Gimlé
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In Norse mythology, Gimlé (alternately Gimli) was a place where the survivors of Ragnarok were to live. It is mentioned in the Prose Edda and Völuspá and described as the most beautiful place on Earth, more beautiful than the Sun.
[edit] Mythology
The Younger Edda describes Gimlé as the hall that was "fairest of all and brighter than the sun," situated at the southernmost point of Asgard. Valhalla was the famous hall wherein Odin's warriors, the Einherjar (the souls of those heroes who died valiantly on the battlefield), waited for Ragnarök, the battle at the end of the world. But according to the Younger Edda, despite the apocalypse of Ragnarok in which the gods themselves would perish, Odin had made man with a soul that would live forever. All the righteous would live with Odin in a place called Gimlé or Vingólf, but the wicked would go to Hel and then Niflheim.
Gimlé was a place that would survive the end of the world and would be the dwelling place of blessed souls; of all the halls in heaven Gimle would be the best place to be. The Younger Edda says that Gimlé shall stand when both heaven and Earth have passed away, and in that place shall live good and righteous people for all time to come.
[edit] Contemporary uses
- There is a small town in Manitoba, Canada, named Gimli, founded by Icelandic settlers in 1875. It is noted for a large Viking statue and annual Icelandic Festival.
- Gimle is also a part of the Frogner district in Oslo. Most known is the Gimle Cinema.
- Gimle was also the name of the house lived in by the traitor Vidkun Quisling in Oslo during World War II.
- The name has a literary and film connection to the character of Gimli Elf-friend, the dwarf member of the Fellowship of the Ring. In the Nynorsk translation of the Lord of the Rings, he appears under the name of Gimle.
[edit] External Links
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