vesner on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/vesner/art/celtic-knotwork-Yggdrasil-211521336vesner

Deviation Actions

Daily Deviation

Daily Deviation

June 16, 2011
celtic knotwork - Yggdrasil by =tanathe. The suggester says, "This is beyond incredible. The amount of detail and meaning put this design on a level of its own. The shape and placing on the back stock is wonderful and really helps you realize the enormity of skill that went into this. The eye never gets bored looking at this and each time sees something new. A rare gem and absolutely fantastic!"
Featured by BurgerBunny
Suggested by RekaCryistall
vesner's avatar

celtic knotwork - Yggdrasil

By
Published:
144.8K Views

Description

Buy it here: www.redesiuk.com/portfolio/ygg…



Poetry to design.


A piece commissioned by WanderingPariah.
The tattoo is based on on Grímnismál - one of the poems from Poetic Edda, which together with Prose Edda are the most important sources of our knowledge about Norse mythology and Germanic legends.

If you have any problems with identifying the symbols:
  • Yggdrasil - "noblest of trees" - a immense holy ash tree that connects all the nine worlds of the Norse mythology.
  • Huginn and Muninn - in old norse "thought" and "memory". Two ravens flying around the world and bringing news to their master Odin.
  • Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór - four stags (or harts) living in the treetop of Yggdrasil and gnawing on its branches. Their symbolic meaning is still unknown due to trouble with translating the original source but it's said they might be connected with the four elements, the four seasons or the phases of the moon.
  • Eagle and hawk Veðrfölnir - in the poem, the hawk is sitting between the eyes of the eagle. The two are an inseparable pair where hawk represents the power and eagle the wisdom.
  • Ratatosk - a squirrel messenger that runs up and down Yggdrasil to tell slanderous gossip and envious words, provoking the eagle and Nidhogg.
  • Hati and Sköll - sons of Fenrir Hróðvitnir. The two chase respectively chariots containing the sun and the moon. At Ragnarök, both Sköll and Hati will succeed in their quests catching and devouring them.
  • Fenrir - a monstrous wolf, one of the children of the giant Loki, foretold to kill the god Odin during the Ragnarök. Till then he's bound with a mythical rope Gleipnir on a an island Lyngvi (a place overgrown with heather).
  • Gleipnir - a rope or a chain created by dwarves for the very purpose of capturing Fenrir. It was made of the sound of a cat's footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird.
  • Níðhöggr - a serpent, wyrm, dragon that lives under the Yggdrasil and gnaws on its roots.
  • Mjǫlnir - in this tattoo hidden in the general shape of the design - hammer of the thunder god Thor. The most powerful weapon in the world capable of leveling mountains.

Phew...

Hope you like it!:meow:
________________________________________

The center of the design based on Exileden's lines in Ragnarok I

Back stock photo by 3dTomas fav.me/d37e3k6
Image size
1275x737px 849.36 KB
© 2011 - 2024 vesner
Comments342
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
MRJN2SH's avatar

What is thiss!!

Lovely.

Gotta do my research.

I'm missing a lot of tattoos..

My body & soul are asking for them.

Thank you.