Vili

Vili (Old Norse: Víli) is a figure in Norse mythology, one of the three Æsir brothers—Odin, Vili, and Vé—who, according to the Prose Edda, played a central role in the creation of the world. They are the sons of Bor and Bestla, and they help shape the cosmos after the death of the giant Ymir.

The creation myth says that the brothers slew Ymir and used his corpse to fashion the world: his flesh became the earth, his blood the seas, his bones the mountains, and his skull the sky, which they held up with the help of their words. They then found two human beings, Ask and Embla, on the shore. Odin poured life into them; Vili endowed them with intelligence and senses; Vé gave them form and countenance, as well as motion and growth.

The name Víli is usually interpreted as meaning "will" or "willpower" in Old Norse, reflecting his attributed role in endowing humanity with intellect and perception. In some sources these functions are described with slight variation, but the broad pattern—three brothers working together to create the world and humankind—appears consistently in the surviving Norse literature.

Vili's prominence in myth is modest compared with Odin, but he remains part of the core cosmogony of Norse myth as the one who contributed to human consciousness and perception, alongside the other two brothers.