When conjuring up our name – Midgard or Miðgarður in Icelandic – we wanted people to be intrigued by it. We wanted them to ask what it meant and to be able to reply with a story that was impressive and left them wanting to know more. So, of course, we picked perhaps the greatest story in Iceland’s history to inspire our name; we’re talking about Norse Mythology and all the wonderful tales that come with it.

Our Namesake

Midgard refers to the Earth, basically. In our country’s mythological tales, Midgard was created from the body of the giant Ymir (also known as Aurgelmir), who was the first created being. He was killed by the Gods and his body was pushed to the void in the centre of the universe (pretty brutal we know), where they began to create Midgard. Land was formed from his flesh, the oceans from his blood, his bones became mountains and his teeth hills, whilst the trees were created from his hair and the clouds from his brain.

We figured that the name was perfect for us. It’s Icelandic through and through, and also refers to the beautiful world that you travellers are exploring. We also love the story and all the creativity involved, so it’s a joy to tell it whenever someone asks.

We’ve actually continued this Norse mythology theme throughout Midgard, with our jeeps that take you guys and girls to all the beautiful sights on our land being named after various Norse Gods. For example, we have a jeep named Thor (Þór) and another called Odin (Óðinn). Pretty awesome, right?

More About Norse Mythology

We love Icelandic Norse mythology, and we bet you will too! If you don’t know much about it, we thought we’d give you a little introduction to what it is and the Gods involved. It’s a massive part of our history and culture in Iceland so if you’re planning on taking a visit to our camp then you might want to know a bit about it before you get here. Then, when you’re here, you can learn even more!

So, Norse mythology is, in short, collections of tales in the forms of stories and poems from the Germanic countries and Scandinavia. It was originally a religion practised by the mighty Vikings, and the stories we are left with are rich in detail and creativity. In more recent years, the world has begun to take a keen interest in Norse mythology and the Norse Sagas – we just wonder why it took them so long!

Each God has an in-depth background full of magic and represents something different. For example, there’s Odin who is the most notable of all the Gods and is representative of poetry, magic and war. As the tale goes, Odin traded one of his eyes in return for wisdom. He used to ride across the battle-fields on a steed with eight legs whilst two ravens, Hugin (Huginn) and Munin (Muninn), sat on his shoulders – he was a pretty cool guy.

There are so many interesting tales and Gods that you can delve into; we’re kind of jealous that you have all the stories to discover for the first time! They’re incredibly interesting.

If you have any questions about Norse Mythology – or any questions about Midgard and what we do, actually – then get in touch with our friendly team and we’ll do our best to find you the answers you’re looking for.