Niðavellir

Existing in the gnarled trunk of Yggdrasil, on the same cosmic tier as Midgard, Alfheim, and Vanaheim, lies the dwarven forgeworld of Niðavellir. The celestial body itself was a neutron star—ancient, wrathful, and hidden beyond the visible veil of Midgard’s skies. Around this dying ember, the dwarves of legend constructed a multiringed complex, a spiraling bastion of stone and metal, to mine the star’s sacred ore and bend its gravity to their will. They named the material Uru, and from it they forged weapons of myth: Odin’s spear Gungnir, Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, and countless other relics.

A few hundred million years after the birth of the cosmos, the neutron star that would come to be known as Nidavellir flared into being—a baleful ember in the void. Around this ancient furnace, the dwarves wrought their forgeworld, a labyrinthine realm of interlocking megastructures that Midgardian scholars would later name Niven Rings. Bathed in the star’s wrathful gravity and searing radiation, the dwarves built forges of such potency that the very branches of reality could be shaped within them. The date of their great construction was lost, buried with the countless dwarves who once thrived in the shadow of the dying star.

Following Malekith the Accursed’s first attack during the convergence and an assault by the rock trolls upon Asgard, All-Father Odin Borson forged a pact with the dwarves of Nidavellir. He tasked them with crafting a weapon worthy of a king who would one day rule the Nine Realms. The dwarves answered with Mjolnir, a hammer that housed the tempestuous spirit of the Roman goddess Tempestas. It would pass into the hands of Odin’s son, born of the Primordial Goddess and All-Mother Gaea, and become an inspiration to all of Asgard’s subjects in The Nine Realms.

Freed from Odin’s chains, Loki Laufeyson conspired with the Eternals trickster Sprite to abduct a Terran child named Daniel Hall. They vanished into the haunted depths of Nidavellir, believing none would dare trespass upon the All-Father’s sacred forges. But when the entity known as Dream whispered to Odin, he dispatched Thor Odinson, the god of thunder, to retrieve the child. Thor braved the star-forged shadows and returned Daniel to his realm, dragging Loki back to Asgard and the judgment of the All-Father.

Rising from the frostbitten tombs of Nifelheim, Fenrir Lokison tore free from Gleipnir and the gnarled roots of Yggdrasil. Betrayed by the Asgardians—most bitterly by Tyr Odinson, who had once called him friend—Fenrir cloaked himself in the guise of an Asgardian, calling himself Berumir, and crept into Nidavellir. There, he bade the dwarves forge him a blade with a heart colder than Hel’s breath. With it, he hunted those who had feasted on his flesh and stolen his memories, a grim crusade that would one day bring him face to face with the ultimate betrayor, Lucifer Morningstar.

Imir, a rogue Asgardian swollen with ambition, sought to claim the Odin-Force and crown himself king. He stormed Nidavellir, shackled its dwarves, and demanded they forge him a weapon to eclipse all others—a weapon he named Stormbreaker. Dwarf King Eitri, ever cunning, sent a secret plea to Thor. The god of thunder arrived in a tempest, and the two clashed amid the golden forge’s molten halls. Thor struck Imir down with lightning’s fury and shattered his ambitions, freeing the dwarves from their iron cells. Eitri led the chorus that hailed Thor as their savior.

When Níðhöggr stirred from his slumber—summoned by Sinthea Schmidt and the hammer of Skadi—Odin granted Tony Stark passage into the sacred forges of Nidavellir. There, Stark and Eitri labored side by side, crafting Uru-forged relics for the surviving Avengers. Among them: a new Iron Man Armor armor, claws of enchanted steel for Wolverine, Asgardian stingers for Spider-Man, among other powerful armaments. With these star-born weapons, The Mighty Avengers repelled Skadi’s cadre of dark gods, The Worthy and cast Nidhoggr back into the abyss, where he would sleep until the Fimbulwinter’s howl.

In his battle against the Magus four decades earlier, Thanos glimpsed the The Infinity Gauntlet and the godlike power it could grant. To win the favor of Death, the only entity he ever truly desired, he sought to wield all six @Infinity Stones within a vessel worthy of their might. Only the dwarves of Nidavellir could forge such a relic. Thanos descended upon the forgeworld with his Black Order and the Children of Thanos, taking the dwarves hostage and commanding Eitri to craft the gauntlet. Eitri obeyed, hoping to spare his kin. But once the gauntlet was complete, Thanos’ children slaughtered the dwarves, and the Mad Titan encased Eitri’s hands in molten slag, ensuring he would never forge again. The furnaces fell silent. The rings of Nidavellir ceased their eternal spin. And when the universe cried out for aid, no answer came—its champions lost in the chaos of Battleworld and the war against The Beyonders.