View source for Draupnir

{{Short description|Ring in Norse mythology possessed by Odin}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}}
[[File:Draupnir.jpg|thumb|Draupnir multiplying itself]]
[[File:The third gift — an enormous hammer by Elmer Boyd Smith.jpg|thumb|upright|''The third gift — an enormous hammer'' (1902) by [[Elmer Boyd Smith]]. The ring Draupnir is visible among other creations by the [[Sons of Ivaldi]].]]
In [[Norse mythology]], '''Draupnir''' ([[Old Norse]]: {{IPA|non|ˈdrɔupnez̠|}}, "the dripper"<ref name=ORCHARD34>Orchard (1997:34).</ref>) is a gold [[Rings in Germanic cultures|ring]] possessed by the god [[Odin]] with the ability to multiply itself: Every ninth night, eight new rings 'drip' from Draupnir, each one of the same size and weight as the original.

Draupnir was forged by the [[Norse dwarves|dwarven]] brothers [[Brokkr]] and [[Eitri]] (or [[Sindri (mythology)|Sindri]]). Brokkr and Eitri made this ring as one of a set of three gifts which included [[Mjöllnir]] and [[Gullinbursti]]. They made these gifts in accordance with a bet [[Loki]] made saying that Brokkr and Eitri could not make better gifts than the three made by the [[Sons of Ivaldi]]. In the end, Mjöllnir, [[Thor]]'s hammer, won the contest for Brokkr and Eitri. Loki used a [[loophole]] to get out of the wager for his head (the wager was for Loki's head only, but he argued that, to remove his head, they would have to injure his neck, which was not in the bargain) and Brokkr punished him by sealing his lips shut with wire.

The ring was placed by Odin on the funeral pyre of his son [[Baldr]]:

{{blockquote|Odin laid upon the pyre the gold ring called Draupnir; this quality attended it: that every ninth night there fell from it eight gold rings of equal weight.|source= from the ''[[Gylfaginning]]''}}

The ring was subsequently retrieved by [[Hermóðr]]. It was offered as a gift by [[Freyr]]'s servant [[Skírnir]] in the wooing of [[Gerðr]], which is described in the poem ''[[Skírnismál]]''.

==Notes==
{{commons category|Draupnir}}
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. [[Orion Publishing Group|Cassell]]. {{ISBN|0-304-34520-2}}
{{refend}}

{{Norse mythology}}

[[Category:Artifacts in Norse mythology]]
[[Category:Odin]]
[[Category:Gold rings]]
[[Category:Magic rings]]