Subterranean realm of the dark-elves (and/or dwarves). Snorri sometimes distinguishes it from Niðavellir.
Svartalfheimr, 'the home of the dark-elves,' is the subterranean realm where the dark-elves, closely identified with dwarves, dwell and work. In Eddic tradition, dwarves are skilled craftsmen who created the gods' most powerful objects: Gungnir (Odin's spear), Skidbladnir (Freyr's ship), Draupnir (the arm-ring), Mjölnir (Þórr's hammer), and Brísingamen (Freyja's necklace).
Snorri Sturluson in Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál does not always consistently distinguish between dark-elves and dwarves; he treats them at times as synonyms and at times as separate groups. He also mentions Niðavellir as the home of dwarves, suggesting he is working with partially overlapping or competing traditions.
The Poetic Edda differs from Snorri's prose on this point. In older skaldic verse and in Völuspá, dwarves are distinct figures created from Brimir and Bláinn and dwelling in stone and the underworld. The term 'dark-elves' occurs sparsely in the oldest sources and may be a Snorrian terminological construction.
Svartalfheimr's subterranean character means it structurally mirrors Niflheimr and Hel as places beneath the earth's surface, but unlike those it is primarily associated with craft, wealth, and the chthonic force found within the mountain's interior.
Sources in the Eddas
- Völuspá 9-16
- The creation of the dwarves and enumeration of their names.
- Alvíssmál 1-35
- The dwarf Alvíss is presented as all-knowing; his subterranean origin is apparent.
- Skírnismál 36
- Reference to dwarves' forging of the runic spell Skírnir employs.
Interpretive traditions
A What we know
Dwarves/dark-elves dwell in subterranean spaces and are renowned as skilled smiths and craftsmen.
The gods obtained their most important artefacts from dwarves in Svartalfheimr.
B What we think we know
Whether dark-elves and dwarves are originally identical beings or distinct groups that Snorri conflated is debated.
Svartalfheimr as a separate realm among the nine worlds may be a Snorrian systematization rather than older tradition.
C What we do not know
Exactly where Svartalfheimr sits in relation to Niðavellir and Hel in the vertical cosmology is unknown.
The dark-elves' original mythological function and relation to the dead is unclear.