Who Is Sól
Sól is the personification of the sun in Norse mythology, the radiant figure who guides the sun on its daily course across the heavens. She is a daughter of Mundilfari, and her name is simply the old word for the sun itself.
Each day Sól rides across the sky in a chariot drawn by two horses, Árvakr and Alsviðr. So fierce is the sun's heat that a shield called Svalinn is set before it to protect the earth and the horses alike from burning.
Yet Sól does not travel at leisure. Behind her races the wolf Sköll, hungering to devour her, and it is this endless pursuit that drives the sun ever onward. At Ragnarök the wolf finally catches her, though it is said her daughter will one day take up her course in the world reborn.
Role and Symbolism
Driver of the Sun
Guides the sun's chariot across the sky from dawn to dusk each day.
Pursued by Sköll
The wolf that chases her keeps the sun forever racing across the heavens.
Guarded by Svalinn
A great shield shelters the world from the full heat of her sun.
Quick Facts
Her Sun-Horses
Symbolism
Sól embodies the life-giving yet perilous power of the sun, forever fleeing the darkness that hunts her. Her fate at Ragnarök and her daughter's rebirth mirror the endless cycle of day, death, and renewal.