evidence for the existence of a separate Vanir family of gods outside of Icelandic mythological texts, namely the Eddic poem Vǫluspá and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and Ynglinga Saga. These sources detail a mythical Æsir–Vanir War, which, however, is portrayed quite differently in the different accounts. Giants (Jötnar) Giants (Jötnar) play a significant role in Germanic myth as preserved in Iceland, being just as important as the gods in myths of the cosmology and the creation and the end of the world. They appear to have been various types of powerful, non-divine supernatural beings who lived in a kind of wilderness and were mostly hostile to humans and gods. They have human form and live in families, but can sometimes take on animal form. In addition to , the beings are also commonly referred to as , both terms having cognates in West Germanic; is probably derived from the verb "to eat", either referring to their strength, or possibly to cannibalism as a characteristic trait of giants. Giants often have a special association with some phenomena of nature, such as frost, mountains, water, and fire. Scholars are divided as to whether there were any religious offerings or rituals offered to giants in Germanic religion. Scholars such as Gro Steisland and Nanna Løkka have suggested that the division of the gods from giants is not actually very clear. Elves, dwarfs and other beings Germanic religion also contained various other mythological beings, such as the monstrous wolf Fenrir, as well as beings such as elves, dwarfs, and other non-divine supernatural beings. Elves are beings of Germanic lower mythology that are mostly male and appear as a collective. Snorri Sturluson divides the elves into two groups, the dark elves and the light elves; however, this division is not attested elsewhere. People's understanding of elves varied by time and place: in some instances they were godlike beings, in others dead ancestors, nature spirits, or demons. In Norse pagan belief, elves seem to have been worshiped to some extent. The concept of elves begins to differ between Scandinavia and the West Germanic peoples in the Middle Ages, possibly under Celtic influence. In Anglo-Saxon England, elves seem to have been potentially dangerous, powerful supernatural beings associated with woods, fields, hills, and bodies of water. Like elves, dwarfs are beings of Germanic lower mythology. They are mostly male and imagined as a collective; however, individual named dwarfs