Njörðr and Skaði

“Njord took to wife Skadi, the daughter of the giant Thjassi. She preferred dwelling in the abode formerly belonging to her father, which is situated among rocky mountains, in the region called Thrymheim, but Njord loved to reside near the sea. They at last agreed that they should pass together nine nights in Thrymheim, and then three in Noatun.”

11. Thrymheim the sixth is named, where Thiassi dwelt that all-powerful Jötun; but Skadi now inhabits, the bright bride of gods, her father’s ancient home.

In Skáldskaparmál, after the gods kill Skaði’s father Þjazi, she comes to Ásgarðr in armour to avenge him. The Æsir offer atonement: she may choose a husband from among them, seeing only their feet, and they will make her laugh. She picks the finest feet, hoping they are Baldr’s, and they are Njörðr’s. Loki then makes her laugh with a goat, and the atonement is complete.

Gylfaginning tells what came next. Skaði wanted to live in her father’s old home among the mountains, Njörðr by the sea. They agreed to spend nine nights in Þrymheimr and then three at Nóatún. Njörðr came back from the mountains and sang that he was weary of them after nine nights, and that the howling of wolves sounded bad beside the song of the swans. Skaði replied that she could not sleep on the shore for the cries of the sea-birds. She went back to the mountains and Þrymheimr. Grímnismál confirms that she now lives in her father’s old home.

Gylfaginning is the only source for the arrangement of nights, and editions do not all give the same account of it. Neither Þrymheimr nor Nóatún is said to lie in Vanaheimr; each has its own entry here.

Grímnismál says nothing of the marriage, only that Skaði lives in her father’s home. The two verses in Gylfaginning are given as Njörðr’s and Skaði’s own words.