How many sons did Bor have?

The story behind the answer

How many sons did Bor have? Bor had three sons: Odin, Vili, and Vé.

In Norse mythology, Bor was the son of Búri, the first ancestor uncovered from the ice by the primeval cow Auðumbla. Bor married Bestla, a jötunn, and their three sons became an important divine generation in the creation story.

Odin, Vili, and Vé killed the primordial giant Ymir. From Ymir’s body they fashioned the ordered world: his flesh became the land, his blood the seas, his bones the mountains, and his skull the sky. They also used his eyebrows to make a boundary around the human world.

The brothers later created the first humans, Ask and Embla, from trees or driftwood found by the shore. The surviving sources do not give Bor a large independent role, which can make him easy to overlook. Some texts use the spelling Borr or Burr, but these forms refer to the same mythic father of the three gods.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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