InNorse mythology,Hoddmímis holt (Old Norse "Hoard-Mímir's"^[1]holt) is a location whereLíf and Lífþrasir are foretold to survive the long winters ofFimbulvetr. Hoddmímis holt is attested in thePoetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and theProse Edda, written in the 13th century bySnorri Sturluson. Like the very similarly namedMímameiðr, scholars generally considerHoddmímis holt to be another name forYggdrasil and connect it to folklore recorded from continental Germanic folklore.

In the poemVafþrúðnismál, collected in thePoetic Edda, the godOdin poses a question to thejötunnVafþrúðnir, asking who among mankind will survive when the winterFimbulvetr occurs. Vafþrúðnir responds that they will be Líf and Lífþrasir, that the two will have hidden in the wood of Hoddmímis holt, they will consume the morning dew as food, and "from them generations will spring."^[2]

In chapter 53 of theProse Edda bookGylfaginning,High tellsGangleri (kingGylfi in disguise) that two people, Líf and Lífþrasir, will lie hid in Hoddmímis holt during "Surt's fire," and that "from these people there will be descended such a great progeny that the world will be inhabited." The above-mentioned stanza ofVafþrúðnismál is then quoted.^[3]

Connections have been proposed between the forest andMímameiðr ("Mímir's tree"), generally thought to refer to the world treeYggdrasil, andMímisbrunnr.^[1] Based on this association, all three have been theorized as either being the same entity, or as having been visualized within the same proximity.^[4] For example, Carolyne Larrington, who notes that it is nowhere expressly stated what will happen to the world treeYggdrasil at Ragnarök, points to a connection betweenMímir and Yggdrasil in the poemVöluspá, and theorizes that "it is possible that Hoddmimir is another name for Mimir, and that the two survivors hide in Yggdrasill."^[5]

Rudolf Simek theorizes that the survival of Líf and Lífþrasir is "a case of reduplication of the anthropogeny, understandable from the cyclic nature of the Eddiceschatology." Simek says that Hoddmímis holt "should not be understood literally as a wood or even a forest in which the two keep themselves hidden, but rather as an alternative name for theworld-treeYggdrasill. Thus, the creation of mankind from tree trunks (Askr, Embla) is repeated after the Ragnarǫk as well." Simek says that in Germanic regions, the concept of mankind originating from trees is ancient. Simek additionally points out legendary parallels in aBavarian legend of ashepherd who lives inside a tree, whose descendants repopulate the land after life there has been wiped out by plague (citing a retelling by F. R. Schröder). In addition, Simek points to an Old Norse parallel in the figure ofÖrvar-Oddr, "who is rejuvenated after living as a tree-man (Ǫrvar-Odds saga 24–27)."^[6]