How are the Nine Realms situated in space?

Question

So both before the Marvel Cinematic Universe and up until Thor: The Dark World, I always thought the Nine Realms were more akin to parallel dimensions than anything else.

However, in The Dark World,

during the final battle, Mjollnir gets lost and keeps having to change direction as Thor and Malekith fall through portals between realms. At one point, the hammer makes a right angle and starts heading out into space, fairly definitively showing that at least that one realm is accessible solely through space travel.¹

So if they are all accessible through space, what constitutes a realm? Why only nine, given the expanse of the Marvel universe? Is it because those planets are near each other, or situated on some cosmic Yggdrasil, or something else entirely?

_{¹The Bifrost itself never really qualified to me as proof, because of its magical/technological nature. The directionality could just be a requirement to access a specific location within Asgard, like how Loki's secret passage was off in the distance.}

Answer 1

It's a yes and no answer, as the other user postulated. At various times, they've been portrayed as different dimensions, and as aspects of the same dimension. All are related to the tree Yggdrasil.

The tree is central to Norse mythology, and is depicted as having three roots.

Marvel iteration

Each of the roots connects to a different level of realms.

1. First root (Asgard) - Consists of Vanaheim, Alfheim, Nidavellir. Valhalla is also depicted as being on this level.
2. Second root (Midgard) - Earthling level, Midgard and Jotenheim. From the maps linked, it shows that Midgard is reached via the Bifrost bridge, while Jotenheim is a separate ring (Much like Saturns rings), that is actually connected to the root.
3. Third root - Hel/Niffleheim - Lands of the dead. Hel is the land of the dead, and Niffleheim is the frozen land of the dishonored dead. The images are not clear as to if the root holds both, or just lands on Niffleheim.
4. Other realms - Svartalfheim/Muspelheim - These realms appear to only be connected by interdimensional passageways - Svartalfheim appears only connected to Midgard, although possibly to Asgard/Hel. Svartalfheim is home to the dark elves, while Muspelheim is home to demons.

Muspelheim and Jotunheim both appear connected to Asgard through passageways, as does Hel/Niffleheim and Hel/Asgard.

Norse Mythology

If you look at the poetic Eddas from the original, they mention both six and nine worlds. The poetic edda mentions nine, connected by the "Glorious world tree that unites them." It lists six of them as

1. Menn - Humans
2. Vanir - Gods
3. Jotnar - Giants
4. Nair - Dead
5. Aesir - Gods
6. Alfar - Elves

The dark elves are stated as having their own world apart from the rest, and then the two primordial realms of ice and fire. However, there has never really been a precise mapping. For example, Odin sent Hel to rule a region of Niffleheim, where the Marvel depicts them as two separate areas. The poetic edda also personifies the nine worlds as having nine giantesses, one for each realm.

Map #1 - Marvel representation

Map #2 - Modernized/enhanced fan interpretation of the Marvel map

Answer 2

Too Long, Didn't Read

The Nine Realms aren't situated solely in SPACE. From our perspective, Midgard is the entire reality of three dimensional (four if you count time) space-time we inhabit. Asgard and its assorted realms are not in the same dimensional space, maybe not even in the same universe as Earth (Midgard). Any action which gives that impression is just that, an impression, having nothing to do with fact.

• Thor's stories are supposed to be epic and beyond understanding, the very nature of their godlike lifestyle means what we are seeing in movies is supposed to be our limited conception of what has happened, as if it were being told by a storyteller who didn't speak your language well, or your language lacked the words necessary to describe what was happening.

Think of Thor as a Journey into Mystery (#83)

This answer cannot be quantitatively answered because neither the suppositions of the canon Marvel Universe, nor the original epic myths are being fully supported or explained in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In my opinion, nor should they be.

• What I mean by quantitatively answered is using a method of direction or distance that would satisfy a human scientist.

• The Nine Realms are portrayed in a nebulous fashion INTENTIONALLY, to prevent questions such as "where is Asgard, and can I fly my spaceship to it?"

• If I had to guess, I would say NO, you can't get there from here, no matter that it appears to be in a particular nebula in a particular star cluster on a map. There would still be the question of dimensional barriers to breach after reaching said nebula.

What you see is not necessarily what is happening

• In Journey into Mystery, the original publication from which Thor was developed the Asgardians were considered to be godlike in their nature, their bodies and minds more advanced than Humans by an order of magnitude.

• Their science and technology were as magic to human beings. This means what we see the Asgardians doing is filtered through our perception of what they are doing. It does not necessarily mean that is what's happening.

For example:

• It is implied (but not confirmed by any scientist of repute) that the Bifrost is a magical-technical version of an Einstein-Rosen bridge generator, both a powerful means of interdimensional/inter-stellar travel and a handy means of wiping out anyone the Asgardians decide they don't like, capable of devastating their society instead. (But this is only the movie representation, the canon comics, as well as the epic tales, never designated the Rainbow bridge as a weapon.)

• The whole intention of the Thor mythos was to present a world beyond human comprehension. This was Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's intent from the beginning. A world where godlike powers define everyday existence and their ability to travel to the Nine Realms was across a bridge made of rainbows using science like magic and magic-like science.

• So when we are shown travel between worlds, we are lead to believe Bifrost is one way to travel, interdimensional ships are another and random holes or portals scattered through multiple space times, act as tunnels to different universes, acting as back doors, allowing entities who have the means and the knowlege to move from one Realm to another. THIS IS MEANT TO BE ACCEPTED AS IF IT WERE AS NATURAL TO THE ASGARDIANS AS BREATHING.

• Not all Asgardians can travel between worlds, only the powerful or knowledgeable such as Odin using his powerful understanding of reality, Loki with his mastery of magic, and Thor using his Odin-imbued hammer have any chance of moving easily between the worlds, even though most Asgardians know it is possible, they have no interest in visiting Earth. Asgard is supposedly riddled with portals between it and other realms, so creatures can wander from one to another. (See below: Asgardian "supercontinent")

Asgard is honeycombed with portals to the other parts of the Nine Worlds, making the worlds (with the exception of Earth) sometimes seem like they are on a contiguous plain; indeed, early cartographers of Asgard mapped it this way. The only permanent portal to Earth, Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge, has recently been shattered, severing Asgard's connection with Earth and making passage between realms difficult.

• To the Asgardians, it is as if Humans from the North American continent were to time travel to pre-Agricultural Earth to watch nomadic Man. Interesting for a day, maybe two and then its time to go home to the modern conveniences they have grown accustomed to.

In summary, attempting to map the Marvel Cinematic Universe should be exactly as it appears, impossible, beyond human comprehension, requiring technology on the order of the Asgardians, and other dwellers of the Nine Realms with the magic or tech to do so. This may include Thanos, the Collector, using the Infinity Gems/Stones, Thor and Loki using enchantments given to them by Odin.

Apocrypha

• Early maps of Asgard showed the portals that connected its different realms as a single contiguous map with the Rainbow Bridge being the only permanent portal to Earth.

• The Asgardian "supercontinent" was really a multi-dimensional land mass connected by portals allowing Asgardians (and visitors from other realms) to visit each other.

• Epic tales described the relationships between the realms as able to be walked and groups met, waged war, treated and traded. Young Thor and Loki adventured in all of these places traveling solely by horse (and portal)

In recent canon Thor comics, Asgard has existed as a portal directly floating over the United States at one point. (The Asgard portion of the above show "dimensional continent" was about the size of the United States.)

• The distance between the two realms collapsed until Asgard appeared to be visibly present in the sky. Asgard the city-planetoid was moved from Asgard-space to be co-tangent with Earth in Midgard-space.

• Asgard was later destroyed and rebuilt by the Avengers and surviving gods. It was dubbed Asgardia and is still currently in Midgard-Space. Odin is in exile in Asgard-Space.

Answer 3

So, as I understand it, (this being a combination of speculation based on the movies and some mythological theories) it is a combination of both separate yet parallel planes of existence and also one single plain encompassing all(in a manner of speaking). . .

~Also, please excuse my ramblings, it is just that some things are a bit hard to explain without a lot of context and I may repeat myself trying to explain.~

. . . So, moving on.

What I meant is that some realms are simply pocket dimensions surrounded by normal space (the rest of the cosmos)

• Looking out of this dimension, (Asgard for instance) it looks as if you were in the middle of space standing on a floating island-like land mass, and that if you were to stray too far from it , you would be sucked into a portal and transported elsewhere. Like what happened to Loki when he fell off the Bifrost into the surrounding space, and once he reached a certain distance, he passed the boundary of the pocket dimension Asgard resides in and was transported outside.

• Looking in, as in being outside of the pocket dimension, and looking towards the point in space from which the sky looks the same as it can be seen from Asgard, you would see absolutely nothing.

  • (Imagine it like this: you are out on a picnic, you brought a blanket a basket and everything you need. You lay out the blanket, but you hadn't realized that just underneath the spot you placed the blanket over, there was a hole. So the center of the blanket just hangs over it, than you lay out the food, and an apple rolls over the hole and with its weight it pulls the blanket into the hole, and if it was deep enough and the apple heavy enough than the blanket would be pulled in and fill up the rest of the hole. The apple is still covered in the blanket inside the hole but from outside all you see is just the blanket being bunched up in one place. Now imagine that the blanket is the fabric of the space-time continuum, and the apple is an object massive enough to generate enough gravity to warp space-time around it and in over itself, so that it creates a pocket dimension, still part of the entirety of space-time yet separate. Like a worm hole that does not have an exit just and entrance and than after expanding that bubble, you tie it up like a balloon )

  

  • That pocket dimension would not be a parallel dimension(when I said "dimension", I actually meant "universe", but since it is not as big and infinite as a normal universe, just as big as the volume of space-time that was severed off from the rest of the fabric of space-time), nor would it be intangible, it would just be separate, inaccessible from the outside like a house that is big on the outside and small on the inside because there is a room missing because it was hidden, only in this case we could not tell that the universe is bigger on the outside, since it's . . . you know .. infinite.

  • It would also still be connected to the rest of the universe through that single point in space-time that the one-way wormhole collapsed into. . . (using the same metaphor as earlier, it would be like a bag tied off at the end) It could also still be located by detecting/pinpointing the anomalous gravitational intensity generated by the pocket dimension (A gravitational well would still be there, but when you looked it, it would seem as if it were just empty space. In reality, it would just be a infinitesimally small point that the wormhole had collapsed into, being held together by the gravitational forces on the other side, that are strong enough to bleed through and create the anomalous gravity well). . . it is still physically there, just that the surrounding space-time was stretched over it (like hiding "c" in "a,b,c,d" by having "b" and "d" meet over "c" . .. . if that makes any sense)

THAT is how i believe the pocket dimensions work, and that's where: Asgard, Vanaheim, Alfheim, Nidavellir reside, all being citizens of Valhala(which is what i think the entire island continent is called, or maybe not and i got that wrong, than i'm sorry )

• As for the other realms Jotenheim, Hel/Niffleheim, Svartalfheim, Muspelheim. i believe they were formed in much the same way, either copying the Asgard method of creating their very own microcosms, (a way of creating a bordered off region of space in an infinite universe )
• Or, they were defeated and trapped in them by the Asgard (considering them to be too dangerous to be left to roam the universe unchecked, but yet not willing to eradicate an entire species to do so) therefore imprisoning them in pocket dimensions, that can be accessed only thru Asgard(the so called backdoor used by Loki and such) or by way of the Bifrost (in their case i would imagine that the pocket dimension "space?" was collapsed over their home-worlds, since they are depicted as planets not just floating islands like asgard)

Then you have Midgard, which is always depicted in Yggdrasil maps as being surrounded by an Ouroboros snake. In all forms of myth and legend that it is ever depicted or mentioned in, it always represents or means, INFINITY.

• Therefore, since Midgard is always depicted as a sphere (instead of an island like all other realms) and is also surrounded by the Ouroboros snake, then that would lead me to believe that Midgard is the entirety of the cosmos, it is the universe . . . the fabric of space-time from which Asgard and all other realms were created as pocket dimensions. it is also the place where "Guardians of the Galaxy" takes place (just FYI).

  

• Now I realize that this may just refer to Jörmungandr (the "Midgard Serpent" the Apocalypse monster) but since in Maps of Yggdrasil there is nothing else depicted in them but the 9 realms, it is awfully strang to depict it all by itself and no other being but it, except if maybe it was added in as a way to express the infinity of the 5th realm.

  

. . .

AND. . . in the end all that is nothing other then speculation, and i do not have to be right, i just have to make enough sense.

Now, moving on to Yggdrasil, the world tree.

• If you gather a star and some planets, you get a solar system

  

• If you gather a black hole and enough stars around it, you get a galaxy

  

• If you gather massive quantities of dark matter/energy and enough galaxies, you create a Galactic Filament (formed out of galaxies like a galaxy is formed out of stars)
  

If you can imagine a civilization advanced enough to create a pocket dimension, you can imagine them to have an advanced enough understanding of the cosmos, and to mere mortals such as us, it would be like a tree, because what else does it resemble if not a tree

As for the convergence . . .well that is kind of tricky, but if you consider the Bifrost (it's ability to transport matter over vast distances, and into "supposedly" pocket dimensions of space, and even destroy them, then is it so far fetched to believe that it can also create them ?)

• Also , all these pocket dimensions were created very near each other (well relatively speaking ) and around earth (or maybe Asgard, it being the source of the Bifost, and all that, therefore it may be a focal point)

• Or even maybe, those pocket dimensions of space could be orbiting Asgard and therefore be in motion. Therefore, as any system of orbiting bodies, they may align with each other on a repeating circle(once every couple of eons, and such) thus aligning all their gravitational wells into alignment(I'm repeating myself, sorry) therefore amplifying the effect it has on its surrounding space and each other .. . maybe even the gravitational forces bled thru, from the other pocket dimensions of space may be strong enough to stretch at the collapsed wormholes of all pocket dimensions, thus enlarging the pocket dimensions worm holes and allowing for normal travel directly thru the wormholes themselves)

  • And like that I think I may have explained how the other 8 realms ('cause earth/Midgard is the infinite universe, not a pocket dimension of space) started to appear above London (in the "Dark World"), also the way the AETHER (the red stone) started to branch out into them like a metaphoric depiction of Yggdrasil, could also be explained as the Etheral tendrils of the red infinity stone following the gravitational tidal forces created by the alignment of the 8 realms

• As for Mjolnir, I imagine that since all pocket dimensions of space in which all 8 realms reside, actually occupy a specific place in the fabric of space-time, then what the hammer was doing was traveling towards location where all the collapsed wormholes were . ..wait that doesn't make sense. . . if the hammer is traveling towards one of the collapsed wormholes of one of the 8 realms (since Midgard is the cosmos) then shoulden't it travel towards the gravitationally stretched/enlarged wormholes above London ? .. .

Well I'm stumped .. . maybe there's something I'm missing but, I suppose it's ok, it doesn't all have to make sense, it's all fiction, it's all speculation, and all the science I tried to crowbar into it, has no actual proof to base it on, just cinematic CGI that kind off fits in with theoretical science (so then it must be true !) RIGHT ? :D

anyway . ..hope that helped