The inhabitants of this world are second in chronology after the Fire and Snow Giants. After the blocks of ice of Niflheim collided with the sparks of life of Muspelheim, the Giant Ymir arose. Then there was no solid earth yet, and where Ymir was was a somewhat unclear question; apparently, he, like his children and non-living blocks of ice, was in the void. Another thing is important - Ymir gave rise to a family of giants and built the world according to his desire. Ymir and his descendants ate the milk of the cow Audumbla, who licked ice blocks. After Odin, Willi and Ve - the first of the Aesir - killed Ymir, his entire world drowned in blood. Only a couple of giants survived, whose descendants then populated their country.
After killing Ymir, the Earth and Sky were made from his body, as well as trees, stars, seas and oceans. Mitgard and Jotunheim were formed, the latter being specially given by the Aesir to the giants.
Trolls, Jotuns or Frost Giants are the embodiment of strength, malice, deceit and the ancestors of everything bad that is in this world. Their modus operandi is brute force and cunning. The element of this world is Earth. Almost all Trolls are aggressive against people and Aces; the main battles are with them. Jotuns send all kinds of bad weather, hail, snow, storms and avalanches to the world. At the same time, Jotuns are the embodiment of natural forces: they do not know reason, but, nevertheless, are strong.
Looking ahead, let's say that the Vikings recognized wisdom in nature. How did this manifest itself? First of all, the source of true wisdom was located precisely in Jotunheim. Accident? It is unlikely that in this kind of texts, every detail has its own meaning. At the same time, the northerners clearly found virtue in the fight against nature, since Thor's wars with the giants, the embodiment of the evil forces of this nature, were the main feats. So how can we resolve this contradiction? In the east, they did the following - they took the evil component of nature for granted (however, it should be noted that on such a scale there were no such natural disasters as snow storms, hail and avalanches in the east), and did not fight it, did not begin to crush nature under themselves, leaving behind it the right to do what it wants - after all, it is wise. Thus the beginning of the “eastern path of development” was laid. The northerners did it differently - they understood the wisdom of nature, but did not want to put up with hail and snow. They imagined nature as a pillar of wisdom, covered with the dirt of evil manifestations, and believed that wisdom could only be achieved by eliminating this dirt, which they did with pleasure. But this is the “Western path of development.” Who is right - the eastern or northern inhabitants? It is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to such a question - everyone is right. The main thing is not to go to extremes - excessive submission to nature will lead to death from hunger and cold, and excessive struggle with it will lead to death from smog and ozone holes.
What corresponds to the geographically given world, the world of Jotunheim? This is either the whole world east of the Scandinavian Peninsula, or Rus', or other states. It should be noted that clear names later appeared for all geographical territories, for example, Rus' was called Gardariki. Jotunheim, if it ever existed in nature, was later simply replaced due to geographical discoveries and campaigns. Perhaps Jotunheim is a memory of a time when there was no real travel yet, and the world outside the borders of your home or your village was incomprehensible and frightening. Then they came up with a designation for everything in the east, and for all the inhabitants there, and at the same time they blamed all natural disasters on them - so that it was not in vain to be afraid of them and not in vain to fight with them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru