Ægir

"Aegir" redirects here. For other uses, see Aegir (disambiguation).

In Norse mythology, Ægir (anglicised as Aegir, Old Norse: 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse: 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly: 'sea' or 'engulfer'), is a jötunn and personification of the sea. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the gods in his halls and is associated with brewing ale. Ægir and his wife Rán, a goddess who also personifies the sea, and together the two produced nine daughters who personify the sea waves, and Ægir's son is Snær, who personifies the snow. Ægir may also be the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, wife of the god Freyr, or these may be two separate figures who share the same name (see below and Gymir).

One of Ægir's names, Hlér, is the namesake of the island Læsø (Old Norse Hlésey 'Hlér's island') and perhaps also Lejre in Denmark. Scholars have long analyzed Ægir's role in the Old Norse corpus, and the concept of the figure has had some influence in modern popular culture.

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