Sköll

"Treachery." The name of the wolf who chases Sól, the sun, across the sky each day, according to Grímnismál:

Sköll the wolf is named,
that the fair-faced goddess
to the ocean chases;

In Gylfaginning, Gangleri wonders why the sun fares quickly, almost as if she were afraid. This is explained by Hárr:

"It is no marvel that she hastens furiously: close cometh he that seeks her, and she has no escape save to run away." Then said Gangleri: "Who is he that causes her this disquiet?" Hárr replied: "It is two wolves; and he that runs after her is called Skoll; she fears him, and he shall take her. But he that leaps before her is called Hati Hródvitnisson. He is eager to seize the moon; and so it must be."

Both wolves are the offspring of the troll-women who dwell in Járnviðr and who bear many giants for sons, all in the shape of wolves.

In the eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál, it is Fenrir who snatches Alfröðull (Sól) from the sky.

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References

Sources

  • Grímnismál, 39.
  • Gylfaginning, 12.
  • Vafþrúðnismál, 47.