Ymir (Old Norse "twin") is a giant in the Norse mythology who is considered the first living being.
His name is considered very old and is linguistically related to the Old Indo-European Yama and the Old Persian Yima. Another giant of the Norse primeval times named Aurgelmir (or Urgelmer respectively Örgelmir) is often equated with Ymir.
Ymir was a hybrid primal giant. He was formed from the mixing of the glacial ice of Niflheim with the fire of Muspellsheim and fed on the milk of the primordial cow Audehumbla.
When he had drunk from the milk of the primordial cow, he fell asleep. From his sweat under his left arm, a son and daughter grew out of him, both without names. With his feet he produced a six-headed son, which is equated with the giant Thrudgelmir.
The first gods, Odin, Vé and Vili, killed Ymir and built the world from his body parts. From his flesh became the earth, from his blood the sea, from his bones rocks and mountains, from his hair the trees, from his eyebrows Midgard, from his skull the sky and from his brain the clouds. In a similar cosmogonic myth the world emerged from an Indo-European primeval man Purusha.
Almost all the primal giants drowned in Ymir's blood. Only Bergelmir, the son of Thrudgelmir, escaped with his wife on a boat-like undercarriage. He is considered the progenitor of the giant race of the Hrimthurses.
