Who Is Máni
Máni is the personification of the moon in Norse mythology, the figure who guides the moon on its nightly path across the heavens. He is a son of Mundilfari and the brother of Sól, the sun, and his name is the old word for the moon itself.
Máni governs the phases and the passage of the moon, and marks the reckoning of time by its waxing and waning. In one tale he takes up two children from the earth, Bil and Hjúki, who follow him across the sky and are sometimes seen as the marks upon the moon's face.
Like his sister, Máni is pursued without rest. Behind him races the wolf Hati, hungering to swallow the moon. At Ragnarök the wolf catches him at last, and the moon is devoured as the long darkness falls upon the world.
Role and Symbolism
Guide of the Moon
Leads the moon across the night sky and governs its changing phases.
Pursued by Hati
The wolf that hunts him keeps the moon forever moving through the dark.
Keeper of Time
By the moon's waxing and waning the Norse measured the passing months.
Quick Facts
The Moon's Companions
Bil and Hjúki, the two children who follow Máni across the sky
Symbolism
Máni embodies the moon's gentle light and the ordered passage of time, yet he too is prey to the hunger of the wolves. His fate at Ragnarök marks the failing of the old order and the coming of the long night.