Norns

[1] In the Völuspá, the three primary Norns Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi, and Skuld draw water from Urðarbrunnr to nourish Yggdrasill, the tree at the center of the cosmos, and prevent it from rot.

[6] Due to this, it has often been inferred that the three norns are in some way connected with the past, present and future respectively, but it has been disputed that their names really imply a temporal distinction[2] and it has been emphasised that the words do not in themselves denote chronological periods in Old Norse.

A skaldic reference to the norns appears in Hvini's poem in Ynglingatal 24 found in Ynglingasaga 47, where King Halfdan is put to rest by his men at Borró.

Fafnir explains that they are many and from several races: It appears from Völuspá and Vafþrúðnismál that the three main norns were not originally goddesses but giants (Jotuns), and that their arrival ended the early days of bliss for the gods, but that they come for the good of humankind.

In Norna-Gests þáttr, where they arrive at the birth of the hero to shape his destiny, the norns are not described as weaving the web of fate, instead Norna appears to be interchangeable and possibly a synonym of vala (völva).

[45] Theories have been proposed that there is no foundation in Norse mythology for the notion that the three main norns should each be associated exclusively with the past, the present, and the future;[2] rather, all three represent destiny as it is twined with the flow of time.

[2] Moreover, theories have been proposed that the idea that there are three main norns may be due to a late influence from Greek and Roman mythology, where there are also spinning fate goddesses (Moirai and Parcae).

[2] The Norns feature in fiction books such as Oh My Goddess!, The Wicked + The Divine, the Magic Tree House series, and Bernard Cornwell's The Saxon Stories, in which the protagonist Uhtred refers to them as the "Three Spinners" who control his fate.

[citation needed] In Philip K. Dick's Galactic Pot-Healer they keep the book in which the future is already written, while in Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods, they are shown as three women who make prophecies.

[citation needed] The Norns feature in video games such as God of War Ragnarök (2022), in which Kratos, Freya, and Mimir's head traveled to them in order to know what Atreus is doing in Asgard.

[citation needed] Other examples include the MMO Guild Wars 2, which has a race of Viking themed people called norn, and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children 2, where they act askeepers of time and are recruitable demons in the post-game.