Naglfar is the Norse mythological ship made from the fingernails and toenails of the dead.
Its name is usually understood as meaning “nail-farer” or “nail-ship.” The ship appears in both the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, where it is associated with Ragnarök. According to the Prose Edda, untrimmed nails from the dead contribute material to the vessel, so people are warned to cut or properly dispose of them.
When Ragnarök begins, Naglfar breaks free from its moorings and is carried by the floodwaters toward the battlefield Vígríðr. The giant Hrym is named as its captain in the Prose Edda, and the ship transports forces hostile to the gods. It is therefore not simply an ordinary Viking vessel with an unusual construction; it is a symbolic ship of the end of the world.
Naglfar is often confused with Skíðblaðnir, Freyr’s magically constructed ship. Skíðblaðnir can hold all the gods and always has a favorable wind, whereas Naglfar belongs to the apocalyptic events of Ragnarök.