Like Snorri's Hel, she is terrifying to in appearance, black or dark in colour, usually naked, adorned with severed heads or arms or the corpses of children, her lips smeared with blood.

Davidson concludes that, in these examples, " here we have the fierce destructive side of death, with a strong emphasis on its physical horrors, so perhaps we should not assume that the gruesome figure of Hel is wholly Snorri's literary invention.

John Lindow states that most details about Hel, as a figure, are not found outside of Snorri's writing in Gylfaginning, and says that when older skaldic poetry " says that people are ' in ' rather than ' with ' Hel, we are clearly dealing with a place rather than a person, and this is assumed to be the older conception ," that the noun and place Hel likely originally simply meant " grave ," and that " the personification came later.

Hermód appears in Snorri's Gylfaginning as the messenger sent by Odin to Hel to seek to bargain for Balder's release.

The Prose Edda, sometimes referred to as the Younger Edda or Snorri's Edda is an Icelandic manual of poetics which also contains many mythological stories.

Sif is introduced in chapter three of the Prologue section of the Prose Edda ; Snorri's euhemerized account of the origins of Viking mythology.

Andy Orchard and Rudolf Simek state that, as Snotra is otherwise unattested outside of the Prose Edda, that Snotra may be an invention of Snorri's.

This is explicitly stated only in Snorri's Prose Edda.

Scholars have debated as to what extent Snorri's account of Ymir is an attempt to synthesize a coherent narrative for the purpose of the Prose Edda and to what extent Snorri drew from traditional material outside of the corpus that he cites.

R. D. Fulk notes that Snorri's Prose Edda account " conflicts with the poetic version, as the Edda presents a Noah-like figure, while the latter has Bergelmir laid ( lagiðr ) in the lúðr, implying he is an infant, as in the Scyld story.

Baugi is attested to in Skáldskaparmál in Snorri's Prose Edda, and does not appear in other texts.

" Simek notes that these issues have resulted in sometimes very different explanations ; Sophus Bugge and Hjalmar Falk saw a reflection of the Greek god Adonis in Óðr, Rudolf Much saw a reflection in the god Attis, and Lee Hollander theorizes a reflection of the folktale of Amor and Psyche in Snorri's Prose Edda account of Óðr and Freyja.

All appear in Snorri's pseudo-historical Prologue to the Prose Edda as sons of Odin and founders of these various lineages, perhaps all thought to be sons of Odin begotten on mortal women.

Many of the poems are quoted in Snorri's Edda but usually only in bits and pieces.

The most popular version of the creation of Mjölnir myth, found in Skáldskaparmál from Snorri's Edda, is as follows.

In the same year, he brought out the first complete editions of Snorri's Edda and Sæmundr's Edda ( more commonly known as the Poetic or Elder Edda ), in the original text, along with Swedish translations of both Eddas.

There are a number of discrepancies between Snorri's and Eilífr's versions of the myth ; for example Þjálfi is not present in the story in Snorri's Edda while he has a prominent role in Þórsdrápa.

The prologue to Snorri's Edda and the alternative list discussed above both include the following:

In Snorri's Ynglinga Saga in the Heimskringla, Skjöld's wife is the goddess Gefjön and the same account occurs in most, but not all, manuscripts of the Edda.

:" The confusion between Niflheim and Nifhel is summed up by variation in the manuscript of Snorri's Edda.

* Nafnaþulur Lists of heiti appended to Snorri's Edda.

The prose introduction to Lokasenna and Snorri's list of kennings state that Ægir is also known as Gymir, who is Gerðr's father, but this is evidently an erroneous interpretation of kennings in which different giant-names are used interchangeably.

In 2010 Rudolf Simek, building on an analysis by Lotte Motz, argued that vanir was originally nothing more than a general term for deities like æsir, and that its employment as a distinct group of deities was Snorri's invention, and the Vanir are therefore " a figment of imagination from the 13th to 20th centuries ".

Andy Orchard comments " Snorri's etymologizing interpretation is scarcely profound, and may imply that he had no access to further material " and notes that references to Vör are otherwise rare.

They are immediately set upon by a gang of giants from the cave of Geirrod, but Thor and Thjalfi ( Þjálfi ) quickly put them to flight ( although in Snorri's version of the tale Þjálfi is replaced with Loki ).

Tyr, Höd, and Bragi are conspicuously absent from this list, one reason to believe it is not from Snorri's hand.

All skeletons that are likely to be that of Inge are very tall, about two meters in length, suggesting that Snorri's description was accurate.

In Snorri's Edda, it is either applied to Jutland or to Scandinavia as a whole, while the islands are called Eygotaland.

The verses are not in all manuscripts of the Edda and appear independently, and are probably a later addition to Snorri's original composition ; they may have been one of its sources.

To what extent Snorri's presentation is poetic creation only remains unclear.

The composition of the sagas is Snorri's.

The third mention made of Hliðskjálf is during Snorri's recounting of the wooing of Gerd, quoted by him from Skírnismál.

Due to his absence in other relevant mythological texts, numerous scholars have argued that Baugi either comes from a source that is not extant today or was an invention of Snorri's, accidental or intentional.

Snorri's assertion that ' neither fire nor iron told upon them ' is reiterated time after time, and the sources frequently state that neither edged weapons nor fire affected the berserks, although they were not immune to clubs or other blunt instruments.

In Snorri's account Gylfi is deluded by the Æsir into accepting their supposed religious beliefs, hence the name Gylfaginning ' Deluding of Gylfi '.

It is possible that Snorri's account is based on an old tradition tracing particular beliefs or foundations of particular cults to this legendary Gylfi.

Ynglinga saga is the first part of Snorri's history of the ancient Norse kings, the Heimskringla.

Bjorn fended off Snorri's attack, but was later convinced to leave Iceland.

Snorri's descendents included the Sturlungs, through his son Halldor.

John Lindow says that scholars have generally followed Snorri's etymological connection with the root lof -, meaning " praise.

She came upon a dead man ; Thorbrand, Snorri's son, with a flat stone fixed in his head ; his sword lay beside him, so she took it up and prepared to defend herself therewith.

Snorri's works covers the history of the Norwegian kings from the mythical prehistoric age until the year 1177, with the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla.

Snorri's Ynglinga Saga relates that after the giantess Skaði broke off her marriage with Njörd, she " married afterwards Odin, and had many sons by him, of whom one was called Sæming " from whom Jarl Hákon claimed descent.

Arnkel finally engages in a physical dispute with Snorri and the Thorbrandssons ( Þorbrandsson ), Snorri's foster brothers.

Saxo holds she was the daughter of Æthelred, King of England ( usually identified with Æthelred of Wessex ), while Jómsvíkinga saga and Snorri's Heimskringla say her father was a king or jarl of Jutland or Holstein called Harald Klak.