The middle norn, whose name means 'that which is becoming' and is associated with the present moment.
Verðandi is the middle of the three norns and is named in Völuspá stanza 20 alongside Urðr and Skuld. Her name is the present participle of the Old Norse verb verða, meaning 'to become' or 'to happen', and reflects the principle of ongoing becoming. Within the temporal interpretation that dominates scholarship, Verðandi represents the present, the moment at which fate is being fixed.
Unlike Urðr and Skuld, Verðandi has no independent myths attached to her in the surviving sources beyond her naming in Völuspá. Her function is primarily to complete the nornish trinity. Snorri Sturluson repeats her name in Gylfaginning without adding further details specific to her.
Sources in the Eddas
- Völuspá 20
- The only primary source that names Verðandi.
Interpretive traditions
A What we know
Verðandi is named in Völuspá as one of the three norns, which is the only certain attestation.
B What we think we know
The interpretation of her name as 'the present' in a temporal trinity has wide scholarly acceptance but rests on linguistic inference rather than explicit source text.