Aegir's wife. Catches drowning sailors in her net.
Ran (Old Norse Rán) is the wife of Aegir and rules the sea alongside him. She possesses a net with which she catches drowning sailors and drags them down to her hall on the ocean floor. In Reginsmál 18 and several skaldic kennings she is depicted as a dangerous and greedy figure.
Ran and Aegir have nine daughters whose names represent different types of waves. Carrying gold was considered protection on sea voyages, since those who drowned with gold on their person were well received in Ran's hall. The kenning 'Ran's way' denotes the sea in skaldic verse.
Sources in the Eddas
- Reginsmál 18
- Ran is mentioned in connection with the sea and the fate of seafarers.
- Skáldskaparmál 33
- Snorri mentions Ran and her net in the context of sea kennings.
Interpretive traditions
A What we know
Ran is Aegir's wife and catches the drowning in her net (Reginsmál 18, Skáldskaparmál).
B What we think we know
The notion that gold protected sailors in Ran's hall may be a late literary motif rather than living belief.