InNorse mythology,Líf (identical with theOld Norse noun meaning "life, the life of the body")[1] andLífþrasir (Old Norse masculine name fromlíf andþrasir and defined byLexicon Poëticum as"Livæ amator, vitæ amans, vitæ cupidus" "Líf's lover, lover of life, zest for life"),[2] sometimes anglicized asLif andLifthrasir, female and male respectively, are two humans who are foretold to survive the events ofRagnarök by hiding in a wood calledHoddmímis holt and, after the flames have abated, to repopulate the newly risen and fertile world. Líf and Lífþrasir are mentioned in thePoetic Edda, which was compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and theProse Edda, written in the 13th century bySnorri Sturluson. Many scholars have speculated as to the underlying meaning and origins of both names.
In the poemVafþrúðnismál, collected in thePoetic Edda, the godOdin poses a question to thejötunnVafþrúðnir, asking who among mankind will survive whenFimbulvetr, the winter at the end of the world, 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".[3]
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.[4]
Carolyne Larrington 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 the world-treeYggdrasil. Thus, the creation of mankind from tree trunks (Askr, Embla) is repeated after the Ragnarǫk as well." Simek says that inGermanic 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]