The Legend
Naglfar is one of the most sinister objects in all of Norse mythology, a great ship fashioned entirely from the untrimmed fingernails and toenails of the dead. It is the largest of all ships, and it grows slowly through the ages toward its terrible launching.
The Norse believed that the nails of the dead should always be cut before burial, for every uncut nail adds to the timbers of Naglfar and hastens the coming of Ragnarök. To leave them long was to help build the ship of doom.
When the end of the world arrives, the rising seas set Naglfar afloat. It carries a host of giants and the dead to the final battle, steered by the giant Hrym, though some tellings place the freed trickster Loki at its helm. It is a vessel built for the destruction of the gods.
Nature and Menace
Built of the Dead
Its timbers are the uncut nails of every corpse never properly tended
Set Loose at the End
The floods of Ragnarök free it to carry the enemies of the gods
Quick Facts
An Old Warning
The Norse trimmed the nails of the dead so as not to add to Naglfar's timbers and speed the doom of the gods.