Norse

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Norse

Sól

The Goddess Who Drives the Sun

Domain: Sun & Daylight
Alignment: Neutral Good
Element: Light
Relics of Power: Solar Chariot of Asgard

Speak with Sól

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Norse & Germanic peoples

Region

Scandinavia & northern Europe

Period

Viking Age, 8th–11th c.

The gods of Asgard were worshipped by the Norse peoples of Scandinavia and by the Germanic tribes, especially during the Viking Age. Warriors sought to die in battle to reach Odin's Valhalla, and the myths were preserved in the Icelandic Eddas. The cult declined with the region's Christianization around the year 1000.

The Norse celebrated blóts, seasonal sacrifices with feasts of meat and mead, such as the Yule of the winter solstice. The great temple at Uppsala, in Sweden, hosted every nine years one of the largest sacrificial festivals of the Viking world.

At a glance

Sól is the sun of the Old Norse world, and the sun is grammatically feminine in that language. The texts make her the daughter of Mundilfari, sister of Máni (the moon) and wife of Glenr. The gods set her to drive the horses of a chariot of light, with the wolf Sköll in pursuit. Before the end of the world she will bear a daughter, who will travel the same road. Almost everything comes from the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda; there is no long myth and no attested cult.

The ancient sources on this deity are scarce. This study gathers only what is on record.

8 min read · Reviewed on October 14, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

Solar chariot, the horses Árvakr and Alsvinnr, the shield Svalinn and the wolf Sköll

Family

Parents

Mundilfari

Siblings

Máni

Sól

Unions

Glenr

Children

Unnamed daughter, who will follow her mother's course

Genealogy according to Vafþrúðnismál 23, 46–47 e Völuspá 5 (trad. Thorpe, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14726); Gylfaginning 11, 12, 36, 55, 58 (trad. Anderson, numeração dessa edição, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18947)

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Anônimo / Anonymous, Völuspá, Vafþrúðnismál, Grímnismál, Alvíssmál. translation: Benjamin Thorpe, Edda of Sæmund the Learned (in The Elder Eddas, Gutenberg #14726). read
Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning (Edda em Prosa / Prose Edda). translation: Rasmus B. Anderson, The Younger Edda (1880; Gutenberg #18947). read
Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning (Edda em Prosa / Prose Edda). translation: I. A. Blackwell, The Younger Eddas (in Gutenberg #14726). read
Anônimo / Anonymous, Merseburger Zaubersprüche (segundo encantamento / second charm). translation: transcrição em alto-alemão antigo / Old High German transcription, Wikisource. read

Name and epithets

In Old Norse, sól is the common word for "sun". The poem Alvíssmál, stanza 17, records that men say sól, the gods sunna, the dwarfs dvalins leika, the giants eygló, the elves fagrahvél and the sons of the Æsir alskír.

In the ancient sources

Völuspá, dating debated; thirteenth-century manuscripts. The sun comes from the south, does not know where her dwelling is, and grows dark at the end of the world. Vafþrúðnismál, dating debated.

The myths

The name given to Mundilfari's children. In Gylfaginning 11, Gangleri asks how the sun and the moon are governed.

Worship and archaeology

None of the texts consulted describes offerings, priests, festivals or a shrine of Sól. Gylfaginning 36 only counts Sól and Bil among the female divinities (Ásynjur), adding that their nature has already been explained.…

How the god was depicted

The texts describe a chariot drawn by Árvakr and Alsviðr, with air-bags under the horses' shoulders, the shield Svalinn in front and a wolf behind.

What scholars debate

Who devours the sun. Gylfaginning 12 and Grímnismál 39 give Sköll as the sun's pursuer. Vafþrúðnismál 46 asks what happens when Fenrir has devoured the sun, and Gylfaginning 55 speaks only of "the wolf".

After antiquity

Eddic poetry uses the sun both as a figure of speech and as a character, and Snorri gathers verses and explanations into a continuous narrative.

Did you know?

In Old Norse the sun is feminine and the moon masculine, unlike Portuguese; Anderson notes this when quoting Völuspá.

Codex relic

Solar Chariot of Asgard. A chariot drawn by the horses Árvakr and Alsvinnr, eternally pursued by the wolf Sköll.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

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