The 9 Realms of Marvel Universe

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If you are a diehard Marvel fan, and you have noticed everything about Marvel throughout the MCU movies, then you must have heard the term ‘Realm’ a lot of times, especially in the movies of Thor. We were first introduced to the concept of the realms in ‘Thor’ movie of 2011, where Thor explained that his father has said him that there are total 9 realms present in the universe which are interconnected to each other through the world tree, Yggdrasil. If we take a look at the ancient Norse mythology, then it also explains the same. So, in this article let’s discover all the 9 realms of the universe, how they were created, who lives on them and what their qualities are.

Nine Realms of Marvel

History of the Realms

According to Norse mythology, when there was nothing in this universe (before the Big Bang), there was a cosmic tree named Yggdrasil. On the north of the tree, there was a realm covered with ice named ‘Niflheim’, and on the south, there was a realm covered with raging fire named ‘Muspelheim’. With the course of time, the raging fire of Muspelheim started effecting Niflheim.

Due to this collision, a giant named ‘Ymir’, and a cow like creature named ‘Audhumla’ were created. Ymir managed to survive by drinking the milk of the cow and the cow Audhumla consumed ice as its food. Once while feeding on ice, Audhumla unknowingly created a man-like structure from ice, and from this ice ‘Buri’ was born. After thousands of years (after the Big Bang), Buri made a son named ‘Borr’, who further married a giant lady ‘Bestla’ and had three children named ‘Vili’, ‘Ve’ and ‘Odin’. As the kids grew up, they started hating the giants for some unknown reason and hence they finally killed Ymir. The trio further created two realms by using Ymir’s body, which were named ‘Midgard’ and ‘Asgard’. With the flow of time, other realms were also created and ultimately the 9 realms came into existence.

This was all about the history of the creation of the realms. Now let’s jump into the list and check out the details about the realms of the Marvel universe.

Before going to the list, please keep in mind that the list below is not based on any sort of ranking. All of them are equally important and have their own specific roles in the Marvel universe.

Keeping this in mind, let’s begin:

9) Asgard

This is the most famous realm of the Marvel comics as well as MCU. This realm is the home of the Norse Gods, like Odin, Thor, Loki, etc. This realm is designated as the head of all other realms. The purpose of the gods living in Asgard is to protect the other realms from any sort of danger. Unlike our Earth, Asgard is not spherical in shape. It is flat in shape. Moreover, Asgard has the Bifrost, which is the shortcut pathway to travel between different realms.

There are two other places situated within Asgard. One of them is ‘Nornheim’, the home of Norns, the wise witches. The other one is ‘Valhalla’, the place where the souls of the Asgardians rest after their death. Goddess of Death Hela is the queen of Valhalla, whom we have also seen in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ movie.

8) Jotunheim

We have seen this realm in Thor movie of 2011. This realm is the home of the Frost Giants, whose king is ‘Laufi’. This realm is fully covered with ice and darkness. The life source of this realm is the ‘Casket of Ancient Winters’. Asgardians are the arch enemies of the Frost giants. Once when Odin led a battle between Asgard and Jotunheim, he defeated Laufi and brought back his abandoned son with him to Asgard. This kid later grew up and became ‘Loki’, the god of mischief.

7) Vanaheim

Vanaheim is also a peaceful realm just like Asgard. This realm is the home of wizards and witches. Thor’s mother Frigga also belongs to this realm. Basically, Vanaheim is the ally of Asgard. Whenever there is any threat on Asgard, the Vanirs always stand for their help and vice versa. According to Norse mythology, the Vanirs are the gods of wisdom, fertility and future.

6) Svartalfheim

Svartalfheim is also known as ‘The Dark World’, and it is the home of the dark elves. The king of the dark elves is Malekith’, whom we have seen in ‘Thor: The Dark World’, where he was hunting the Aether which was further revealed as the Reality stone, one of the Infinity stones.

5) Niflheim

It is one of the two oldest realms which existed long before the Big Bang. It is the realm which is responsible for the origin of other realms. Unlike other realms, this realm is completely vacant with no sign of life. It is completely covered with ice and this realm is also the origin of all the rivers that flow through different realms.

4) Alfheim

This is the most separated realm which is the home planet of Light elves. The recipients of this planet love peace and doesn’t support war. This is the reason why this realm is not connected with any of the other realms. The Dark elves of Svartalfheim are the arch enemies of the Light elves.

Fun Fact: This realm also appears as the fourth area in the God of War video game series.

3) Muspelheim

It is also one of the two oldest realms which existed since long before the Big Bang. Muspelheim is the realm of raging fire. This realm is the home of the Fire Demons, whose king is Lord Surtur. Surtur is also one of the major enemies of Thor and Odin. This is because of his rebellious nature, due to which he never follows the orders of Odin which are made in order to maintain peace between all the 9 realms.

We’ve also seen Surtur in the initial scenes of Thor: Ragnarok, where Thor kills him and carries his head to Asgard, which he further uses later in the movie to summon him back in order to defeat Hela.

2) Nidavellir

If you are a true MCU fan and have watched Avengers: Infinity War, then you would probably recognize this place. This is the dead planet where Thor goes with Rocket and Groot in order to get a new weapon for killing Thanos. In comics, Nidavellir is the home realm of the Dwarfs. The Dwarfs are weapon forgers by profession and are responsible for creating every single weapon on Asgard, including Thor’s weapon Mjolnir.

Eitri is the king of the Dwarfs, whom we saw as the last survivor of his kind in the movie.

1) Midgard

Finally this is the last realm in our list and it is our realm ‘Planet Earth’. It is called Midgard because it appears at the centre position in the world tree Yggdrasil. Due to its location at the centre of all other realms, a variety of weathers can be observed on this planet. Humans are the main residents of this realm, who are also the weakest creatures among all the realms in terms of their physical and mental strength.

According to Norse Mythology, a huge creature named ‘Midgard Serpent’ resides in the deepest crates of the oceans of Midgard, and it will come to the surface whenever anyone uses highly demonic powers in order to destroy this realm.

So these were all the realms that exist in the Marvel comics that we have been encountering time to time while reading the comics as well as watching the movies of MCU. If you liked it then do share with others and if there is anything that is missed by us, then do let us know in the comments below.

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