Jotunn

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A jotunn, Old Norse j tunn is a giant in Norse mythology, a member of a race of nature spirits with superhuman strength, described as sometimes standing in opposition to the races of the tribes of the AEsir and Vanir, although they frequently mingle with or intermarry with these. Their otherworldly homeland is Jotunheimr, one of the nine worlds of Norse cosmology, separated from Midgard, the world of humans, by high mountains or dense forests. Other place names are also associated with them, including Niflheimr, Utgaror and Jarnvior. In some legends and myths they are described as having the same height as humans. In later Scandinavian folklore, the nature spirits called trolls (deriving from the term for 'magic') take over many of the functions of the more ancient concept of the jotunn. The mountain range of southern Norway is likewise called in Norwegian Jotunheimen or the Jotunheim Mountains