Skoll And Hati
Today we are going to talk about the wolves Skoll and Hati. There isn’t much known about them as they are only mentioned in passing. However, its best believed that they are the children of Fenrir. These two wolves chase the sun (Sol) and the moon (Mani) across the sky continuously with the hope of devouring them.
From time to time the wolves seem to catch up to the sun and the moon, making the sun and moon disappear slowly. This is also known as an eclipse. An eclipse is also said to be one of the first signs of the end of days known as Ragnarok. At this time they will swallow Sol and Mani whole and there will be total darkness over the earth (Miðgarðr).
Skoll & Hati Conflicts
Some say that Skoll is the wolf that chases the sun and that Hati chases the moon, while others believe the opposite to be true. If you look at the poem Grímnismál of The Poetic Edda by Snorri Sturluson is states the following:
Who follows the shining priest
Into the desolate forest,
And the other is Hati,
Hróðvitnir’s son,
Who chases the bright bride of the sky.”
As you can see from the text above it suggests The noun used for Skoll’s prey, goði (“priest”), this is masculine, and the noun used for Hati’s prey, brúðr (“bride”) and this is feminine. Since Mani (the moon) is male, and Sol (the sun) is female. All that said, in my opinion, the wording of this stanza suggests that Skoll hunts the moon and Hati the sun.
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