Nine Mothers of Heimdallr

Scholars have debated what being "born of nine mothers" implies and have sought to connect the notion to other European folk motifs.

In Gylfaginning, Heimdallr is introduced in chapter 27, where the enthroned figure of High tells the disguised mythical king Gangleri details about the god.

According to the stanzas, long ago, a mighty god was born by nine jötunn maidens at the edge of the world.

This boy grew strong, nourished by the strength of the earth, the ice-cold sea, and the blood of swine.

However, this connection has been questioned on the grounds that the names presented for the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán and the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr (as found in Völuspá hin skamma) do not match.

Heimdal and his Nine Mothers (1908) by W. G. Collingwood , in which Heimdallr's Nine Mothers are depicted as waves
Heimdallr Lifted by the Nine Wave Maidens (1882) by Karl Ehrenberg depicts Heimdallr's mothers as "wave maidens"