![]() Yggdrasil was so massive that it could almost be considered a plane in its own right. It was not understood why the stars of Yggdrasil were always out of reach to some people. However, unless the attempt was performed by or in the company of a dwarf, a worshiper of the Norse pantheon, or a mortal with a chaotic good disposition, reaching out to a star immediately triggered the break of dawn and caused the star to disappear. ![]() If grabbed, the star functioned like an Ioun stone, casting a continuous daylight spell around its wearer, and holding on to its magic for up to 30 days after being separated from the tree. It was possible to reach out for one of those stars by climbing to the end of a branch. At night, the tree was illuminated by countless stars that hung from the branches themselves. During the day, sunlight percolated through the leaves, but provided full illumination until, at sunset, the sun appeared to move beyond a foggy horizon. ĭay and night followed an erratic cycle around the tree. It was usually possible to predict when gravity would change by observing the direction of the moss growth along the trunk. Throughout most of the trajectory, it pointed towards the center of the tree's trunk, but it slowly changed to match its destination plane as one approached a portal. The trip was made more perilous by the fact that gravity was not constant along the tree. Ĭlimbing the tree was difficult, but it was possible to get better footing by wearing spiked boots. Since there were many dead ends along the tree's branches, traveling without a guide or directions often resulted in long detours. Many, but not all of them ended in two-way portals, which resembled the color pools of the Astral Plane. All branches of the tree resembled enormous trees themselves, extending for up to 10 miles (16 kilometers). Its trunk was 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) in diameter at the bottom, but tapered down to a diameter of 1,200 feet (370 meters) at the point where it started to branch. The entire tree was 23 miles (37 kilometers) tall, with a 15‑mile-wide (24‑kilometer) canopy. It produced seeds, but they were known to be sterile by the elven inhabitants of Arborea and Alfheim. The tree was surrounded by sky in all directions. Spiraling along the main trunk, planks and sets of steps were carved or mounted onto the tree to facilitate traffic. It was made of a type of divine wood that was immune to fire, although fallen branches and leaves could be safely used for cooking fires. Its leaves were blue-black and oval shaped and its rough bark resembled flaking gray clay. Níðhöggr is also found as a heiti, or poetic term, for "serpent" and even as the name of a sword.Yggdrasil was a silver-barked ash tree. On his wings bears Nidhögg, flying o'er the plain, a corpse. In the poem's last stanza it comes flying out of Niðafjöll: There comes the dark dragon flying from beneath, the glistening serpent, from Nida-fells. In Völuspá, stanza 43, the serpent is described as sucking the blood from the corpses of the dead on Náströnd in Hel. He further specifies that Níðhöggr gnaws on the tree's third root, the standing over Niflheimr, and that it is one of the numerous serpents that live in Hvergelmir. Snorri Sturluson in Gylfaginning adds that the squirrel runs in both directions and that these are messages of hate. The squirrel Ratatoskr carries messages from the giant eagle perched in the topmost branches to Níðhöggr at the root. It is one of a number of animals that live in and around the world-tree. "Malice-striker." The serpent-like creature that gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil, according to Grímnismál.
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