Nótt — Norse personification of the night

Identity and portrayal

Literary sources call her by several names depending on who addresses her: "night" for humans, "darkness" for the gods, "unlight" by the jötnar, and "joy-of-sleep" by the elves. She is depicted as a dark, swarthy woman who rides across the sky on the horse Hrímfaxi, whose flowing foam was said to become the dew of morning. Her character functions as a natural force rather than a complex moral or ethical personality.

Family and relationships

Snorri names her father as the giant usually called Nörfi or Narfi and lists three husbands and three children. Her marriages and offspring establish links between night, earth and day in the Norse cosmological family tree:

• First husband: Naglfari (child: Auðr).
• Second husband: Annar (child: Jörð, the Earth and mother of Thor).
• Third husband: Dellingr (child: Dagr, the personified day).

Function and significance

As a personified natural phenomenon, Nótt provides a genealogical explanation for the alternation of night and day: her son Dagr and his horse Skinfaxi illumine the sky in turn. The image of personified night riding a horse whose sweat or foam becomes dew links poetic description to everyday observation. Nótt's genealogy also ties giants, gods and the earth together, reflecting the intertwined relationships that structure Norse myth.

Sources, interpretation and legacy

The primary text that records Nótt's story is the Prose Edda; other attestations are sparse, and later skaldic poetry sometimes alludes to night with poetic names derived from these traditions. Scholars treat Snorri's account as a synthesis shaped by medieval Icelandic literary aims, so details such as names and degrees of personhood should be read cautiously. Nótt continues to appear in modern retellings, comparative mythology discussions and cultural references to the night in Scandinavian-inspired media.

For more context and related entries see night, Norse mythology, and entries on individual figures such as goddess, while comparative discussions may use Jörð or Dagr as cross-references for earth‑and‑day dynamics. Further reading and primary-text notes can be found through specialized mythological lexicons and editions of the Edda (Auðr, Annar, Naglfari).