Yggdrasil: The Tree of Life (map of the nine worlds)In the middle of Asgard, where the gods lives, is Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil is the tree of life. It is an eternal green Ash tree; the branches stretches out over all of the nine worlds, and extend up and above the heavens. Yggdrasil is carried by three enormous roots. The first root from Yggdrasil is in Asgard, the home of the gods. By this root is a well named Urd’s well. This is where the gods held daily meetings. The second root from Yggdrasil goes down to Jotunheim, the land of the giants, by this root is Mimir’s well.
Third root from Yggdrasil goes down to Niflheim, close to the well Hvergelmir. It is here the dragon Nidhug gnawed on one of Yggdrasils roots. Nidhug is also known to suck the blood out of the dead bodies. At the very top of Yggdrasil there lives an eagle. And down by the roots of the tree lives a dragon named Nidhug. The eagle and the dragon are bitter enemies. They truly despise each other. A squirrel named Ratatosk, is spending a lot of time each day, running up and down the tree. Ratatosk does whatever he can, to keep the hatred between the eagle and Nidhug alive. Every time Nidhug says a curse or an insult about the eagle, Ratatosk will run up to the top of the tree, and inform the eagle what Nidhug just said. The eagle is equally rude in his comments about Nidhug. Ratatosk just loves to gossip which is the reason why the eagle and the dragon remains constant foes.