Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

To what category of beings do the ásmegir then belong? We have seen the word
applied as a technical term in a restricted sense. With reference to its definition, the
possibilities of application which the word supplies are:
(1) The word may be used in the purely physical sense of Asa-sons, Asadescendants.
In this case, the subterranean ásmegir by their very descent would be
members of that god-clan that resides in Asgard, and whose father and clan-patriarch is
Odin.
(2) The word can be applied to men. They are the children of the Asa-father in a
double sense: the first human pair was created by Odin and his brothers (Völuspá 17-18;
Gylfaginning 9), and their offspring are also in a moral sense Odin's children, as they are
subject to his guidance and care. He is Allfather, and the father of succeeding generations
(alföðr, aldaföðr). A word resembling ásmegir in character is ásasynir, and this is used in
Alvíssmál 16, in a manner which shows that it does not refer to any of those categories of
beings that are called gods (see further, No. 62). 15 The conception of human beings as
sons of the gods is also implied in the phrase that embraces all mankind, megir
Heimdallar (Völuspá 1), with which the account of Rig-Heimdall's journeys on the earth
and visits to the patriarchs of the various classes is connected. 16
The true meaning of the word in this case is determined by the fact that the
ásmegir already belong to the dwellers in the lower world before the death of Baldur, and
that Baldur is the first one of the Aesir and sons of Odin who becomes a dweller in the
lower world. To this must be added, that if ásmegir meant the Aesir, Einar would never
have called the inhabitants of Norway, the subjects of jarl Hakon, herþarfir ásmegir, for
the Aesir are herþarfir themselves, and that in the highest degree. They constitute a body
of more or less warlike persons, who all have been "needed in conflict" in the wars
around Asgard and Midgard, and they all, Baldur included, are gods of war and victory. It
would also have been malapropos 17 to compare men with Aesir on an occasion when the
former were represented as bringing sacrifices to the gods; that is, as persons subordinate
to them and in need of their assistance.
Therefore the ásmegir are human beings excluded from the surface of the earth,
from the mankind which dwell in Midgard, and are inhabitants of the lower world, where
they reside in a splendid castle kept by the elf of dawn, Delling, and enjoy the society of
Baldur, who descended to Hades. To subterranean human beings refers also Grímnismál
31, which says that men (mennskir menn) dwell under the roots of Yggdrasil; and
Alvíssmál 16 (to be compared with 18, 20 í helju, and other passages), and Skírnismál 34,
15 Sól heitir með mönnum, It is called Sol among the men
en sunna med goðum, but Sunna among the gods,
kalla dvergar Dvalins leika, the dwarves call it Dvalin's leika
eygló jötnar,
the giants ever-glow,
álfar fagrahvel,
the elves fair-wheel,
alskír ásasynir.
the Asa-sons all-bright.
16 Cp. also Gylfaginning 9, in regard to Odin: "Og fyrir því má hann heita Alföður, að hann er faðir allra
goðanna og manna og alls þess, er af honum ok hans krafti var fullgjört." And thus he may be called Allfather,
because he is the father of all the gods and of man, and of all that was created by him and his power.
17 inappropriate