The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. Beneath them is the well Urðarbrunnr with the two swans that have engendered all the swans in the world.
The nornir are a type of jinn of Scandinavian lore that unequally direct and shape the destiny of mankind. Described as three old women named Skulld (Skuldr), Udr, and Verdandi, they spin the threads of destiny shaping human lives; they live under the shade of t he tree, Yggdrasil. Skulld is the youngest of the three and personifies the future. Verdandi, the middle nornir, personifies the future; Urdr the eldest personifies the past. The nornir reside in a sanctuary called Gimle or Vingolf; their hall was by Urdarburnnr Well under the branches of Yggdrasyll.
There also lesser nornir and racially descend from the Alfs, Æser (the gods like Odin and Thor), and the Dwarfs; these jinn were said to assist in the birth of future eminent individuals, bestow gifts upon them, and foretell their future. The nornif are the one who apply a good life and future to a person; those individuals who seem to fall into one misfortune after another are the victims of a malignant alignment of nornir.