uré

Urð, also written Urd or Urðr, is a figure in Norse mythology and one of the three Norns, the others being Verdandi and Skuld. The trio is commonly understood as embodiments of fate, with Urðr linked to the past, Verdandi to the present, and Skuld to the future: Urðr meaning “that which has become” (the past), Verdandi “that which is becoming,” and Skuld “that which shall be.”

In the sources of Norse lore, the Norns oversee human and divine destinies and weave the fate of events and lifespans. They are said to reside by the Well of Urd (Urðarbrunnr) at the base of Yggdrasil, the world tree. From this well, water is drawn to nourish the tree, an act associated with the care and maintenance of fate itself. The Norns’ decisions shape the course of lives, though individuals are still portrayed as acting within the bounds of their destined paths.

Primary literary attestations come from the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, where Urðr, Verdandi, and Skuld appear as a triad whose interwoven powers govern the evidence of time and events in the cosmos. In scholarship, Urðr is often discussed as a symbol of the past and as part of a broader Norse cosmology that personifies time and destiny. The name survives in modern Icelandic as a term associated with fate.