This article contains lore based on real-life sources from Norse mythology as introduced from the God of War Norse era.
| “ | A mysterious realm that hasn't welcomed visitors for over a century, it's hard to say what awaits travelers to the home of the Jötnar. Once known for its glittering fields, spectacular rock formations, and sweet aromas floating on gentle breezes, Jötunheim is a place where you can really get away from it all (assuming you can get there in the first place). Just take care not to get stepped on should you run into a giant variety of Giants. | ” |
–Description of Jötunheim on the Field Notes | ||
Jötunheim, also known as Jötunheimr and Utgard, is one of the Nine Realms of the World Tree, home of the ancient race of Jötnar and the final destination of Kratos and Atreus' journey in God of War (2018). In God of War Ragnarök, the giant realm makes a return, in which it can now be accessed via a mystic gateway, which has been modified by Brok and Sindri.
Norse Mythology[]
Jotunheim (pronounced “YO-tun-hame”; Old Norse Jötunheimr, “World of the Giants”) is one of the Nine Realms, and, as the name implies, the homeland of the giants (Old Norse jötnar).
Jotunheim is also known as Utgard (pronounced “OOT-guard”; Old Norse Útgarðr, “Beyond the Fence”), a name which establishes the realm as occupying one extreme end of the traditional Germanic conceptual spectrum between the innangard and the utangard. That which is innangard (“inside the fence”) is orderly, law-abiding, and civilized, while that which is utangard (“beyond the fence”) is chaotic, anarchic, and wild. This psychogeography found its natural expression in agrarian land-use patterns, where the fence (the “gard” or garðr of the above terms) separated pastures and fields of crops from the wilderness beyond them. In fact, the very word “wilderness” comes from a Germanic language, Old English, where the word formed from the roots wild-deor-ness literally means “the place of self-willed beasts". One would therefore expect the cosmological Utgard/Jotunheim to be symbolized as a vast, mighty wilderness that surrounds a more civilized world.
In the Eddas, the dwelling-places of the giants are described as deep, dark forests, mountain peaks where winter never eases its grip, and similarly inhospitable and grim landscapes, and this certainly seems to be how the heathen Norse and other Germanic peoples symbolically visualized the invisible Jotunheim itself.
Description[]
In the first main game, Jötunheim's landscape consists of large mountains so high that their peaks reach above the clouds. The Giants are now ceased and can be seen laid resting place above the mountainous. The only indoor structure seen so far is a large room built inside a hand-shaped mountain, the highest peak in the Nine Realms. The room is adorned with statues and carvings of Giants, written prophecies in its walls and a mural depicting the story of "Loki."
In the inside of Tyr's Temple, the guardian of the gates of Jötunheim is Duraþrór the Stag, a statue of him keeping the entrance of the Heart of the Mountain in Midgard, where at its peak is the only gate to the Giants Realm left behind after the Jötnar successfully escaped the Middle Realm.
The second game, Jötunheim, or by means the other region called Ironwood are now extensive and grander scale landscape consist of lushful environment like coral reef-like plant life, native stone trees, rivers, mountainous regions, and more wildlife animals than the first game. The fruit trees are also some edible fruits are called Jötunheim Fruit. The atmosphere are brighter and warmer, after the skies are sometimes sunset. Both Mimir and Freya admired the realm for its majestic natural beauty.
Jötunheim also contains many inhabitant wildlife, including deer, antelopes, wildebeests, foxes, yak, bark squirrels, jerboa-like rodent, birds, some lizards, snakes (possibly), and even native wolves. Some environments also contains of fairies seen flying around, horseshoe-like arthropod near the stream water, butterflies and moths on lavish trees, and bright fireflies in dusk.
As the hours itself are fastest and ahead of the hours than other realms, beings who are capable of physically aging do so much faster in Jötunheim.
In the God of War Series[]
God of War (2018)[]
Jötunheim was found and named by Bergelmir and his wife, the only Jötnar survivors of Odin's slaughter of their forefather, Ymir. Since then, it has become the sanctuary of the Frost Giants, a home where they could grow and prosper. Fearing his own as well as Asgard's prophesied downfall at the hands of the Giants come Ragnarök, Odin and the Aesir began to ruthlessly slaughter them all throughout the Nine Realms. On the verge of extinction, the Giants retreated back to Jötunheim with the help of Tyr, who did not take part in the killings and instead assisted them in their escape by removing all access to the realm throughout all the nine except the two last ones in Midgard, though one on the Midgard tallest peak required a sacred rune to activate it. The other one was hidden in the Realm Between Realms and Tyr's Temple needed to be flipped to restore it, and the jewelled eyes that the giants bestowed to their confidantes.
Corpses of Giants throughout Jötunheim
After the withdrawal of nearly all the Giants who had remained in Midgard, Jötunheim became the tomb of the Jötnar race, their corpses littering the mountains as they await the return of their guardian. The other Realms, on the other hand, believed that the surviving giants not only took refuge back in their homerealm but also gradually and continuously gathered themselves as an army there, diligently priming for and awaited the day of Ragnarök where they would declare war and finally take their revenge against the Aesir's oppression. An eventuality that still greatly raised anxiety and paranoia from Odin, given that he and the Aesir were left with no means of setting foot upon Jötunheim again and that the Aesir's predicted downfall still holds so long as the Jötnar race, however supposedly few to survive the genocide, continued to exist and decidedly spared from Odin's reach. Freya who would eventually come to despise her then-husband, on the other hand, had a more ambivalent opinion on the prophecy. She made peace with that soon after Odin cursed and banished her, taking comfort and trusting that Odin will eventually get his comeuppance at the hands of Jötunheim's supposed belligerent army of giants.
When Kratos and Atreus finally reached Jötunheim to spread Laufey's ashes, their guardian at last could reunite with her people. It was also when Laufey's son, Atreus, discovered his heritage; realizing that he and the World Serpent were the last living Jötnar in Midgard.
After returning to Midgard, Kratos and Atreus do not return to Jötunheim since repeated usage runs the risk of Odin realizing Mimir's eyes are needed to travel to Jötunheim.
God of War Ragnarök[]
At some point, one of the surviving giant named Angrboda creating wards keeping the wildlife at bay in the Ironwood in order to stay behind and hidden remain away from the Asgard specifically Odin and Thor.
Three years later, when Thor and Odin came to visit Kratos and Atreus, Odin tells the latter that he is no longer interested in Jötunheim. Though the realm of the giants is now safe from Odin, but Thor still remained a threat.
When Atreus falls asleep, after he had a falling out with his father, he found himself back in Jötunheim where he encountered Angrboda, one of the last living giants. She shows him a copy of the mural that was carved out in the Giant's Fingers, which fully shows the prophesied events on the third part in which Kratos was destined to die at the hands of Thor and Atreus goes to serve Odin. This greatly upsets Atreus causing him to uncontrollably shape-shift into a wolf and attacking the mural only for Angrboda to calm him down.
Later, Angrboda reveals to Atreus a bag which contains the souls of the surviving giants. She revealed that in order to survive from the wrath of Odin, the remaining giants made the decision to hide their souls inside spirit stones. A while after that, they stop Angrboda's grandmother, Grýla, from stealing the souls of animals by destroying her magic cauldron, though this only angered the elderly giantess, as she was too lost in herself. When Atreus was entrusted with the responsibility of looking over the spirit stones, he and Angrboda placed one in the carcass of a dead giant snake.
Upon returning to Angrboda's treehouse, Atreus tells her that he has to go and goes back to sleep only to find himself back in Midgard. When he was confronted by an angry Kratos, Atreus tries to lie that he was just visiting Fenrir's grave, but his father didn't believe him and revealed to his son that he has been missing for exactly two days. This reveals that, just like in the Light of Alfheim, times moves faster in Jötunheim.
Later in the post-game, Kratos, accompanied with Freya and Mimir, can visit Jotunheim. Mimir remarks how beautiful the realm it is as what it told from the stories. Angrboda greets their presence. They thanking the girl for how she has saved them back in Asgard during the destruction of the realm. They also gave her a compliment about her paintings, as Mimir remarks her "skill with a brush is unmatched". They also ask whether Angrboda is the only giant left in here, she simply reply that her grandmother is still in here too, though she doesn't seems want to talk about her. There is not much they can do in this realm, however, as they can only explore Angrboda's treehouse. Fenrir can be seen sleeping in there and Kratos can pat him.
Missions[]
- Mother's Ashes
- The Lost Sanctuary
Regions[]
- Ironwood
- The Forgotten Grove
- The Glittering Fields
- The Valley of the Fallen
- Trail of the Jötnar
- Vimur River
- Angrboda's Treehouse
- Idi's Sinkhole
Characters & Residents[]
Bestiary & Bosses[]
Trivia[]
- In the God of War (series), Jötunheim has subtle similarities to Tartarus, as they both depict the fall of Jötnar and Titans, respectively. Both Jötnar and Titans were enemies of the Gods of their world. The main difference is Jötunheim was a home for the Jötnar (and the birthplace for thousands of them), and Tartarus was a prison for the Titans.
- It's only possible to visit Jötunheim in the main quest.
- However, Kratos is given a brief vision of Faye standing on the bridge to the Jötunheim mountain while he is inside the Light of Alfheim, early in the main quest.
- A mural depicting the major events of the game, similar to one found in Jötunheim, is destroyed during the first fight with Baldur near Kratos' home. Faye may have placed the mural there as a message to Kratos and Atreus.
- The rune for Jotunhiem is Eihwaz (ᛇ), which can represent a yew tree.
- The inscription says laufei (Laufey). Next to it, it says staðfastr verjandi, 'steadfast guardian'. Another inscription says I "dauþa kemr werjandi loksins aptr til jotunheims i hondum einherja" which is supposed to mean "In death, the guardian will finally come back to Jǫtunheim in the hands of the einherjar". The words on the wall depicting Atreus cradling Kratos' body are "svík ('betrayal'), andlát fǫður" ("death of the father") and hǫrmung ("grief").
- The Jötunheim portrayed in God of War (2018) and God of War: Ragnarok may actually be more accurate to its mythological counterpart than other contemporary portrayals. Whereas in the Marvel movie Thor Jötunheim was shown as cold and dark like Niflheim is the realm of cold and darkness. While in Norse myth it was characterized more as a wilderness, with a landscape similar to Midgard yet built on a much grander scale.
- Curiously, despite Duraþrór being the described as being the watcher of the entrance Jötunheim, he is not seen at all when Atreus and Kratos finally arrive there.
- The Realm travel door to Jotunheim shows the large, hand like mountain in the background with two Jotnar building their home upon it. Four little Jotnar are at the bottom bringing them materials.
- In God of War Ragnarök, as Atreus returned in Midgard but caught by his father, Kratos affronted to his son why never returned home for two days. The time moves fastest even the days than most of the realms.
Gallery[]
