Myrkviðr

Myrkviðr, anglicised to Myrkvidr or Myrkvid, is the name of a "dark wood" in Norse mythology. It is located somewhere between Asgard and Muspelheim. In the Lokasenna, Loki makes a small reference to Myrkviðr as the "dark forest":


 * "With gold thou boughtest
 * Gýmir's daughter,
 * and so gavest away thy sword:
 * but when Muspell's sons
 * through the dark forest ride,
 * thou, unhappy, wilt not
 * have wherewith to fight."

The Myrkviðr has been identified with various forests across the Germanic world such as:


 * The Kolmården in Sweden
 * The Maeotian Swamp in Russia
 * The Lunsen forest in Sweden
 * A forest separating the Huns from the Burgundian tribe

In Popular Culture

 * J. R. R. Tolkien used the anglicised "Mirkwood" as the name of two distinct locations in Middle-earth (itself based on Miðgarðr).