The potential for Christian influence is apparent here as the concept of the afterlife with moral retribution is not inherent to Norse mythology.
Nidhogg has a prominent role in Ragnarok, the epic battle and destruction of the Nine Worlds and the Norse cosmos. In the Poetic Edda, the poem ‘The Völuspá’ describes how Nidhogg will fly free from beneath Yggdrasil after Ragnarok.
The roots of Yggdrasil keep the Nidhogg trapped until Ragnarok when shaking of the Nine Worlds weakens of Yggdrasil and allows Nidhogg to start chewing and tearing his way free from the underworld with the coming of Ragnarok.
Leanbh Pearson 