In Scandinavian culture, the stallion replaced the bull as the symbol of virility and power, but horses generally were understood as possessing supernatural abilities that placed them in communion with the gods and spirits. Sleipnir is then thought to carry Odin to the afterlife in keeping with the traditional understanding of the horse a liminal being in Norse mythology. In the final battle between the forces of chaos that include Loki and Sleipnir’s half-siblings Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel – among others – on the side of chaos, most of the Norse gods are killed, including Odin and his faithful horse.

Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse that is Odin's steed, the child of Loki and Svadilfari, described as the best of all horses, and is sometimes ridden to the location of Hel.Sleipnir’s final ride is to carry Odin to the battlefield of Vigrid at Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.

It turns out Loki transformed into a mare to seduce Svadilfari so it would no longer work on the rampart. He introduced the pony as Sleipnir and presented it to Odin as a present. The horse Svadilfari was nowhere to be found for a long, long time.Īfter a while Loki, who looked tattered and worn out, brought a strange-looking pony with eight legs to Asgard. Thor quickly killed the giant with Mjolnir by hurling it at the giant's head, which exploded into a thousand pieces. He reveals himself as a terrible frost giant, a Hrimthurs that was undergoing stone masonry training. The stranger became enraged and accused the gods of tricking him. The gods happily told the stranger that they could not pay him as requested due to the unfinished work. The stranger was forced to continue work on the walls alone and managed to almost finish rebuilding by 6 months. The gods investigated out of curiosity and discovered that Svadilfari had fallen in love with a mare. Then, the reconstruction of the rampart halted suddenly as Svadilfari became missing. The gods began to distrust Loki, but he assured the gods that he had a plan. The gods were upset that the stranger was actually a mighty jotunn, but they could do nothing as this does not violate their agreement. Strangely enough, the stranger and his horse were able to rebuild the rampart at an inhuman speed. The stranger asked if his horse could help and Odin agreed. Odin follows Loki's advice and told the stranger that they will agree to the demands if he could finish the walls in 6 months and receive help from no man in doing so. He suggested that if the stranger takes longer than 18 months to complete the walls, then the gods do not have to uphold their end of the bargain. The gods were furious with the demands, but Loki proposed to Odin to let the stranger rebuild the rampart. He promised to rebuild the rampart in only 18 months in return for Freyja's hand in marriage, as well as the ownership of the sun and moon. One day, a very skinny man riding a dark horse offered to rebuild and improve the rampart.

The gods were uninterested in rebuilding the walls themselves and so left it destroyed.

In Asgard, a huge protective rampart was almost completely destroyed in a recent war. Sleipnir is the trusty steed of Odin and son of the Jotunn Loki.

Sleipnir parents