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Norse / Viking Mythology and Religion
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A Renovation Philosophy Allied Interest Page |
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1. Background and Introduction
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Think then that under heaven-roof the little disc of earth,
Fortified Midgard, lies encircled by the ravening Worm.
Over its icy bastions faces of giant and troll
Look in, ready to invade it. The Wolf, admittedly, is bound;
But the bond will break, the Beast run free. The weary gods,
Scarred with old wounds, the one-eyed Odin, Tyr who lost a hand,
Will limp to their stations for the last defence. Make it your hope
To be counted worthy on that day to stand beside them;
For the end of man is to partake of their defeat and die
his second, final death in good company. The stupid, strong
Unteachable monsters are certain to be victorious at last,
And every man of decent blood is on the losing side...
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All human cultures,
thoughout history and across the globe, have been or are experiments in different
possible ways of being a person. The above fragment of A Cliche Came Out of its Cage,
by C.S.Lewis, sums up what was unique about the Norse/Viking
experiment. Other religions try to give us reasons for behaving well,
keeping our promises, and so on, by
promising some sort of 'happy ending' in which good triumphs over evil
(although,
admittedly, some try to do this with the twisted idea that
realising a 'higher spirituality' will somehow make the difference
between good and evil go away - or, at least, blind us to the
difference which even children are aware is real). Only Norse mythology
was brutally realistic enough to acknowledge that, although there is a
real difference between good and evil, and although this difference is
moral rather than political or religious, we live in a world where
cheats do prosper, the scum rise to the top, and the stupid, strong,
and unteachable, are victorious simply
because they are stupid, strong, and unteachable. In the light of this
reality, the good don't fight for reward but because being 'of decent
blood' just is a matter of fighting bravely for what is right even though the 'stupid, strong, and
unteachable' are certain to destroy the whole planet in the end.
Although the Norse gods, and brave humans, live a long time in Heaven
(Asgard), there is no 'happy ending' for them. At the end of
time, the gods and their human allies will die, and their Heaven be destroyed, removing evil
from a world that neither they, nor we, shall ever see. They know this,
and have always known this, but fight the good fight nonetheless. This,
to my mind, makes them and their followers more authentic, and more
interesting, than than any other human god except the Jesus of Nazareth that is portrayed in the Christian Gospels.
Note:
As you might expect from a mythology that grew up over
some millennia, and somewhat haphazardly from place to place, the Norse
myths are not consistent. There is a certain commonality about the
broad outlines but there are also different versions of events that are
not only inconsistent but sometimes contradictory. One source, for
example, claims that all the gods (including Odin) had to regularly eat
the magic apples of Idunn or they started to rapidly age. Another says
that Odin took only wine, and nothing else. It woukld be wrong,
therefore, to assume that there was, for example, 'a Norse creation
myth' (there are at least three that I know of). Where possible, I have
relied on the oldest complete versions of the stories from the
Icelandic Eddas (Iceland having lingered closer to, and longer in, the
Viking world than other Norse countries at the time when the old
stories were collected an preserved) - trusting the less edited Poetic Edda over the more highly edited Prose Edda when the two clash.
2. Norse / Viking Deities
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The name 'Norse' refers to the peoples and languages of the ancient and
medieval Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Greenland - as well as
their considerable contribution to the cultures of coastal western
Europe (e.g., Normandy, Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, and England). From
the few remains found, Scandinavia seems to have been originally
settled by Neanderthals. The last Ice Age (about 12,000 years ago)
appears to have put paid to them. With the start of global warming
following the end
of the Ice Age,
various groups of hunter-gatherers from the temperate zones followed
the
retreating ice sheet and settled the then uninhabited lands of the
Scandinavian peninsula.
It is not known what language these Scandinavians spoke but, sometime
towards the end of the 3rd millennium BCE, they were overrun by
Germanic tribes from central Europe. These migrants were cattle herders
with an individualistic and patriarchal culture; they probably spoke
the ancestor of the modern Scandinavian languages. A continually
expanding population, a cooling of the climate, and competition for
resources from later central
European populations, seems
to have led Scandinavian tribes that had access to the sea or large
rivers to
becoming seafaring Vikings (from the Old Norse víkingr
indicating a seafarer) sometime early in the Common Era (the Roman Tactitus describes Viking long ships in 98 CE). It is the
mythology and religion of these Norse and Viking folk, during the first millennium CE, that
is considered in this page.
In common with
all other human religions, Norse beliefs almost certainly emerged from
animism [the belief that all objects in the universe are animated by a
life-force that can flow from one object to another], probably via a
kind of shamanism. 81 Archeological
finds from before the Nordic Bronze Age (roughly 1700-500 BCE) tell us
almost nothing about primitive Norse beliefs. Finds from that time,
however, suggest that a pair of twin gods
were worshipped at that time, and that this might have reflected a
duality in all things sacred (sacrificial artifacts have often been
found buried in pairs). A female or mother goddess is believed to have
been widely worshipped (see Nerthus).
Sacrifices (animals, weapons, jewelry and men) have been connected to
water, and small lakes or ponds have often been used as holy places for
sacrifice (many artifacts have been found in such locations). Ritual
instruments such as bronze lurs have been found sacrificed and are
believed to have been used in ceremonies.88
Rock carvings from Sweden (dated from 800-500 BCE) suggest either that
Scandinavians have alway had a relaxed attitude towards pornography or
that rites representing the
marriage and/or sexual union of a god and goddess (usually to ensure
fertility and/or the harmonisation of opposites ) were common.
A reoccurring
figure in Bronze Age rock carvings (petroglyphs), from the Nordic
Bronze Age, is that of a male figure carrying what appears to be an axe
or hammer. This may have been an early representation of Thor. Other
male figures, shown holding a spear, may have been a
representation of Tiwaz/Tyr (one such petroglyph appears to show the
figure missing a hand). A figure holding a bow may be an early
representation of Ull. Of course, these carvings may just as easily be
pictures of hunters, perhaps made by hunters on a trip trapped in a
place by bad weather.
The Norse development of a distinct warrior
tradition around its considerable coasts, while keeping its older, land-based,
tradition alive in its hinterlands (most notably, inland Sweden), has resulted in there being two main sets of classic Norse
deities. The older Njord/Frey/Freya
set (the Vanir) stand somewhat apart from later Viking mythology as a
group of deities associated with fertility and prosperity in farming
and trading. The Vanir (Vanr) live in Vanaheim. The later Odin/Frigg/Thor set (the Aesir) have to do with the warrior/Viking aspect. Aesir (Æsr) were a race
of gods that resided in Asgard.
The Vanir (older Norse gods and goddesses)
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The
Vanir were a pre-Viking-era family of deities
associated with agricultural fertility and prosperity. They lived in
Vanaheim ('home
of the Vanir') and at one time warred upon the upstart tribe of rival
Aesir gods (below). They differed from the Aesir by being gods of
light (the
Aesir are sombre, gloomy and warlike). After the Vanir and Aesir allied
themselves against the giants, three of the Vanir (Njord, Freyr and
Freyja),
became popular deities of the Aesir. (See War of Vanir and Aesir).
Apart from the
Njord and his children, there is very little information than about the
Vanir. The Vanir deities seemed to have been most popular in inland Sweden,
where most of their places of worship have been found. However, rural
folk in other Scandinavian countries also worshipped them. One of the
differences between the Vanir and the Aesir was that the Vanir
practised incestuous marriage. Njord and his sister were husband
and wife, and the parents of twins, Freyr and Freyja. Freyr and Freyja
were also married to one another (which makes it all a bit sweaty to my mind). While Njord and his children were
living in Vanaheim, incest between siblings was normal practice, but
when they became Aesir deities and lived in Asgard, the three Vanir
deities had to find other partners. This indicates that the Aesir (and Vikings) frowned on
sibling incest where perhaps the earliest Norse folk did not.
FREY, FREYR (God of light, rain, fertility and prosperity)
Freyr ('Lord'). Freyr, Frey (Norse). Frea (Old English). Yngvi, Yngvi-Freyr. Ingi-Freyr.
Chief god of fertility in the late pagan period, god of peace, crops,
sun and rain, paramount god of the Swedes (although he was known and
worshipped in Norway and Iceland.).1 Freyr was son of Njörd and Njörd's
nameless sister. He was the brother of his twin sister Freyja (whom he
later married). Like his father and sister, he was originally a Vanir
but became an important god of the Aesir. Freyr was one of the Vanir
hostages after their war against the Aesir. Sometimes, the giantess
Skadi was said to be his mother, but usually she was his stepmother.
Freyr was sometimes called Yngvi or Yngvi-Freyr. Another name was
Ingi-Freyr.
Freyr was the
god of light and sunshine. He also appeared to be a god of rain and
agriculture. He resided in Alfheim ('Elf home') and was either ruler or
patron god of the elves. Freyr has three companions, his servants,
Byggvir ('Barley') and his serving maid Beyla, and his shield-bearer,
Skirnir ('Shining One'). Byggvir and Beyla appear in the poem
Lokasenna, from the Poetic Edda, while Skirnir appears in the poem,
Skirnismal. Among the Vanir, Freyr was their strongest and bravest god.
Several times he was mentioned as the war leader of the gods. He had
possessed a magical sword but lost it.
Freyr was
originally the husband and lover of his sister before they moved in with the Aesir gods. Like his sister, Freyr was an animus of
fertility. His sacred animal was the pig. Two dwarf brothers, Brokk and Eiticreated a wild
boar with golden bristles, called Gullinbursti ('golden bristles'), which drew his chariot.2 Gullinbursti could outrun a
horse and carried light into the darkness. Freyr's horse was Blodughofi
and bore many strong offspring - Atridi, Gils, Falhofnir, Glaer and
Skeidbrimir (Freyr was associated with stallions in Iceland). Freyr
also possessed a collapsible ship, made by sons of Ivaldi, that was called
Skidbladnir ('Wooden-bladed'). Skidbladnir could fold up small enough
to fit in Freyr's pocket when he was not on it (see Gifts of the Dwarves for the full story).
Frey
wrongly sat on Odin’s throne from which he saw, and fell in love with,
the giantess Gerd (‘Field’). Unable to leave Asgard (he was, after all, a hostage), he sent his servant Skirnir to woo her on
his behalf. Skirnir took with him Frey’s magic sword (which could fight
by itself when a wise hand wielded it) and his horse. Although Skirnir
won Frey his bride, he lost his master’s magic sword (see the Wooing of Gerd). Frey and Gerd were later married and had a son named Fiolnir.
Freyr possessed
the stag's antler which he used to kill the giant, Beli. He was often
called Beli's bright slayer. In the final battle (Ragnarök), he will fight the fire-giant, Surt, without
his magic sword (using the stag's antler as his weapon), but he will be
the first to be killed.
FREYJA (Goddess of sexual love, beauty, fertility, magic, war and death)
Freyja ('Lady' or 'Woman'). Freya. 'Lady of the Vanir'. Gefn, Hörn, Mardöll, and Syr.
Freyja was the daughter of Njörd and his nameless sister. She was the
sister, lover and wife of Freyr. Like her brother and father, she was
originally a Vanir goddess but she would later become an important
goddess of the Aesir (see below). She was known by the title Vanadis, which is the
'dís [goddess] of the Vanir'.3 She was sometimes confused with Frigg,
wife of Odin, since both of their names mean 'Lady'. Frigg sometimes
also had the same attributes as Freyja. Another goddess, she was
sometimes was confused with, was Idun, the Keeper of the Apple of Youth.
In several
aspects, Freyja and her brother were like the Greek deities Artemis and
Apollo. They were twins; her brother was a god of light, like Apollo.
Since she was Vanir goddess, Freyja was a goddess of fertility like
Artemis (fertility of the wild animals). Unlike Artemis, who was a
virgin goddess, Freyja was a sexual enthusiast.
Freyja was
described as an extremely beautiful blonde with blue eyes (like
Aphrodite, she was the goddess of love and beauty). She married an
obscure god named Od or Odur and became mother of two daughters, Nossa
(or Hnossa), and Gersimi (both daughters' names mean 'Jewel'). However,
Od (whom may have been Odin) mysteriously disappeared. Freyja wandered the earth, searching for
her husband, weeping tears of gold. She then went on to become the most
promiscuous of all goddesses (she was probably the goddess of sex
rather than of fertility). She had many love affairs with gods, human,
elves and even dwarves. She was sometimes called Sýr ('sow'), an epithet. She was
also known to have wandered the countryside at night in the form of a
she-goat.Freyja was often seen as the mistress of Odin.
Loki had accused her of having sex with every god in Asgard and all the
elves in Alfheim (Poetic Edda's Lokasenna). Freyja and her brother were husband
and wife when they were living in Vanaheim (land of the Vanir), just
like their father with an unnamed sister. Her beauty excited the lust
of the jotnar (Giants) and is one cause of hostility between the giants
and the gods. For example, the wall protecting Asgard was pulled down
during the conflict between the Vanir and the Aesir. A giant offered to
rebuild it only if Freya would agree to marry him. The giants, Hrimthurs and Thrym, both
wanted to marry her. Thor killed both giants.
Unlike
Aphrodite, but like Athena and Persephone, Freyja was also the goddess of
war and death. She enjoyed combat and battle. She would ride into the
battlefield, where she received half of the fallen heroes in combat
(the other half go to Odin in Valhalla). These warriors stayed in her
great hall, Fólkvangar ('battlefield'), within her palace Folkvang
('Field of Folk'). Her other hall was the Sessrumnir.
Freyja was also
the goddess of witchcraft (seid). Her love of gold and the witchcraft may have resulted in the
confusion of her with another Vanir goddess, named Gullveig and the
witch Heid, the reincarnation of Gullveig.
Typical Witch-play
Gullveig (Heid)
Gullveig ('Golden Liquor' or 'Power of Gold'). Heid ('Bright One').
Gullveig was possibly a goddess of healing. She was also a goddess with
a great fondness for gold. Her constant chatter about gold irritated
the Aesir gods. Gullveig was assaulted in the hall of Odin. She was
tortured: repeatedly pierced by spears, and burnt three times in a
great fire. Each time, she was reborn. The Vanir demanded reparation
from the Aesir for the torture of Gullveig: the Vanir wanted the same
status and privilege as the Aesir. The Aesir refused and war broke out
between the two races of gods. The war of Aesir and the Vanir lasted
for 10 years before the Aesir agreed to the Vanir's terms. From the
fire, Gullveig was reborn as a fordoeda [witch] named Heid ('Bright
One'), who practised a kind of shamanic witchcraft known as seidr or seid. The dual goddess
Gullveig/Heid was sometimes confused with Freyja, who also practised
seidr and loved gold.
Kvasir (Wisest of the Vanir)
Kvasir was born from the saliva of the two groups of gods, Aesir and
Vanir, when the two warring deities made peace by spitting in a
vessel. Kvasir wandered around the world teaching people about his
knowledge and sharing his wisdom. He was finally killed by two dwarves, Fjalar and Galar, who were tired of his
lecturing. They mixed his blood with honey in a cauldron (Odhrorir),
making the mead of poetry. Anyone who drank the magical mead would be
inspired with poetry and wisdom. The giant Suttung forced the dwarves
to give him the mead, and had his daughter Gunnlod to guard it in a
cave at Jotunheim. However, Odin heard of the mead and was determined
to have it for himself. He worked one year for Baugi, Suttung's
brother, disguised as a farmhand. He persuaded Baugi to give him a
drink of the mead before entering the cave and seducing Gunnlod to give
him three drinks - thus becoming the god of poetry (see the Mead of Poetry).
NJÖRD (God of wind and sea)
Njörd ('Wealth-bestowal' or 'Prosperity'). Njörd, Njörð, Njord, Niörd, Niord, Njoror.
Njörd was the Vanir god of the sea and the patron god of
sailors and fishermen. He was also god of good fortune to whom seafarers
and fishermen prayed to when they set out to sea. He may also have been
a god of hunting.
Njörd appeared
to be the leader of the Vanir before he became an Aesir god. While he
was living in Vanaheim, Njörd married his sister (nameless, unless she
was the Germanic goddess Nerthus), and was the father of Freyr and
Freyja. Njörd and his children were originally Vanir, and during the
peace between them and rival Aesir they were exchanged as hostages to
keep the peace. However Njörd and his children were later offered
places within Aesir.
Some scholars
believe that Njörd was a male form of the Germanic 'Earth Mother' Nerthus. He
certainly seems to have been a very ancient god, deeply rooted in
Germanic tradition. He may well have started life as Nerthus and have been worshipped as such by the Angles and
other Germanic tribes around the Baltic. It is not clear how or if he
became male (Njord and Nerthus may be male and female aspects of
the same deity).
In the Beguiling of Gylf (Prose Edda) a giant called Thjazi kidnapped
Idun, a goddess of Asgard who looked after the Apples of Immortality
which kept the gods young. The Aesir killed Thjazi and got their apples
back. But Thjazi’s daughter Skadi ('Harm') promptly came hooning down
from the mountains of Giantland bent on bloody vengeance. The gods
bought her off by offering her a husband from their number, provided
that she choose her spouse by judging only the gods’ legs in a
‘Best-Legs’ contest. Skadi picked the handsomest pair of legs she saw,
thinking they must be Baldur’s, but they turned out to be those of
Njord. The union was not a happy one. Njord could not bear to be away
from Noatun (his home by the sea) and Skadi could be happy only in the
forests (where the seagulls didn’t disturb her sleep but the howling of
the wolves kept Njord awake). They tried to compromise, spending nine
nights at each other’s home in turn, but it didn’t work and the
marriage broke up, so the two of them lived apart. Skadi later
married Ull.
According to Vafthrudnismal
('Lay of Vafthrudnir'), Njörd will return to Vanaheim when the gods
fight at Ragnarök (the Norse Armageddon). Whether Njörd survives or not
is not recorded anywhere, but the short passage in this lay implies
that he does.
Skirnir
The messenger of Frey. He helped his master win the giantess Gerd for his bride
The Aesir (newer Viking gods and goddesses)
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The
Aesir (plural of As) were warrior/Viking deities who live in Asgard.4 The main gods
were Odin (Óðin), the chief, his sons Thor (Þórr),
Tyr, Balder, Hermod, Vidar and Vali, plus Bragi, Hoder, Hoener, Odnir
and Loki. The Aesir (newer warrior gods) and Vanir (older fertility
gods) were once at war but called a truce to unite against the
jotnar (giants). Some modern scholars interpret this myth as a
folk-memory of a struggle between two tribes or societies who
worshipped different gods and ended the war by joining forces and
assimilating two traditions into one. But it may just be that the older
agricultural Vanir simply lost popularity to the more appropriately
warlike
Aesir as the Norse people began their aggressive expansion into
non-Scandinavian parts of Europe. Certainly the Vanir continued to be
worshipped by the Norse peasants long after the warrior Vikings had
adopted the Aesir. By the time of the Viking Age, Odin, Thor (the most
popular god with ordinary folk) and Frey, were the foremost gods in the
Norse/Viking
pantheon.
BALDER (Dying god)
Balder, Baldur, Baldr.
Balder (Baldr or Balðr) was the favourite son of Odin and Frigg. He was
brother
of Höd (Hod) and Hermod. His twin brother, Hod was blind and therefore
the god of darkness.Balder married Nanna, the daughter of Nep. They had
a
son, named Forseti. Balder dwelled in a palace called Breidablik with
his wife, in Asgard.
Balder was the
god of beauty. He was the most beloved of the gods; a sun god who stood for goodness, happiness, beauty and
wisdom. He lived at Breidhablik, one of the mansions of Asgard.
Balder was the most beloved of all the gods. However, one
night he dreamed that he was destined to die and that his death would
be one of
the causes or signs of the coming of Ragnarök (the Norse 'Armageddon'). In Baldrs draumar
('Dream of Balder') from the Poetic Edda, Odin used his skill in
necromancy to summon a dead prophetess about the meaning of his son's
dream; hoping he could prevent his Balder's vision coming to pass.
Balder's mother, Frigg, tried to prevent the prophecy from fulfilling
by travelled throughout the world extracting an oath from every
creature not to harm her favourite son. Frigg even made objects like
the trees and rocks to swear not to harm Balder. Balder became
invulnerable to all every weapons and objects. Not even fire or water
could hurt him.
Loki, the god
of fire, often played
practical jokes on the Aesir.32 After Frigg had finsihed her round of the world, Loki transformed himself into an old hag and went
to find the secret of Balder's vulnerability from her. He discovered
that the only thing that did not swear the oath was the mistletoe.
Frigg considered that the mistletoe was insignificant and could not
possibly harm her son so she did not ask the plant to swear the oath.5 At
Asgard, the gods often amused themselves by throwing all sorts
of objects and weapons at Balder which bounced harmlessly off his body. Only Hod
did not play this game. Loki came before Hod and asked why he did not
play with his brother and the other gods. Hod replied that he was
blind. Loki gave Hod a twig of mistletoe and told him to play. With his
aim guided by Loki, the blind god threw the mistletoe at his brother.
The twig flew like a dart and struck him. Balder instantly fell dead to
the ground. Balder's spirit fled to Hel (Niflheim). Frigg and the other
gods watched, horrified that the insignificant mistletoe could kill the
most favourite god. Vali, the son of Odin and Rind, killed his
half-brother, Hod, in revenge for Balder's death.33
Frigg was grief
stricken and pleaded with her husband to bring her son back. Odin told
the other Aesir that one of them must go to Niflheim and ransom Balder
from Hel, the goddess of the dead. Only Hermod dared ride to the
Underworld and request audience with Hel. Hel would allow Balder to
return to Asgard if every creature would weep for him, but she would
keep dead god in Niflheim as long as a single creature refused to shed
a single tear for Balder. Upon this news, Frigg went throughout the
world asking for every creature to weep for Balder. Loki changed
himself into a giantess Thokk or Thanks. Despite Frigg plea to shed a
single tear for her son, Thokk or Thanks (Loki) refused. Hel kept
Balder in her domain. At the Balder's
funeral, his wife Nanna collapsed in her grief and died at his pyre,
joining her husband in Hel. Balder was to receive a boat burial. But
Hringhorni was the largest ship in the world, and no one could launch
it into the sea. So they called upon the giantess Hyrrokkin from
Jotunheim to help them. She arrived on a wolf, with vipers as her
reins. She only needed to touch the ship for it to roll into the water,
but it set fire to the rollers. This angered Thor, who would have
killed Hyrrokkin with mjöllnir had not the other gods insisted to Thor
to spare her.
Balder was also
worshipped by the Germans. He was one of the seven gods, listed in the
Second Merseburg Charm, a German manuscript from c900 AD. Balder's
horse sprained its foot, and the passage (listing the god's names) was
supposedly a way to cure a sprain. Other gods listed in the Charm are
Wodan (Odin), Frija (Frigg), Volla (Fulla), Phol, Sinthgunt and Sunna.
The identities of the last three names are unknown, although there is
some speculation that Phol was another name for Balder. After
Ragnarök, Balder will return to earth from the Other-world, heralding
the beginning of a new age.
Bragi (God of poetry)
Poetry was highly valued among the Norse / Viking folk; Odin and Bragi
were both gods of poetry. Bragi was the son of Odin (the other god of
poetry) and the giantess Gunnlod. He married Idun,
goddess of spring and youth (and keeper of the Golden Apples of Youth).
Bragi was also the god of eloquence. He was one of the speakers (the
other was Aegir) in the dialogue in Snorri's Edda, called Skaldskaparmal ('Language of Poetry'), which related to many tales of
the Aesir and mankind. Bragi was referred to as 'the long-bearded As'.
Forseti (Law-maker and god of justice)
Forseti, Forsetti, Forsite ('chairman').
Forseti was the son of Balder and Nanna, the daughter of Nep. He acted
as a judge and arbiter of disputes; often seen settling differences
between gods and men. Foresti presided at the hall called Glitnir.
Freyr (God of light (sun), fertility and prosperity)
Freyr (Lord) was also the god of rain and agriculture. Like his father
and sister, Freyr was originally a Vanir deity before he became an
Aesir god (see Vanir for more detail).
Freyja (Goddess of love, beauty and fertility)
As a Asynia, Freyja (Lady) was also the goddess of witchcraft and war (see Vanir for more detail), she also had a
great love for gold. Her most prized possession was the necklace
Brisingamen. She received the necklace by having a night of sex with
each of four dwarves known as the Brisings (Alfrigg, Berling, Dvalin and Grerr). Odin was so disgusted by her
sexual promiscuity that he sent Loki to steal the Brísingamen. The
gatekeeper of Asgard, Heimdall, who had great vision, saw the theft. He
pursued Loki and recovered the necklace for Freyja (in a later version,
Odin would only return the Brísingamen only on the condition that Freyja
starts wars in the world of men so that he can harvest the bravest to fight with him at Ragnarok). Freyja received
other gifts as well, such as a cloak of bird feathers (allowing her to
transform herself into a falcon), and a chariot drawn by two cats.
Another of her favourite animals were pigs or boars. Her human lover
Ottar disguised himself as a battle boar with golden bristles, known as
Hildesvini.
FRIGG (Goddess of marriage, fertility and childbirth)
Frigg, Frigga, Friia ('Lady' Norse). Frija, Frea (German). Hlin (?)
Earth Mother, goddess of fertility, queen of heaven (Asgard). Her name
is related to the Old Icelandic verb frja meaning ‘to love’, and she
was the goddess of domestic, conjugal love (not that she is a model of
fidelity or submission; her morals and somewhat lax and she enjoyed
frequent altercations with her husband - in many of which she
prevailed). Frigg was the daughter of Fjorgvin.6 She lived in the hall
Fensalir, where she was attended by her handmaiden, Fulla
('Bountiful'), who was also an Asynia [female Aesir]. Like the Greek
goddess Hera, Frigg was the queen of heaven, as wife and consort of
Odin. She was the mother of Balder (the dying god), Höd (blind-god) and
Hermod (herald of the gods). Although Odin mated with many goddesses,
giantesses and mortal women, unlike Hera, Frigg was never jealous of
Odin's promiscuity.
In the
Lokasenna, Loki accused Frigg of being as shameless and wanton as
Freyja. Whenever Odin was absent, Loki contemptuously pointed out that
she would fuck Odin's brothers, Vili and Ve. The
Ynglinga Saga also tells of this arrangement between Frigg and Odin's brothers.
Frigg was the
weeping mother goddess because her blind son, Höd (Hoder) accidentally
killed her other son, Balder. It was foretold that Balder could die.
Frigg wandered the world and exacted an oath from all-living creature
and inanimate objects to not harm her son. Frigg thought that mistletoe
was too insignificant to harm her son, and did not bother to exact oath
from it. Loki, disguised as a woman, found out about Balder's weakness
from Frigg. Loki then tricked Höd into throwing mistletoe, the only
object that could harm Balder. The trick killed Balder. Even though
Balder was dead, Frigg was determined to free him from Hel. She learned
that Hel would release Balder, allowing him to live, if every creature
in the world shed tears for Frigg's son. Frigg asked every creature to
mourn for Balder. Only one giantess named Thokk or Thanks refused to
weep, therefore Balder remained dead. Loki was punished for his
involvement with Balder's death.
Frigg is a very
ancient Earth Mother in Germanic mythology, she seems sometimes to have
been mixed up with Jord (Earth) and she is commonly misidentified with
the Vanir goddess Freya. The Romans and the Germans knew her as Frija
or Frea, and the Romans had called Friday after her. Some scholars have regarded her as a sun-goddess, and argue that
her home in Fensalir ('the sea-halls') could symbolize the daily setting
of the sun beneath the ocean horizon.
Fulla
Fulla ('Bountiful' Norse). Volla (Saxon).
Fulla was possibly the sister of Frigg. In Frigg's hall of Fensalir,
Fulla was Frigg's attendant. No matter how powerful a god or goddess,
no one could see Frigg in Fensalir without her permission.
Her name appeared as Volla with six other deities in the Merseburg Charms, preserved in a manuscript found in Saxony (c. 900).
Gefjon (Goddess of agriculture)
Gefjon, Gefion, Gefiun, Gefinn.
Gefjon may have been a virgin goddess, who was a patron goddess and
protectress of the virgins after deaths (although in the Lokasenna,
Loki accused Gefjon of 'spreading her legs' to a mortal lover for a
gold necklace, like Freyja). Gefjon was the founder of the dynasty in
Denmark and Zeeland. She was also the goddess of fertility.
HEIMDALL (the White God)
Heimdall, Heimdal ('world-brightener'). The White god. Rig, Rigr, Rígr. Hallinskidi, Gullintanni.
God of light, the watchman of Asgard, guardian of Bifrost and blower of
the Last Trump. Heimdall was the son of the Nine Waves or 'Billows'
(nine giantesses who were sisters; which means that Heimdall had nine
mothers). The Nine Waves were the nine daughters of Aegir. Heimdall was
also known as Rig, creator of mankind or human society. He was
sometimes known as Hallinskidi or Gullintanni. Like Odin, Heimdall also
drank from Mimir's well to gain knowledge (Odin gave an eye, Heimdall gave up one of his
ears).
Heimdall was the
warder of the entrance to Asgard: the rainbow bridge called Bifröst
(Bifrost or Bilrost). He dwelt in his hall Himinbjörg (Himinbiorg -
'Cliff of the Hills' or 'Heavenly Fall') at the edge of Asgard, near
Bifröst. Heimdall had super-sharp eyesight and hearing; he could see
for vast differences and his hearing was so acute that he could hear
wool growing on a sheep in the next shire. He was the never-sleeping
watchman whose primary duty was to prevent giants from entering Asgard.
His sword is called Hofund ('Heimdall's Head'), his horse is Gulltopp.
He also possessed the horn called Gjallahorn. When Heimdall blows
Gjallahorn, it will signify and warn the other gods of the coming of
Ragnarök (the final battle). When Loki stole the Brísingamen gridle from
Freyja, it was Heimdall who recovered the necklace for the goddess. In
the final confrontation between the gods and the evil giants, Heimdall
and Loki will kill one another in the fighting.
Hermod (Messenger of the gods)
Hermod was the son of Odin and Frigg. He was the brother of Balder and
Höd. When his blind brother Hod killed his other brother Balder, only
Hermod dared to go to the world of the dead, seeking audience with Hel,
the goddess of the dead. Hermod asked Hel to allow Balder to return
among the living gods. Hel consented only if every creature shed at
least a single tear for Balder, to prove that he was most beloved of
the gods. Hermod failed when one giantess refused to cry for Balder.
Balder remained in Hel's domain until after Ragnarök (See 'Death of
Balder'). Hermod probably survives Ragnarök.
Hod (Höd, the Blind god)
Höd, Höðr Hod, Hoder, Hodur, Hodr.
Höd (Hoder), the brother of Balder, was the son of Odin and Frigg. He
was god of winter and darkness. Loki tricked Höd in throwing mistletoe
at his brother, the only object that could kill Balder. Vali avenged
Balder's death, by killing Höd. (See 'Death of Balder' for the full
story.)
Idun (Goddess of youth and spring)
Idun, Idunn, Iðunn, Iduna ('rejuvenator').
Idun (Idunn) was the keeper of the golden apples of youth, that kept
the gods young and immortal. In the Lokasenna, Loki accused Idun of
having sex with her brother's killer. We don't know who Idun's brother
was, and there is no mention of her parents either (although she is
said by some to be the daughter of Svald, a dwarf). It is possible that
Idun was originally a Vanir goddess but became an Asynia (Aesir
goddess) when she married Bragi, the god of poetry.
One story was
that the giant Thiassi, the builder of Valhalla, demanded from Loki the
goddess Idun and her golden apples as payment. Loki abducted Idun and
stole her basket containing apples for Thiassi. Without the apples, the
Aesir began to age. During the council, the gods compelled Loki to
bring Idun and the apples back. Loki turned himself into a falcon, and
flew to Thiassi's home. Loki waited while Thiassi was distracted before
entering the home. He changed Idun into a nut, before fleeing back to
Asgard. Idun returned with the apples, and the gods were restored to
youth (see the The Abduction of Idun).
Jord (Jörd) Earth Goddess
Jörd ('Earth'). Jörd, Jord, Jördr, Iord / Fjörgyn, Fjorgyn, Fiorgyn / Hlódyn, Hlodyn / Erda (Norse), Hertha (or Nerthus), Aertha (German).
Jörd (Jord or Iord) was a personification of Earth animus. She was also
called Fjörgyn (Fjorgyn), Hlódyn (Hlodyn) or Erda, and she has been
identified with the Germanic earth goddess Hertha, also known as
Nerthus.
Jörd was the
daughter of Annar (Onar) and a giantess named Nott ('Night') - so it is
very likely that Jörd might be a giantess rather than a goddess. Jörd
was probably Odin's first wife, since their son Thor, was the eldest
son of Odin. Jörd was probably also the mother of Meili, since Meili
was called the brother of Thor. Snorri, the Icelandic poet, kept
calling Jörd 'Svolnir's widow'. Apparently, Svolnir was Odin's name.
Snorri offered no other detail.
There is some
confusion that she may be the mother of the goddess Frigg, because her
name, Fjörgyn, was confused with Fjorgvin (although Fjorgvin was
actually Frigg's father).
Magni ('Mighty') and Modi
Magni and Modi were the two sons of Thor and the giantess Jarnsaxa
(Iarnsaxa, 'Ironwood'). Magni's strength almost match that of his
father; he was only three days old when he lifted a frost-giant’s foot
off his father’s neck. Later, his father gave him Hrungnir’s horse
Gullfaxi, 'Golden Mane' (see 'Giant of Clay').
Apart from his
association with his father (Thor) and brother Magni, and that he
survives Ragnarök, not much is known about Modi. Magni and Modi survive
Ragnarök, inheriting their father's hammer, Mjollnir. Modi appeared to
be both a poet and a warrior, in the kennings found in Snorri
Sturluson's Prose Edda.8
Mimir (Wisest god of the Aesir)
Mimir, Mimr.
During the peace between to warring tribes of gods, Aesir and Vanir,
the two sides exchanged hostages. The Aesir received Njörd (Njord) and
Freyr, while the Vanir received Mimir and Hoenir. When they discovered
that Hoenir only seemed wise, due to Mimir secretly giving Hoenir
advice, the angry Vanir had Mimir decapitated. Mimir's head was
returned to the Aesir. The head was preserved and Odin often used it to
gain wisdom (see the 'War Against Vanir' and the 'Head of Mimir').
Beneath
Yggdrasill (the World Tree) was a well called Mímisbrunnr ('Well of
Mimir'). In order to drink the water from the well and gain knowledge,
Odin sacrificed one of his eyes. See Sacrifice: Hanging and Runes.
Nanna
The loyal wife of Balder. When her husband was killed she died of grief and was cremated with him on his funeral pyre.
Njörd (God of wind and sea)
Njörd (Njord) was patron god of good fortune for sailors and hunting.
Vikings prayed to him when they set out on a voyage. Like his son
(Freyr) and daughter (Frejya), Njörd was originally a Vanir deity
before he became a Aesir god (see Vanir for more detail)
ODIN (Ruler of universe and leader of the Aesir)
Aldafodur
or Alfodur ('Father of All' or 'All Father') / Baleyg ('Flame-eyed'), Bileyg ('Weak-eyed') /
Farmatyr ('Burden-god') / Fimbultyr ('Mighty One') / Fiolsvid
('Much-wise') / Gagnrad
('Advantage-counsel', guise in Vafthrudnismal) / Gangleri ('Wanderer') / Gauta-tyr / Glapsvid (Maddener) / Godan / Grim ('Mask'),
Grimnir ('Masked
One', guise in Grimnismal) / Harbard ('Grey-beard', guise in
Harbardzljod)
/ Hanga-Tyr ('hanged god') / Havi ('High One'), Har ('One-eyed' or
'High') / Herfodur ('Father of the Host') / Helblindi
('Hellblind) / Hialmberi ('Helm-wearer') / Hroptatyr ('Sage') / Herian
('Warrior'), Heriar ('General'), Herteit
('War-merry') / Iafnhar ('Equal-high' or 'Just-as-high') / Mercury
(Roman) / Odin, Oðin, Odinn, Othin, Othinn ('frenzy' Norse) / Oski /
Sidhott ('Broadhat'), Sidskegg ('Broadbeard') / Sigfodur
('War-father'), Sigtyr
('War-god' or 'Victory-god') / Svafnir / Svolnir / Thekk ('Known') /
Thridi
('Third') (three guises of Odin in the Gylfaginning) / Unn? / Valfodur
or Valfather ('Father of the Slain') / Vegtam ('Way-tame') / Vidrir, Vidur / Woden, Wôden (Anglo-Saxon) / Wodan, Wotan
(German).Ygg ('Terrible One') / Wotan (Lombard)
Odin ('rager') is probably one of the most flawed gods from a time when
many gods were better behaved, and a lot less insipid, than they have
since become;68 in The Beguiling of Gylfi (from the Prose Edda)
he is described
as complex, psychopathic, and savage. He was not always the chief
Scando-Germanic god, but took over the job from Tiwaz (Try) to become
King of Asgard, god of death, wisdom,
prophecy, magic and poetry.9
He is the only god of which I know who was fired from the top job for a
time due to sexual misconduct (see the story of Rind, below). Almost as
soon as he became top god, Odin learned that (a) even the gods were
subject to time and weird [fate], and (b) most of the gods, including himself,
were fated to die in the final battle against evil at the end of time.
This knowledge led Odin - was was at the time a kind of 'apprentice'
god - , to undergo a remarkable quest for the wisdom he needed to be
the kind of god who would survive the final battle. His search for
secret knowledge had an obsessive
quality about it and, on some accounts, led him into black magic and
dark sorcery. He sacrificed one of
his eyes so that he could gain the understanding to be had from a
single drink at the Well of Mirmir ('Well of Wisdom'), a spring of
knowledge in Jotunheim (Heimdall gave up one of his
ears). Shortly after the creation, Odin hanged himself from the world
tree
(Yggdrasil) for nine days to learn the secrets of the dead (see Odin's Self-sacrifice). It was
at this time that he discovered the secret of the Runes
and gave writing to
human beings (the Norse/Viking folk hald poetry and poets in very high
esteem; as a god of poetry, Odin figured highly in the poetry of
the Vikings). Having given an
eye for wisdom, and learned the secret of the runes, Odin thirsted for
the Mead of Inspiration (the Mead of Poetry) which had been
stolen from the Dwarves by the giant Suttung and was guarded day and
night by his daughter Gunlod. Odin seduced Gunlod and drank the mead.11
Inspired by poetry, he soared as an eagle an flew back to Asgard
pursued by Suttung. He spewed the mead into pots (sharing it with gods
and humans) while the other gods drove Suttung away with fire.
Odin was depicted as a sombre, grim, bearded, and somewhat bettered, god who wore
wide-brimmed hat and an eye-patch to hid his missing eye.
He was the son of the giants, Bor and Bestla. Along with
his brothers, Ve (Lodur) and Vili (Hœnir), Odin slew the giant Ymir to
create Midgard ('Middle enclosure - the home of humans) and set the sun and
moon in motion. When he and his brothers created the first man
and woman (Ask, or Askr, and Embla), each god gave them gift. Odin gave
them the gift of breath [animus]. As one of the creators of the
universe and father of many of the gods, Odin became known as Alfodur
('Father of All'). See the Norse Creation Myth.
Odin was the
father of many Aesir deities. His wife and consort was Frigg. By Frigg,
Odin was father of Baldr, Höd and Hermod. Odin was the father of his
eldest son, Thor, by Jörd (Jord or Fjörgyn -Fjorgyn), a giantess (some
say Frigg was Thor's mother). By another giantess named Grid, Odin was
the father of Vidar. He was also the father of Vali by Rind, daughter
of King Billing (those old gods sure got around!). At Ragnarök Odin
will be killed and devoured by giant wolf, Fenrir. His son, Vidar,
avenges Odin's death by killing Fenrir
Odin is
sometimes pictured as the trinity of 'High', 'Equally High' and
'Third.' Although Odin was the supreme ruler of
the gods and men, he was not (in contrast with Tyr) trustworthy because
in several stories he would break his oaths. Odin was more popular with
the nobility and warriors than the peasants and working class.
Odin seemed to
be not so much the good a battle as the god of victory in battle (one of his names was Sigtyr or
'victory-god'). He was also a
psychopomp (a ‘leader of souls’) who ruled over Valhalla ('Hall of
the Slain') where he
welcomed the ‘val’ [heroes slain in battle] who do not go to
Freya. He was known as Val-father ('Father of the Slain') since he
received half of the fallen heroes in battle.10 A
cruel, sinister and often fickle figure, he commonly stirred up
strife in order to reap the fiercest warriors, in death, as recruits to
his army. These heroes, known as
the Einherjar, practice for the coming of Ragnarök (the 'Doom of
the Gods') by fighting all day - being miraculously healed or
ressurected between the days as their wounds dictate. Besides Valhalla.
Odin had another great hall, which was called Valaskialf,
that had a roof of pure silver. In the hall was his throne called
Hlidskialf, from which he could watch the entire world.
Odin often
wandered the world accompanied by Vili (Hoenir) and Loki. Loki was
often allowed to attend the feast in Asgard since Odin and Loki were
blood brothers (in Norse myths, ties through blood-oaths were sometimes
stronger than among kin. Loki often helped Odin, but sometimes his
mischievous nature caused trouble and embarrassment to him and the
other gods).
Odin's spear (Gungnir) was made by the dwarves (sons of Ivaldi), while
his ring, Draupner (Ring of Power), was created by the twin dwarfs,
Brokk and Eiti. His symbol was the valknut, a knotted device much used
in Irish art after Viking settlement there.
Odin rode a
horse with eight legs named Sleipnir, an offspring of Loki (as a mare)
and the giant stallion Svadilfari. It was Odin who appeared to the hero
Sigurd, counselling him to chose the horse Grani that Sleipnir had
sired. Ravens and wolves (carrion eaters) are his animals. Since he
could only take wine, Odin gave all his food to two wolves Freki and
Geri. His two ravens, Huginn (mind or thought) and Muninn (memory)
relate to his function as god of wisdom; they often attended him,
carrying tidings of the world.
In the Völsungasaga, Odin is the father of Sigi, who was the grandfather of Völsung It was Odin who put the sword Balmung (made by
Wayland the Smith) in the mighty oak tree, Branstock. Only Völsung's
youngest son, Sigmund, could draw the sword out of the oak. Although
the sword was supposed to allow the wielder to win all his wars, Odin
broke it in two before Sigmund lost his final battle (against the sons
of Hunding). The sword was restored by Sigmund's son, Sigurd. Sigurd
renamed the reforged sword Gram. Odin had other
mortal sons with whom he had establish several powerful dynasties in
north and western Europe. Sigi was said to
rule over France. There was also Veggdegg who became king of what is
now called East Saxony, and Beldegg (Baldr), who ruled in Westphalia.
Then Odin headed north, where he came upon a land called Reidgotaland
(later changed to Jutland). Here, his son Skiold began a royal family,
known as the Skioldungs (Skildings), where they ruled in Denmark (the
Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf concerns the Danish Skildings). In Sweden he
set up another son, named Yngvi, who established the Swedish house
called the Ynglings. In Norway, Odin had yet another son, named Sæming,
who was the founder of the Norwegian kingdom.
Odin might be the obscure figure Od, the husband of Freyja (above),
since the name of Odin and Od have the same meaning ('Frenzy'). Freyja
had bore two daughters for Od, but he vanished one day. She shed tears
of gold because of his disappearance, and then wandered through the
world, trying to find her husband (although not in the least being faithful to him). In the myth about Freyja and the
Brísingamen, she is the mistress of Odin.
Odin led the
mystical band of horsemen in the Wild Hunt. They roamed at
night, from Winter Night (October 31) to May Eve (April 30), particular
on the night of the pagan Yule (December 21). Seeing them, meant it was
likely to be your doom. Odin and the Wild Hunt were the forebears of Santa Claus and his flying reindeer.
In Germanic myths during the time of Romans, Odin ('rager') was called
Wodan (Woden - 'the furious').12
Wodan (later Wotan) inherited many of
Odin's attributes as well as those of Tiwaz (Tyr). The classical Roman
writers identified Wodan with Mercury because Mercury's day was
identical to that of Wodan's day (Wednesday).
Adam of Bremen (c1100 ad) describes the great pagan cult-centre that
once existed at Uppsala in Sweden. He writes that the temple there was
dedicated to Odin, Thor, and Frey. Nearby stood a giant evergreen tree
with wide-spreading branches (almost certainly representing Yggdrasil).
Every ninth year it was the custom to hold a great nine-day festival of
all the provinces in Sweden. On each day of this festival the people
offered the heads of eight beasts and a man (9 heads all told) to the
gods and hung the bodies in a sacred grove that adjoined the temple
(and, no doubt, stank to high heaven!). By the end of the festival,
they would have made 81 sacrifices (9×9) of 72 creatures and 9 men. As
the Germanic Wotan, Odin appears in the Rind cycle of Operas by Richard
Wagner.
Rind
Names: Rind (Icelandic). Rinda, Wrinda, Rhlda (Danish).
Rind was the mother of Vali by Odin. Rind gave birth to Vali just after
Balder's death. Vali grew man or giant-size overnight to avenge Balder
and killed Hod. Rind was sometimes seen as the sun goddess, but she was
possibly the goddess of the frozen earth.
In Gesta Danorum
('Story of the Danes'), Saxo recounted a different version of
Balder's death, where Rind was called Rinda or Wrinda, daughter of the
King of the Ruthenians. Odin sought out diviners or prophets to find
out how to avenge Balder's death. On receiving the answer from the
oracle, Odin went disguised as a warrior to serve the king in the hope
win friendship of the king and win a kiss from the king's daughter. He
did win the king's favour to sought Rinda's attention, because he was
instrumental in the defeats of the Ruthenian king's enemies. Yet, when
Odin tried to kiss her, he received a cuff from Rinda. So Odin
disguised as a poor smith with wondrous skills, calling himself Roster
(Hrosstheow), making adornments for women at the palace, particularly
for Rinda. One day, when he presented Rinda with a beautiful bracelet,
and tried to gain a kiss from her, she cuffed Odin again. Although
twice rebuffed by the maiden, Odin was persistent and returned to the
palace, as a maiden named Wecha this time - a physician or medicine
woman, to serve as Rinda's servant in the her mother's household. One
day, Rinda fell ill. Odin/Wecha diagnosed the illness and informed the
king that he had the medicine but that the very bitter drug would cause
a violent reaction, so Rind have to be bound. So the king himself bound
his daughter to the bed; he did not recognise Odin, since he assumed
Wecha to be a woman. Then instead of curing the helpless girl, Odin
raped Rinda. Seeing his own child being raped didn't stop the king also
violating his own daughter. When Rinda became pregnant, the king
assumed that the child was his, but in reality it belonged to Odin. Due
to the rape of Rinda, Odin lost his throne as king of Asgard (which
Saxo called Byzantium), and replaced by Oller (Wulder). Odin was forced
into exile, but returned 10 years later to oust Oller. In Saxo's
account, Vali's name is Boe, and Odin urged Boe to avenge his brother's
death. Boe did so, killing Hother (Hod).
Sif (Goddess of corn)
Sif. Sibyl?
Sif was a goddess with beautiful hair the colour of ripe wheat. Not
much is known about her; she was possibly a Vanir goddess originally,
like the goddess Freyja, and may have been a goddess of fertility. Sif
was the wife and consort of Thor. She had a son named Ull. Originally, Sif
may have been the prophetess known as the Sibyl (see prologue of the Prose Edda). This Sibyl married Tror
(Thor), who she had met in the realm of Thrace (Greece), which
Sturluson called Thrudheim. If this is truly the case, then she became
the goddess of prophecy and divination, though in the usual Norse
mythology she doesn't appear to have any gift with divination.
One story told
about her tells how Loki had cut off her hair as practical joke. In a
rage, Thor would have bashed Loki to death if the trickster hadn't
restored Sif's hair. Loki went to the dwarves, sons of Ivaldi. The
dwarves made a wig with hair made of finely spun gold. The magic in the
wig, allowed the gold to grow like natural hair. The gift was only just
one of several that the dwarves had made for the gods (see Gifts of the Dwarves for the full story).
Sol (goddess) and Moon (god)
Sol, Sun. Alfrodul. Eostre (old English), Ostara (Germanic) / Moon. Mani (Germanic).
Norse mythology is one of the very few mythologies that picture the sun
as female and the moon as male (usually it's the other way around).
Moon and Sol were brother and sister. Sol (Sun) was the goddess of the
sun, while her brother was the god of the moon. Sol was also called
Alfrodul. In German myth, he was called Ostara, while Moon was called
Mani.13 They were the offspring of Mundilfaeri. Sol was the wife of Glen,
but the gods did not favour this marriage. So Sol and Moon were placed
in the sky. Sol drove in a chariot drawn by two horses: Arvak and
Alsvinn. Her chariot was like the sun that moved across the sky. While
Moon had a male and female companion, named Hiuki and Bil, carrying a
tub (Saeg) on their shoulders from the well or spring called Byrgir.
Sol was chased by a giant wolf called Skoll, while another wolf (Hati Hrodvitniddon)
pursued the moon. One of the signs that Ragnarök was almost upon the
gods was that the two wolves would devour the brother and sister,
causing the world to fall in darkness and winter to last for a whole
year. After Ragnarök,
Sol's daughter will take over her role, riding the sun-chariot across
the sky, so a new sun will be born.
THOR (God of thunder and lightning)
Names: Thor,
þórr (Norse).Donar (German). Thunaer, Thunær, Thunor, or Thonar
(Saxon). Asa-Thor ('Thor of the Aesir'). Oku-Thor ('driving-Thor').
Chariot-Tyr ('chariot-god'), Jupiter (Roman). Hector
(Greek/Roman).
Other names: Asabrag, Atli, Biorn, Ennilang, Hardveur, Hlorridi, Rym, Sonnung, Vingnir.
God of thunder, Aesir god of the sun, Lord Protector of gods and
humanity. Eldest son of Odin and Jord (Mother Earth).14 Thor is a friend
of humanity, a household god, god of the peasants (his wife, Sif, is a
peasant woman and northern fertility goddess with golden hair like a
field of ripe wheat). He was the father of a daughter, named Thrud.
And, by his mistress Jarnsaxa (Iarnsaxa, 'iron-sax'), a giantess, the
father of two sons, Magni and Modi. In the Harbaardzljod from the
Poetic Edda, Thor told Harbard (Odin in disguise as a ferryman) that he
had brother named Meili.
Thor was
immensely powerful, brave and noble, if sometimes a bit thick (a kind
of rumbustious but honourable peasant figure). His domain was
Thrudvangar with 540 apartments. Thor had a hall which he resided,
called Bilskirnir. His symbol was the device known as the swastika. He
had a chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngniost and Tanngrisnir, and
became known as Oku-Thor. Thor also had two servants, Thialfi and
Roskva - the son and daughter of a farmer, named Egil, who had given
hospitality to Thor and Loki (see 'Fighting Illusions'). Thialfi
appeared frequently, including in the myth about Hrungnir (see Giant of Clay).
Thor was always
depicted as massive, strong, and bearded. His favourite weapon, and the
most prized treasure of Asgard, was the mighty war-hammer Mjollnir -
which had a short handle because the dwarf who forged it had been stung
on the eyelid by a gnat during the forging. Thor could use Mjollnir to
create thunderbolts. It was also powerful weapon which Thor threw at
his enemies; the hammer always returning magically to his hands,
probably because he worn magical iron gloves. The twin dwarfs, Brokk
and Eiti, created the Mjollnir. What made Thor seemingly invincible was
that he also wore the Megingjarpar (‘Strength-Increaser’) that added to
his already enormous strength; this 'girdle of might' doubled his
strength. This girdle was given to Thor by the giantess Grid when the
giant Gerrod stole Mjollnir. Grid also gave Thor a pair of iron gloves
(with which he can handle any weapon) and an unbreakable staff.
Thor was the
mightiest of the gods, and he was their greatest champion. Most
of his time seems to have been spent making ferocious assaults on
various enemies -especially the giants (possibly representing chaos as
in the Greek myths) from Jötunheim (Jotunheim). Often the stories of
Thor were concerned with the god killing one giant or another in
various adventure. Thor was also renowned for his great appetite (see
'Thrym' for the story of when he lost Mjollnir and disguised himself as
the goddess Freyja to retrieve it back from the giants). You will find
many of Thor's adventures in the tales titled 'Thor and Giants'.
His greatest
enemy was called Jörmungand (Jormungand or Jörmungandr), the Midgard
Worm ('World Serpent'). He failed to kill Jörmungand in an early
encounter (See 'Fishing Expedition' in 'Thor and Giants'). During the
final battle of the gods (Ragnarök), Thor and Jörmungand will kill one
another.
Thor enjoyed greater popularity than Odin did, particularly in rural
areas. Since he was god of thunderstorms he was similar to the Roman
god, Jupiter or Jove (Zeus). Thursday was named after Thor or Thunor,
matching Jove's day. Many scholars have noted an extraordinary
resemblance between Thor and the Vedic storm-god Indra. Snorri made a
stranger comparison, identifying Thor with Hector, the Trojan hero.
Just as Hector was the champion of the Trojans, Thor was the champion
of the Aesir.
Thrud (Goddess of power and strength)
Thrud (Thrudr) was the daughter of Thor and Sif. Thor prevented the
marriage between Thrud and a dwarf named Alvis; her father delayed the
wedding before turning the dwarf into stone.
TYR (One-handed god of war)
Tyr, Týr (Norse). Tiwaz, Tíwaz (German). Tiw, Tiv, Tiu (Anglo-Saxon). Tyz (Gothic). Mars (Roman).
Tyr (in the form
of Tiw or Tiwaz) seems to be one of the earliest gods worshipped by the
Teutonic people. Originally a sky god, Tyr became one-handed was a god of
war, a giver of victory in battle, and patron of athletes. He was the
first all-father god of the Norse tradition. As Tiwaz (god of sky, war,
and justice), Tyr was the most important god to the Germans at the
height of Roman power. In Scandinavia, however, Odin supplanted him as
supreme god. Odin also inherited many of his duties as the war-god,
reducing Tyr to secondary role.
In Norse myth, Tyr was possibly the son of Odin and of Frigg or the giantess Fjörgyn
(Fjorgyn), and younger of brother of Thor. Snorri Sturluson says that
his father was Odin in the kenning of Tyr. Otherwise he was known as
the son of the giant Hymir, particularly in the poem called Hymiskvida
of the Poetic Edda.
Tyr was also
patron god of justice and the formality of war, particularly of fair
treaties. Unlike Odin, he had reputation of keeping his agreements. He
was often seen carrying either a sword or spear of justice. Hewas not the
strongest of the Norse gods (that was Thor) but he was the bravest. He
was the god of courage and boldness. He sacrificed his hand in an early
encounter with the giant wolf Fenrir, offspring of Loki and the
giantess Angerboda. In order to bind Fenrir, Tyr put his hand into the
mouth of the wolf-monster so as to lull him long enough to be bound
with Gleipnir. When Fenrir found that he had been tricked, he bit off
Tyr's hand. Thereafter, Tyr was known as 'the One-handed As' and
'feeder of the wolf.'
In the
Lokasenna, Loki not only accused Tyr of dishonesty in dealing, since he
lost his right hand to Fenrir, but he also told Tyr that his wife had
an affair with him (Loki). This unnamed wife gave birth to Loki's son.
Tyr dies from wounds during his fight against Garm; a giant hell-hound
that he kills at Ragnarök. His name has been etymologically equated
with the primal Indo-European all-Father Dyus Pitar (Zeus in ancient
Greece, Jupiter to the Romans). The Romans equated Tyr or Tiwaz
(German) with their own god of war, Mars (Ares). And Tuesday (Tyr’s
day) is Mardi (Mars' day) in Latin.
Ull (God of justice, hunting and duelling)
Ull, Ullr ('Glory'). Ollerus.
Ull was the son of Sif, wife of Thor. He later married Skadi, a
giantess and ex-wife of Njörd (Njord). Ull lived in Ydalir (the 'Yew
Dales' or Yewdale), in Asgard. Ull was excellent archer; he taught
humans how to ski and was the inventor of snowshoes. Ull was known
variously as the 'ski-As' ('ski god'), 'bow-As', 'hunting As' and
'shield-As'.
Vali (Ali)
Vali was the son of Odin and the giantess Rind (not to be confused with
the Vali who was the son of Loki and Sigyn). When his half-brother Höd
(Hod) killed Vali's other half-brother, Balder, Rind gave birth to Vali
on that very same day. Before Vali was one night old, the infant grew
to man-size and killed Höd as revenge for Balder's death. He was
therefore called Balder's avenger or 'the avenging As' (see 'Death of
Balder' for the full story.) Vali survives Ragnarök.
Ve (Odin's Brother)
Ve ('sacred enclosure'), Lodar, Lodur, Lother.
Ve was the son of the giants, Bor and Bestla. He was sometimes called
Lodur, Lodar or Lother. Ve along with his brothers, Odin and Vili
(Hoenir), killed the giant Ymir and created the universe. When they
created mankind, Lodur gave the gifts of the senses and outward
appearance to the first man and woman.
Vidar (god of silence)
Vidar ('wide ruler'). Aeneas (Greek).
Vidar was the son of Odin and the giantess Grid ('peace'). He was known
as 'the silent As ('the silent god')' because he rarely talked. Vidar
was second strongest As, after Thor. He lived in a hall called
Brushwood. His mother gave him special iron shoes that he will wear in
Ragnarök. Vidar avenges his father's death at Ragnarök by killing the
giant wolf Fenrir. The shoes protect him from being devoured by Fenrir
(in the monster's mouth, Vidar will stand in the lower jaw while
gripping the upper jaw with his bare hands. Then he tears Fenrir's
mouth apart). Vidar is one of the survivors of Ragnarök. Snorri
compared Vidar with Aeneas, the Trojan hero, because Vidar survives
Ragnarök as Aeneas survived the fall of Troy.15
Vili (Odin’s brother)
Vili, Vilir. Hœnir, Hoenir, Honir, Hænir, Haenir.
Vili - sometimes called Hœnir (Hoenir or Haenir) - was the son of the
giants, Bor and Bestla. He along with his brothers, Odin and Ve, killed
the giant Ymir and created the universe. As Hœnir, he gave the gifts of
spirit and understanding to the first man and woman. Snorri Sturluson
referred to Haenir as 'the swift As' and 'the long foot'. He was also
called the 'mud-king'. As Hœnir, Vili he was one of the hostages to the
Vanir during the peace between the warring gods: Aesir and Vanir. As
brother of Odin he was authorised to rule but was not very bright. He
received frequent advice from the Mimir, the wisest of the Aesir. The
Vanir became suspicious when Vili gave poor advice when Mimir was
absent. They felt cheated and decapitated Mimir, returning the head to
the Aesir. Again as Hoenir, Vili appeared in the Völsungasaga. Hoenir
and Odin were held as hostages by Hreidmar, when Loki killed Hreidmar's
son Otter (See 'Otter's Ransom'). Of the three brothers (and much of
the elder generation of gods), only Vili (Hoenir) survive Ragnarök.
The following Asyniur are mentioned in the Prose Edda. Not much else are known about them.
Gerd:
A mountain giantess who married Freyr. Known for her great beauty (for more, see 'Giants, Gerd').
Saga: Not much is known about Saga except that she dwell in large hall, called Sokkvabekk. She may be the goddess of prophecy.
Eir: A goddess of healing or physicians.
Siofn: Siofn or Sjofn was the goddess of love or affection. Her name means siafni ('affection').
Lofn: Goddess of union or agreement between man and woman (engagement?).
Var: Another goddess of agreement, as well as answering prayer of private oaths.
Vor: Possibly the goddess of intelligence or wisdom, as well as of omniscience.
Syn: The goddess of doors to hall. She was supposed to prevent intruders
from disrupting assembly, by keeping the doors closed; therefore she
was the goddess of denial.
Snotra: Another goddess of wisdom; also the goddess of courtesy.
Hlin: Goddess attendant of Frigg; her duty was to rescue anyone that Frigg wished to save. Hlin was also the goddess of refuge.
Gna: Another assistant of Frigg and probably the messenger-goddess for
Frigg. Gna owned a horse, named Hofvarpnir that can travel across the
sky or sea.
Bil: Probably the same person who assists Moon (Mani). She was the goddess of the waxing moon.
Other Norse / Viking Deities
|
Here are some of the gods who didn't belong to the Aesir or the Vanir
(or, at least, I'm not sure if he or she was an Aesir deity or not).
AEGIR (God of the sea and ocean)
Aegir, Ægir. Hler, Gymir.
Aegir dwelt in the hall at the bottom of the sea nears the island of
Hler (or Hlesey), with his wife and consort, Ran. Aegir was also called
Hler and Gymir. It is uncertain if he was an Aesir god because Snorri
Sturluson doesn't include his name in the list, even though his wife
was in the list of Asyniur (female Aesir). Aegir was the father of the
nine daughters, known as the Nine Waves or Billows (nine giantesses) -
Himinglæva (heaven-reacher), Dufa (dipping), Blodughadd or Blóðughadda
(bloody hair), Hefring (goat), Unn, Unnr or Uð (wave), Hronn (wave),
Bylgia (billow), Drofn (comber or 'foaming sea') and Kolga (cool wave).
His daughters became the mothers of his grandson Heimdall.
Aegir was one of
the speakers (the other was Bragi) in the dialogue in Snorri's Edda,
called Skaldskaparmal ('Language of Poetry') which related to many
tales of the Aesir and mankind.
Vikings lost at
sea are caught by Aegir and taken to his banqueting hall in the
underwater equivalent of Valhalla and Folkvangar. Aegir often held a
feast or banquet for the gods in his hall. His servants were named
Fimafeng and Eldir. To ensure that all his guests had enough ale for
his feast, he sent Thor to fetch a cauldron from the giant Hymir.
The Dísir
The dísir were lesser female deities in the Norse religion. They were
female fertility animi or spirits with the power to protect home and
crops. The dísir could also assist women in childbirth. The word dísir
means 'divine ladies' or 'goddesses', but they were lower than Asyniur
(female Aesir). The goddess Freyja was known as Vanadis, which
is the 'dís of the Vanir'. In the Icelandic poem, Sigrdrifumal ('Lay of
Sigrdrifa', which is part of the Poetic Edda), the Valkyrie Sigrdrifa
(known elsewhere as Brynhild) knew a spell called helping-runes:
Helping-runes you must know if you want to assist
and release children from women;
they shall be cut on the palms and clasped on the joints,
and then the dísir asked for help.16
Annual festivals were held in honour to the dísir either around the end
of autumn or the beginning of winter, called disablót ('Sacrifice of
the Dísir') or disfest ('Feast of the Dísir'). The dísir were probably
the female divinities called ' idisi' in the first spell of the
Merseburg Charms.
Elves (Álfar)
The elves were a race of mythical beings who, although often grouped
with dwarves, were really a kind of lesser deity. They weren't exactly
gods in the normal sense, but they did possess certain god-like powers. They are
similar to Roman household deities such as the Penates and Lares, and
people prayed to them to protect home and household. Elves are
sometimes mischievous but often helpful to farmers and fishermen. They
are associated with woods and burial mounds. Their king is Aelfric (Old
English for ‘ruler of the elves’)
People also
prayed to the elves for healing, as was the case for Kormak in Kormaks
Saga (13th century). Kormak had wounded Thorvard. The witch Thordis
advised Thorvard to allow the elves to heal him, he sacrificed a bull
at the elf's mound. He first slaughtered the bull then sprinkling the
blood around the mound before preparing the meat for elves to feast on.
The sacrifice was known as Álfablót or 'elf's sacrifice'.
There are some
scattered references of elves in the Poetic Edda, but their roles in
Norse myths were minimal, at best. Snorri Sturluson mentions how the
gods created a world for which they were to live in, and the difference
between the light-elves (ljósálfar) and dark elves (dokkálfar) or black
elves (svartálfar), but nothing about individual elf. What we do know
is that the elves or light-elves lived in one of the Nine Worlds,
called Alfheim. The Vanir god Freyr has his palace and hall in Alfheim,
where he ruled as their god.
There are other
types of light-elves such as muntælfen (mountain elf), landælf (field
elf), wæterælfen or saeælfen (water nymph) and wuduælfen (wood spirit).
There are several different types of elves, and some seem to be related
to the dwarves because Snorri referred the black elves (svartálfar) as
dwarves (or perhaps the black elves are not elves at all. The black
elves lived in a different world called Svartalfheim, while the dwarves
lived in Nidavellir). Snorri says that the dark elves (dokkálfar) were
black than pitch and lived underground. They are unlike the light-elves
in appearance and nature.
In the Eddaic poem, titled Volundarkvida
- the 'Lay of Volund', the master smith Volund (Wayland) was known as
the Lord of Elves. Which type of elves did he belonged to? Or is he
really the lord of dwarves, who were known as black elves (svartálfar).
Since Volund/Wayland was a master craftsman/smith, a skill often
attributed to the dwarves, he could well be the Lord of the
Svartálfar. The truth is that the writers in the Norse myths don't have
much to say about the elves. Their roles were developed more later in
folklore, fairy tales and in the world of fantasy novels, such as by
the novelist J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
As far as I can determine, Dain is the leader of the elves in the world of Alfheim. His name is mentioned in the Havamal ('Sayings of the High One'), along with Odin.
Odin for Aesir, and Dain for the elves,
Dvalin for the dwarfs,
Asvid for the giants,
I myself carve some.17
The carving referred to mastering the magic of runes (see Odin's Self-sacrifice).
The Fylgjur
A fylgja (singular) was a female protective spirit which attached
herself to an individual at birth and remained with that person for the
rest of his or her life. At the person's death, the fylgja would attach
to someone else. In this sense it is sort of like a guardian angel. It
is believed that the fylgjur (plural) are usually invisible and only
appeared to the person they meant to protect when she or he is in
danger. They sometimes appeared in the person's dream.
Fylgjur means
'fetches'. The fetches were popular in German folklore and sometimes
used in horror novels. The fetches were apparitions of the living
person, or their doubles. Other words for fetches are wraiths and
doppelgängers. Seeing one's own double mean that it portend his or her
death was imminent. In this sense, the fylgiur were very like the
Celtic Banshees.
HEL (Goddess of the dead)
Hel, Hela.
Hel was the hideous daughter of Loki and the giantess Angerboda. She was
the sister of Jörmungand, the evil Midgard Serpent, and Fenrir, the
giant wolf. Gylfaginning 34 says that half of her body was black and the other
half was normal skin colour, so she was really easy to recognise. Her
demeanour was 'lowering and fierce.' Hel was never an Aesir deity.
Having heard
about the prophecy regarding Loki's children. Odin threw her into the
Underworld, which was named 'Hel' after her (cf. the Greek
Underworld being called Hades, after the lord of the Dead). Below Hel
was Niflhel ('Dark Hel' or 'Misty Hell'; Niflhel shouldn't be
confused with Niflheim, the home of ice, which is one of the nine
worlds).
Hel was given all the the people who
died of sickness or old age (those who fell in battle were given to
Frey and Odin), and here control over her Underworld was more absolute
than that of Hades over his. Even Odin could not
command her to release any of the dead to him once they find their way
into her domain. The dead that were allotted to her were. The world of
the dead was guarded by a
hell-hound called Garm. Hel's hall was called Eliudnir ('Sleet-cold')
and her
threshold was called Stumbling-block. She possessed a dish called
Hunger and a knife called Famine. The bed was called Sick-bed and her
curtains, Gleaming-bale. Hel had two attendants: her manservant
Ganglati ('Idler'),
and her serving-maid Ganglot ('Sloven').
When Loki
tricked the blind god Hod into killing his twin brother Balder, the
only god brave enough to ride into Hel's domain was Hermod. Hermod made
an request for Hel to release Balder, his half-brother, so that he live
again. Hel agreed only if every creature, plant and rock would shed a
single tear in mourning for Balder. Only the giantess named Thokk
('Thanks') refused to shed a single tear for Balder, so Hel kept the
dead
god of light, but only until after Ragnarök (see Balder).
LOKI (Trickster god, God of fire)
Loki, Lopt ('Trickster'). Hvedrung. Odysseus (Greek).
God of fire and strife, Father of Lies, trouble-maker, half divine and
half demonic. Loki symbolises fire in both its good and bad aspects.
Like fire, he made a good servant but a terrible master when out of
control. He was the most dangerous of the gods, not because he was
strong or brutal but because he was charming, sly, cunning and
untrustworthy. His name has been linked with Lucifer (the fallen angel
and another ‘father of lies’) through the common root lux (‘light’).
And, in later traditions from the Viking Age, he certainly appears in
semi-satanic guise. Because Loki was
cunning and deceitful, Snorri compared him the Greek hero, Odysseus.
Loki (Lopt) was
the son of the giant Fárbautia (Farbautia, 'Cruel-Striker') and the
giantess Laufey ('Tree Island') or Nal. He was a brother of Byleist and
Helblindi. Loki was married to Sigyn, he was father of Narfi (Narvi)
and Vali (not the Vali who is the son of Odin and Rind.)
By the giantess,
Angerboda ('Distress Bringer'), Loki became the father of Hel, goddess
of death; Jörmungand, the Midgard Serpent; and Fenrir, the giant wolf.
Loki was also the mother of Sleipnir, by the stallion Svadilfari (he
transformed himself into a mare to lure Svadilfari away from his owner,
the giant Hrimthurs, to prevent the giant from finishing construction
of Asgard and losing the wager. See Construction of Asgard in 'Norse
Creation').
Loki was known
as a trickster and shape-shifter. Although his origin was that of the
frost giant, he became Odin's blood brother and an important member of
the Aesir.7 None of the gods liked him, but he was allowed to attend the
feasts held in Asgard once he and Odin became blood brothers. He was
cunning and resourceful god, often helping Odin and the other gods,
although often causing more trouble and embarrassment. Originally he
was a mischievous rather than evil god. However, he was a god who liked
to play practical joke on the gods and human (as when he cut beautiful
golden hair of Sif). Practical jokes are a mode of violence. Later his
role became darker and more sinister, representing the evil god as
opposed to the Aesir, gods of good. He was responsible for the death of
Balder the White. Loki tricked Frigg in revealing his son's weakness
and had Frigg's other son Hod to throw the mistletoe at his brother,
killing Balder instantly. To punish Loki, the gods bound him in a
cavern beneath a poisonous snake and with the entrails of his son (lava
flows?). Burning venom from the serpent would drip on his head, causing
tremendous agony and such great spasms that the whole earth shook
(i.e., earthquakes were due to Loki). His loyal wife, Sigyn stayed with
him, catching the venom in a cup. But his respite was short since Sigyn
had to empty the cup whenever it was full, which resulted in the venom
dripping on his head again.
Loki also
appeared in the Völsungasaga, where he killed Hreidmar's son, Otter.
Odin and Hoenir were held as hostage until Loki can find the ransom to
release the two gods. Loki forced the dwarf, Andvari, to give up all
his treasure.
At Ragnarök Loki
will escape from his imprisonment with the help of Surt and lead the
war of the Giants, and the demons of Musspell, against the gods. He
will kill Heimdall but will himself die at Heimdall's hand.
Nerthus
An Earth-Mother, the earliest known deity of the Scando-Germanic
tribes. In a change that may reflect the 'great Gender Shift' Nerthus
re-appears as the male Njord, father of Frey, in later myths.
The Norns (spirits of destiny or fate)
Urd, Urda, Urdi, Urdr or Weird (past, 'Fated') / Verdani (present, 'Becoming') / Skuld (future, 'Must-be').
According to Gylfaginning 15 (in the Prose Edda)
there are four kinds of Norn (1) the three divine sisters sometimes
called the 'great Norns', (2) the lesser, but still 'of Æsir-kin', (3) the
elvish, and (4) the dwarfish. These are no related ( they 'claim no common kin'). As Odin tells Gangleri in the Gylfaginning "There are many fair places in heaven,
and over everything there a godlike watch is kept. A hall stands there,
fair, under the ash by the well (i.e., Yggdrasil), and out of that hall
come three maids, who are called thus: Urdr, Verdandi, Skuld; these
maids determine the period of men's lives: we call them Norns; but
there are many norns: those who come to each child that is born, to
appoint his life; these are of the race of the gods, but the second are
of the Elf-people, and the third are of the kindred of the dwarves, as
it is said here:
Most sundered in birth | I say the Norns are;
They claim no common kin:
Some are of Æsir-kin, | some are of Elf-kind,
Some are Dvalinn's daughters."
The three Great Norns were responsible for guarding the Well of Urd or Urda
(Urdarbrunnr), one of the three wells under the Yggdrasil (World Tree).
Gylfaginning says that this well was holy and the Aesir gathered there daily to
hold counsel with each other. Like their Greek
and Roman counterparts, the Great Norns were three goddesses associated with
fate; they decide the destiny [weird] of both gods and humans (even Odin is
subject to their power). The three Great Norns were named Urda ('past'),
Verdani ('present' or 'being'), and Skuld ('future' or 'necessity'). These Norns
were depicted in three stage of womanhood. Verdani as a young maiden,
Skuld as mature woman or a mother, and Urda as an old hag. They were
also often depicted carrying a long rope or the thread of life in their
hands. The three great norns turn up as the three witches in Shakespeare's
Macbeth.
In both the Gylfaginning (14) and Voluspa (8) speak of three monstrous women, born of giants, casting
the first shadow over the Golden Age of Asgard. Voluspa
(20) seems to suggests that these three mighty maidens are the three
great Norns. If this was the case then the Norns would stand as symbols
of
Time. Time corrupts the [otherwise timeless] existence of youthful gods
and so
compromises their immortality. Time and destiny were the two inexorable
powers before which even the gods had to bow.
Of the lesser Norns, who
come to every human that is born to shape her or his life, some are
good and some evil.
To quote Odin once again "Good norns and of honourable race appoint
good life; but those men that suffer evil fortunes are governed by evil
norns."
Nott (Goddess of night)
Nott (Night) was the daughter of a giant named Norfi or Narfi. I am not
sure if she was an Asynia or not. She had three husbands, and had a
child with each of her husband. Her first husband was a giant called
Naglfari, and they had a son named Aud. Her second husband was named
Annar (Onar), who was probably also a giant, and they had a daughter
named Jörd (Earth), the mother of Thor. Her last husband belonged to
the Aesir and was named Delling. Their son was named Day (Dag), god of
day.
When the Aesir
created the world, Odin gave one chariot to Nott and another to her son
Day. They travelled the sky following one another as day follow night.
Her horse was called Hrimfaxi, which causes dew from the horse's bit.
Her son's horse was called Skinfaxi ('Shining-mane') because the mane
was so radiant that it brought light to the world.
Ran (Goddess of the sea)
Ran married Aegir and is his consort. She was the mother of the Nine
Waves and grandmother of the Aesir god Heimdall. She may very well be
an Asynia. Ran gathered seafarers in her net having carrying them to
the bottom of the sea in a whirlpool.
3. Dwarves, Giants, Monsters, and Odd Bodies
|
Dwarves appeared frequently in Norse myths and legends. They were said
to inhabited Nidavellir, one of the Nine Worlds created by the gods
(although they also seemed to hang around Midgard quite a lot). According to Gylfaginning
14, the dwarves were
created from the maggots that fed on the flesh of the primeval giant
Ymir. These maggots were transformed into dwarves ('by decree of the
gods they become conscious with the intelligence of men, and had human
shape'). The first dwarf was
named Modsognir, the second was named Durin; 58 other names are given
by Durin. The dwarves were
frequently seen as great smiths, making magical items for gods or
heroes. However, they also had bad reputations in the dark age
and medieval writings, because they were usually seen as greedy thieves.
There was
another group of dwarves known as the black elves or Svartálfar, who
lived in the world of Svartalfheim. The Prose Edda doesn't distinguish these
so-called black elves from the normal dwarves, except that they lived underground.
The Brisings (Alfrigg, Berling, Dvalin and Grer)
The Brisings (Bristlings or Brisingamen - Brising means 'Sparkle') was
the name of the four dwarfs or dwarven brothers named Alfrigg
('elf-king'), Berling ('handspike'), Dvalin ('dawdler'), and Grer. The
Brisings were responsible for creating a beautiful gold necklace (some
say it was a belt) known as the Brísingamen. It was so
beautiful that the goddess Freyja wanted the Brisingamen for herself.
The story of
Freyja and the Brisingamen was told more fully in the work known as
Sottr Thattr written about 1400. At this time Freyja was Odin's
favourite mistress. I don't know what was special about this necklace,
it probably enhanced the wearer's beauty, but Freyja was already
considered to be the most beautiful woman/goddess in the world.
One night,
Freyja left her bed and her palace, wandering through the woods and
came before a cave where she heard dwarves working on a piece of
jewellery. Loki secretly followed the goddess, spying on Freyja. When
Freyja saw the Brisingamen, she became obsessed with it. The dwarfs refused to accept Freyja's gold and silver
for the necklace in trade; they would give the goddess Brisingamen only if she had sex with each one of them. In
desperation to possess the Brisingamen, Freyja willingly agreed to
their price. For four nights, she spent a night in each of the dwarf's
bed. Loki discovered Freyja's wantonness and informed Odin of her
conduct. Odin was disgusted that Freyja was acting like a whore by
selling herself for the Brisingamen. Odin had Loki steal the
Brisingamen from Freyja. Most people could not enter her hall, called
Sessrumnir, without Freyja's permission, no matter how powerful a god
or giant was. Loki entered Sessrumnir by transforming himself into a
flea. Freyja was sleeping, while still wearing the Brisingamen. As a
flea, Loki bit so that the goddess would turn around in the bed. This
allowed Loki to unlock the clasp and slip the necklace off Freyja. When
Freyja woke and found that her necklace was missing, she knew that it
was Loki who had stolen them. She also knew that the sly god would not
have done so without Odin's order. Freyja went and confronted Odin,
demanding the return of her Brisingamen. Freyja told Odin that it was
disgraceful that he would take her necklace. Odin countered that it was
she who was even more disgraceful for her, because she had slept with
four dwarves to gain the Brisingamen. Odin agreed to return the
Brisingamen to Freyja only on the condition that she started war in the
world of men, between two kings. Freyja had no choice if she wanted the
Brisingamen returned to her.
This war
(Hjadningavig) was fought between Hogni, king of Norway and Hedin
Hjarrandason, over a woman named Hild (the daughter of Hogni).
According Snorri Sturluson, who based his brief legend on one of the
stories in the Lay of Ragnar (Ragnarsdrapa), written by 9th century
poet named Bragi, Hogni had a daughter named Hild, whom Hedin
Hjarrandason abducted during Hogni's absence from his kingdom. When
Hogni returned and found out that Hedin had raided his kingdom and
abducted his daughter, he gathered his forces and set out against
Hedin. Hogni found Hedin and his daughter in Orkney. Hild tried to make
peace between Hedin and her father because she was now Hedin's wife.
She tried to appeal to her father to not fight her new husband, but he
ignored her. When the two armies deployed for battle, Hedin offered his
wealth as atonement in order to avert war. Hogni answered it was too
late for a peace offering because he had drawn his sword, Dainsleif,
and it can't be sheathed until the blade has tasted blood. So that day
they fought until nightfall, then both sides retired to their camps,
leaving the dead behind. Hild walked among the dead and, with her
magic, brought the slain back to life to fight the same battle on the
next morning. In the new morning, the dead on both sides fought again
with the living until nightfall ended the battle. During the night,
Hild used her magic again on the dead so that they would rise again to
fight the same battle. This happened again and again. The two armies
fought during the day; at night the dead turned into stone, but when
morning comes, the dead would pick up their weapons and fight another
day. The two armies were cursed to fight one another until the day of
Ragnarök. This was the endless war that Freyja started to regain her
necklace.
The Brisingamen
was frequently mentioned from works earlier than the Sorla Thattr. In
Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson, the Brisingamen was mentioned
several times. It mentioned that Freyja was the owner of the
Brisingamen. Later, it tells of how Loki stole the Brisingamen
differently from the Sorla Thattr. Loki tried to escape from Sessrumnir
with the Brisingamen. However Heimdall, the guardian of Bifrost
(Rainbow Bridge), had keen eyes and saw Loki's theft. Heimdall
immediately set out on pursuit, caught and fought with Loki at
Singastein. Heimdall recovered the stolen necklace and returned the
Brisingamen to Freyja. According to the Thrymskvida, a poem from the
Poetic Edda, when Thor went to recover his stolen hammer from the
giants, Thor had to disguise himself as Freyja and as bride to the
giant Thrym. To complete his disguise, Thor had to borrow the
Brisingamen from Freyja.
Brokk & Eiti
Brokk (Brokkr - 'trotter'?) and Eiti (Sindri, Eitri - 'poisonous') were
dwarf brothers. They were master craftsmen, who created Gullinbursti
('golden bristles') for Freyr, the Draupnir (Ring of Power) for Odin
and Mjollnir (magic war hammer) for Thor.
Bokk and Eiti
were jealous of the craftsmanship of the sons of Ivaldi. Loki made a
wager with Brokk and Eiti, that they could not make anything better
than the sons of Ivaldi. The bet was that Loki would lose his head if
Brokk and Eiti made something better. The Aesir were very pleased with
the gifts from Brokk and Eiti. Loki lost his bet against the dwarfs.
Although the gods refused to allow the dwarfs to take Loki's head, they
did agree to allow Brokk to sew Loki's mouth shut. When Loki tried to
escape, Thor brought the terrified Trickster back while Brokk sealed
Loki's lips with wire. See 'Gifts of the Dwarves' for full story.
Dvalin
Dvalin (Dvalinn - 'dawdler'.) is mentioned several times in the Poetic
Edda, as well as in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. He appeared to be
the chieftain or leader of the dwarves. In Voluspa, the dwarves
were descendants from Dvalin and his daughters. The poem go on to say
that these dwarves were people of Lofar, which indicated that the
Dvalin and his descendants came from the dwarf Lofar.
Fjalar and Galar
Fjalar (Fjalarr - 'deceiver') and Galar (Galarr - 'chanter') were two
dwarfs who killed the Vanir Kvasir. They created the Mead of Poetry by
mixing honey with Kvasir's blood. The mead were stored in two vats,
called Bodn and Son, and a pot called Odrerir. Fjalar and Galar
accidentally drowned the giant Gilling when their boat capsized, but
they deliberately murdered Gilling's wife whose howling grief upset the
two dwarfs. The giant Suttung would have killed the two dwarfs, for
killing his parents. But they escaped with their lives when Fjalar and
Galar gave the Mead of Poetry to Suttung as compensation. See the Mead of
Poetry for the full story.
Sons of Ivaldi
The four sons of Ivaldi were master craftsmen. On Loki's advice, the
sons of Ivaldi ('bowman') created three gifts for the Aesir: the magic
gold wig to replace the beautiful hair of Sif (wife of Thor); the
collapsible boat for Freyr, called Skidbladnir (whenever the god was
not using the boat, he could shrink it to a size where he could place
it in his pocket); and the invincible spear Gungnir for Odin. See
'Gifts of the Dwarves' for full story.
Lofar
Lofar (Lofarr - 'praiser' or 'stooper') appeared to be one of the early
dwarves whose descendants lived in Ioruvellir (Iara's plain). Dvalin,
one of the leaders of the dwarves and his descendants appeared to be
the people of Lofar.
Modsognir and Durin
Modsognir ('frenzy-roarer') and Durin ('sleepy') were the first two
dwarves, who were created by the gods. They were originally maggots
that fed from the flesh of the giant Ymir. These two dwarves became the
first ancestors of the dwarves. Voluspa (from the Poetic Edda) says
that they were created from the blood and bones of Blain (Blain is
probably another name for Ymir). Then were dwarves from the earth, and
the prophetess goes on to list the name of some dwarves. There were
also another group of dwarves, who were known as dwarves of the rocks.
Tales
of giants appear in nearly all human mythologies, and usually in the
guise of enemies to be subdued. The giants of Norse myth were the chief
enemies of the gods, particularly the Aesir.
In the Norse world, a giant was called Jotun or Iotun. There are two
main kinds of giant.
∙ Frost-giants
were the most common; they lived in Jotunheim (Gianthome or Giantland),
one of the nine worlds. The capital of Jotunheim was Utgard, the
citadel of the frost-giants and home of Utgard-Loki or Utgardaloki.
Jotunheim of Gianthome was, naturally enough, a large world but devoid
of any actual physical geographical location. All that we know is that
Gianthome was east of Midgard, separated by rivers and the forest known
as Jarnvid (Iron Wood). Jarnvid was inhabited by troll-wives, known as
the Jarnvidjur, where they bred giants in wolf forms. There are many
places within Jotunheim other than Utgard. The giant Hrungnir lived in
a frontier of Gianthome, called Griotunagardar. The giant Thiassi lived
on the mountain called Thrymheim, with his daughter Skadi.
∙ Fire-giants
lived in Muspelheim (Home of Brightness).79 The fire giant named Surt
ruled in Muspelheim.
Some of the female giants (e.g., Jord, Grid, Gerd and Rind) became deified because of the their relationship
with the Norse gods. These giants
became Asyniur or goddesses in their own rights, so I have listed some
female giants in this page and some in the Aesir page. Many of the Aesir
also had heritage from the giants, where at least one parent was a
giant or giantess. These included Odin, Thor, Tyr and Heimdall. Perhaps
the most important of these giant/god folk was Loki. Both of Loki's
parents come from the race of giants, yet he was considered by most as
an Aesir god. Loki became the leader of the frost giants at the time of
Ragnarök. Giants and giantesses were sometimes called trolls and
trollwives.
Angerboda
Female frost giant. Through Loki, Angerboda ('Distress Bringer') was the mother of Hel
(goddess of the dead), Jörmungand (the Midgard Worm) and Fenrir (the
giant wolf who maimed Tyr).
Bergelmer
Bergelmer (Bergelmir - 'mountain-roarer') was the son of Thrudgelmir
and the grandson of Ymir (Aurgelmir). When the gods killed Ymir, his
blood flooded the world drowning all the frost giants except for
Bergelmer and his wife. Surviving the flood, Bergelmer became the
ancestor of new race of frost-giants.
Bestla
Bestla ('wife' or 'bark') was the daughter of the frost giant Bolthor.
Bestla became the wife of the primeval god, named Bor, the son of Buri.
She was the mother of the three Aesir gods: Odin, Vili and Ve.
The billows
The nine daughters of Aegir and Ran - also called the 'Waves' by some.
They wore white robes and veils (the ‘white caps’ on the sea which they
disturbed).
Bor
Bor was son of giant Buri, and probably more of primeval
god than a giant. Bor married a frost-giantess Bestla and became the
father of the three Aesir gods: Odin, Vili (Hoenir) and Ve.
Buri
The ancestor of the gods. Buri was created from a stone or ice that the
giant primeval cow, Audumla, licked into shape. Buri was the father of
Bor and the grandfather of the three original Aesir gods: Odin, Vili
and Ve. There is some uncertainty about whether Buri was a giant or a
god.
Fenia & Menia
Fenia and Menia were two giantesses who served as slaves to King Frodi
of Denmark in the poem of Grottasong or the 'Song of Hand-Mill' in the
Poetic Edda. But in the Prose Edda Snorri Sturluson included the death
of King Frodi in his version of the story
Frodi was a son
of Fridleif and grandson of Skiold (a son of Odin). Skiold was the
founder of the Danish dynasty, known as the Skioldungs. Frodi was
famous king because he was the one who brought the Frodi's Peace to the
northern countries, just as his contemporary Augustus brought the Pax
Romana (Roman Peace) to the Mediterranean and other provinces.
Therefore, it is thought that Frodi lived in the time of Christ. His
residence was Denmark (at that time called Gotland). His reign
also brought great wealth to the kingdom. One of the reasons for
Frodi's immense wealth was that he bought two female slaves from King
Fiolnir of Sweden, to work in the mill called grotti. This mill
(grotti) could produce just about anything, and one of the things that
the mill usually produced for the king is gold. The slaves were
actually giantesses. They were given no rest, producing item after item.
Although Frodi's
Peace came to an end when Mysing, a sea-king (Viking), murdered Frodi,
this didn't ended the slavery of Fenia and Menia. Mysing was just as
merciless as the giantesses' former master; he forced Fenia and Menia
to work day and night, without rest. They continued to work in the
mill, but on Mysing's ship. It was salt that Mysing desired; not gold.
No pleas for a break from work were heeded, so Fenia and Menia ground
out salt from the mill. They produced so much salt that the ship
eventually sank, drowning Mysing, his crew and the two giantesses. The
poet explained that this was the reason why the seas were salty bodies
of water.
Geirrod
Frost giant. Geirrod ('spear-rider' or 'spear-reddener') was the father
of two giantess - Gialp ('yelper') and Greip ('gripper'). Geirrod and
his two daughters tried to kill Thor. Although Geirrod managed to get
Thor to leave behind his weapon, Thor received an unbreakable magic
staff, a girdle of might, and iron gauntlets from a giantess named
Grid. He used the staff to defeat Geirrod's daughters, and the iron
glove to kill Geirrod (see Geirrod and Grid). Geirrod the giant should not be confused with King Geirrod in
Grimnismal ('Grimnir's Saying') from the Poetic Edda.
Gerd
Gerd (Gerð, Gerda - 'enclosure') was a giantess who became wife of the
Vanir Freyr. She was the daughter of the mountain giant Gymir and
Aurboda. She may have an unnamed brother who was killed.
Freyr fell in
love with Gerd when he sat on Hlidskialf, Odin's throne in the hall
called Valaskialf. Hlidskialf allowed the person to see the entire
world, no matter the distance. Freyr sent his shield-bearer, named
Skirnir, to woo her for him. At first, Skirnir offered rich gifts to
Gerd, which she refused, claiming to dislike all the gods. Not
even Skirnir threatening to cut off her head with Freyr's sword,
caused her any bother. It was only when Skirnir threatened to put a
curse on her, to make her old and ugly, that she even considered
meeting Freyr in nine days later at a grove called the Barri. Though
the story never says that Freyr and Gerd married, other writers say
that they had a son named Fiolnir (see the Wooing of Gerd). Gerd
became a goddess of light, and was a Asyniur in her own right, like the
giantess Skadi, Freyr's stepmother and the second wife of Njord.
Grid
Female frost giant. Grid (Gridr, 'peace') was the friendly giantess who warned Thor of
Geirrod's treachery. Thor was going to the home of Geirrod unarmed,
since Loki had persuaded Thor to leave the hammer Mjollnir at home.
Grid gave Thor her magic staff as well as her own pair of iron gloves
and girdle of might. Thor used Grid's gifts to defeat and kill Geirrod
and her evil daughters (see Geirrod and Grid). Grid was the mother of Vidar by Odin. Grid made
special shoes for her son, which Vidar wears to defeat Fenrir at
Ragnarök.
Gunnlod
Gunnlod ('war-summon') was the daughter of the giant Suttung and Keeper
of the Mead of Poetry. When her father had gained the Mead of Poetry,
Suttung had set her to guarding the magic mead in a cave. When Odin
gained entry to the cave, Gunnlod was willing to give Odin one drink of
the mead, but he was required mate with her. So Odin slept with her for
three nights, and the god drained the mead from the three vessels.
Hrimthurs
Hrimthurs ('Frost giant') was the giant who built the walls around
Asgard and owner of the intelligent and magical stallion called
Svadilfari. Hrimthurs claimed he could build the wall within six
months. Had he won, the giant would receive Freyja as his bride, as
well as the sun and moon. But Loki cheated him, and Thor killed
Hrimthurs when he lost his wager against the gods (see Asgard for the full story).
Hrungnir
Hrungnir ('brawler') was a giant from Griotunagardar, frontier of
Gianthome. He was considered to be the strongest giant in the world.
His head and heart was made of stone. Hrungnir owned a
horse called Gullfaxi ('Golden Mane'), the fastest horse in the
Gianthome, but Odin boasted that his horse (Sleipnir) was better. This
led to Hrungnir declaring he would move Valhalla to Jötunheim, destroy
Asgard and all the Aesir gods - except for Freyja and Sif whom he would
take as his concubines. Thor challenged him in a duel, but Hrungnir had
come to Asgard unarmed. He told Thor to meet him at Griotunagardar. The
other giants created a giant made of clay, which they called
Mokkurkalfi (see Giant of Clay). They hoped to use Mokkurkalfi to
frighten Thor with his enormous size (Mokkurkalfi stood nine leagues
high and three leagues wide). Hungnir apparently hid behind the clay
giant. Armed with a large whetstone, Hrungnir hurled it at Thor.
Although Thor's Mjollnir broke the whetstone in half, one of the pieces
was lodged in Thor's head. The Mjollnir then shattered Hrungnir's stone
head and he fell dead on top of Thor's neck. Thor could not push
Hrungnir off him, but Magni removed Hrungnir's body off his father.
Thor then gave Gullfaxi to Magni.
Hrym
In the Norse myth of Ragnarök, Hrym was the giant who captained and
piloted the ship, Naglfar. Naglfar was made of the untrimmed nails of
the dead. Hrym would bring the frost giants from Gianthome to the plain
of Vigrid. See Ragnarok.
Hymir
Frost-giant. In some traditions, Hymir ('Dark One') was the father of
the war-god Tyr (see e.g., the Hymiskvida, a poem found Poetic Edda).
The usual tradition says that Odin was Tyr's father. The Hymiskvida
story is slightly different from the version found in the Prose Edda
(written by Snorri Sturluson). The poetic version says that Hymir
possessed a magic cauldron which Thor wanted to brew an almost
unlimited supply of ale for Aegir's feast. Snorri left all details
about the feast and cauldron out of his story.
Thor and Hymir
went on a fishing trip, where the giant caught two whales. Hymir was
terrified when Thor caught Jörmungand, the Midgard Worm (see Thor's Fishing Expedition). Either Thor killed Hymir when the frightened giant cut off
Thor's line (Snorri's Edda), or Thor killed Hymir when the giant tried
to retake the cauldron from him in the forest.
Jarnsaxa
Jarnsaxa or Iarnsaxa ('Iron-sax' - which may mean Iron Saxon) was
mother of Magni and Modi, by the Aesir Thor. Not much is known about
Jarnsaxa except that she was Sif's rival for Thor's love. All
references to Jarnsaxa have to do with either Thor being her lover or
with Magni being her son. Her parents are unknown. Her name appears in
Sturluson's list of giantesses, and in a couple of Eddaic kennings.
| "Every
difficulty increases Iarnsaxa's wind in Olaf's father, so that praise
is due." |
Here, 'Iarnsaxa's wind' is courage.
| "He reddened
with gore the chops of the dark-looking steed of Iarnsaxa...." |
This kenning strongly suggests that ake the dark-looking steed which Iarnsaxa rode was a wolf.
Skadi
Female frost giant. Skadi was the beautiful daughter of the giant Thiassi (Thiazi), from
the mountain of Thryheim. She was about to go to war against the Aesir
because the gods killed her father. The Aesir made peace with Skadi
only if one of them could make her laugh and that she had a choice of
choosing a husband among the Aesir. Loki easily made her laugh, but the
choice of husband little more difficult. Skadi had to choose her new
husband by his feet. She thought she was choosing beautiful Balder when
she chose the god with the most beautiful feet. Instead her new husband
was Njörd. The marriage did not last long, because Njörd
preferred to live in Noatun at the sea while Skadi preferred her
mountain home in Thrymheim, so they divorced. Sometimes, Skadi is
mistaken as the mother of Freyr and Freyja (although she is usually
described as their stepmother). Skadi was later married to another
Aesir god, named Ull. Like Gerd and some other giantesses, Skadi became
an goddess and an Asyniur. She became the goddess of mountains, and/or
of skiing and snowshoes (both if which she is said to have invented).
Skrymir
A huge giant who crossed paths with Thor on his way to Utgard. See Fighting Illusions
Surt
Fire giant. Surt ('Darkness') dwelled in Muspelheim, the world (region) of fire,
said to be located far to the south. Surt (or Surtr) ruled Muspelheim
and was leader of the fire giants. In Ragnarök, he kills Freyr, the
first of the god to die. Surt ends the battle by setting all Nine
Worlds on fire. Destroying almost every creature.
Suttung
Frost giant. Suttung ('sup-heavy') was the son of the giant Gilling.
When two dwarfs, Fjalar and Galar killed his parents, Suttung
threatened to kill the dwarfs in revenge. He only relented when they
gave him the Mead of Poetry as compensation. Suttung set his daughter
Gunnlod to guard the precious mead, but she betrayed him when Odin
copulated with her for three nights. Odin drank the whole mead, after
three days before escaping to Asgard. Suttung had the ability to
transform himself into an eagle and pursued Odin. However, Suttung
could neither capture Odin nor recover the mead (see Mead of Poetry).
Thiassi
A frost-giant. Thiassi (Thiazi) was the eldest son of Olvaldi or
Allvaldi, and the brother of Idi and Gang. His father was very rich and
lived in Thrymheim. At his death, the land was divided between the
three brothers.
Thiassi had the
ability to turn himself into an eagle. Thiassi had a beautiful daughter
named Skadi. He was also the giant who abducted Idun, keeper of the apples of youth, with the
help of Loki. Loki was later forced to rescue Idun. Thiassi pursued
Loki to Asgard in a form of a giant eagle but was killed by the Aesir
as he passed over the wall of Asgard. Skadi would have avenged her
father had the Aesir not made peace with her by offering to her an
Aesir husband. Odin had also taken Thiassi's eyes and threw them in the
sky, and two new stars were created.
Thokk
A giantess who was actually Loki in giant form. She refused to weep for
Baldur (Balder), and thereby denied him the chance to leave the land of
the dead.
Thrym
Thrym ('crash') was the ruler of the giants in Jötunheim (Jotunheim).
He stole Mjollnir, the magical hammer of Thor. Loki found out from the
giants that Thrym would return the hammer to Thor if he was allowed to
marry Freyja. Thor dressed himself in a bridal gown and went to
Jötunheim instead of Freyja. During the feast, Thrym and the other
giants was stunned when they saw Thrym's bride (Thor) eat an ox, eight
salmon, and drink three large tankards of mead. Loki made a silly excuse,
telling Thrym that Freyja had not eaten in eight days because she was
excited to be wedded to the king of giants. When Thrym peeped under his
bride's veil, the giant was taken back by the fire in Freyja's (Thor's)
eyes. Again, Thrym demanded explanation from Loki; Loki answered that
Freyja was just excited about the wedding. When Thrym had the hammer
brought in and placed it on his bride's laps, Thor threw off his
disguise and attacked him. Thor killed Thrym and all the giants within
the hall (see Thor the Bride).
Utgard-Loki
The giant ruler of Utgard, a land beyond Asgard. When Thor, Loki and
Thialfi (a mortal) journeyed to the fortress of Utgard he set them
several tasks. Loki was matched against Logi in an eating race. Thialfi
was pitted against Hugi in a foot race. Thor was given a large horn to
drink, a cat to lift and Utgard-Loki’s old foster-mother to wrestle.
They all failed. Later it was revealed that Logi was fire (who consumes
all things), Hugi is thought (the fastest thing in the cosmos). The
horn offered Thor contained the sea, the cat was Jormungand and
Utgard-Loki’s foster-mother is Old Age (whom no one can overcome).
Vafthrudnir
Vafthrudnir was the wisest of giants, according to one of the poems from
the Poetic Edda - Vafthrudnismal ('Vafthrudnir's Sayings'). Vafthrudnir
was involved in a game of questions and answers, between himself and
Odin. However, Odin had disguised himself as human wanderer, calling
himself Gagnrad, and seeking Vafthrudnir's wisdom. Vafthrudnir
accepting Gagnrad's challenge, only recognised Odin at the end of the
poem, when the giant couldn't answer the last question from Odin (see
'Vafthrudnir: Contest of Wisdom). Apart from
being the son of the giant Im, not much is known about Vafthrudnir. He
is not mentioned in any other Norse literature.
Ymir (Aurgelmir)
The first primeval giant was generally known as Ymir ('groaner'). The
frost-giants called him Aurgelmir ('gravel-yeller'). Ymir was the first
creature created in the universe. He was father of the race of
frost-giants (who were born from the sweat of his armpits). First, Ymir
was father of a six-head giant (unnamed) that was nourished by a giant
cow, Audumla. Audumla found nourishment through licking stones. One
stone, shaped like a man, became the primeval god, named Buri. Buri was
the father of another primeval god (or giant) Bor. Bor and Bestla
became parents of the 3 gods: Odin, Vili and Ve. Ymir was also the
father of Thrudgelmir and the grandfather of Bergelmer.
Odin and his
brothers, Vili and Ve, killed Ymir and used his body to create the
world (universe). His skull was used to create the heaven and his
eyebrows to create Midgard, or Middle Earth, home of the mankind.
Audumla (the Primeval Cow)
Audumla (Audhumla) was born from rime at Ginnungagap. The primeval
giant Ymir (Aurgelmir) lived on the milk that flow from the cow's
teats. Audumla also provided nourishment to Ymir's six-headed son. She
received nourishment through licking the salty rime-stones. Audumla
licked the stone until it was shaped into a man. This stone became
Buri, grandfather of the Aesir gods: Odin, Vili and Ve. See the Norse Creation Myth.
The Draugar (walking dead)
A draugre was a zombie-like thing; not a ghost
in the normal sense, of a spirit or phantom, so much as a human corpse
that
was animated and walking again. Sometimes, the
draugar were seen as harmless, and they sometimes choose to haunt where
they used to live. Unlike the fylgjur (below), the drauger are more of
an abomination, a pest.
They were sometimes said to have glowing baleful eyes. Their figures
were usually bloated and their bodies were in the stage of
decomposition, so they would smell like rotting meat. Draugar often
inhabited treasure-filled burial mounds, so they were known as mound
dwellers. Their close proximity with the dead usually
upset the living, especially relatives and family. At other times they
posed serious threat to the living because they would attack people and
animals near their mounds, particularly during midwinter. The only way
to kill something that was already dead was to decapitate it
and place its head on its own buttocks before cremating the corpse.
According to the
Eyrbyggja saga, there was feud between two neighbours in Iceland -
Snorri the priest and Thorolf Twist-foot. Thorolf had been involved
with treachery and murders against his former slaves and various
neighbours. Thorolf was upset with his son Arnkel, whom he also
betrayed, who wouldn't help him against Snorri that night while still
sitting up. Arnkel killed his father, Thorolf, and had difficulty in
burying his body because it was unusually heavy and the corpse was
spooking the horse. It was soon discovered that Thorolf was haunting
his properties, especially at night. Horses and cattle were dying,
apparently frightened to death. People who were caught outdoors in the
middle of night could die unexpectedly. Among those who had died was
Thorolf's widow because of Thorolf's haunting. Eventually, Arnkel was
forced to move his father's body off to some isolated location, and to
build a high wall around his father's grave.
Fenrir (Giant wolf)
Fenrir was one of the three offspring of Loki and the giantess Angerboda. Fenrir was
also called Fenris, Fenrisúlfr or Fenriswolf. Fenrir grew so rapidly
and in such gigantic proportion that the gods feared it. The gods
pretended to play game of binding the wolf, to see if it could free
itself. Fenrir agreed to play the game if someone would place his or
her hand in Fenrir's giant mouth. Only the war-god Tyr was fearless
enough to do this. The gods found nothing that
could bind the wolf until they received a magical ribbon called
Gleipnir, created by dwarfs. This ribbon was made of the noise of a
cat, the beard of woman, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a
bird. When Fenrir could not escape, he realised he was tricked by the
gods when they refused to release him. In revenge, Fenrir bit off
Tyr's hand and thereafter Tyr was known as the One-handed God. When Ragnarök
arrives, Fenrir will break free of his fetter and join the other giants
and monsters in a war against the gods. Fenrir will fight against Odin
until the wolf kills and devours Odin. Vidar avenges his father's death
by ripping Fenrir's jaw apart with his bare hands.
Garm (Hell-hound)
Garm (Garmr) was the giant hound that guarded the gate in Hel (world of
the dead). He was very much like three-headed Ceberus, who also guarded
the Underworld, in Greek myths. Although Tyr kills Garm at Ragnarök,
the war-god dies from the Hellish wounds that the hound inflicts on him.
Goldfax (Horse)
Goldfax (golden mane) was a horse that belonged to the giant Hrungnir.
After Thor slew Hrungnir, he gave Goldfax to Magni (Thor's son)
Hugi (thought)
The fastest thing in the cosmos. He was pitted against Thialfi in a foot race, and won easily.
Huginn (mind or thought) & Muninn (memory)
Ravens of Odin. Ravens and wolves, as animals who feed on corpses, are
sacred to Odin as the Valfather (god of death), Huginn and Muninn
relate also to Odin as the god of wisdom. Every day they fly around the
whole world, reporting to Odin all that they have seen
Lif and Lifrathsir
Lif (Life) and Lifrathsir (Eager for Life) are a man (Lif) and woman (Lifrathsir) who will survive Ragnorok, by hiding in Yggdrasil. They go on to found a new race of persons.
Midgard Worm (the World Serpent)
The Midgard Worm
is the largest serpent in the universe. Its name was either Jörmungand
(Jormungand) or Jörmungandr, and it was one of the three
offspring of Loki and the giantess Angerboda. Jörmungand symbolised
evil. Not only could Jörmungand kill its victim by crushing
constriction, the Midgard Serpent's venom was lethal even against the
gods. Jörmungand was Thor's most deadly enemy. To confine the
ever-growing serpent, Odin had Jörmungand thrown into the sea. But,
Jörmungand grew so large that his entire body completely encircled the
world (see Monsters Bound in 'Ragnarök'). Thor failed to kill
Jörmungand the first time the two met at sea. Thor had hooked
Jörmungand like a fish. The thunder-god tried to smash the worm's head
in with Mjollnir, Thor's magic hammer. But the frightened frost-giant
Hymir cut Thor's line, allowing the Midgard Serpent to escape. See
Thor's Fishing Expedition. At Ragnarök,
Jörmungand escapes his underwater confinement. Thor manages to kill the
evil serpent with the Mjollnir; but Thor succumbs to the deadly venom
from Jörmungand.
Moongarm (the largest giant wolf)
Moongarm was the one of the offspring of Iarnvidiur, the trollwife
(giantess) from Ironwood, east of Midgard. Her sons were all giants
born in wolf form. Moongarm was the largest and the mightiest of these
gigantic wolves. According to Snorri Sturluson, Moongarm was filled
with blood of all those who had died. He will swallow the heavenly
bodies, spattering the sky and heaven with blood. This would cause the
sun not to shine, and violent winds would rage unabated. For this
reason, Moongarm was known as the sun's snatcher.
Nidhogg (giant worm)
Nidhogg was a giant worm that resided near the Hvergelmir or 'Roaring
Kettle', one of three sacred wells. Nidhogg constantly gnaws at one of
the roots of Yggdrasill ('World Tree') that supported the world,
Niflheim. One of the signs that Ragnarök is arriving is when Nidhogg
finally chews its way through one of the roots of Yggdrasill. In Voluspa (Poetic Edda), Nidhogg was a dragon with wings. He would fly
over the plain, carrying corpses. The great serpent enjoyed sucking on
the bodies of the dead.
Skoll and Hati (giant wolves)
Skoll and Hati (Hati Hrodvitnisson) were two giant wolves that pursued
two heavenly bodies - Sol (Sun) and Moon. One of the signs of the
coming of Ragnarök is that Skoll will devour the goddess Sol and Hati
will swallow her brother Moon. The Nine Worlds will then suffer from
long winter (an Ice Age). Skoll and Hati were descendants of the
troll-wives or giantesses known as the Iarnvidiur.
Fafnir (Dragon)
Fafnir
was the son of Hreidmar, and brother of Regin and Otter.
Originally, Fafnir was a human who was able to shape-shift like his
brother Otter. He gained
possession of a cursed treasure after killing his father, and then
drove his
brother (Regin) away. Fafnir slept on the treasure and changed himself
(or was changed by his greed) into a dragon. The hero Sigurd
killed Fafnir. Since his blood and heart contained magical properties,
Sigurd ate his heart (that gave him greater strength), and blood (which
allowed him to understand the language of the birds). See Sigurd, Fafnir's Bane for the full story.
Einheriar (fallen heroes)
Einheriar or Einherjar were the fallen warriors in battles chosen by
the Valkyries to reside in Valhalla with Odin until Ragnarök. When the
god Heimdall blow his horn or trumpet Gjallahorn, these dead heroes
will march with the gods (Aesir) to fight the frost-giants and
monstrous offspring of Loki.
Only half of
those who are chosen by the Valkyries goes to Odin's hall called
Valhalla. The half that Odin received, who had fallen in battle, become
his adopted sons. They would follow his lead when Ragnarök arrived. The
other half of the brave fallen warriors resided with the goddess Freyja
in her hall, called Fólkvangar ('battlefield').
Logi (Fire)
Logi beat Loki (the fire god) in an eating contest at the fortress of
Utgard. It was only after the contest that the giant Utgard-Loki
revealed that Logi was fire - and fire consumes all things faster than
anything else.
Ravens
Carrion eaters and symbols of death and battle for both the Norse and
the celts, sacred birds of Odin (see Huginn and Muninn)
Sleipnir (horse)
The grey, eight-legged horse of Odin, a stallion and fastest steed in
the nine worlds. Sleipnir was the offspring of Loki and a
stallion used by a giant to rebuild the wall around Asgard.
The giant had agreed to build the wall in exchange for the sun, the
moon and the goddess Freya. When it became evident that he was going to
complete his task and win his prize, with the help of his great
stallion, Loki changed himself into a mare to seduce the stallion away
from finishing the wall in time. Later, after the giant had been
killed by Thor, Loki gave birth to an eight-legged colt,
Sleipnir, which can gallop over land, sea and air.
Trolls
Huge, bad-tempered, mountain-dwelling creatures that are especially
hostile to Thor. Originally included among the jotnar, they later
became identified with the dwarves.
Gods, monsters, and humans, who can change their shape - be it
voluntarily or involuntarily - are common in human myth and legend.
Sometimes, as in the case of supposed werewolves, the shape shifters
merely alter their form and behaviour. In other cases, such as when
Loki is said to have changed Idun into a nut, so that a hawk could
carry her back to freedom, some spectacular, and unexplained, changes
in mass also take place.
Both Odin and Loki are shapeshifters in Norse mythology. The Lokasenna
depicts the two of them taunting each other not only with having been
women more than once but with having borne children (any myths that depict
Odin shapeshifting into a woman have been lost, but the Lokasenna contains
references to many myths that once existed but do so no more).
In a version of
the Norse primal myth, a giant named Hrimthurs
disguised himself as a man and offered to build the burg (encircling
wall) around Asgard within a single winter if the gods give him Sol,
Mani, and the goddess Freyja, if he completed the walls in
time. Loki believing that a man could never finish fortifying
Asgard in one winter, so he persuaded the gods to accept the bet.
Hrimthurs, however could build the walls very quickly because he had a
gigantic, magical horse, called Svadilfari, that helped him move
huge blocks of rock into place. The gods realised that they would
likely lose the
bet, and forced to Loki to slow Hrimthurs' progress. Loki transformed
himself into a beautiful mare so he could distract Svadilfari.
Hrimthurs lost control over Svadilfari when the giant stallion began to
pursue the mare (Loki). Without Svadilfari, Hrimthurs could not
complete the burg in time. Some months later Loki brought back to
Asgard an eight-legged colt (Sleipnir) who was the offspring of
Svadilfari and himself (as a mare).
In the Hyndluljóð, the goddess Freya transforms her protégé Óttar into
a boar to conceal him. She also possesses a cloak of falcon feathers
that allow her to transform into a falcon. Loki is said to have
borrowed this cloak on occasion.
In Chapter Five of the Volsungasaga,
Siggeir's mother changes into a wolf to help torture
his defeated brothers-in-law with slow and ignominious deaths; killing
and eating one a night for nine nights. One brother, Sigmund, survives
by coating himself in honey so that the Siggeir's mother - who reduces
to a wolf in senses and intelligence during her nightly transformation
- doesn't realise who he is. Sigmund survives and with Sinfjotli (his
nephew and son by his sisters) kill two men
wearing wolfskins; when they don the skins themselves, they are cursed
to become werewolves.
Now on a time as Sigmund and Sinfjotli travelled abroad in the wood for
the getting of wealth, they find a certain house, and two men with
great gold rings asleep therein. These two were spell-bound
shape-shifters, and wolf-skins were hanging up over them in the house;
every tenth day might they come out of those skins and were kings’
sons. So Sigmund and Sinfjofli put the wolf-skins on them, and then
discovered that they could in no way come out of them - even though the
same nature went with them as previously; they howled as wolves howl,
but both knew the meaning of that howling. They lay out in the
wild-wood, and each went his way; and a vow they made between them,
that they would risk the onset of seven men, but no more, and that he
who was first to be set on should howl in wolfish manner.
“Let us not depart from this,” says Sigmund, “for you are young and
over-bold, and men will deem the quarry good when they take you.”
Now each goes his way, and when they were parted, Sigmund meets certain
men, and gives forth a wolf’s howl. When Sinfjotli heard it, he went
straightaway thereto, and slew them all, and once more they parted. But
before Sinfjotli has went long through the woods, eleven men meet him,
and he fought in such manner that he slew them all, and was wearied
with that, and crawls under an oak, and there takes his rest.
Then came Sigmund thither, and said, “Why did you not call on me?”
Sinfjotli said,
“I was reluctant to call for your help for the slaying of only eleven
men.”
Then Sigmund rushed at him so hard that he staggered and fell, and
Sigmund bit him in the throat. On that day they could not come out of
their wolf-skins: but Sigmund lays the other on his back, and bears him
home to the house, and cursed the wolf-skins and ‘gave them to the
trolls’. Then he saw where two weasels went and how that one bit the
other in the throat, and then ran straightaway into the thicket, and
took up a leaf and laid in on the wound, and thereon his fellow sprang
up quite and clean whole. So Sigmund went out and saw a raven flying
with a blade of that same herb to him; so he took it and drew it over
Sinfjotli’s hurt, and he straightaway sprang up as whole as though he
had never been bitten. There after they went home to their earth-house,
and stayed there till the time came for them to put off the
wolf-shapes. These they burnt up with fire, and prayed that no more
hurt might come to any one from them; although in that uncouth guise
they wrought many famous deeds in the kingdom and lordship of King
Siggeir.
|
In Chapter 18 of the Volsungasaga,
Otter is a humn who changes into a otter and is killed by Loki. His
brother, Fafnir, is also originally a human but changes into a
dragon—a symbol of greed—while guarding his ill-gotten hoard. This
transformation may reflect a common theme of a human turning into an
animal under the force of a primary drive such as greed (cf. what
happens to Eustace in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis).
In rural Scandinavia, belief long existed in a race of she-werewolves
known called 'Maras'. As far as
I am able to discover, this belief was almost entirely confined
to peasants or the urban poor. The belief, although not attested to in
any of Norse writings from the period considered in this study, almost
certainly existed in the folk lore of that earlier time. According to
this belief, a woman could bear children
without pain if, at midnight, she stretched the membrane, which
envelopes a foal when
it is born, between four sticks and crept through it naked. The price
of this anesthesia was that if the child was a boy then he would be a
shaman; if the child was a girl then she would be a Mara. The Mara
appears to have pretty much been your classic werewolf. Women who took
on the appearance of the Mara were said to look half
human and half wolf. The transformation was slow; it involved
hair and nail growth, screaming, the woman's face became that
of a hungry wolf, and a predatory animal instinct took over.
In actual history, berserkers were a class of Viking warrior who went
into a kind of frenzy (the 'berserkergang') during combat. Although
there is a lot of, often lurid, speculation about the berserkers,
details of why, and how, they went berserk are scare. The Ynglingasaga says that the warriors of Odin that "went without coats of mail, and acted like mad dogs and wolves." References to them
as 'Odin's champions' suggest that they formed some sort of
military/religious cult (perhaps somewhat like the cult of Mithras in
the Roman legions).
It is entirely possible that some berserkers, at least, believed that
they actually became bears when the combat frenzy came upon them
(perhaps under the influence of some ritual or a drug such as was used
by shamans in neighbouring cultures). What ever the case, it was
believed by some, both in and out of Scandinavia, that the berserkers
actually changed into bears during battle. Kveldulfr in Egils Saga
Skallagrimsonar was spoken of as a shapechanger, and
Hrolf's Saga tells of the hero Bjarki, who takes on the shape of a bear
in battle:
| Men saw that a great bear went before King Hrolf's men, keeping
always near the king. He slew more men with his forepaws than any five
of the king's champions. Blades and weapons glanced off him, and he
brought down both men and horses in King Hjorvard's forces, and
everything which came in his path he crushed to death with his teeth,
so that panic and terror swept through King Hjorvard's army... |
Valkyries are ambiguous characters; not deities as such (I cannot find any evidence that
anyone worshipped them) but supernatural (or, at least,
semi-supernatural) beings who, in the stories about them, behave more
like human women than goddesses. Their name means, 'Chooser of the
Slain', and they were often called battle-maidens, shield-maidens,
swan-maidens and mead-maidens. As these names suggest that they had various
functions. Their main duty was to select the slain warriors who had
fallen in combat.
These slain warriors were known as the Einherjar (Einheriar) and were
chosen to fight alongside with the Aesir gods at Ragnarök. The
Einherjar waited for Ragnarök, in Odin's hall, called Valhalla. They
were sometimes called 'Swan-maiden', because they wore garments made of
swan feathers that allowed them to fly, carrying off the slain warriors
to the hall called Valhalla. Their other duties included serving mead
or ales in drinking-horns or mugs to the Einherjar in Valhalla. Three Valkyries
appeared in the Völsungasaga. Sigrun ('victory-rune') married the hero
Helgi, the son of Sigmund. The other two Valkyries were Brynhild
('armoured warrior') and Gudrun ('battle-rune'), and these two were
associated with the hero Sigurd, another son of Sigmund. Gudrun had
also been associated with Helgi, as his first wife, in other sources.
The idea of the supernatural warrior-maidens (such as the Amazons, for example) was probably
brought to Scandinavia in very early times from the South-Germanic
races, and later it was interwoven with the likewise South-Germanic
tradition of the swan-maiden. A complication seems to have developed when the
originally quite human women of the early hero-legends were endowed with the
qualities of both Valkyries and swan-maidens, as in the cases of
Brynhild, Svava and Sigrun.
Brynhild was the
most famous of all the Valkyries (the basis of her name - Bryn-hild 'Warrior in Mail Coat' - is byrnie 'body armour' and hild 'warrior') is.. In the Völsungasaga, Odin punished
Brynhild for assigning the wrong king to die in battle. Odin condemned
her to marry a mortal. Brynhild vowed that she would only marry the
bravest of warriors, so she slept in the Ring of Fire until the bravest
hero could ride through the flame. Sigurd had rode through the flame,
twice. The second time, she was duped into marrying Gunnar, the brother
of Gudrun, while her hero married Gudrun. In the end she caused
Sigurd's death. Brynhild overcome with grief, died in Sigurd's funeral
pyre. See Völsungasaga for the whole tale about Brynhild. Brynhild goes
by a different name in Sigrdrifumal ('Lay of Sigrdrifa'), she was known
as Sigrdrifa ('victory-urger') and taught the hero runic magic.
The following Valkyries were found in a list of Snorri Sturluson's
Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda. They served as mead-maidens to the
Einheriar in Valhalla but, apart from that, have no stories of their
own.
Hrist (shaker),
Mist (cloud),
Skeggiold (axe-age),
Skogul (shaker),
Hild (battle),
Thrud (power),
Hlokk (noise or
battle),
Herfiotur
(host-fetter),
Goll (tumult),
Geirahod (spear-fight),
Randgrid
(shield-truce),
Radgrid
(counsel-truce),
Reginleif (power-truce).
The Valkyries who rode into the battlefield were responsible for
allotting death and governing victory. Two of them were mentioned: Gunn
or Guinn ('war') and Rota. They rode with the youngest Norn Skuld. In
the second poem of Helgi Hundingsbani, Gunn was said to have sisters
(names not given) who were most likely Valkyries as well.
Brynhild (Brunhild)
Brynhild Buðladóttir. Brynhild, Brynhildr. Hild ('battle'). Brünhild (Germanic). Sigrdrifa 'Victory-Giver' (from Sigrdrifumal in Poetic Edda)
Brynhild seems to be a composite character derived from different
traditions. In the south German tradition she was the ordinary human
daughter of Buthli (Budli). She was otherwise the Hunnish sister of
Atli [Atilla the Hun] and Bekkhild, and possibly of Oddrun. In the Poetic Edda she is
sometimes the daughter of Giuki and at other times the daughter of
Buthli and foster-daughter of Heimir. In Helreid Brynhildar it says
that she was among eight sisters. But the Helreid also says that
Brynhild (Brünhild or Brunhild) was the beautiful (non-human) Valkyrie
who was punished by Odin for disobedience (she struck down Hjalmgunnar,
a king to whom Odin had promised victory). If this is right then Brynhild
also appears as Sigrdrifa in the Sigrdrifumol (see the prose
after §4, where Sigrdrifa is named as the Valkyrie who was punished for
striking down Hjalmgunnar). As punishment Odin told Brynhild that she
had to marry, but she made a vow to marry only a man without fear. In
the high mountain of Hindarfell (Hindarfjoll), within a circle
of fire, Brynhild waited until a hero with no fear ride through
the flame. Sigurd rode through the flame twice (in the Sigrdrifumol,
Sigrdrifa/Brynhild is pricked with a sleep-thorn and slept surrounded
by a tower of shields. In this version, Sigurd has no trouble getting
into the tower but has to cut her free from her armour with his sword).
The first time
Sigurd rode through the fire, he had already killed the dragon Fafnir
and had taken the dragon's cursed treasure. Sigurd and Brynhild fell in
love with one another. But Sigurd left her there since he had many
tasks that he had to perform. He promised to return to her when he had
complete his tasks. Brynhild agreed and said she would wait for him
within the Ring of Fire. She promised she would marry no other but the
man who would ride through the flame. Sigurd gave her his magic ring
(Andvaranaut) and so they were betrothed. In some versions of the story
(e.g., Helreid Brynhildar, The Short Lay of Sigurd and the
German Nibelungenlied), Brynhild was a virgin before she married Gunnar
(Gunther in the German version); her and Sigurd slept for three or
eight nights in the same bed but with a sword between them. In Brot af
Sigurdarkvitha and the Volsungasaga, however, Sigurd and Byrnhild make
love the first time they meet, and she bares him daughter named Aslaug.
When Brynhild married Gunnar instead of Sigurd, she left Aslaug with
her foster-father Heimir, a chieftain and husband of Bekkhild,
Brynhild's sister.
The second time
Sigurd came to Brynhild he was disguised as Gunnar through the use of
magic. The problem was that Gunnar was not brave enough to ride through
the flame, so they had switch faces, and Sigurd rode
in Gunnar's place. Sigurd had forgotten his pledge to Brynhild and was
now betrothed to Gudrun, sister of Gunnar. His amnesia was due to the
magic potion of Grimhild, mother of Gunnar and Gudrun (it was Grimheld
who also taught Sigurd and Gunnar the art of shape-shifting). Brynhild
was disappointed that it wasn't Sigurd who came for her. But with no
choice (because of her promise), she agreed to marry Gunnar. Sigurd
exchanged the rings with Brynhild again, taking back the cursed ring
(Andvaranaut); Brynhild thought that Gunnar had taken her ring. Sigurd
then brought her to Gunnar's court. He then resumed his own form.
Gunnar and Brynhild were soon wedded, while Sigurd married Gunnar's
sister, Gudrun. Later Brynhild argued with Gudrun about who had the
best husband. Gudrun revealed that Brynhild had been duped by Sigurd
and Gunnar and that it was actually Sigurd who rode through the flame
the second time, disguised as Gunnar. As proof, Gudrun produced the
magic ring that Brynhild had unknowingly returned to Sigurd. When the
truth had being revealed, Brynhild sought revenge upon Sigurd.
Brynhild told
Gunnar that Sigurd had broken his vow to him and slept with her the
night before she arrived in the palace (a claim that is true according
to the Volsungasaga but a lie according to Helreid Brynhildar).
Angry at this betrayal, Gunnar sought Sigurd's death. Since they had
made a vow to brotherhood to Sigurd, Gunnar and Hogni could not kill
him without violating their oaths. But Gunnar's brother (Guttorm)
mortally wounded Sigurd - although he was killed by Sigurd in the
process. At his death, Brynhild mocked Gudrun's grief and told her
husband that she had lied about Sigurd betraying him. Brynhild told
Gunnar and Hogni that her brother would avenge her death upon them.
Gunnar tried to prevent her from killing herself, but Hogni saw that it
was inevitable.
At the funeral,
Brynhild was overcome with grief, killed herself. She revealed to
Gunnar that he had always loved Sigurd, and asked her husband to allow
her body to be burned together with Sigurd's in a single pyre. By her
order, she had Sigmund, the three years old son of Sigurd and Gudrun,
killed and burnt in the pyre with her and Sigurd.
Brynhild seemed
to have the ability to interpret dreams and as well foretell the
future. She told Gudrun (before Gudrun met Sigurd), that Sigurd would
love her (Brynhild) but marry Gudrun. She also told Gudrun that Sigurd
would die at her brothers' hands, and that she would marry Atli, and
that she would killed her children and Atli. She also saw that Svanhild
would be trampled to death. During the funeral of Sigurd, Brynhild told
her husband that he and Hogni, would be kill by her brother (Atli). See the Dwarf-cursed Ring for the full story.
In German literature (Nibelungenlied), Brynhild had been identified
with Brunhild, the warrior queen of Isenstein (possibly in Iceland).
The theme - in which Siegfried (Sigurd) won Brunhild for Gunther
(Gunnar) through deception, and how Kriemhild (Gudrun) discloses the
ploy to Brunhild, which would ultimately leads to Siegfried's death -
was the same as in the Völsungasaga, but how and
the way it reach its climax was different in many aspects.
Despite the list of names given above, the name Brynhild most likely
means 'Armed for Battle' - Bryn being related to the brynie (an
armoured breastplate) and hild meaning 'battle'.
Sigrun (Svava)
Valkyrie and lover of the hero Helgi in Helga Hundingsbana II. She was
the daughter of King Hogni and, in Part II, was said to be Svava reborn
(see below). Sigrun was due to marry Hodbrod (Hodbrodd), son of King
Granmar, whom she despised and had no intention of marrying. So when
she met Helgi, son of Sigmund, she urged the hero into battle against
Hodbrod. The sons of Hunding, enemies of Helgi, became allies of
Hodbrodd. Helgi had killed their father in an earlier war. Helgi with
the help of his half-brother Sinfjotli, defeated and killed Hodbrod in
battle. Hunding's sons - Alf, Eyolf, Herward and Hagbard - were also
killed.
Svava (Sigrun)
Valkyrie and wife of the hero Helgi in Helga Hjorvarthssonar and Helga
Hundingsbana I. She was the daughter of King Eylimi. She has a dialogue
in Helga Hjorvarthssonar (Part IV, stanzas 37-end) and reappears as
Sigrun in the Second Lay of Helgi (Part II) where the poet specifically
says that Sigrun was Svava reborn.
Swan Maidens (Alvit, Svanhvit, Olrun)
Swan-maidens was another name for the Valkyries because they wore
garments with swan feathers which enabled them to fly, just like the
goddess Frigg or Freyja have a cloak of falcon feathers. It appears
that the legend of the swan maidens actually began in Southern Germany
and that they didn't become identified as Valkyries until the German
legends entered the Norse canon. Here, I am interested in three
particular swan-maidens, found in Völundarkvida ('Lay of Völundr').
Volund (Wayland as he was known in English legend), was a famous master
smith.
Volund and his two brothers, Egil and Slagfid, encountered the three
swan-maidens bathing in the lake. The three brothers either raped or
seduced these maidens. Two of the maidens, Alvit (Hervor) and Svanhvit
(Swanwhite, Hladgud) were the daughters of King Hlodver. While the
third swan-maiden, named Olrun, was the daughter of King Valland. The
three brothers each married one of the maidens. Volund (Wayland) was
married to Alvit, while Egil was husband of Olrun and Slagfid that of
Svanhvit. The three swan-maidens lived with the three brothers for
seven years before they suddenly abandoned their husbands and were
never heard of again. Volund's two brothers went to find their wives,
but the smith stayed at home in Wolfdale.
Witch-wives (troll-wives) and Wise-women
|
Various kinds of magic, witchcraft, and 'troll’s lore' was used in Norse mythology both by mortals
and by the gods and goddesses. The Vanir Freyja was the goddess of
witchcraft, as well that of love, fertility and war (see Frejya). She practiced a brand of witchcraft known as seid. She was
said to have brought seid from her homeland, Vanaheim (the world of the
Vanir) to Asgard. Both Eddas are rather vague about the seid. In the
Icelandic saga, called Eiriks Saga Rauda, we are given an insight of
how seid is performed, in the account of the Greenland prophetess
Thorbjörg líilvölva. Thorbjörg required a young woman named Gudrid to
help her call upon the guardian spirits. Gudrid drew a circle around
Thorbjörg, and then chanted the guardian songs, known as Varðlokkur.
This would seem to indicate that seid was probably a form of
incantation or shamanistic singing.
Odin was the
only male god to use seid, which otherwise seems restricted to women
and goddesses. But Odin had not only used seid; he was also the master
of runic magic. Runes were used to create powerful wards, and rune
magic was not restricted to either gender. Odin was the lord of
Valhalla, the hall of the dead heroes. He has the Valkyries serving
him, choosing the warriors slain in battle. The Valkyries also
possessed powers to use runic magic. The Valkyrie Brynhild (or
Sigrdrifa in Sigrdrifumal) knew of the magic using runes, which she
revealed to the hero Sigurd (see Brynhild).
It says in Völuspá the Less:
All the witches | spring from Witolf,
All the warlocks | are of Willharm,
And the spell-singers | spring from Swarthead;
All the ogres | of Ymir come.
Witches and
Wise-women are common figures in human mythology. In Norse myths,
the names of witches (sometimes called 'troll-wives') are not always given. Some witches are benevolent,
while others are malignant. In
Havamal 113 (from Poetic Edda), Odin warned Loddfafnir that -
...in the arms of a witch you should never sleep, so that she charms
all your limbs; she'll bring it about that you won't care about the
Assembly or the king's business; you won't want food nor the society of
people, sorrowful you'll go to sleep.
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Heid (Gullveig)
According to Voluspá (Poetic Edda), Heid (Bright One) was the
reincarnation of the healing goddess Gullveig. She was sometimes
confused with the Vanir goddess, Freyja. Gullveig ('Golden Liquor' or
'Power of Gold') was the Vanir goddess whom the Aesir attacked with
their spears and burned three times in Odin's hall; each time she was
reborn.
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Bright One they called her, whenever she came to house, the seers with
pleasing prophecies, she charmed them with spells; she made magic
whenever she could, with magic she played with minds, she was always
the favourite of the wicked women (from Voluspa). |
The attack on Gullveig triggered the war between the Aesir and the
Vanir. More about Gullveig and Heid can be found in the Vanir list of
deities. There are other witches named Heid in Norse myths, but these
women are mortals.
Groa (Sorceress and a sibyl)
Groa was wife of Aurvandil the Bold. She appeared in the Prose Edda,
in the myth where Thor fought the giant Hrungnir. Although Thor killed
the giant with Mjollnir, a piece of Hrungnir's whetstone was lodged in
Thor's head. Groa was using her magic to remove the piece of the
whetstone, but the grateful Thor distracted the sorceress with news of
her husband's whereabout. Thor had helped Aurvandil in crossing a
freezing river of the Elivagar by carrying him in a basket. But one of
Aurvandil's toes froze into ice when his foot dipped into the water.
Thor broke the toe off and threw it into the sky, where it became a
star. Thor told her that Aurvandil was now at her home. Groa's spell
went awry from the distracting news, so the whetstone became
permanently stuck in Thor's head (see Giant of Clay).
According to the
poem Gróugaldr, Groa was the mother of the hero Svipdag (Svebdegg). Her
son used a spell to raise her from her grave so he could learn how to
successfully woo the beautiful Menglöd, whom he must win in a dangerous
quest. The tale of Svipdag's quest for Menglöd can be found in another
poem called Fjölsvinnsmál. Svipdag found Menglöd in the castle on top
of a mountain, where she was surrounded by a ring of flame, and guarded
by giant named Fjolsvinn.
Grimhild (Queen and sorceress)
Grimhild - 'battle-mask' (Icelandic). Oda (Norwegian). Uote, Ute (German).
Grimhild was the wife of Giuki (Gjuki), king of the southern Rhine,
Burgundy (Niflungland). She was the mother of three sons - Gunnar,
Hogni and Guttorm - and of one daughter, Gudrun. In the Icelandic
legends, Grimhild was the main adviser to her husband and her sons when
they ruled the kingdom. She was partly responsible for the tragedy that
would befall in her family. She was a very ambitious queen, who used
her children (particularly her daughter) to further the house of
Niflung without giving thought to the consequences of her actions.
It was Grimhild
who gave the draught of forgetfulness to Sigurd so that the hero would
forget the Valkyrie Brynhild and marry her own daughter Gudrun (see Sigurd and Brynhild). It was
she who advised her husband that Sigurd should marry her daughter. With
such powerful son-in-law, her sons could not lose any wars they fought
against their neighbours. Not only would her family gain power, but
also increased wealth from Sigurd's dragon treasure (complete with a cursed ring). Grimhild further
proposed that Sigurd would help Gunnar to win Brynhild. Since Gunnar
could not ride through the ring of flame surrounding the sleeping
Brynhild, they used her magic so that Sigurd and Gunnar could change
shapes and each look like the other. Sigurd rode through the flame
disguised as Gunnar. It was only after the real Gunnar married Brynhild
that Sigurd remembered that he was betrothed to Brynhild before he had
ever met Gudrun.
When Gunnar and
Hogni plotted to murder Sigurd, because Brynhild demanded it from her
husband, it was Grimhild who had mixed a drink of snake and wolf flesh
that imbued her younger son, Guttorm, with berserker rage to murder
Sigurd. Guttorm and Sigurd ended up killing one another. With Sigurd's
death, Grimhild's sons gained the treasure of Fafnir. Further tragedy
would follow, because of Grimhild's machination. She used her draught
of forgetfulness again, but this time she gave it to her daughter so
that Gudrun would forget her grief over Sigurd's death and forgive her
brothers. She then later urged coerced Gudrun to marry Atli, brother of
Brynhild. Gudrun pleaded with her mother that she had no wish to marry
the treacherous king, whom she knew would be bring about the death of
her brothers and many Niflung warriors, but Grimhild was adamant. After
the marriage, Grimhild doesn't appear in the saga again.
Her role in both
the Prose Edda and the poems in the Poetic Edda were the same
as that in the Völsungasaga - a queen and witch who meddled with Sigurd
and her family, bringing downfall to all. In the Thidrekssaga, where
she was known as Oda, or in the German Nibelungenlied, as Uote (Ute),
she was not a sorceress. However, in the Thidrekssaga, Oda (Grimhild)
does become the mother of Hogni, whose father was an elf. Apart from
the part concerning Hogni and her other children, she only played small
parts, particularly her attempt at reconciliation between her daughter
and her sons, and persuading her daughter to marry Attila (Etzel). But
here she used no magical drink for her daughter to make
Grimhild/Kriemhild forget Sigurd/Siegfried - a trick which was vital in the
Icelandic versions.
Ironwood Woman
A giantess also known as Iarnvidur, the mother of Moongarm. Odin says of her in the Gylfaginning,
"A witch dwells to the east of Midgard, in the forest called Ironwood:
in that wood dwell the troll-women, who are known as Ironwood-Women.
The old witch bears many giants for sons, and all in the shape of
wolves; and from this source are these wolves sprung. The saying runs
thus: from this race shall come one that shall be mightiest of all, he
that is named Moongarm (Moon-Hound); he shall be filled with the flesh
of all those men that die, and he shall swallow the moon, and sprinkle
with blood the heavens and all the lair; thereof-shall the sun lose her
shining, and the winds in that day shall be unquiet and roar on every
side. So it says in Völuspá:
Eastward dwells the Old One | in Ironwood,
And there gives birth | to Fenrir's brethren;
There shall spring of them all | a certain one,
The moon's taker | in troll's likeness.
He is filled with flesh | of fey men.
Reddens the gods' seats | with ruddy blood-gouts;
Dark becomes sunshine | in summers after,
The weather all shifty. |
Sibyl (Prophetess)
Sibyl, Sibylla. Sif?
Sibyl was actually Latin name for several prophetesses that appeared in
Roman legend. One of the Sibyls guided the Trojan hero, Aeneas to the
Underworld to talk to his father, Anchises. Sibyl appeared to be a
title, rather than a name. According to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson,
Sibyl was another name for Sif. Sibyl (Sif) married Tror Thor. Despite
the name, Sif doesn't appear to have any divination skill in the Norse
literature. Nevertheless, the first poem in the Poetic Edda, Voluspa,
was frequent translated into English as the 'Sibyl's Prophecy'.
Thorbjörg Líilvölva (Prophetess)
The prophetess in Chapter 4 of Eiriks Saga Rauda, a 13th century Icelandic saga.
Thorbjörg had earned the name Líilvölva ['little sibyl'],
because she was known for her prophecies.
At that time there was a great dearth in Greenland; those who had been
out on fishing expeditions had caught little, and some had not returned.
There was in the settlement the woman whose name was Thorbjorg. She
was a prophetess (spae-queen), and was called Litilvolva (little
sybil). She had had nine sisters, and they were all spae-queens, and
she was the only one now living.
It was a custom of Thorbjorg, in the winter time, to make a
circuit, and people invited her to their houses, especially those who
had any curiosity about the season, or desired to know their fate; and
inasmuch as Thorkell was chief franklin thereabouts, he considered that
it concerned him to know when the scarcity which overhung the
settlement should cease. He invited, therefore, the spae-queen to his
house, and prepared for her a hearty welcome, as was the custom
whereever a reception was accorded a woman of this kind. A high seat
was prepared for her, and a cushion laid thereon in which were
poultry-feathers.Now, when she came in the evening, accompanied by the
man who had been sent to meet her, she was dressed in such wise that
she had a blue mantle over her, with strings for the neck, and it was
inlaid with gems quite down to the skirt. On her neck she had glass
beads. On her head she had a black hood of lambskin, lined with ermine.
A staff she had in her hand, with a knob thereon; it was ornamented
with brass, and inlaid with gems round about the knob. Around her she
wore a girdle of soft hair, and therein was a large skin-bag, in which
she kept the talismans needful to her in her wisdom. She wore hairy
calf-skin shoes on her feet, with long and strong-looking thongs to
them, and great knobs of latten at the ends. On her hands she had
gloves of ermine-skin, and they were white and hairy within.
Now, when she entered, all men thought it their bounden duty to
offer her becoming greetings, and these she received according as the
men were agreeable to her. The franklin Thorkell took the wise-woman by
the hand, and led her to the seat prepared for her. He requested her to
cast her eyes over his herd, his household, and his homestead. She
remained silent altogether.
During the evening the tables were set; and now I must tell you
what food was made ready for the spae-queen. There was prepared for her
porridge of kid's milk, and hearts of all kinds of living creatures
there found were cooked for her. She had a brazen spoon, and a knife
with a handle of walrus-tusk, which was mounted with two rings of
brass, and the point of it was broken off.When the tables were removed,
the franklin Thorkell advanced to Thorbjorg and asked her how she liked
his homestead, or the appearance of the men; or how soon she would
ascertain that which he had asked, and which the men desired to know.
She replied that she would not give answer before the morning, after
she had slept there for the night.
When the next day was far spent, the preparations were made
for her which she required for the exercise of her enchantments. She
asked them to bring to her those women who were acquainted with the
lore needed for the exercise of the enchantments, and which is known by
the name of Weird-songs (Varðlokkur), but no such women came forward. Then was
search made throughout the homestead if any woman were so learned.
Then answered Gudrid, "I am not skilled in deep learning, nor am I
a wise-woman, although Halldis, my foster-mother, taught me, in
Iceland, the lore which she called Weird-songs."
"Then art thou wise in good season," answered Thorbjorg; but Gudrid
replied, "That lore and the ceremony are of such a kind, that I purpose
to be of no assistance therein, because I am a Christian woman."
Then answered Thorbjorg, "You might perchance afford your help
to the men in this company, and yet be none the worse woman than you
were before; but to Thorkell give I charge to provide here the things
that are needful."
Thorkell thereupon urged Gudrid to consent, and she yielded to his
wishes. The women formed a ring round about, and Thorbjorg ascended the
scaffold and the high seat (seiðhjallr) prepared for her enchantments. Then sang Gudrid
the weird-song in so beautiful and excellent a manner, that to no one
there did it seem that he had ever before heard the song in voice so
beautiful as now.
The spae-queen thanked her for the song.
"Many spirits," said she,
"have been present under its charm, and were pleased to listen to the
song, who before would turn away from us, and grant us no such homage.
Now are many things clear to me which before were hidden both from
me and others. I am able this to say, that the dearth will last no
longer, the season improving as spring advances. The epidemic of fever
which has long oppressed us will disappear quicker than we could have
hoped. And you, Gudrid, will I recompense straightway, for that aid of
thine which has stood us in good stead; because your destiny is now
clear to me, and foreseen. You shall make a match here in Greenland, a
most honourable one, though it will not be a long-lived one for you,
because your way lies out to Iceland; and there, shall arise from thee a
line of descendants both numerous and goodly, and over the branches of
thy family shall shine a bright ray. And so fare thee now well and
happily, my daughter."
Afterwards the men went to the wise-woman, and each enquired after what
he was most curious to know. She was also liberal of her replies, and
what she said proved true. After this came one from another homestead
after her, and she then went there. Thorbjorn was invited, because he
did not wish to remain at home while such heathen worship was
performing. |
Eiriks Saga
Rauda (the Saga of Erik the Red) gives us perhaps the most detailed account about the witches.
Other sources are rather vague with their accounts. Thorbjörg líilvölva
bears a remarkable resemblance with the 1st century seeress, Veleda, on
the sort of reverence and respect witches and prophetesses received
from the ordinary people.
Typical Witch-wife Play (from Volsungasaga, Chapters 5-7)
Now tells the tale of King Volsung and his sons that they go at the
time appointed to Gothland at the invitation of King Siggeir, and put
off from the land in three ships, all well manned, and have a fair
voyage, and made Gothland late of an evening tide.
But that same night came Signy and called her father and brothers
to a private talk, and told them what she thought King Siggeir was
minded to do, and how that he had drawn together an army that no man
may meet. “And,” says she, “he is minded to do deceitfully by you.
Therefore I beg you to go back again to your own land, and gather
together the mightiest power you may, and then come back here and
avenge yourselves. Do not go now to your undoing, for you shall surely
fall by his wiles if you turn not on him even as I bid you.”
Then spoke Volsung the king, “All people and nations tell of the word I
spoke, yet being unborn, wherein I vowed a vow that I would flee in
fear from neither fire nor the sword; even so have I done to date, and
shall I depart from this now I am old? Yea also never shall the maidens
mock these my sons at the games, and cry out at them that they fear
death. Once alone must all men need die, and from that season shall
none escape; so my council is that we flee nowhere, but do the work of
our hands in as manly manner as we may. A hundred fights have I fought;
sometimes I had more, and sometimes I had less, and yet ever had I the
victory, nor shall it ever be heard tell of me that I fled away or
prayed for peace.”
Then Signy wept right sorely, and prayed that she might not go back
to King Siggeir, but King Volsung answered “You shall surely go back to
your husband, and live with him, however it fares with us.”
So Signy went home, and they stayed there that night. But in the
morning, as soon as it was day, Volsung bade his men arise and go
ashore and make them ready for battle. So they went ashore, all of them
armed, and had not long to wait before Siggeir fell on them with all
his army, and the fiercest fight there was between them; and Siggeir
cried on his men to the onset all he might. The tale tells that King
Volsung and his sons went eight times right through Siggeir’s folk that
day, smiting and hewing on either hand, but when they were about to do
so even once again (the ninth time), King Volsung fell amidst his folk and all his men
also, saving his ten sons, for mightier was the power against them than
they could withstand.
Now are all Volsung's sons taken, and bound in chains and led away.
Signy was aware also that her father was slain, and her brothers taken
and doomed to death. So she called King Siggeir apart to talk with her,
and said,
“I am not going to pray life for my brothers because I know well
that my prayer will not avail me. But this will I pray of you, that you
do not slay them hastily, but let them be set awhile in the stocks, for
home to me comes the proverb that says, ‘Sweet to the eye while seen’.”
Then answered Siggeir “You pray more woe for your brothers than their
present slaying. Yet this will I grant you, for the better it pleases
me the more they must bear, and the longer their pain is before death
come to them.”
Now he let it be done even as Signy had asked, and a mighty beam was
brought and set on the feet of those ten brethren in a certain place of
the wild-wood, and there they sit day-long until night. At midnight, as
they sat in the stocks, there came on them a she-wolf from out the
wood; old she was, both great and evil of aspect; and the first thing
she did was to bite one of those brethren till he died, and then she
ate him up also, and went on her way. The next morning Signy sent a man
to her brothers, even one whom she most trusted, to learn of the news.
When he came back he told her that one of them was dead, and great and
grievous she thought it if they should all fare in like manner, and yet
nothing might she benefit them.
Soon is the tale told of this: nine nights together came the
she-wolf at midnight, and each night slew and ate one of the brethren,
until all were dead save Sigmund only. So now, before the tenth night
came, Signy sent that trusty man to Sigmund, her brother, and gave
honey into his hand, bidding him do it over Sigmund’s face, and set
some of it in his mouth. So he went to Sigmund and did as he was
bidden, and then came home again. That night came the she-wolf
according to her wont, and would slay him and eat him even as his
brothers. But now she sniffs the breeze from him, since he was anointed
with the honey, and licks his face all over with her tongue, and then
thrusts her tongue into the mouth of him. No fear he had of this, but
caught the she-wolf’s tongue between his teeth, and so hard she started
back thereat, and pulled herself away so mightily, setting her feet
against the stock that all was broken asunder; but he ever held so fast
that the tongue came away by the roots, and of this she had her ruin.
Some men say that this same she-wolf was the mother of King Siggeir,
who had turned herself into this likeness by troll’s lore and
witchcraft.
Now once Sigmund is loosed and the stocks are broken, he dwells in the
woods and holds himself there. But Signy sends yet again to learn of
the news, whether Sigmund were alive or no. But when those who were
sent came to him, he told them all as it had happened, and how things
had gone between him and the wolf; so they went home and tell Signy the
tidings. Then she goes and finds her brother, and they take counsel in
such manner as to make a house underground in the wild-wood. And so
things go on a while, Signy hiding him there, and sending him such
things as he needed; but King Siggeir thought that all the Volsungs
were dead.
Now Siggeir had two sons by his wife, of which it is
told that when the eldest was ten winters old, Signy sends him to
Sigmund, so that he might give him help if he would in any manner
strive to avenge his father. So the youngling goes to the wood and
comes late in evening-tide to Sigmund’s earth-house; and Sigmund
welcomed him in seemly fashion, and said that he should make ready
their bread; “But I,” said he, “will go seek firewood.”
Thereupon he gives the flour-bag into the boy’s hands while he
himself went to fetch firewood. In the bag had Sigmund hidden a snake
whereby to test the boy’s courage. But when he came back the youngling
had done nothing at the bread-making. Then asks Sigmund if the bread be
ready - Says the youngling, “I dared not set hand to the sack, because
something living lay in the flour.”
Now Sigmund believed that the lad was of no such heart as that he
would be keen to have him for his fellow; and when he met his sister,
Sigmund said that he was no nearer to having the aid of a man though
the youngling were with him. Then said Signy, “Take him and kill him
then; for why should such a one live any longer?” and even so he did.
So this winter wears away, and the next winter Signy sent her next son
to Sigmund; and there is no need to make a long tale of this, for in
like manner went all things, and he slew the child by the asking of
Signy.
So it befell that, as Signy sat in her apartment, there came to her a
witch-wife exceeding cunning, and Signy talked with her in such manner,
“Keen am I,” says she, “that we should change likenesses together.”
She says, “Even as you will then.”
And so by her wiles she brought it about that they changed
likenesses, and now the witch-wife sits in Signy’s place according to
her council, and goes to bed by the king that night, and he knows not
that he has other than Signy beside him.
But the tale tells of Signy, that she went to the earth house of her
brother, and prayed him give her shelter for the night; “For I have
gone astray in the woods, and know not where I am going.”
So he said she might stay, and that he would not refuse shelter to
one lone woman, assuming that she was unlikely to pay back his good
cheer by tale-bearing. So she came into the house, and they sat down to
meat, and his eyes were often on her. A goodly and fair woman she
seemed to him; but when they are full, then he says to her, that he is
keen that they should have but one bed that night. She in no way
disliked this idea, and so for three nights together he laid her in bed
with him.
Thereafter she went home, and found the witch-wife and bade her change likenesses again, and she did so.
Now as time wears, Signy brings forth a man-child who was named
Sinfjotli, and when he grew up he was both big and strong, and fair of
face, and much like unto the kin of the Volsungs. He was hardly yet ten
winters old when she sent him to Sigmund’s earth-house. But this trial
she had made of her other sons before she had sent them to Sigmund,
that she had sewed gloves onto their hands through flesh and skin, and
they had borne it ill and cried out. This she now did to Sinfjotli, and
he changed countenance in no way. Then she tore off the cuff so that
skin came off with the sleeves, and said that this would be torment
enough for him; but he said, “Full little would a Volsung have felt
such a smart this.”
So the lad came to Sigmund, and Sigmund bade him knead their flour
up, while he goes to fetch firewood. So he gave him the flour-sack, and
then went after the wood, and by then he came back had Sinfjotli made
an end of his baking. Then asked Sigmund if he had found nothing in the
flour.
“I thought that there was something living in the flour when I
first fell to kneading of it, but I have kneaded it all up together,
both the flour and that which was therein, whatsoever it was.”
Then Sigmund laughed out, he said, “Nothing will you eat of this
bread to-night, for the most deadly of serpents have you kneaded up
with it.”
4. The Primal Norse / Viking Myths
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The War Between the Aesir and Vanir
In keeping with all other known Stone Age societies, the early Norse
folk seem to have worshipped various mother-goddesses such as Danu,
Freya and Nerthus. Sometime, during the millennia immediately before
the beginnings of recorded history, there was evidently a massive and
world-wide shift to ‘left brain dominance’ [reason in place of
intuition] and the establishment of patriarchal societies based on
diminance by hunter/warrior groups. This is reflected in mythology by a
universal shift from the worship of female ‘mother goddesses’ to the
elevation of male ‘chieftain gods’ such as The Dagda, Thor, Osiris,
Zeus and Tane. In the Norse tradition, this shift (from
farmer-dominance to dominance by vikings) takes the form of a war
between the Vanir (old agricultural fertility gods) and the Aesir
(newer, more warlike, and more patriarchal, Viking gods).80 It is not
clear, from the literature, when this war was meant to have happened, but the most complete
Norse creation myths feature the
Aesir religion of the later Vikings rather than the Vanir myths of the
earlier Norse. For this reason, I place the war before the Viking version of the creation.
The war between the
Aesir and Vanir was triggered because the
Vanir dis [goddess], Gullveig, had an excessive love of gold; gold was
all she talked
about. The Aesir were tired of hearing her incessant chatter, so they
tied her up in Odin's hall (probably gagging her as well) and stabbed
her with spears.
Then they burned Gullveig three times in a magical fire, but each time she
was reborn. The Vanir nevertheless demanded reparation from the Aesir
for the torture. Instead of meeting the Vanir's demand, the Aesir (who were probably looking for a show of strength anyway) went
to war against them. The Vanir, however, quickly gained the upper hand in the
war. The warlike Aesir were suffering one defeat after another before
they agreed to end hostility and grant the Vanir equal status with them
(despite there being no evidience that the Vanir ever had a lesser
status!). The
peace was followed by strange ritual where members of the two sides
spat in a
vessel. From the combined saliva in the vessel created a new being -
Kvasir. This was followed by a hostage exchange to ensure that peace
was kept on both sides. The
Vanir Njörd (Njord) and his son Freyr were the Aesir's hostages
accompanied by Kvasir, the wisest Van. The Vanir in turn received
Hoenir (or Vili) and Mimir (the wisest of the Aesir) as hostages.
At first the
Vanir were happy with the exchange because they thought that Vili and
Mimir were both wise advisers. They soon realised, however, that
Vili/Hoenir was not very smart at all and Mimir had been secretly
giving him the advice that he passed on. The Vanir felt cheated.
They couldn't take their anger out on Vili, the dumb one, because he
was Odin's brother. So they decapitated Mimir (the smart one!) and
returned his head to the Aesir. The
Aesir did not retaliate in kind. Instead, Odin had the head preserved
and used it to gain knowledge - he became smarter while the Vanir, who
really can't have been that smart to begin with, lost their wisest
adviser, From this point onwards, the Aesir, and the Vanir hostages who
moved in with the Aesir, were defintely the top gods.
The
Vanir hostages, Njörd, and his son and daughter, Freyr and Freyja, were greatly
honoured by the Aesir, who gave them places among them as 'honorary Aesir.'
However, the mother of Freyr and Freyja was Njörd's own sister (who was
unnamed). Incest and marriage between siblings were freely allowed in Vanaheim,
but were not well regarded in Asgard.18 So when Njörd went to Asgard with his children, he
had to give up his sister-wife. According to the short passage in
Vafthrudnismal (Lay of Vafthrudnir), Njörd will return home to Vanaheim
when the Aesir gods fight the frost-giants at Ragnarök.
According to the Gylfaginning (in the Icelandic Prose Edda), Odin
was the first god but he was far from the first being; that
honour went to Ymir, a giant. Before the
creation, it was the morning of time, when yet nothing was, nor sand nor sea
was there, nor cooling streams. Earth was not found, nor Heaven above;
a Yawning-gap (Ginnungagap) there was, but grass nowhere. This 'gap' Niflheim (the world of ice) far to the north and Muspelheim (the world
of fire) far to the south, was a void like the Greek Chaos
or the Korekore of Maori myth except that it was bordered. Out of this
primeval chaos the first being (Ymir) came into existence from the water that
formed as mist or fog when ice fingers from Niflheim met the fire from
Muspelheim.
| Many ages ere the earth was
shapen was Niflheim made, but first was that land in the southern
sphere hight Muspell, that burns and blazes, and may not be trodden by
those who are outlandish and have no heritage there. Surtr sits on the
border to guard the land; at the end of the world he will fare forth,
and harry and overcome all the gods and burn the world with fire. Ere
the races were yet mingled, or the folk of men grew, Yawning-gap, which
looked towards the north parts, was filled with thick and heavy ice and
rime19, and everywhere within were fog and gusts; but the south side of
Yawning-gap lightened by the sparks and gledes that flew out of
Muspell-heim; as cold arose out of Niflheim and all things grim, so was
that part that looked towards Muspell hot and bright; but Yawning-gap
was as light as windless air, and when the blast of heat met the rime,
so that it melted and dropped and quickened; from those life- drops
there was shaped the likeness of a man, and he was named Ymir.20 |
The primeval being, Ymir, was a giant (called Aurgelmir by other frost-giants) and 'bad'
- like all his kind in Norse (and most other) myth. When Ymir slept he fell into a
sweat; there grew under his left hand a male and female giant, and one of his
feet bred a son (Hrimthursar) with the other foot.
The
next time that the rime melted the cow called 'Audhumla' was
made of it; but four milk-rivers ran out of her teats. This cow fed
Ymir. She also licked rime-stones that were salt, and the first day there
came at evening, out of the stones, a man’s hair, the second day a man’s
head, the third day all the man was there. He is named Turi; he was
fair of face, great and mighty; he begot a son named Bor, who took to him
Besla (or Bestla), daughter of Bolthorn the giant, and they had three sons, Odin,
Vili, and Ve.
So far, we
have a bunch of giants and a cow. The sons of Bor and Besla were the first
gods (although how this came about is not said). These sons slew Ymir,
the primeval giant, and when he fell there
ran so much blood out of his wounds that all the kin of the Hrimthursar
were drowned, except for Hvergelmir and his household, who got away in
a
boat (shades of Noah and the Ark!?).21 Then Bor’s sons took Ymir and carried him into the midst of
Yawning-gap, and made of him the earth; of his blood seas and waters,
of his flesh earth was made; they set the earth fast, and laid the sea
round about it in a ring without; of his bones were made rocks; stones
and pebbles of his teeth and jaws and the bones that were broken; they
took his skull and made the lift thereof, and set it up over the earth
with four sides, and under each corner they set dwarfs, and they took
his brain and cast it aloft, and made clouds. They took the sparks and
embers that had escaped from Muspellheim, and set
them in the sky to give light; they gave resting-places to all fires,
and set some in the sky; some lived free under it, and they gave them
a place and shaped their goings. A wondrous great smithying, and deftly
done. The earth is fashioned round without, and there beyond, round
about it lies the deep sea; and on that sea-strand the gods gave land
for an abode to the giant kind, but within on the earth made they a
barrier round the world against restless giants, and for this barrier reared
they the brows of Ymir, and called the enclosure Midgard.
Midgard (Middle enclosure - the home of humankind)
Midgard (Middle enclosure) was the home of human beings. It was also called Manheim,
Mannheim or Manna-heim (the home of mankind).
After the three gods,
Odin, Hœnir (Vili) and Lodur (Ve), created Midgard, they started to
create the human race from the tree trunks that they came upon at the
'sea-strand' [beach]. From an ash and an elm, respectively, they made the bodies of Ask or Askr ('Ash'), the first human man, and Embla ('Elm') the first human man. When Odin and
his brothers created the bodies of Ask and Embla, each god gave them
gift. Odin gave
them the gift of breath [animus]; Vile (Hœnir)
gave them 'wit and will to move'understanding and spirit; Ve (Lodur) gave them senses and outward
appearance. 25a
Next Bor’s three sons made themselves a
place in the midst of the world, that is called Asgard; there lived the
gods and their kind, and undertook many feats both on
earth and in the sky.
Asgard (Home of the Aesir)
Asgard (As Enclosure) was the home of the Aesir gods and goddesses.24 Twelve palaces or halls were built for each of the
more prominent As. Asgard was only one of Nine Worlds in the Norse
universe. Between Asgard and the Gianthome, there was a large dense
forest, called Mirkwood or Myrkwood.
The only
entrance to Asgard was through the 'Rainbow Bridge' called Bifrost
(Bilfrost). Another name for Bifrost was Ásabrú ('As-bridge'). The red
arc in the rainbow is actually burning fire so to make the bridge
impassable for mountain-giants and frost-giants. The responsibility of
guarding the entrance was entrusted to Heimdall.
Halls of the Gods.
Most of these are within the walls of Asgard. But Freyr, as prince of
the elves, has his home in Alfheim, which is the world of the elves.
| Deity |
Hall |
Description
|
| Odin |
Valaskjalf |
The hall that contained Odin's throne, Hlidskjalf. The roof of Valaskjalf was made out
of silver |
| Odin |
Valhalla |
The hall of Odin's half of the slain heroes, who wait for the coming of Ragnarök.25 While Odin was seated in the hall of
Valhalla, he was known as by the name Valfather, meaning the 'Father
of the Slain'. |
| Frigg |
Fensalir |
The palace which no one can enter without the permission of her attendant, Fulla. |
Thor
|
Thrudvangar |
This palace had 540 apartments, and the main hall was called Bilskirnir. |
| Njord |
Nóatún |
The coastal home of Njord (sea god) |
| Freyr |
Alfheim |
The home of the elves, where Freyr was their lord. |
| Freyja |
Folkvang
|
Freyja's palace ('Field of Folk'); the hall where her half of the slain heroes reside until Ragnarok
|
Freyja
|
Sessrumnir |
Freyja herself resided in this hall. |
| Heimdall |
Himinbiorg |
Hall that was located near the Bifrost, the 'Rainbow Bridge' |
| Balder |
Breidablik |
Balder and his wife Nanna lived in Breidablik. |
| Forseti |
Glitnir |
The hall in which Forseti presided as judge for gods and men. |
Asyniur
|
Vingolf |
A beautiful sanctuary for the Asyniur [goddesses], and maybe also righteous folk to live. Another name for Vingolf
('Friendly floor') is Gimle, and it was a
Norse version of the Elysian Fields or the Blessed Isle. The Prose Edda says that
Vingolf or Gimle was the fairest of places, located on the southernmost
end of heaven. Other writtings set in Vingolf in Idavoll (the centre of Asgard) |
Aesir
|
Gladsheim |
The biggest and best building in Asgard; also set at the centre (Idavoll). Gladshein was a
temple with twelve thrones, and everything seemed to be made of gold |
A giant named Hrimthurs built the burg ('walls') around Asgard. Hrimthurs had
disguised himself as a man. The giant claimed that he could build walls
around Asgard within a single winter if the gods give him the sun (Sol)
and moon (Mani) as payment if he completed the walls in time, as well
as Freyja as his wife. Loki believing that the giant could never finish
fortifying Asgard in one winter, so he persuaded the gods to accept the
wager. The reason why Hrimthurs could build the walls so quickly was
that he has a gigantic, magical horse called, Svadilfari. This mighty
horse helped Hrimthurs move large blocks of rock.
Few days before
winter was over, Hrimthurs had almost completed the entire wall. The
gods realised that they would likely lose the wager, and threatened to
punish Loki for making them accept the bet in the first place. So they
forced to Loki to ruin Hrimthurs' bet. Loki transformed himself into a
beautiful mare so he could distract Svadilfari. Hrimthurs lost control
over Svadilfari when the giant stallion began to pursue the mare
(Loki). Without Svadilfari, Hrimthurs could not complete the walls in
time. Hrimthurs was raging over losing the wager and threatened to
destroy the Asgard and the gods. During his rage, Hrimthurs lost his
disguise, revealing to the Aesir that he was truly a giant, not a
human. Thor killed Hrimthurs with his mighty hammer.
Some months
later Loki brought back to Asgard an eight-legged colt, named Sleipnir,
offspring of Svadilfari and himself. Sleipnir became he
magical steed of Odin. Sleipnir had sired many famous horses; among
them was Grani, the horse of the Germanic hero Sigurd.
In Asgard, Odin sat in his high seat, seeing over the whole
world and each man’s doings, and knew all things that he saw. His wife
was called Frigg, and their offspring are the Asir godswho dwell in
Asgard and the realms about it. The daughter and wife of Odin was Earth (Jord or Nerthus), and through her he fathered Thor.
Baldr (Balder) is
Odin’s second son; Tyr (who, historically, was the first Norse/German
Allfather), came next, followed by Bragi. The 'black sheep' of the
Aesir family was Loki (described in the Edda
as 'fair of face,
ill in temper and fickle of mood'...the backbiter of the Asa,
and speaker of evil redes and shame of all gods and men) When humans
and their gods come to an end at Ragnarok, Loki will kill Odin. The frost giants lived at Jötunheim
(Jotunheim). Midgard was the world for humans. Alfheim was home of the
light elves, and there was an underground world for the black elves,
called Svartalfheim. The dwarves inhabited the world of Nidavellir.
The Nine Viking Worlds
Niflheim
|
home of ice22 |
| Muspelheim |
home of fire and the fire giants |
| Asgard |
enclosure of the Aesir |
| Vanaheim |
home of the Vanir |
| Jötunheim |
home of the giants |
| Midgard |
(Middle enclosure) - home of mankind |
| Alfheim |
home of the light elves (the ljósálfar) |
| Svartalfheim |
home of the black elves (the svartálfar) |
| Nidavellir |
dwelling place of the dwarves
|
There is also an Underworld (Niflhel or Hel, and not to be confused with Niflheim) for those who die or sickness or old age (those who die in battle go to Valhalla
or Folkvang). Unlike those in Valhalla and Folkvang, those in
Niflhel are never given a second chance at Ragnarok. In Gylfaginning 3 it says 'evil men go to Hel and thence down to the Misty Hel; and that is down in the ninth world.'
Yggdrasill ('the ash tree of Ygg')
The nine worlds are integrated by a great ash tree - the World Tree
called Yggdrasill. Yggdrasil got its name ('the ash tree horse of Ygg')
when Ygg (Odin) hung himself on it for nine days in order to learn the
secrets of creation (see Odin's Self-sacrifice). One root of Yggdrasil is in Asgard, and under the root is
the holy spring (Urdarbrunnr) beside which he gods hold counsel and make judgements every day. The second
root extends extends
either to Muspelheim (the world of fire and home of the fire-giants) or, according to the Prose Edda, to Hrimthursar (which is where the Yawning Gap used to be); under that
root is Mimir’s spring (Mimibrunnr),
where knowledge and wit lie hidden (in his search for wisdom, Allfather
goes to Mimibrunnr and begs a drink, but doesn't get it before he
sacrifices his eye. The third root is over Niflheim, and the worm
Nidhogg
gnaws the root beneath. Eventually, when Ragnarök arrives, Nidhogg (who also sucks on the
bodies of the dead) will eat its way through the root and that will
cause Yggdrasill to collapse.
Inside the trunk of Yggdrasil are the seeds of two human beings. These
will lie dormant until Ragnarök after which they will become the
ancestors of a new race of mortals who will populate the new world.
Besides the three roots of Yggdrasill, there were three wells: Urdarbrunnr, Mimibrunnr, and Hvergelmir.
(1) The
first well, Urdarbrunnr ('Urda's well''), was guarded by three great Norns: Urda ('Has-been' or'Past'), Verdandi ('Being' or 'Present') and Skuld
('Will-be' or 'Future').
These great Norns shape the fate [weird] of human persons. Urda's Well - the Well of Fate - was considered to be very holy.
Two
swans drink from this well.The Norns also cared for the root near the Weird's Well - the one that
goes to Asgard. Every day, the Norns take water from the holy well,
pouring it onto the root and soil (or, some say, making a mud plaster)
so that at least this root doesn't rot or decay like the other roots.
The mud was white in colour and caused honeydew to fall to the earth,
keeping the valley around the well to be forever green. On some
accounts, this honeydew was the source of the golden mead on which
warriors feast in Valhalla. Each day, the
Aesir sit at court by Weird's Well. Horses take the Aesir to this
court. Odin rides Sleipnir. Ten other horses were given names: Glad,
Gyllir, Glær, Skeidbrimir, Silfrtopp, Sinir, Gils, Falhofnir, Gulltopp
(belonging to Heimdall) and Lettfet. Balder's horse was burned with
him. Apart from Sleipnir and Gulltopp, no specific horses were assigned
to a particular god. The Aesir must ride across Bifrost (Rainbow
Bridge) to reach Weird's Well. Thor doesn't bother to ride to the
court; he walks and wades through the rivers, Kormat and Ormt and two
Kerlaugs.
(2) The second well
was Mímisbrunnr (Mimisbrunnr or the 'Well of Mimir'), which was also
known as the 'Well of Knowledge'. The well was said to be guarded by
the Aesir god named Mimir, a Norse god of wisdom (see the Well of
Knowledge) On some accounts, a root
from Midgard grew down to this well, but the usual story is that
Mimisbrunnr had its source in Giantland).
(3) The third well
was called Hvergelmir or 'Roaring Kettle'. Hvergelmir has its source in
Niflhiem.
Many animals dwelled around Yggdrasill. There were countless snakes
living with Nidhogg at Nastrond (the shore of corpses) in Niflheim.
From above, four harts or stags - Dain, Duneyr, Durathror and Dvalin -
feed on the foliage.23 Perched on one of the branches was a great eagle,
wise beyond its years. A hawk, called Vedrfolnir, sits between the eyes
of the eagle. A squirrel called Ratatosk runs up and down the great ash
tree, delivering malicious messages between the eagle above and Nidhogg
below.
Yggdrasil itself is not a well tree. As it says in Gylfaginning 16,
Ash Yggdrasill | suffers anguish,
More than men know of:
The stag bites above; | on the side it rots,
And Nídhöggr gnaws from below.
More serpents lie | under Yggdrasill's stock
Than every unwise ape can think:
Góinn and Móinn | (they're Grafvitnir's sons),
Grábakr and Grafvölludr;
Ófnir and Sváfnir | I think shall aye
Tear the trunk's twigs.
Half of those men who have fallen in fight, and borne wounds
and toil unto death, from the beginning of the world, go to Odin
in Valhalla; a very great throng is there, and many more shall yet come;
the flesh of the boar Soerfmnir is boiled for them to eat every day, and he is
whole again at even. The mead they drink that flows from the teats
of the she-goat Heidhrun. The meat Odin has on his board he gives to
his two wolves, Geri and Freki, and he needs no meat, wine is to him
both meat and drink; ravens twain sit on his shoulders, and say into
his ear all tidings that they see and hear; they are called Huginn and
Muninn (mind and memory); them sends he at dawn to fly over the whole
world, and they come back at breakfast-tide, thereby becomes he wise in
many tidings, and for this men call him Raven’s-god. Every day, when
they have clothed them, the heroes put on their arms and go out into
the yard and fight and fell each other; that is their play, and when it
looks toward mealtime, then ride they home to Valhall and sit down to
drink.
Valhalla (the Asgard Hall of Fallen Heroes)
Valhalla, or 'Hall of the Heroes', the best-known hall in Asgard, was a
residency belonging to Odin (or Val-father, 'Father of the Slain', as
he was known in this hall). It was where half the dead warriors, known as
Einherjar (Einheriar), resided and awaited the arrival of Ragnarök. The
Einherjar would fight alongside the Aesir at Ragnarök.
When the bravest
warriors were killed in battle or combat, they were brought to Valhalla
by group of women warriors known as the Valkyries. these 'Choosers (or Carriers) of the Slain' served Odin by going through the
battlefield choosing slain warriors who would be suited to fight in
Ragnarök and therefore could have a place in Valhalla. While the
Valkyries are in Valhalla, they are known as Mead-Maidens because they
are responsible for serving the golden mead to Odin and the
Einherjar along the long tables at Valhalla. The mead comes from the
goat Heidrun that feeds from the foliage of branches of tree called
Lerad. Each day, the goat's udder would fill the vat with mead.
Andhrimnir, the
cook of Valhalla, prepared the meal for the Einherjar at valahalla. Andhrimnir
boiled a wild boar, called Sæhrimnir, in a great cooking pot,
Eldhrimnir. The meat of Sæhrimnir always rejuvenated the warriors at
night. Each day Sæhrimnir was cooked before it was served but, by
morning of the next day, the wild boar was whole and ready to be cooked
again. Odin usually dined with his warriors, but he never ate any meat
placed before him. Odin would give his meat to the two wolves, Geri and
Freki, that rest at his feet. Odin only drank wine with the dead
warriors (although, obviously, he must eat the Apples of Youth outside
of Valahalla, and along with all the other gods, to keep himself in
good nick).
The Prose Edda says that while the Einherjar wait for Ragnarök, they fight each other
in a sort of mock battle during the day; men are killed and wounded in these battles, but at night they enjoy a
great feast before resting in their beds. In the morning, the Einherjar
woke to the crowing of a cock called Salgofnir, which was perched on
the rooftop of Valhalla. The Edda says that Valhalla had overlapping
shields for a roof, held up by the spear-shafts as rafters. There were
540 doors. And from each of the doors eight hundred warriors could
enter or leave the hall. Instead of torch-fires, the great hall was lit
by the glowing blades of swords. Mail shirts were strewn on the
benches. In front of the western doors there hanged a wolf. Hovering
above Valhalla was a single eagle. There was also a tree standing in
front of the doors of Valhalla; the tree was called Glasir, because of
the red-gold foliage.
Odin
discovered, very soon after he became the top god, that he, and most of
his creation, were fated to die at Ragnarok (not the kind of news that
your average young god wants to hear in his first day on the job).
Understandably unimpressed by this, he set out on a quest for wisdom.
He had several means of gaining news from around the world. One of
these was two ravens - Hugin ('Thought') and Munin
('Memory'). These two birds fly throughout the world every day. Then
they flew back giving Odin news of what was happening around the world.
Meanwhile, Odin himself he sat on Hlidskialf, his throne, in the hall
of Valaskialf. Hlidskialf allowed Odin to see what was happening around
the world without moving from the throne. These, however, gave him only
information, and what he wanted was wisdom - no matter what. He would
try
anything; resorting to deception, betrayal, and murder if need
be, in an (finally unsuccessful) attempt to find a way of circumventing
the
destruction of the gods and the world he helped to create. As well as
his more extreme measures, he tried to
gain knowledge and power by speaking to wise people, such as seers,
prophets, kings, and philosophers.26
Well of Knowledge
The Well of Knowledge was near one of the three roots of Yggdrasill
(the World Tree that integrated the nine worlds). The
roots extended from three of the worlds: one from Asgard, one from the
world of the frost giants (Jotunheim) and one from Niflheim. The root
near Neflheim tapped the well called Hvergelmir. The root that reached
the Asgard tapped Urd's Well, a holy well where
the gods often held court. The root that extended over the frost
giants' world tapped a
well that was called Mímisbrunnr or 'Mimir's Well', because it was
guarded by Mimir. Mimir was wise because he frequently drank from the
well. But the price of drinking from that well was not small. Heimdall,
guardian of Bifrost (Rainbow Bridge) in Asgard, had given up one of his
ears (or, at least, an earlobe) for one drink
from the Well of Knowledge. Odin gave
up one of his eyes.
In another version of how Odin
gained knowledge from Mimir starts with the Aesir war against the
Vanir. To end the war, and concentrate their combined energies against
the giants, the
Aesir and Vanir exchanged hostages. Mimir
was one of the hostages for the Vanir, as well as Hoenir (Vili), the
brother of Odin. The Aesir received Njörd and Freyr, Njord's son.
Vili/Hoenir was a handsome and noble looking As, but not that bright. Every
decision Hoenir made seemed highly thought out only because Mimir had been
there to advise him. When Mimir was absent, Hoenir either gave
strange advice during the meeting or wanted to wait for Mimir's return.
The Vanir grew increasingly suspicious of Hoenir's intelligence. When
their suspicions that Hoenir was not really intelligent were confirmed,
they felt cheated. The Vanir were angry enough to cut off Mimir's head
and send it back to the Aesir (they left Hoenir unharmed since he was
Odin's brother). Odin preserved Mimir's decapitated head with herbs so
that it would not decay. If there was anything that Odin wished to
know, all he had to do was talk to the bodiless head. Odin often
received counsel from Mimir's talking head.
Mead of Poetry (Kvasir)
As part of a hostage exchange between Aesir and Vanir, after the war between the gods, Kvasir (the wisest of the
Vanir), joined Njörd and his son Freyr as hostages to the Aesir.
Receiving these three gods had gained Aesir greater status. Odin and
the other Aesir gave these three gods a prominent place among them. Kvasir,
who had been formed from the spit of the two sets of gods, was so wise
that he seemed to know everything. He travelled throughout the world
teaching people of his knowledge. However, two dwarfs, named Fjalar and
Galar, tired of his continuous teaching and killed him.
The two dwarfs
poured Kvasir's blood in Odrerir, which was two vats and a pot. The
vats were also called Bodn and Son. By mixing the blood with honey, the
dwarfs brewed a mead with special power. The mead allowed anyone who
drank it to acquire knowledge and magical skills in poetry that came
from Kvasir's memory in a kind of primitive homeopathy. The mead became an invaluable source of divine
wisdom and it was called the Mead of Poetry or Mead of Inspiration.
One day, the
dwarfs gained the company of a giant named Gilling as they sailed along
the coast. When the boat capsized, Gilling fell into the sea and
drowned. Gilling's unnamed wife grieved for husband's death. The
dwarfs, tiring of the widow of Gilling's constant and loud grieving,
tricked her into joining them in a boat; there Galar killed her with a
millstone. The giant Suttung, hearing of her mother's murder, captured
the two dwarfs. Suttung only spared and released them when they offered
the giant their precious mead.
Suttung knew
about the magical properties of the Mead of Poetry and took
the Odrerir home to Hnitbiorg. The mead was kept in a cave at the
mountain. Suttung, wanting it all for himself, placed his daughter
Gunnlod to guard it. Odin learned of the mead and set out to gain it
disguised as farm hand and calling himself Bolverk. He worked for
Baugi, the brother of Suttung, in return for a drink of the mead. Odin
worked the fields for a winter and a summer, completing the work of
nine men. Baugi, who also wanted a drink from the mead, agreed that
Bolverk/Odin should be paid, but Suttung refused. Odin then tricked
Baugi into boring a hole through the mountain, using Odin's auger
(called rati), hoping to get to the mead. Once the hole was made, Odin
transformed himself into a snake and crawled through it. Baugi realised
he had been tricked and try to kill the snake (Odin), but failed. In
the cave, Odin found the giantess guarding the mead. For three nights,
Odin pleasured Gunnlod in bed as only a god can and, each night, she
would allow him to
take one drink of the mead. Odin took only one draught, but he
completely drained the pot of Odrerir in the first night, then the vat
Bodn in the second night. On the third night, Odin drained the second
vat Son in one draught. Then he flew out of the cave in the form of an
eagle. Suttung, seeing the eagle, also transformed himself into an
eagle and gave chase. The Aesir already had containers ready at Asgard.
As Odin flew over the containers, he spat the mead into them. Then, to
escape Suttung, he spat the rest of the mead behind him. Anyone below
him received a share of the mead, whether they were Aesir or mortals,
and became skilled in poetry.27
Odin's Self-sacrifice
The alphabet used by the Norse folk (and a number of other germanic folk in northern
and western Europe from around the 2nd century bc to the 13th century
AD) consisted of a set of Runes.
Like all forms of writing among pre-literate or illiterate folk, the
runes were thought to have magical powers (in Norse myth, as elsewhere
in the world, writing is thought to be of divine origin).
They were often used as a ward or charm, particularly on swords and
spears. In the Völsungasaga, Gudrun carves some runic scripts on her
ring (Andvaranaut) to warn her brothers about the treachery of her
second husband, Atli.
In the Eddiac poem, Sigrdrifumal
('Lay of Sigrdrifa'), the Valkyrie Sigrdrifa (otherwise known as
Brynhild) was punished for letting the wrong king die in battle, so
Odin had drugged her to sleep. She would have to marry a mortal when
she was wakened, but she refused to marry anyone unless he was a hero
who had no fear. Sigrdrifa informed Odin that she would teach this hero
about the runes of power. In lines 5-19 of the Lay, Sigrdrifa lists
several spells using runes. They were victory-runes, ale-runes,
helping-runes, sea-runes, limb-runes, speech-runes, mind-runes and
book-runes. When you wish
for victory in battle or combat. Sigrdrifa suggested that victory-runes
should
be cut into sword's hilts, blade-guard and plates, then invoking the
name of Tyr (Tyr was the god of war, though Odin also used the name
Tyr,
such as Sigtyr, which means god of victory or god of war). There are
archaeological evidences
of such runes inscribed on blades, sword hilts, or
spear shafts. Runes were
also used for divination. They were used to supposedly foretell the
future in much the same way as the methods of casting lots, numerology
and the tarot cards. The Roman historian Tactius, recorded that the
Germanic tribes used casting lots for divinatory purpose. The used
barks or small piece of woods on which they marked symbols (probably,
but not certainly, runes).
These were then cast on the white cloth. Three symbols were chosen and
the priest, shaman, or Wise-woman, would interpret the three symbols.
Some superstitious folk still cast the runes in this manner.
Odin tried to learn the supposed magic of the runes, hoping to find a
secret that will help in Ragnarök. The Norse folk believed that a person could learn the magic spells
from the runes only if you were dead. Since it was Odin who wanted to
learn the runes, a sacrifice was needed. Odin paid the sacrifice
himself. In a poem in the Elder Edda called Havamal (Words of the High
One) Odin describes his sacrifice of himself to himself in his search for
the secret wisdom of the dead.
139. I know that I hung | on the windy tree,
Hung there for nights full nine;
With the spear I was wounded, | and offered I was
To Odin, myself to myself,
On the tree that none | may ever know
What root beneath it runs.
|
The windy tree, Yggdrasill. This tree got
its name (the ‘ash-tree horse of Ygg’) when Odin (Ygg) hung himself on
it for nine days and nights, 'riding it'.
the spear: Odin's his own spear (Gungnir) |
140. None made me happy | with loaf or horn,
And there below I looked;
I took up the runes, | shrieking I took them,
And forthwith back I fell. |
|
141. Nine mighty songs | I got from the son
Of Bolthorn, Bestla's father;
And a drink I got | of the goodly mead
Poured out from Othrörir. |
mighty songs; probably galðrar (see seid)
Bolthorn, Odin's grandfather. Bestla; his
mother. I don't know the name of the uncle here mentioned, but it has
been suggested that this son of Bolthorn was Mimir (cf. Voluspo,
27 and note).
Othrörir, here used as the name of the vessel
containing the mead. |
142. Then began I to thrive, | and wisdom to get,
I grew and well I was;
Each word led me on | to another word,
Each deed to another deed. |
|
143. Runes shall you find, | and fateful signs,
That the king of singers coloured,
And the mighty gods have made;
Full strong the signs, | full mighty the signs
That the ruler of gods does write. |
|
144. Odin for the gods, | Dain for the elves,
And Dvalin for the dwarfs,
Alsvith for giants | and all mankind,
And some myself I wrote. |
Dain and Dvalin: dwarfs (cf. Voluspo,
14). Dain, however, may here be one of the elves rather than
the dwarf of that name. The two names also appear together in Grimnismol,
33, where they are applied to two of the four harts (male deer) that
nibble at the topmost twigs of Yggdrasil.
Alsvith ('the All Wise')
doesn't appear anywhere else as a giant's name. I have no further information
concerning the list of those who wrote the runes for the various races. |
145. Know you how one shall write, | know you how one shall reckon?
Know you how one shall tint, | know you how one makes trial?
Know you how one shall ask, | know you how one shall offer?
Know you how one shall send, | know you how one shall sacrifice? |
|
This fragment of the Havamalreflects
the ancient idea (common in shamanism) that the
price of great knowledge is great suffering (Odin's drawn-out suffering
can be seen as a type of the scholar’s sacrifice of himself to
himself). As Odin gazed down into
the world of the dead, he slowly perceived eighteen runes through which
he learned to calm storms, heal the sick, speak to the dead and
forecast the future (i.e., just about everything except how yo avert
his fate). Afterwards he carved the runes into wood and stone
and bone. He carved them into the paw of the bear, the claws of the
wolf, and the end of the rainbow. In this way he passed on the runes to
humans.
Odin hung with a rope around
his neck (which is why he acquired the name Hanga-tyr or 'god of the hanged')28
and suffering
from a wound that was inflicted by his own spear. The god
remained there for nine days and nine nights.29 In stanza 140, he learned nine mighty spells from his grandfather Bolthor. The
ninth and final night of Odin's self-sacrifice coincided with the
festival of May Eve (April 30), when Odin mastered
his ninth and final spell, and during which he ritually died.
During this final night, all light was extinguished with his supposed
death.30 It was at this time that chaos and the spirit world reigned
supreme and the witchcraft or sorcery is most potent. Odin's death
lasted until midnight and then light would return to the world. Like
the Celtic Beltane or May Day, the night was celebrated with large
bonfires lighted around the countryside.
Vafthrudnir: Contest of Wisdom
The dialogue in Vafthrudnismal ('Vafthrudnir's Sayings') begins with
Odin telling his wife, Frigg, that he was going to visit the giant
Vafthrudnir, who was reputed to be the wisest of giants. Frigg would
have preferred that Odin stayed at home rather than facing such
powerful giant, but she didn't dissuade him.
Odin arrived at
Vafthrudnir's hall disguised as a human wanderer. He introduced himself
as Gagnrad, seeking the wisdom of Vafthrudnir. Vafthrudnir warned him
that if he was seeking answers, then he should be willing to
answer his (Vafthrudnir's) questions in turn. However, should either
one not be able to answer
any question then that person would lose his head. Vafthrudnir began
asking a series of questions to Odin, and then Odin asked him a set of
questions (18 in all). Most of Vafthrudnir's questions dealt with the
names of
animals (eg. horses), geography (names of rivers), and where the final
battle (Ragnarök) would take place. Odin's questions ranged from the
Creation to Ragnarök. Most interesting are the questions concerning
both events, particularly the human and gods that would survive
Ragnarök; as you would expect, Odin was most interested in the second-to-last
answer, about how he would die. Vafthrudnir told him that Odin would be
swallowed up by the wolf Fenrir but that he would be avenged by Vidar
(Odin's son). With this answer, Odin ended the game with the last
unanswerable question, which was "What did Odin say into the ear of his
son before he mounted the pyre?" Vafthrudnir realised that this Gagnrad
was really Odin in disguise, admitted that he didn't know what Odin
whispered to Balder, Odin's dead son. So the poem ended. Although Odin
won, we don't know what happened to Vafthrudnir after the contest (in
his last stanza, however, Vafthrudnir says that he had answered Odin
with 'fated mouth', probably indicating that he knew his failure meant
his death).
From the beginning, the main enemies of the Aesir
were the frost giants from Jötunheim, the world of giants. However
three creatures (Hel, the Midgard Worm, and Fenrir) were born at that
time to Loki and the giantess Angerboda. These evil and powerful
creatures were restrained by the gods but will break free at the end of
time to attack the gods and their human allies. This battle,
Ragnarök (the Norse Armagedon), is the doom of the gods and men which heralds the destruction
of the Nine Worlds; Originally a phrase ('ragna rök' - 'Gods Doom') it
became a proper name. The phrase ragna rök became
ragnarokkr ('Twilight of the Gods', called Götterdämmerung in German -
rök means 'doom' or 'fate', rökkr means 'twilight'). Nothing will
escape the coming destruction, whether in heaven and on earth, except a
couple of minor gods and the seeds of a future world. The war
will be waged between the good and the evil. The good are the Aesir,
led by Odin, ruler of the gods. The evil are the giants and monsters
led by Loki. The gods already know what is going to happen att Ragnarök
through the prophecy: who will be killed and by whom, who will survive,
what will happen to those in the other world and so forth. But, despite
knowing their fate, they will still defiantly face their destiny,
as brave as any hero in a saga. The Norse gods know what is to come,
and know that, despite Odin's best efforts at finding the right
knowledge, they cannot do anything to prevent the prophecy coming to
pass.31
Ragnarök will
also be heralded by a bitter winter that lasts for three years
with no summer in between the winter seasons. This is known as
fimbul-winter 'mighty winter', snowing from all directions. Throughout
the world, great battles will be fought. All taboos will be broken;
brothers killing one another, and sons murdering their fathers, mostly
out of greed. No kinship would be sacred. This period will be known as
the age of axes, age of swords, age of wolves and age of winds.
The two giant
wolves, Skoll and Hati, will swallow up sun (Sol, who falls to Skoll)
and moon (Moon or Mani, who falls to Hati). Stars will fall out of the
heavens. The giant worm or dragon Nidhogg, that has been gnawing away
at one of the roots of Yggdrasill, will succeed in eating away the root
that supports Niflheim.
Loki, who was
confined in a cavern and punished for his involvement with Balder's
death, will escape from his imprisonment with the help of Surt and lead the giants, and his
monstrous offspring (Hel, Fenrir, and the Midgard Worm) to destroy the gods and mankind. Fenrir will
escape from his magic binding, while the Midgard Worm named Jörmungand
(Jormungand) will escape from his confinement in the sea. Frost giants
and mountain giants will leave their home in Jötunheim, and sail toward
Plain of Vigrid in a ship called Naglfar (made from the fingernails and toenails of dead humans); while the fire giants led by
Surt will leave their fiery home of Muspelheim.
Heimdall will warn the Aesir of Ragnarök by sounding his horn
Gjallahorn (the 'Last Trump'). It will be the sound of doom. The gods
will arm themselves for the war even though they know that they cannot
win. All the slain heroes (Einherjar) who lived in Valhalla and
Folkvang will accompany them. These heroes will now assist the gods in
a hopeless war. Of the Aesir gods, it is said in the Vafthrudnismal
(Lay of Vafthrudnir) that only Njörd will return home to Vanaheim, home
of the Vanir deities.
The battle will
be fought upon the plain of Vigrid. Freyr, without his magical sword
and totally unarmed, will be the first god to fall (to the fire-giant
Surt's flaming sword). The one-handed Tyr will kill the hellhound Garm,
but will be so severely wounded that he will die shortly after the
hound. The contest between Loki and Heimdall will be so evenly matched
that both die from the other's weapons. The thunder-god Thor will smash
the Midgard Worm to death with his mighty Mjollnir, but the conflict
will exact a heavy toll on the god. Thor will succumb to the searing
venom of Jörmungand (the Midgard Worm). Odin will fight with his mighty
spear Gungnir against the monstrous wolf Fenrir. Eventually, Odin
falls, devoured by Fenrir. Silent Vidar, seeing his father fall to the
giant wolf, will tear the wolf's jaws apart with his bare hands. Surt
will then set the world ablaze with his flaming sword. None of the nine
worlds escape from the fire. The earth tries to sink into the sea to
avoid the scorching heat. Gods and men, giants and dwarves will all
perish in the fire that reaches high as the heaven. The sun will darken
and the stars will vanish.
Birth of Another World
Ragnarok
is the end of Odin, Try, Thor, and the human race; there is no
resurrection, no reincarnation, no 'happily ever after' - the dead stay
dead (Hel is destroyed) and the Einherjar (who have been kept alive by
the gods) die what Lewis calls their 'second, final death in good
company.' There will, however, be a new world, and a new time, of which
we will not be part. Balder, the dead god of beauty,
and his blind brother, Hod, will escape from the underworld, and new
life will begin as the earth rises from the
sea. A new sun will rise and
cross the sky; the chariot would be driven by the daughter of Sol or
Alfrodul ('Sun'). It was also believed by some, later, Vikings, that
Vingolf (Gimle) continues
to exist as a haven of food and drink, and that some of younger
Aesir
(e.g., those not specifically named as being killed) will survive.
The seeds of two
mortals have been secreted within Yggdrasil since the creation. During
Ragnarok, the mortals born of these seeds - Lif
(Life) and Lifthrasir (Hungry for Life) - escape the destruction by
hiding themselves in Hoddmimir's wood (wherever that is). Lif and
Lifthrasir (who are probably human-like but may or may not actually be
human) will repopulate the new world where, in the absence of giants
and monsters, they and their offspring should have a better time of it
than we have had.
Voluspá (the 'Wise-woman's Prophecy')
|
1. Hearing I ask | from the holy races,
From Heimdall's sons, | both high and low;
Thou wilt, Valfather, | that well I
relate
Old tales I remember | of men long
ago.34
|
Heimdall's sons, humanity
Valfather, Odin
I,
the völva
(wise-woman)
|
2. I remember yet | the giants of yore,
Who gave me bread | in the days gone by;
Nine worlds I knew,35 | the nine in the tree
With mighty roots | beneath the mould.
|
the tree, Yggdrasil |
3. Of old was the age | when Ymir
lived;
Sea nor cool waves | nor sand there were;
Earth had not been, | nor heaven above,
But a yawning gap, | and grass
nowhere.
|
Ymir, the
giant out of whose body the gods made the world
yawning gap, Ginnungagap |
4. Then Bur's sons lifted | the level
land,
Midgard the mighty | there they
made;
The sun from the south | warmed the stones of earth,
And green was the ground | with growing leeks.36
|
Bur's sons,
Odin, Vili, and Ve.
Midgard
('Middle enclosure'), the world of humans
|
5. The sun, the sister | of the moon, from the south
Her right hand cast | over heaven's rim;
No knowledge she had | where her home should be,
The moon knew not | what might was his,
The stars knew not | where their stations were. |
|
6. Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, | and council held;
Names then gave they | to noon and twilight,
Morning they named, | and the waning moon,
Night and evening, | the years to number. |
|
7. At Ithavoll met | the mighty gods,
Shrines and temples | they timbered high;
Forges they set, and | they smithied ore,
Tongs they wrought, | and tools they fashioned. |
Ithavoll, 'Field of Deeds'? |
8. In their dwellings at peace | they played at tables,37
Of gold no lack | did the gods then know,--
Till thither came | up giant-maids
three,
Huge of might, | out of
Jotunheim.
|
Giant-maids: perhaps the Norns; cf. stanza 20
Jotunheim (Giant home): the world of the giants
|
9. Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, | and council held,
To find who should raise | the race of dwarfs
Out of Brimir's blood | and the legs of Blain.38 |
|
10. There was Motsognir | the mightiest made
Of all the dwarfs, | and Durin next;
Many a likeness | of men they made,
The dwarfs in the earth, | as Durin said. |
|
11. Nyi and Nithi, | Northri and Suthri,
Austri and Vestri, | Althjof, Dvalin,
Nar and Nain, | Niping, Dain,
Bifur, Bofur, | Bombur, Nori,
An and Onar, | Ai, Mjothvitnir.39 |
|
12. Vigg and Gandalf | Vindalf, Thrain,
Thekk and Thorin, | Thror, Vit and Lit,
Nyr and Nyrath,-- | now have I told--
Regin and Rathsvith-- | the list
aright.
|
Regin:
probably not Regin the son of Hreithmar |
13. Fili, Kili, | Fundin, Nali,
Heptifili, | Hannar, Sviur,
Frar, Hornbori, | Fræg and Loni,
Aurvang, Jari, | Eikinskjaldi. |
|
14. The race of the dwarfs | in Dvalin's throng40
Down to Lofar | the list must I tell;
The rocks they left, | and through wet lands
They sought a home | in the fields of sand. |
|
15. There were Draupnir | and Dolgthrasir,
Hor, Haugspori, | Hlevang, Gloin,
Dori, Ori, | Duf, Andvari,41
Skirfir, Virfir, | Skafith, Ai. |
|
16. Alf and Yngvi, | Eikinskjaldi,
Fjalar and Frosti, | Fith and Ginnar;
So for all time | shall the tale be known,
The list of all | the forbears of Lofar. |
|
17. Then from the throng | did three come
forth,
From the home of the gods, | the mighty and gracious;
Two without fate | on the land they found,
Ask and Embla, | empty of
might. |
Three,
presumably Odin, Vili (Hönir?) and Ve (Lothur?)
Ask and
Embla (ash and elm); the first man and woman
|
18. Soul they had not, | sense they had not,
Heat nor motion, | nor goodly hue;
Soul gave Odin, | sense gave Hönir,
Heat gave Lothur | and goodly
hue.
|
Lothur:
possibly an older name for Loki (god of fire) |
19. An ash I know, | Yggdrasil its name,
With water white | is the great tree wet;
Thence come the dews | that fall in the dales,
Green by Urd's well | does it ever grow.42 |
|
20. Thence come the maidens | mighty in
wisdom,
Three from the dwelling | down 'neath the tree;
Urd is one named, | Verthandi the
next,--
On the wood they scored,-- | and Skuld the third.
Laws they made there, and life allotted
To the sons of men, and set their
fates.
|
The
maidens: the three Norns; Urd, Verthandi and Skuld
Urd,
Past, Verthandi (Verdandi), Present43
Skuld, Future |
21. The war I remember, | the first in the world,44
When the gods with spears | had smitten Gollveig,
And in the hall | of Hor had burned her,
Three times burned, | and three times born,
Oft and again, | yet ever she lives.
|
Hor ('The High One'): Odin. |
22. Heith they named her | who sought their home,45
The wide-seeing witch, | in magic wise;
Minds she bewitched | that were moved by her magic,
To evil women | a joy she was. |
|
23. Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, | and council held,
Whether the gods | should tribute give,
Or to all alike | should worship belong.
|
|
24. On the host his spear | did Odin hurl,
Then in the world | did war first come;
The wall that girdled | the gods was broken,
And the field by the warlike | Vanir was trodden |
|
25. Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, | and council held,
To find who with venom | the air had filled,
Or had given Oth's bride | to the giants' brood.46
|
Oth's bride: Freyja |
26. In swelling rage | then rose up
Thor,--
Seldom he sits | when he such things hears,--
And the oaths were broken, | the words and bonds,47
The mighty pledges | between them made.
|
Thor: the
thunder-god, son of Odin and Jord ('Earth') |
27. I know of the horn | of Heimdall, hidden48
Under the high-reaching | holy tree;
On it there pours | from Valfather's pledge
A mighty stream: | would you know yet more? |
|
28. Alone I sat | when the Old One sought me,
he terror of gods, | and gazed in mine eyes:
'What hast thou to ask? | why comest thou hither?
Odin, I know | where thine eye is hidden.'
|
The Old One, Odin |
29. I know where Odin's | eye is hidden,
Deep in the wide-famed | well of Mimir;
Mead from the pledge | of Odin each mom
Does Mimir drink: | would you know yet more? |
|
30. Necklaces had I | and rings from Allfather,
Wise was my speech | and my magic wisdom;
Widely I saw | over all the worlds.
|
Allfather, Odin |
31. On all sides saw I | Valkyries assemble,
Ready to ride | to the ranks of the gods;49
Skuld bore the shield, | and Skogul rode next,
Guth, Hild, Gondul, | and Geirskogul.
Of Herjan's maidens | the list have ye heard,
Valkyries ready | to ride o'er the earth. |
Herjan ('Leader of Hosts'): Odin. |
32. I saw for Baldr, | the bleeding god,50
The son of Odin, | his destiny set:
Famous and fair | in the lofty fields,
Full grown in strength | the mistletoe stood. |
|
33. From the branch which seemed | so slender and fair
Came a harmful shaft | that Hod should hurl;
But the brother of Baldr | was born ere long,
And one night old | fought Odin's son. |
brother of Baldr: Vali, whom Odin begot expressly to avenge Baldr's death. The day after his birth he fought and slew Hod.
|
34. His hands he washed not, | his hair he combed not,
Till he bore to the bale-blaze | Baldr's foe.
But in Fensalir | did Frigg weep sore51
For Valhall's need: | would you know yet more? |
|
35. One did I see | in the wet woods bound,
A lover of ill, | and to Loki like;
By his side does Sigyn | sit, nor is glad
To see her mate:52 | would you know yet more? |
|
36. From the east there pours | through poisoned vales
With swords and daggers | the river
Slith.53
|
Slith
('the Fearful'): a river in the giants' home. |
37. Northward a hall | in
Nithavellir
Of gold there rose | for Sindri's
race;
And in Okolnir | another stood,
Where the giant Brimir | his beer-hall
had.
|
Nithavellir ('the Dark Fields'): a home of the dwarfs
Sindri: the
great goldsmith among the dwarfs.
Okolnir: possibly a volcano.
Brimir: possibly the
giant (Ymir?) out of whose blood the dwarves were made
|
38. A hall I saw, | far from the sun,
On Nastrond it stands, | and the doors face north,
Venom drops | through the smoke-vent down,54
For around the walls | do serpents wind. |
|
39. I saw there wading | through rivers wild
Treacherous men | and murderers too,
And workers of ill | with the wives of men;
There Nithhogg sucked | the blood of the slain,
And the wolf tore men;55 | would you know yet more?
|
|
40. The giantess old | in Ironwood sat,56
In the east, and bore | the brood of Fenrir;
Among these one | in monster's guise
Was soon to steal | the sun from the sky |
|
41. There feeds he full | on the flesh of the dead,
And the home of the gods | he reddens with gore;
Dark grows the sun, | and in summer soon
Come mighty storms: | would you know yet more? |
|
42. On a hill there sat, | and smote on his harp,
Eggther the joyous, | the giants' warder;57
Above him the cock | in the bird-wood crowed,
Fair and red | did Fjalar
stand.
|
Fjalar,
the cock whose crowing wakes the giants for Ragnarök. |
43. Then to the gods | crowed
Gollinkambi,
He wakes the heroes | in Odin's hall;
And beneath the earth | does another crow,
The rust-red bird | at the bars of
Hel.
|
Gollinkambi ('Gold-Comb'): the cock who wakes the gods
The rust-red
bird: the crow who wakes the people of Hel's domain
|
44. Now Garm howls loud | before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, | and the wolf run free;
Much do I know, | and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, | the mighty in fight.
|
Garm: the hell-hound who guards the gates of Hel's kingdom.
Gniparhellir ('the Cliff-Cave'): the entrance to the world of the dead.
The wolf: Fenrir (cf. stanza 39).
|
45. Brothers shall fight | and fell each other,
And sisters' sons | shall kinship stain;
Hard is it on earth, | with mighty whoredom;
Axe-time, sword-time, | shields are sundered,
Wind-time, wolf-time, | ere the world falls;
Nor ever shall men | each other spare. |
|
46. Fast move the sons | of Mim, and fate
Is heard in the note | of the Gjallarhorn;
Loud blows Heimdall, | the horn is aloft,
In fear quake all | who on Hel-roads are. |
The sons of Mim: the spirits of the water (on Mim or Mimir, cf. stanza 27).
Gjallarhorn: the 'Shrieking Horn' with which Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, calls them to the last battle.
|
47. Yggdrasil shakes, | and shiver on high
The ancient limbs, | and the giant is loose;
To the head of Mim | does Odin give heed,
But the kinsman of Surt | shall slay him soon.58
|
|
48. How fare the gods? | how fare the elves?
All Jotunheim groans, | the gods are at
council;
Loud roar the dwarfs | by the doors of stone,
The masters of the rocks: | would you know yet more?
|
Jotunheim: the land of the giants.
|
49. Now Garm howls loud | before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, | and the wolf run free
Much do I know, | and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, | the mighty in fight. |
|
50. From the east comes Hrym | with shield held high;59
In giant-wrath | does the serpent writhe;
O'er the waves he twists, | and the tawny eagle
Gnaws corpses screaming; | Naglfar is loose. |
|
51. O'er the sea from the north | there sails a ship
With the people of Hel, | at the helm stands Loki;60
After the wolf | do wild men follow,
And with them the brother | of Byleist
goes.
|
wolf, Fenrir
brother of
Byleist: Loki (of Byleist himself no more is known)
|
52. Surt fares from the south | with the scourge of
branches,
The sun of the battle-gods | shone from his sword;
The crags are sundered, | the giant-women sink,
The dead throng Hel-way, | and heaven is cloven.
|
The
scourge of branches: fire (Surt is a fire-giant) |
53. Now comes to Hlin | yet another hurt,61
When Odin fares | to fight with the wolf,
And Beli's fair slayer | seeks out Surt,
For there must fall | the joy of Frigg |
|
54. Then comes Sigfather's | mighty son,62
Vidar, to fight | with the foaming wolf;
In the giant's son | does he thrust his sword
Full to the heart: | his father is avenged.
|
The giant's son: Fenrir. |
55. Hither there comes | the son of
Hlothyn,
The bright snake gapes | to heaven
above;
Against the serpent | goes Odin's
son.
|
Hlothyn:
another name for Jord ('Earth'), Thor's mother
The bright
snake: the Midgard Worm
Odin's son:
in this case, Thor (Vidar kills the wolf, Thor the worm)
|
56. In anger smites | the warder of earth,--
Forth from their homes | must all men flee;-
Nine paces fares | the son of Fjorgyn,63
And, slain by the serpent, | fearless he sinks.
|
The warder of earth: Thor |
57. The sun turns black, | earth sinks in the sea,
The hot stars down | from heaven are whirled;
Fierce grows the steam | and the life-feeding flame,
Till fire leaps high | about heaven itself. |
|
58. Now Garm howls loud | before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, | and the wolf run free;
Much do I know, | and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, | the mighty in fight. |
|
59. Now do I see | the earth anew64
Rise all green | from the waves again;
The cataracts fall, | and the eagle flies,
And fish he catches | beneath the cliffs.
|
|
60. The gods in Ithavoll | meet together,
Of the terrible girdler | of earth they
talk,
And the mighty past | they call to mind,
And the ancient runes | of the Ruler of Gods.
|
the
girdler of earth: Midgard Worm
the Ruler of Gods: Odin.
|
61. In wondrous beauty | once again
Shall the golden tables | stand mid the grass,
Which the gods had owned | in the days of old,
|
|
62. Then fields unsowed | bear ripened fruit,
All ills grow better, | and Baldr comes back;65
Baldr and Hod dwell | in Hropt's battle-hall,
And the mighty gods: | would you know yet more? |
|
63. Then Hönir wins | the prophetic wand,66
And the sons of the brothers | of Tveggi abide
In Vindheim now: | would you know yet
more?
|
Vindheim
('Home of the Wind'): heaven
|
64. More fair than the sun, | a hall I see,
Roofed with gold, | on Gimle it stands;
There shall the righteous | rulers dwell,
And happiness ever | there shall they have.
|
Gimle: the home of the happy
|
65. There comes on high, | all power to hold,
A mighty lord, | all lands he rules. |
|
66. From below the dragon | dark comes forth,67
Nithhogg flying | from Nithafjoll;
The bodies of men on | his wings he bears,
The serpent bright: | but now must I
sink.
|
I, the
wise-woman or Sybil who gives the prophecy
|
5. Norse / Viking Religion
|
Seid
Seid (Old Norse: seiðr, sometimes anglicized as 'seidhr', 'seidh',
'seidr', 'seithr' or 'seith') was an ancient form of sorcery or witchcraft with
aspects of shamanism.
The term is also misused nowadays to refer to Neopagan counterfeits
of the practice. Seid particularly involved the incantation of spells (galðrar). As described in the Ynglinga saga (sec. 7), it also includes both divination and manipulative magic. It seems likely that
the type of divination practised by seid was distinct from the day-to-day
auguries performed by the seers (menn framsýnir or menn forspáir). Like all
religions, the origin of seid is almost certainly animism [the worship
of manifestations of a cosmic life-force that is supposed to permeate
all persons, objects, and places]. Shamanism and seid undoubtedly
emerged from animism as religious specialists (shamans, seiðkona,
witchdoctors, and the like) began to take over the management of human
dealings with supposed animi and deities. Recent scholarship links seid to the
practices of the noajdde [shamans of the Sami people], although
Indo-European origins are also possible given that the Norse folk are
of Indo-European lineage.
The motive for anyone getting into any form of magic, witchcraft, or
sorcery, is always political (i.e., to get 'power over'). Some folk
distinguish 'white' magic (as a power to help) from 'black' magic (as a
power to harm). But the common core of both is power. This fact is
freely admitted in Odin's search for wisdom, where he wanted power to
avoid the fate that had been foretold for him. As has traditionally
been the case in most human societies, practitioners of
seid were predominantly women (völva, or seiðkona, 'seid woman').
This makes sense in patriarchal communties where men had access to
weapons and political power (it also explains why seid-like practices,
such as voodoo, floourish among the poor). Although there were male
practitioners (seiðmaðr, 'seid man') as well,
in the Viking Age, seid was considered ergi (a perversity) for men, as
its manipulative aspects ran counter to the Viking ideal of forthright
and
open male behaviour. The goddesses of Norse mythology were also
practitioners of seid, along with Odin, a fact of which he was
apparently ashamed, for the above mentioned reason. The goddess Freya
is identified in Ynglinga saga as an adept of the
mysteries of seid, and it is said that it was she who taught it to Odin.
Dóttir Njarðar var Freyja. Hon var blótgyðja. Hon kenndi fyrst með Ásum seið, sem Vönum var títt.
Njörðr's daughter was Freyja. She was a sacrifice-goddess. It was she
who first acquainted the Æsir with seiðr, which was customary among the
Vanir. |
In The Saga of Eric the Red, the seiðkona or völva in Greenland wore a
blue cloak and a headpiece of black lamb trimmed with white cat skin;
she carried the symbolic staff (seiðstafr), which was often buried with
her; and would sit on a high platform. In Öûrvar-Odd's Saga, however,
the cloak is black, yet the seidkhona also carries the staff (which
allegedly has the power of causing forgetfulness in one who is tapped
three times on the cheek by it). The colour of the cloak may be less
significant than the fact that it was intended to signify the otherness
of the seiðkona.
It has been
suggested that during seances the seiðkona would enter a state of
trance in which her soul was supposed to 'become discorporeal', 'take
the likeness of an animal', 'travel through space', etc. This state of
trance - which is a central part of shamanism - may have been achieved through any of several methods:
narcotics, sleep deprivation, to galdra [chanting of galðrar], sensory
deprivation, etc.The word 'galðrar' has evolved into the word yell
(modern Scandinavian 'gala'), and there are a number of kennings which
compare the sound of battle to seid chanting. It is probable that this
sound was very high-pitched. That may be one reason why seiðr was
regarded as unmanly. In Lokasenna Loki accuses Odin
of practising seid, condemning it as an unmanly art. A justification
for this may be found in the Ynglinga saga where Snorri opines that
following the practice of seid, the practitioner was rendered weak and
helpless.
One possible
example of seid in Norse mythology is the prophetic vision given
to Odin in the Völuspá by the völva [seeress] after whom the poem
is named. Her vision is not connected explicitly with seiðr, however:
the word occurs in the poem in relation to a character called Heiðr
(who is traditionally associated with Freyja but may be identical with
the völva). The interrelationship between the völva in this
account and the Norns, the fates of Norse lore, are strong and striking.
Another noted
mythological practitioner of seiðr was the witch Groa, who attempted to
assist Thor, and who is summoned from beyond the grave in the
Svipdagsmál.
Below is a list of annual festivals that were wisely celebrated by
Scandinavian and northern Germanic pagans. Some of the dates matched
the time of the solstices and equinoxes, and usually had to do with
agriculture and fertility. Some of these festivals were known by the
Old Norse word as blót, which means 'sacrifice'. Sacrifices doesn't
necessarily mean blood sacrifices (eg. animal, human, etc); some
ancient German sacrifices are thought to have involved depositing money
and weapons into lakes or bogs.
Disablót
|
The sacrifice to the Dísir. The disir were one of three sets of three
goddesses (the Disir, the Norns and the Valkyries). Snorri Sturluson
associated them with Freyja, the great dis, as having the powers of
natural increase. They were tutelary goddesses attached to various
families and clans, and generally well-disposed towards humankind.
Disablót was sometimes called disfest (Feast of the Dísir). The
sacrifices were held some time between around the end of autumn and the
beginning of winter. Every little is known about disablót. |
Feast of Vali (February 14)
|
This day was to commemorated the god Vali, son of Odin and Rind. Vali
was the god who avenged Balder by killing Balder's twin, Hod. Vali was
one of the survivors of Ragnarök. |
May Eve (April 30)
|
May Eve coincided with the later Walpurgis' Night (the is a German
version of the Celtic Beltane's Eve), because it marked the last day of
winter. May Eve marked the last night that Odin hanged from Yggdrasill
(the great cosmic Ash tree). Odin has a noose around his neck for nine
nights, between April 22 and April 30, as a sacrifice to master the
nine mighty rune spells. See 'Search For Wisdom'.
May Eve also marked the time when
the spirit world roamed free on the earth's surface, while witchcraft
and sorcery is the most potent at this time. After midnight, bonfires
were lighted to celebrate beginning of summer (May Day or May 1), which
also marked the end of the Wild Hunt. |
Mid-Summer blót (June 21)
|
Mid-summer sacrifice or miðsumarsblót falls on the day of the summer
solstice, when the northern hemisphere experienced its longest day. |
Fallfest (September 23)
|
A minor festival marking the day of Autumn equinox. It was a day for farmers to commemorate the bountiful harvest |
Winter Night (October 31)
|
Winter Night or Vetrnætr marked the beginning of winter as well as the
beginning of the New Year according to the Norse calendar. The Celtic
people called this night Samhain eve, a mid-autumn festival. Like the
Celtic counterpart, the people used to celebrate this night by lighting
large bonfires to frighten spirits and demons which, on this night,
freely roamed the world. It is also on this night that Odin was
supposed to lead the spectral horsemen and hounds in the Wild Hunt. The
Wild Hunt lasted throughout winter, peaking at Yule's night before
ending the following year on May Eve (Walpurgis' Night).
The last night
of October is still celebrated by some modern English-speaking
countries as Halloween (All
Hallows' Eve), which is the eve of the Christian All Saints' Day |
Yule (December 21)
|
Yule was midwinter festival, celebrated by the Norse/Teutonic and
Celtic people as the day of merrymaking. It was commemorated with the
Yule cake and giving out gifts. It was a day sacred to Odin, Thor and
Freyr.
Yule was the
night when the Wild Hunt was at its peak. Odin rode his eight-legged
horse, Sleipnir, and led a band of spectral horsemen and hounds in a
hunt
through the night sky. On the night of Yule, children usually placed socks filled with hay outside their doors to feed Sleipnir.
Since Yule
marked the shortest day in the year (though the winter solstice
now lands on December 22), the Wild Hunt is at its greatest height,
because the night was at its longest duration. Christians have adopted
many of the pagan customs of Yule in the day of Christmas (December
25), such as giving out gifts to children, the decoration of the fir
trees.
Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) and his reindeers have replaced Odin and
Sleipnir of the Wild Hunt. The Roman version of this day of merrymaking
was known as Saturnalia (December 17-24). |
Nine (the Sacred Number)
Nine (three times three) is an important number in Norse mythology.
Nine Worlds exist and were encompassed by the World Tree. Odin hung on
Yggdrasil for nine nights to learn the magic of runes, and he killed
nine trolls to get the Mead of Inspiration. The god Hermod travels nine
days and nine nights in the land of the dead. Aegir and Ran have nine
daughters (the Billows). The clay giant made by Hrungnir is nine
leagues high and three leagues wide. Njord and Skadi tried to
compromise by spending nine nights at each other’s home in turn. Every
ninth year in Sweden it was the custom to hold a great nine-day
festival. On each day of this festival the people offered the heads of
eight beasts and one man (9 heads all told) to the gods and hung the
bodies in a sacred grove that adjoined the temple. By the end of the
festival, they had made 81 sacrifices (9×9) of 72 creatures and 9 men.
Norse literature shows religious sacrifice [blót] to have been an important aspect of Norse religion.69 More than one hundred and
fifty references to blót can be found in Eddic and skaldic poetry,
early historical works and annals, legal material, and saga literature.
These accounts, taken together, provide a good picture of how
sacrifices were performed, by whom, where, when, and for what reasons.
In this literature there are accounts of both human and animal
sacrifice, as well as the sacrifice of inanimate valuables (jewellery,
prized weapons, and so on). Of these, animal sacrifice is by far the
most common form, and it is typically associated with a sacrificial
feast, (blótveizla). One of the most detailed accounts of
sacrifice is given in Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth century text,
Heimskringla, describing a blót held by Jarl [earl] Sigurd of Hlaðir in
Hákonar saga goða:
| Sigurðr, jarl of Hlaðir, was the greatest sacrificer, and so was his
father Hákon. Jarl Sigurðr upheld all the sacrificial feasts on behalf
of the king there in the Þrandlaw [the law of the Norse lands] . It was
ancient custom, then when there should be a sacrifice, that all the
farmers should come there, where the temple was, and bring thither
their provisions, those which they should use, while the feast lasted.
At the feast, all men should have ale. There also were killed all kinds
of cattle and also horses, and all the blood, which came therefrom,
then was called hlaut (sacrificial blood), and hlaut-bowls those, in
which the blood stood, and hlaut-twigs, that were made like sprinklers,70
with this they should redden the entire altar and also the walls of the
temple inside and out and also sprinkle upon the men, and the flesh
should be cooked for food for the feast. There should be fires in the
middle of the floor of the temple and cauldrons over them. A full horn
should be carried around the fire and he, who arranged the feast and
was leader, then he should bless the drink and all the sacrificial
food. First he should make Oðin's toast - it should be drunk to the
victory and strength of their king -and afterwards Njorð's toast and
Frey's toast to abundance and peace. Then it was customary for many men
to drink the king's toast thereafter. Men drank also a toast to their
kinsmen, those who had been buried in mounds, and that was called
minni. Jarl Sigurðr was the most liberal of men. He did that work,
which was very famous, that he made a great sacrificial feast at Hlaðir
and alone bore the whole cost. |
This kind of sacrifice is of a kind with other forms of
animal sacrifice and feasting found the world over. Perhaps the most
significant aspect of this account is the role played by the
sacrificial blood (hlaut). This term seems to be related to the verb
hljóta 'to win or be allotted', so it seems that the hlaut was the
portion of sacrifice allotted to the gods.
The hlaut may have carried something of the animus [life-force] of the
gods, since in Ulfljótslög, the earliest law-code of Iceland, it is
written that;
A ring of two ounces or more should lie on the stall in each chief
temple; that ring should each goði wear on his arm at all legal
assemblies, which he himself should conduct, and redden it beforehand
in blood from the bull which he sacrificed there himself. Every man,
who needed to perform legal duties there at court, should swear an oath
on that ring beforehand and nominate two or more witnesses for himself.
|
This suggests that reddening the arm-ring in hlaut not only
makes oaths sworn upon it legally binding, but also invokes the power
of the gods to oversee the keeping of those oaths.
The communion of god and worshipper, supposedly achieved through sacrifice, is also revealed in various
accounts of divinatory practices. Sometimes, the sacrifice itself is
considered a way to gain knowledge about the future, or in some cases,
questions are answered through sacrifice. One specific tradition
involved the casting of sacrificial chips closely connected with the
sacrificial ceremony called blótspann. Another, which may have
originally been closely connected to the blótspann [the casting of
lots], was known as hlutan, hlutkesti or hlutfall. Although not
necessarily performed in connection with a blót, the hlutfall also
involved a form of communion with the gods, supposedly divining (and in
some cases, carrying out) their will.
Blót were not
always public ceremonies, and many of the specific details and
circumstances of the ritual vary. Of the accounts given of blót
performed in Scandinavia proper, most typically involve performance of
the ritual by a king or local jarl for their assembled subjects.
However, in Iceland, they might be performed by a godi
(chieftain/priest), the head of a household or farmstead, an individual
blótmaðr, or even, on occasion, witches or sorcerers. The ritual was
usually intended to achieve a specific aim: divining the future (ganga
til frettar), securing a good harvest (til ars), growth (til gróðrar),
peace (til friðar), prosperity (til farsceldar), victory in battle (til
sigrs), long life (til langlfjis), power (til rfkis), revenge
(tilfoðurhefnda), aid (tilfulltings) or to bring about someone's death
(til bana monnum). The ritual could be performed nearly anywhere, but
usually in some sort of sacred place, whether indoors in a temple
(hoj), hall (salr), or dedicated sacrificial house (blóthus), or
outdoors at a cairn or altar (horgr), burial mound (haugr), grove
(lund), waterfall (jors), mountain (fjall), or a sanctuary (ve).
The Ynglingasaga gives the three main annual times for sacrifice, as set out by Oðinn himself:
Þa skyldi blóta i móti vetri til ars, en at miðjum vetri blóta til gróðrar, it þriðja at sumri, þat var sigr blót.
Then [they] should sacrifice towards winter for abundance, and in the
middle of winter sacrifice for growth, the third in summer, that was a
victory-sacrifice. |
These correspond to prominent festivals in the Norse calendar:
Winternights (vetrntætr), celebrating the beginning of winter; Yule
(Jól) in the middle of winter; and the beginning of summer,
corresponding to the heathen Easter (OE Eostre,OHG Ostara). In addition
to these, there is brief mention by Snorri of sacrifices held at
mid-summer, but in Iceland, this festival would seem to have been
overshadowed by the national assembly, called the Althing, held around
the same time of year. These seasonal festivals would seem to be the
usual times for large public sacrifices, although they (and
smaller-scale blót) could also be held at just about any time of year.
It is important to note that of all the accounts of blót, only two
occurred near an assembly (þing), so that it appears that assemblies
were not normally occasions for sacrifice. Only the passage from
Ulfljótslög suggests otherwise, but even in that case, the sacrifice is
part of the preparation for the assembly, not a feature of the assembly
itself.
The recipients of sacrifice are as varied as the goals of sacrifice.
Sacrifices were given to spiritual beings such as the heathen gods
(goð), elves (alfar), female guardian spirits (dísir), and other
spirits (vættir), dead ancestors, animals (who were often
representative of particular gods -for example, ravens for Oðin, goats
for Þórr [Thor], horses or boars for Freyr, and so on); and even to
groves or waterfalls. This provides a context in which blóta extends
its meaning from 'sacrifice' to 'worship', since the act of making a
sacrifice to these recipients is also understood as worship. Thus, in
the case of a particular grove, for example, not only does its role as
a location for sacrificial ritual enhance its status as a holy place,
but its status as a holy place also requires that sacrifice be brought
to it, that is, that it should be 'worshipped'. This dual meaning is
exemplified in a passage from Landnamabók:
| Flóki Vilgerðarson was the name of a great Viking... He prepared a
great sacrifice and sacrificed to (worshipped) three ravens, those that
should show him the way, for at that time, sea-sailors in the Northern
Lands had no lodestone... From there he sailed out into the sea with
those three ravens, which he had sacrificed to (worshipped) in Norway.
And when he let the first loose, it flew back over the stern. The other
flew up into the air and back to the ship. The third flew forwards over
the prow in that direction, in which they found the land |
In this case, although it is stated that it is the ravens that are the
object of Floki' s worship, it can be understood that the ravens are
merely the receptacles for the holy animus that allows them to lead him
to his destination. That is, the power for Flóki to achieve his goal is
derived from his act of sacrifice, not from the ravens themselves.
The twelfth century German
chronicler, Adam of Bremen, recorded accounts of heathen Norse
sacrifice. One of these reads:
| It is the practice, every nine years, to hold a communal festival in
Ubsola [Uppsala] for all the provinces of Sueonia [Sweden]. No
exemption from this festival is allowed. The kings and the people,
communally and separately, send gifts and, most cruel of all, those who
have embraced Christianity buy themselves off from these festivities.
The sacrifice is performed thus: nine head of every living male
creature are offered, and it is the custom to placate the gods with the
blood of these. The bodies are hung in a grove which stands beside the
temple. This grove is so holy for the heathens that each of the
separate trees is believed to be divine because of the death and gore
of the objects sacrificed; there dogs and horses hang together with
men. One of the Christians told me that he had seen seventy-two bodies
hanging together. For the rest, the incantations which they are
accustomed to sing at this kind of sacrificial rite are manifold and
disgraceful, and therefore it is better to be silent about them. |
It seems clear from this that Adam understands the sacrificial ritual as primarily an activity
designed to placate continually hungry gods that demanded an endless
supply of blood. This notion is a common one among folk who practice only symbolic religious sacrifices.
The Roman idea of sacrifice as a ritualised gift-exchange (epitomised by the Latin phrase do-ut-des 'I give so that you may give') is exemplified by an account from Landnamabók:
| Hallsteinn, son of Þórólfr Mostrarskegg, took Þorskafjorð and dwelt at
Hallsteinsness; he sacrificed there for this purpose, that Þórr [Thor]
should send him high-seat pillars and he gave his son in return. After
that, a tree washed ashore on his land, which was sixty-three ells long
and two fathoms thick; it was used for high-seat pillars, and the
high-seat pillars of nearly every farmhouse there around the side-fjord
are made from it (my italics). |
Many accounts in Norse literature seem to conform to this idea. The
terminology of gift-giving is prominent in many accounts, so that the
verb gefa 'to give' is frequently used to describe the act of sacrifice. A famous passage from the Eddic poem Havamal (above) describes the god Oðin's self-sacrifice in which he is 'given to Odinn (gefinn Oðni) myself to myself'.
One purpose of animal and human sacrifice was probably to nourish the
gods, who in turn would provide for a bountiful harvest (see the Renovation page Sacrifice: A Speculation). This kind of blood sacrifice is represented in the story of King Dómaldi from Ynglingasaga:
| Dómaldi took his inheritance from his father Visbur and ruled the
lands. In his days, famine and starvation arose in Sweden. Then the
Swedes held a great sacrifice in Uppsala. The first harvest-season they
sacrificed oxen but the season did not improve at all. And the second
harvest-season they had a human sacrifice, but the season was the same
or worse. And the third harvest-season a multitude of the Swedes came
to Uppsala, then when the sacrifice should be held. Then the chieftains
made their plan, and came to agreement, that the bad season must be
caused by Dómaldi, their king, and along with that, that they should
sacrifice him for their abundance and attack him and kill him and
redden the altar with his blood, and so they did. |
We see a similar economy being threatened in the English film The Wicker Man
where the policeman (Edward Woodward), who is about to be scarificed by
the islanders, predicts that their crops will fail again and that, next
year, they will have to sacrifice their laird (Christopher Lee).
A common theme in primal Indo-European myths is the creation of the
cosmos from the body of a primordial sacrificial victim, who was
sacrificed and dismembered by a figure representing the primordial
priest. Thus, as the cosmogonic act was one of sacrifice, so the ritual
of sacrifice was understood to be a repetition of the initial act of
creation. A Norse version of this idea can be found in the
Edda story in which Bor's sons (Oðinn, Vili and Ve) killed the giant Ymir and out of him made the
world (see Creation). This myth bears close comparison to the 'Purusha Sukta' of the Rg Veda
and many other similar myths from various Indo-European mythologies,
and helps to explain the significance of sacrificial ritual, which was
ubiquitous to Indo-European religions. Sacrifice, especially human
sacrifice, was seen as a repetition of the cosmogonic act, with all the
power of the original action to reshape and restore the cosmos. The
material form of the sacrificial victim was understood to restore the
cosmos of the depletion caused by human activity, transforming from its
microcosmic to its macrocosmic manifestation, and providing the raw
material for renewed prosperity, for example, restoring the earth to
ensure a good harvest.
Many of these myths include a parallel creation of the mesocosm
of human society and social hierarchy from the cosmogonic sacrifice.
This serves to explain something of the significance of animal
sacrifice, which in a similar way to human sacrifice repairs the social
fabric and restores the social order. The hlaut can therefore be
understood as the physical medium through which both the cosmos and
society are renewed, and so it is necessary to sprinkle it over both
the temple and the assembled people.
The 'Blood Eagle'
It recent times it has become de rigour
to attribute to Norse warriors
a particularly gruesome sacrifice called the 'blood eagle' in which the
victim's rib cage was torn open and his or her lungs thrown over the
shoulders like wings. Development of this attribution seems to have
followed the same sort of path as that many atrocities attributed to
the Nazis. Humans seem to like having bad guys around to which they can
attribute the fruits of their own sick imaginations. Ever since actual
Nazi atrocities were revealed, for example, writers
with more imagination than history have attributed increasing grotesque
and prurient behaviours to them not only without historical support but
against the evidence of history.71
Much the same has happened in the case
of the supposed Odinic rite of the blood eagle. The Vikings have a
reputation for ferocity that is well attested to by historical
evidence. In the light of this reputation, the misreading of a few
scraps of Norse literature, by those unfamiliar with skaldic figures of
speech) is now commonly taken as having proven the blood eagle be
historical fact.
This attribution is an almost text book case of what Heidegger called
'idle talk' - in which a falsehood becomes more and more wildly
embroidered, and taken unquestioningly for truth, as it actually
becomes less and less attached to any justificatory facts. For those
who are interested, a paper called Viking atrocity and Skaldic verse:
The Rite of the Blood-Eagle, by Roberta Frank (University of Toronto),
does a very scholarly job of tracing ever more lurid descriptions of
this supposed rite from their beginnings in textual error to the
'received wisdom' of today.
6. Other Legends and Tales
|
The Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt was a popular folklore found in Scandinavian and Germanic
myth as well in later folklore in Britain and northern European
countries.
The group of hunters were variously known as the Furious Host or Raging
Host. The hunt usually takes place during winter, where a spectral host
of horsemen go riding through the stormy sky with their ghostlike
hounds. The chilling sound of the ghostly hunting horn can be heard
reverberating through the woods and meadows.
In the Norse myths, the original leader of the hunt was the god Odin,
known in Germanic myth as Wodan. Odin rode his eight-legged horse,
called Sleipnir. His company of hunters were the Valkyries and the dead
warriors who resided with him in Valhalla. The hunt begins on Winter
Nights (October 31) and doesn't end until May Eve (April 30) of the
following year. These two nights were both special because, on those
nights, lights go out on all Nine Worlds and the spirits and goblins
are free to roam on the earth's surface. However the height of the Wild
Ride falls on the night of midwinter festival, known as Yule (December
21), traditionally the shortest day of the year in Scandinavia and
Germany.
In other
legends, different names were given for the leader of the Hunt,
depending on the regions in Europe and periods. Some of the lead
hunters were legendary and historical rulers, such as King Arthur,
Charlemagne, Herla and Frederick Barbarossa. There is even a Welsh
legend about the Wild Hunt, whose lead bunter was said to be named Gwyn
ap Nudd, an otherworldly fairy ruler. Gwyn owned a pack of fairy
hounds, known as cw'n annwfn. The Welsh Arthur was sometimes said to be
the leader, as it is the case in the tale of Culhwch and Olwen in the
Mabinogion, where they hunted the deadly wild boar, Twrch Trwyth. Gwyn
was usually associated with the Welsh May Day (Calan Mai).
According to
English folklore, the Wild Huntsman was Herne, who appeared in
Shakespeare's play, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Herne was perhaps a
historical figure, living at the time of Richard II of England, during
the 14th century. Herne saved the king's life from the deadly antlers
and killed the white stag, but he himself was dying. A wizard saved his
life by placing the stag's antlers on Herne's head and chanting a
spell. Herne discovered that he would lose his skills in hunting and
tracking as payment for his survival. Herne, who loved hunting more
than anything else in his life, was distraught, fell into depression
and died. His body was discovered in his forest near the castle of
Windsor. Since then, he reappeared with other ghostly companions, doing
what he loves most - hunting.
Nowadays a
remnant of the Wild Hunt endures in the fairy tale of Santa Claus
riding through the sky in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
The giants, who represent chaos, were the enemies of the Aesir, who
represent order and civilisation. Thor, especially, seemed to spend a
great deal of his time fighting one giant or another. Strictly
speaking, these stories are part of the primal myths but don't really
fit into the creation-to-Ragnarök set.72
Gifts of the Dwarves
Thor was married to Sif, the lovely goddess. Sif had beautiful, long,
golden hair. It was something she took great pride of. Loki, the
mischievous fire-god, loved playing practical jokes on the gods. One
night, Loki decided to cut off all Sif's hair. But what Loki didn't
count on was Thor's temper. When Thor found his wife weeping over the
lost of her golden hair, the thunder-god caught Loki and threatened to
beat and break every bone in his body. Loki promised Thor to replaced
Sif's beautiful hair with hair of gold.
Loki sought the
master dwarven craftsmen, the sons of Ivaldi. The hair or wig was made
out of finely spun gold. The magical property of the gold hair was that
it was alive like real hair, which would grow naturally. The sons of
Ivaldi also created two other splendid gifts for the Aesir. They
created the indestructible spear, called Gungnir, for Odin. They also
created a magical ship for Freyr, which was called Skidbladnir. The
remarkable thing about Skidbladnir was that it was a collapsible ship
that Freyr could fold up to a size smaller enough to carry in his
pocket. As Loki carried the gifts to the Aesir, he encountered another
two dwarfs - Brokk and Eiti. Loki boasted of the gifts and
craftsmanship of the sons of Ivaldi. Loki made a wager on his head that
Brokk and Eiti and could not make better three gifts than those of the
sons of Ivaldi. Brokk and Eiti agreed to the wager.
First, Eiti
placed a pig's hide in the forge, he told his brother to keep working
on the bellows until he completed the work. As they started working, a
fly (Loki?) tried to distract Brokk from blowing air into the forge
fire by biting into his left arm. Brokk ignored the fly and
continuously worked on the bellows. From the hide, bristles of gold
sprout out and giving life to a wild boar. The boar was called
Gullinbursti, 'golden bristles'. It had the ability to run faster than
any horse, across the sky or over water. The gold bristle ensured that
it was bright enough to see where it was going, even at the darkness
night. During the second piece of work, the fly landed this time on
Brokk's neck, nibbling harder than before, but Brokk ignored the fly
and kept working on the bellows. Eiti made a gold ring called the
Draupnir. The ring had the ability to make eight other rings of the
same size, every ninth night.
When they were working on a third item, the fly now landed between
Brokk's eyes, and nibbled on his eyelid. Blood dripped into his eye, so
Brokk quickly rubbed the blood out of his eye and swatted the fly away,
before he continued to work the bellows. Eiti had placed a large piece
of iron in the forge and creating hammer called Mjollnir. Eiti told
Brokk that he nearly ruined this work. The only flaw of the hammer was
that the handle was quite short. The Mjollnir was the strongest weapon
in the world. It would not fail to hit any target, either struck at or
thrown at. If the hammer were thrown, it would always return to its
hands, after striking its target.
Eiti sent his
brother with the gifts to Asgard. Loki and Brokk gave the gifts to the
Aesir. Odin, Thor and Freyr acted as judges over the gifts, to see
which was the best of them all. Loki gave the hair or wig of gold was
given to Sif to appease Thor's anger towards him. The collapsible ship,
Skidbladnir, was given to Freyr, and Loki gave irresistible spear,
(Gungnir), to Odin. Brokk gave the boar with gold bristles
(Gullinbursti) to Freyr, the gold ring (Draupnir) to Odin, and the
Mjollnir to Thor. The three judges found that the Mjollnir was the best
gift, since it gave the person possing it greatest chance against the
giants at Ragnarök.
Losing the
wagers, Loki tried to flee, but was caught by Thor. Odin decided that
Loki losing his head was a bit drastic, so Brokk decided upon a
different measure. Brokk sealed Loki's mouth shut with wire.
Fighting Illusions
Thor and Loki were journeying to Utgard, a city of Jötunheim. On their
journey they were given lodging from a poor farmer, named Egil, and his
family. The peasant had a son named Thialfi and a daughter named
Roskva. Thor killed his two magical goats, and skinned them. After
supper, Thor tossed the whole bones of the goat on the goat hides and
told the family not to touch the bones. As the guests slept, Thialfi
was still hungry, took the thighbone, split it and sucked the marrow
out. In the morning, Thor woke up and cast a spell using Mjollnir that
brought both goats back to life. However one of the goats was crippled.
Astonished and terrified by the event, Egil offered Thialfi and Roskva
in bondage as servants, to appease the angry god. So Thor took his new
bondservants with him in their journey to Utgard.
They had to
take shelter for the night in the huge forest. They found what was a
deserted building and found themselves a place to sleep. At midnight,
they were wakened by an earthquake that shook the whole building. They
heard some more rumbling and groaning. At dawn Thor went out and
discovered the cause of the noises. Thor found a sleeping giant, not
far where they took shelter. The giant's snoring was deafening. Thor
was about to attack the giant with Mjollnir until he awoke and
stood up. For once, Thor was afraid to attack a giant because it stood
many times taller than any giant he had ever seen. The giant was called
Skrymir and he seemed to be a friendly enough. Thor also discovered
that they were not sleeping in a building but in Skrymir's immense
glove. Skrymir recognised Thor and told the thunder-god that he would
like travel with them. Thor did not make any objection. Actually Thor
would never consider arguing over the issue with a giant as tall as
Skrymir.
When they
stopped for a night, Skrymir said he would like to sleep. His snoring
was so loud that Thor swung his mighty hammer at Skrymir's head.
Skrymir awoke and asked Thor if a leaf had fallen on his head. At
midnight Thor and his other companions could not sleep because the
Skrymir was snoring so loudly that the whole forest shook. Again, Thor
irritably struck the sleeping giant, dead-centre of crown of his head.
Skrymir woke and asked Thor if an acorn had fallen on his head. Thor
fearfully replied that he just only woken up and told the giant to back
to sleep. Thor was determined that the next time he struck the giant,
Skrymir would not wake up. By morning, Thor was becoming very irritable
from not getting any sleep. He once again struck Skrymir, this time on
the temple, with all his might. Again, Mjollnir did not harm
Skrymir, who woke up and asked if some stick had fallen on his face
while he was sleeping. Thor finally admitted it was futile trying to
kill this enormous giant. Skrymir decided that they should go their
separate ways, and gave them directions to Utgard. Thor thought that he
would be happy to never see Skrymir again.
Thor and his companions arrived at Utgard. Utgarda-Loki (Utgardaloki)
was the king of the giants. Utgarda-Loki told them he would allow them
stay at Utgard only if they had some special skill. Loki declared he
could out-eat any giant. Loki ate all of the meat from the bone, but
his rival named Logi, ate meat, bone and even the trencher. Obviously
Loki lost to Logi. Then Thialfi challenged the giant in a foot race,
but he lost all three races against the giant named Hugi, each time
doing worse than the last time. Next, Thor challenged them a drinking
contest. Utgarda-Loki had a servant bring out a long drinking horn.
Anyone able to empty the horn in one draught would be considered a
great drinker, and a good drinker in two draughts. Try as he might,
Thor could not empty the horn in one draught. The frustrated
thunder-god couldn't even finish it in two or even three draughts.
Thor was
becoming quite belligerent, preferring to fight someone. Utgarda-Loki
challenged Thor if could lift a large cat. Thor struggled and tried to
lift the large cat off the ground, but failed. All he succeeded was
lifting one of the cat's legs. Thor insisted on fighting someone.
Utgarda-Loki, however, sent an old crone named Elli to wrestle with
Thor. Thor could not even move the crone, but the old woman managed to
pull him off balance. Thor was ready to bash the giant for the
embarrassment, but Utgarda-Loki placating offered the angry god and his
companions a place to sleep.
In the morning, after Thor and his friends ate their breakfast, the king of the giants took them outside of Utgard.
Utgarda-Loki
revealed the truth of the events of the last few days. He told Thor
that he was Skrymir, the giant they met in the forest. Skrymir (Fialar
'illusionary giant') was actually an illusion. Had Thor struck right on
the mark, he would have killed Utgarda-Loki. The contestants that Thor
and his companions had compete against, were also illusions. Loki did
not lose the eating contest to a giant (Logi), but to a wildfire. While
Thialfi raced against Utgarda-Loki's thought, not the giant Hugi. The
other end of drinking horn was out in the sea. What Thor was drinking
was the sea. The level of the sea had actually dropped considerably
from Thor's deep draughts. As for the cat. Well, one of the cat's legs,
Thor managed to lift off the ground was actually the tail of the
Midgard Serpent. And the old crone (Elli) Thor was wrestling with, was
nothing but 'old age' itself.
Utgarda-Loki was
really quite amazed what Thor managed to achieve. He told Thor to leave
Jötunheim and that he would protect his domain again with deception and
illusion if the thunder-god ever returned.
Thor was outraged by the deception, and would have killed Utgarda-Loki,
had the giant not vanished into thin air. Thor was going to storm
Utgard, but the castle also vanished. He had no choice but to return
home.
Giant of Clay
Odin once encountered the giant Hrungnir ('Brawler') at
Griotunagardar (frontier of Gianthome), where he told the frost-giant
there was no better horse in the Gianthome than his own (Sleipnir).
Angry at this challenge Hrungnir pursued Odin in his own horse
Gullfaxi. When he arrived in Asgard, the Aesir welcomed him, with
Freyja serving him ale that Thor usually drank. As Hrungnir became
drunk, he was boasting and becoming more hostile. He told the Aesir
that he would move Valhalla to Jötunheim, and destroy Asgard and the
gods. However, he would keep Freyja and Sif as his concubines. Thor
arrived and challenged Hrungnir to fight him. Hrungnir agreed, only if
Thor met him at Griotunagardar, since he had not brought any weapons
with him.
At
Griotunagardar, the giants did not like the prospect of Hrungnir losing
the fight to Thor, so they created a giant made of clay, which they
called Mokkurkalfi ('cloud calf'). This clay-giant stood nine leagues
tall and three leagues wide, and it had the heart of a large mare.
Hrungnir himself had a heart of stone. His head was also made of stone.
The giant had a shield of stone and a large whetstone as a weapon. Thor
saw Mokkurkalfi standing beside Hrungnir. However, instead of
frightening Thor, the sight of Thor caused the clay-giant to feel
enough fear to wet himself.
Thor came with his
servant named Thialfi, who ran ahead to speak with Hrungnir. Thialfi
deceived Hrungnir that Thor was coming towards him from underground
route and would attack the giant from below. Hrungnir believed Thialfi,
so he placed his shield on the ground and stood on top of it. Thor
charged across the plain and threw Mjollnir at Hrungnir, at the same
time the giant hurled his whetstone at the thunder-god. Mjollnir broke
the whetstone in two. Half of it landed on the ground; the other half
struck and lodged in Thor's head. Thor fell to the ground at the
impact. But Mjollnir continued its flight and shattered Hrungnir's
stone head. Hrungnir fell dead and landed on top of Thor. The giant's
legs broke off from his body - pinning Thor's neck to the ground.
Thialfi easily despatched Mokkurkalfi. Thor had trouble getting
Hrungnir's heavy legs off him. Thialfi tried to remove the legs off but
couldn't budge them. None of the Aesir who arrived could help Thor,
until Magni, the three-year-old son of Thor and the giantess Jarnsaxa,
arrived and removed the legs from his father. Thor rewarded his son by
giving him Hrungnir's horse, Gullfaxi.
Thor returned to
Thrudvangar to have the whetstone removed from his head by the
sorceress Groa, wife of Aurvandil the Bold. Aurvandil the Bold had been
riding on a basket, which Thor was carrying, when the god waded through
the river Elivager, in the Gianthome. Since one of Aurvandil's feet was
sticking out of the basket, one toe got frozen. Thor broke off
Aurvandil's toe and threw it into the sky, becoming a star, called
Aurvandil's Toe. Thor distracted Groa with this tiding during her
spell, so that the piece of whetstone remained lodged in his head.
Geirrod and Grid
One day, while Loki was flying through the wood in the form of a
falcon, he was captured by the frost-giant Geirrod ('spear reddener').
Geirrod confined Loki within a chest for three months, almost starving
him to death. Geirrod refused to release Loki until his prisoner agreed
to persuade Thor to come to his domain.
Thor
unsuspectingly agreed to go to Geirrod's court, without Mjollnir or
armour. Fortunately, he spent the night in the home of a friendly
giantess named Grid. Grid told Thor that Geirrod had intended to kill
him. She gave Thor her unbreakable magic staff, her own girdle of might
(which doubled the strength of the wearer) and pair of iron gloves.
Thor and Loki
tried to cross the river of Vimur. The water kept rising. Loki was
hanging onto Thor's girdle of might. Thor realised that a giantess
named Gialp, daughter of Geirrod, was causing the river to rise. He
threw a rock at Gialp to stem the river flow. Reaching the riverbank,
Thor pulled himself out of the water from the rowan bush.
Thor and Loki arrived at Geirrod's home. They were taken to a chamber
with only a single chair. Thor sat on this chair. Suddenly he felt the
chair rising up toward the roof. Thor would have been crushed to death
between the chair and the roof had he not quickly put Grid's staff on
the rafter before pushing hard against it. Thor heard a couple of loud
cracks before he heard scream of agony. Looking down under his seat,
Thor saw Gialp and Greip, the two daughters, with their backs broken.
Geirrod thenarrived at the other side of the chamber. Geirrod picked up
a glowing molten iron out of a fire, with tongs. He threw the iron at
Thor with all his might, but Thor easily caught the molten iron with
iron glove that Grid had given him. Geirrod ran and hid behind the iron
pillar for protection. Thor threw the molten iron back at Geirrod. The
molten iron punctured through the iron pillar and Geirrod, killing the
giant.
Thor's Fishing Expedition (from the Hymiskvida)
Aegir, god of the sea, was holding a feast for the gods, but did not have enough
ale to be able to invite everyone. Tyr suggested that they go to his
father, the giant Hymir, who had a magic cauldron which would allow
the gods to brew almost unlimited ale. Thor and Tyr were sent to fetch
Hymir's cauldron for the feast. After a series of arguments and
tests between Thor and Hymir, they set out to sea test their strength.73
Thor elected to catch Jormungand, the Midgard Worm.
In a small boat,
Thor used rope and a large hook baited with the head of the largest ox
in Hymir's herd. He tossed the hook into the sea. Soon, he caught
Jörmungand and titanic struggle between the thunder god and the Midgard
Worm caused the boat to rock dangerously. Hymir was horrified when Thor
brought the serpent's head out of the water. As the god and serpent
faced one another, Thor tried to smash his hammer on monster's head. He
managed to deliver one mighty blow, but failed to kill the worm.
Jörmungand escaped back into the sea when Thor's line snapped. Thor and
Hymir returned to the giant's home with only two whales.74
Hymir had told Thor he would give up cauldron if Thor passed some tests
of strength. The last test was to break a crystal goblet. When Thor
threw the goblet on a stone column, it did not break. A beautiful woman
then gave Thor a wise advice. Thor picked up the goblet and threw it
again, but this time smashing the goblet on Hymir's forehead. Hymir had
no choice but to give his prized cauldron to Thor. Tyr could not even
lift the cauldron off the ground, but easily carried the cauldron on
top of his head. Hymir and his companions disliked losing to Thor, so
they followed in pursuit of the two gods into the forest. Thor
realising the danger, decided to confront them. With Mjollnir, Thor
killed Hymir and all the giants who had followed him. He then returned
triumphant to Aegir's feast with the cauldron.
Thor the Bride (from the Thrymskivida)
Thor woke up one morning to find that someone had stolen Mjollnir, the
magic war-hammer made by the dwarves - Brokk and Eiti. Thor asked Loki
to help him to find the Mjollnir. Loki went to Freyja to borrow her
feather cloak. The cloak enabled the goddess to transform into a
falcon, thereby allowing her to fly. As a falcon, Loki flew to the realm
of the giants, Jötunheim (Jotunheim). There he found out that Thrym had
stolen and hidden Mjollnir. Thrym was leader of the frost-giants. Thrym
would only return the Mjollnir to Thor if he could marry Freyja.
Loki returned to
Asgard with the news of Thrym's demand. Freyja was the most promiscuous
goddess among the Asynior, having mated with gods, elves, human and
dwarves, but she was outraged by Thrym's demands and refused to marry
the giant. Loki, however, devised the plan whereby they would dress
Thor in a bridal gown, disguising the thunder-god as Freyja. Thor would
then go to Jötunheim instead of Freyja. Thor reluctantly agreed, since
he had little choice if he wished to recover the Mjollnir. They put a
bridal veil or headdress to cover his face and he wore Freyja's
necklace of gold (Brisingamen) to complete the disguise.
Loki accompanied
Thor to Jötunheim. Thrym welcomed his new bride to the kingdom. The
giants prepared a great feast in honour of Freyja. During the feast,
Thrym and the other giants were astonished that his bride (Thor) ate a
whole ox, eight salmon and drank three large tankards of mead. When
Thrym demanded an explanation, Loki replied that Freyja had been so
excited she had not eaten in eight nights, since she heard the news
that she was going to marry the king of giants. Thrym tried to kiss his
new bride. However when the giant peeped under the bride's veil, Thrym
was taken back by his bride's burning intensity of her red eyes. Again,
Loki made some silly excuse - Freyja had not slept in eight nights
since she was so eager about the marriage.
A giantess, who
was Thrym's sister, arrived demanding a gold ring from the Freyja
(Thor) if the goddess wished to marry her brother. Thrym ordered the
giants to retrieve Mjollnir and placed the hammer on his bride's lap.
When Thor recognised his hammer, he was exultant. With Mjollnir in his
hands he struck down Thrym. Thor began to kill all the giants in the
hall, including Thrym's sister.
Abduction of Idun by Thiassi
Odin was travelling with Loki and Haenir through the wilderness of
mountains and woods, but had difficulty in finding food until they came
across a herd of oxen. They slaughtered one of the oxen and set to cook
it in a earth oven. Despite their efforts, the fire would not cook the
meat. The gods were upset and hungry, but helpless. Above them a
giant eagle told them that he would help them cook the meat if he was
given a share in the meal. The gods agreed, but when the eagle took a
large share of meat, Loki became angry and struck the eagle with a
pole. The pole pierced the eagle's chest. The eagle flew away with Loki
still holding the pole. Loki pleaded with the eagle to let him down,
but the eagle refused unless Loki swore to bring the goddess Idun to
him out of Asgard. The giant eagle was really Thiassi (Thiazi), a giant
from Thrymheim. Loki had no choice but to agree, since he was no match
against the giant. So, one day, Loki told Idun that he had found some
apples that she could use. As Idun followed Loki deep into the forest,
Thiassi, in the form of an eagle again, snatched Idun and flew back to
Thrymheim along with the goddess' basket of
fruit.
Idun was
the keeper of apples of youth. These special apples were required to
keep the Aesir youthful. Without them, the gods and goddesses would
grow old and weak. The Aesir in Asgard began to grow old very quickly
without Idun's apples. Their minds were also beginning to become
feeble. Odin and the other gods managed to capture Loki and forced the
Trickster to bring back Idun and her apples, or else they would torture
Loki to death. This threat really motivated Loki. Borrowing Freyja's
cloak of feathers, he transformed himself into a falcon and flew to
Thrymheim. It was fortunate for Loki that Thiassi was temporary
absence. Finding Idun alone, he transformed the goddess into a nut and
flew back to Asgard with the nut (Idun) in his claws. Thiassi
immediately pursued him, in his gigantic eagle's form. Loki managed to
escape by flying over the wall of Asgard. When eagle (Thiassi) tried to
follow, the Aesir set fire to Thiassi's feathers so that the eagle
plummeted to earth within the wall of Asgard. The other Aesir killed
Thiassi where he fell. Loki then restored Idun's form. Idun gave apples
to all the gods so they were restored to youth.
The frost-giantess, Skadi, daughter of Thiassi, heard of
her father's death. She immediately set out for Asgard in a fury with her weapon
to attack the Aesir. Instead of trying to kill Skadi, the Aesir tried
to appease her by allowing her to marry one of them. She was to
choose one as her husband by selecting the feet she liked best. Skadi
thought she had chosen Balder, because he was the most beautiful of the
male gods. However the feet she had chosen belonged to the former Vanir
god Njörd (Njord). Skadi still wasn't about to make peace with the Aesir
unless they could make her laugh. So they tied the beard of a
nanny-goat to Loki's testicles. When one or the other pulled, both
would squeal. For the first time in her life, Skadi laughed at these
antics. To further compensate Skadi for the death of
her father, Odin also took Thiassi's eyes and threw them in the sky to
create two new stars.
Skadi married
Njörd but the marriage did last long. Njörd, being the god of the sea,
preferred to live near the sea at Noatun, while Skadi preferred to live
in her father's mountain home in Thrymheim. Skadi didn't like the sea,
because the sound of the surf and the sea-gulls kept her awake. While Njörd
complained about the howlings of the wolves. So they divorced, and
Skadi returned to the mountains.
Skadi was the
goddess of the ski and known as the ski-lady, because that was the way
she travelled. She was also skilled with the bow and arrow, and hunting
for game in the mountains. Skadi remarried another Aesir god, Ull.
Wooing of Gerd (from the Skirnismol)
In Asgard, Freyr once sat on Hlidskialf, Odin's throne. From there the
Vanir could see Gymir's home in Gianthome. Freyr saw Gerd, the
beautiful daughter of the giants, Gymir and Aurboda. He became sick
because of his love and longing for the beautiful giantess.
Njörd (Njord)
and Skadi became concerned for Freyr's depression and longing. Skadi
asked Skirnir, Freyr's shield-bearer, to try to help or comfort their
son.75 At first, Freyr refused to talk about it, until Skirnir told him
he would do anything for his lord. Freyr told he had seen and fallen in
love with Gerd but was not too sure about approaching the giantess with
the proposal of marriage. Skirnir told Freyr that he would woo Gerd for
him if the god would give him his horse and the magic sword as the
price for his services.76 Skirnir rode to Gymir's domain, seeking
audience with Gerd. Although initially delighted with a visitor, her
welcome became cold when she learned of Skirnir's mission. Skirnir told
Gerd he was wooing her for Freyr. Though Freyr was among the beautiful
gods, Gerd apparently didn't like him. At first, Skirnir offered her
gifts, so that she would consider Freyr's suit favourably. He promised
eleven golden apples (Idun's apple of youth?), but she flatly refused
to consider Freyr's as a possible husband. Then Skirnir offered her the
magic gold ring that would make eight identical rings of the same
weight every nine nights. This was obviously the Draupnir; the ring
that belonged to Odin. Again, Gerd refused the gift, because she had
enough gold in her father's home.
When none of
these gifts seemed suitable for Gerd, Skirnir decided to try threats,
hoping to bully her in accepting Freyr's suit. He told her that he
would use Freyr's sword on her if she continued to refuse to marry
Freyr. But this threat fell on deaf ears. So Skirnir threatened to put
a curse on her, transforming her into a three-headed giant, her face
and body will become old and hideously ugly. It was only the threat of
this curse that Gerd finally agreed to meet with Freyr at the groves in
Barri, nine nights from now. So Skirnir returned with the news to
Freyr. Freyr was still upset and impatient that he had to wait even for
nine nights before they could meet.
The story known
as Skirnismal ended here without saying if the Vanir and giantess
married or not. However, most writers think that they did indeed marry.
Some of them say that they had a son named Fiolnir.
The Dwarf-Cursed Ring
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In both the Volsungasaga and the Skáldskaparmal (Prose Edda), there is a long and tragic 'soap opera' of a cursed ring that, in Germany, became the great Nibelgungenlied
(the Song of the Nibelungs) and, in due course, the Ring cycle of
operas by Wagner. Although Odin, a valkyrie, and a wise-woman, all
appear in this story, it is a legend about human beings rather than
gods or giants. In Skáldskaparmal
('Skaldic Poetry'), the story is told in answer to the question "For
what reason is gold called 'Otter's Ransom' in Skaldic poetry?"
Otter's Ransom
Certain of the Æsir, Odin and Loki and Hœnir, went forth to explore the
earth. They came to a river and proceeded along it to a waterfall.
Beside the fall was an otter, which had taken a salmon from the fall
and was eating, blinking his eyes the while. Then Loki took up a stone
and cast it at the otter, and struck its head. And Loki boasted in his
catch, that he had got otter and salmon with one blow. Then they took
up the salmon and the otter and bore them along with them, and coming
to the buildings of a certain farm, they went in. Now the husbandman
who dwelt there was named Hreidmarr: he was a man of much substance,
and very skilled in black magic. The Æsir asked him for a night's
lodging, saying that they had sufficient food with them, and showing
him Loki's catch. But when Hreidmarr saw the otter, straight way he
called to him his sons, Fáfnir and Reginn, and told them that the otter
their brother was slain, and who had done that deed.
Now father and
sons went up to the three Æsir, seized them, bound them, and told them
about the otter, how he was Hreidmarr's son. The Æsir offered a ransom
for their lives, as much wealth as Hreidmarr himself desired to
appoint; and a covenant was made between them on those terms, and
confirmed with oaths. Then the otter was skinned, and Hreidmarr, taking
the otter-skin, bade them fill the skin with red gold and also cover it
altogether; and that should be the condition of the covenant between
them. Thereupon Odin sent Loki into the Land of the Black Elves, and he
came to the dwarf who is called Andvari, who was as a fish in the
water. Loki caught him in his hands and required of him in ransom of
his life all the gold that he had in his rock; and when they came
within the rock, the dwarf brought forth all the gold he had, and it
was very much wealth. Then the dwarf quickly swept under his hand one
little gold ring (Andvaranaut or 'Andvari's Yield'), but Loki saw it
and commanded him to give it over. The dwarf prayed him not to take the
ring from him, saying that from this ring he could multiply wealth for
himself if he might keep it. Loki answered that be should not have one
penny left, and took the ring from him and went out; but the dwarf
declared that the ring should be the ruin of every one who should come
into possession of it.82
Loki replied that this seemed well enough to him, and that this
condition should hold good provided that he himself brought it to the
ears of them that should receive the ring and the curse.
Loki went his
way and came to Hreidmarr's dwelling, and showed the gold to Odin. When
Odin saw the ring, it seemed fair to him, and he took it away from the
treasure, and paid the gold to Hreidmarr. Then Hreidmarr filled the
otter-skin as much as he could, and set it up when it was full. Next
Odin went up, having the skin to cover with gold, and he bade Hreidmarr
look whether the skin were yet altogether hidden. But Hreidmarr looked
at it searchingly, and saw one of the hairs of the snout, and commanded
that this be covered, else their covenant should be at an end. Then
Odin drew out the ring, and covered the hair, saying that they were now
delivered from their debt for the slaying of the otter. When Odin had
taken his spear, and Loki his shoes, and they had no longer any need to
be afraid, Loki declared that the curse which Andvari had uttered
should be fulfilled: that this ring and this gold should be the
destruction of him who received it. This curse was fulfilled. This is
why gold is called Otter's Wergild83, or Forced Payment of the Æsir, or Metal of Strife.
Hreidmarr took
the gold for his son's wergild, but Fáfnir and Reginn claimed some part
of their brother's blood-money for themselves. Hreidmarr would not
grant them one penny of it. This was the wicked purpose of those
brethren: they slew their father for the gold. Then Reginn demanded
that Fáfnir share the gold with him, half for half. Fáfnir answered
that there was little chance of his sharing it with his brother, seeing
that he had slain his father for its sake; and he bade Reginn 'go
hence' (or words to that effect!), else he should fare even as
Hreidmarr. Fáfnir had taken the helmet which Hreidmarr had possessed,
and set it upon his head (this helmet was called the Helm of Terror, of
which all living creatures that see it are afraid), and the sword
called Hrotti. Reginn had that sword which was named Refill. So he fled
away, and Fáfnir went up to Gnita Heath, and made himself a lair, and
turned himself into a serpent,84 and laid him down upon the gold."
Sigurd, Fafnir's Bane
Then Reginn went to King Hjálprekr at Thjód, and there he became his
smith; and he took into his fostering Sigurd, son of Sigmund,
Völsungr's son, and of Hjördís, daughter of Eylimi.85
Sigurd was. most illustrious of all Host-Kings in race, in prowess, and
in mind. Reginn declared to him where Fáfnir lay on the gold, and
incited him to seek the gold. Then Reginn fashioned the sword Gramr,
which was so sharp that Sigurd, bringing it down into running water,
cut asunder a flock of wool which drifted down-stream onto the sword's
edge. Next Sigurd clove Reginn's anvil down to the stock with the
sword. After that they went, Sigurd and Reginn, to Gnita Heath, and
there Sigurd dug a pit in Fáfnr's way and laid him self in ambush
therein. And when Fáfnir glided toward the water and came above the
pit, Sigurd straightway thrust his sword through him, and that was his
end.
Then Reginn came forward, saying that Sigurd had slain his brother, and
demanded as a condition of reconciliation that he take Fáfnir's heart
and roast it with fire; and Reginn laid him down and drank the blood of
Fáfnir, and settled himself to sleep. But when Sigurd was roasting the
heart, and thought that it must be quite roasted, he touched it with
his finger to see how hard it was; and then the juice ran out from the
heart onto his finger, so that he was burned and put his finger to his
mouth. As soon as the heart's blood came upon his tongue, he knew the
speech of birds, and he understood what the nuthatches were saying
which were sitting in the trees. Then one nuthatch spake:
There sits Sigurd
Blood-besprinkled,
Fáfnir's heart
With flame he roasts:
Wise seemed to me
The Spoiler of Rings
If the gleaming
Life-fibre he ate.
Another sang;
There lies Reginn
Rede he ponders,
Would betray the youth
Who trusts in him:
In his wrath he plots
Wrong accusation;
The smith of bale
Would avenge his brother.
Then Sigurd went over to Reginn and slew him, and thence to his horse
(Grani) and rode till he came to Fáfnir's lair. He took up the gold
(including the cursed ring), trussed it up in his saddle-bags, laid it
upon Grani's back, mounted up himself, and then rode his ways. Now the
tale is told why gold is called by the poets 'Lair (or Abode) of
Fáfnir', 'Metal of Gnita Heath', or 'Grani's Burden'.
Sigurd & Brynhild
Brynhild, the daughter of Budli and sister of Atli, was a Valkyrie who
was punished by Odin for disobedience. Her punishment was that she had
to wed a mortal. To make sure that any mortal she married was worthy of
her, she surrounded her hall, at a place called Hindfell (on a
moutaintop) with a circle of fire. There she decided to stay until a
mortal warrior was brave enough to ride through the flame.
The same birds,
that had warned Sigurd of Reginn's intended treachery, also told him of
Bryhild. So, after gaining the gold, Sigurd went to Hindfell and sought
out Brynhild. He rode Grani through the flame and found a house on the
mountain wherein a woman in helm and birnie (the body armour from which
she derived her name) lay sleeping. He drew his sword and cut the
birnie from her: she awoke then, and gave him her name. The two of them
fell in love with one another on the spot. Sigurd stayed with her until
he decided it was time to leave. He told Brynhild that he had duties to
perform but that he would come back for her. Brynhild agreed and told
the hero she would sleep in the Ring of Fire and wait for his return.
As Sigurd journeyed north, he reached the kingdom south of the Rhine (Burgundy), ruled by who was named Giuki.86 Giuki had married Grimhild,
a wise-woman or witch, and had three sons - Gunnar, Hogni and Guttorm.
They also had beautiful daughter named Gudrun. Gudrun had a dream of
Sigurd, symbolised as a falcon and later a hart or stag, a hero she
would marry and love, but who would be killed by her own family and
Brynhild. Gudrun also dreamed of her second husband whom she loathed,
Atli, brother of Brynhild. Atli (thought to be based on Attila the Hun)
was symbolised as a wolf which would, in the end, kill her brothers.
When Sigurd
arrived at the home of the Giukungs, Gudrun fell in love with the hero,
but Sigurd was still in love with Brynhild. Gudrun's mother, Grimhild,
had a magic potion to make Sigurd forget Brynhild. Because he had no
memory of Brynhild, Sigurd fell in love with Gudrun and married her.
They had a son named Sigmund, named after Sigurd's father. A couple of
years later they would have a daughter named Svanhild (Swanhilde).
Sigurd stayed with the Giukings for a long while, helping them against
Atli (whose spectacularly vicious Huns were pushing into Europe from
what is now Ukraine).
Soon after arriving in Burgundy, Sigurd and the sons of Gjúki rode up
onto the mountain where Brynhild was. Gunnarr intended to ride through
the flaring fire to claim Brynhild (of whom he had heard but about whom
Sigurd had forgotten). But his horse (Goti) dared not leap into the
fire. So Sigurd and Gunnarr exchanged shapes and names. Then Sigurd
leapt onto Grani, and rode through the flaring fire. That evening he
was wedded with Brynhild. But when they came to bed, he drew the Sword
Gramr from its sheath and laid it between them. In the morning when he
arose, clothed himself, and gave Brynhildr as linen-fee87
the same gold ring (the cursed Andvaranaut) which Loki had taken from
Andvari, and took another ring from her hand for remembrance. Then
Sigurd mounted his horse and rode to his fellows, and he and Gunnarr
changed shapes again and went home to Gjúki with Brynhildr. Sigurd and
Gudrún had two children, Sigmundr and Svanhildr.
It befell on a time that Brynhild and Gudrún went to the water to wash
their hair. And when they came to the river, Brynhild waded out from
the bank well into the river, saying that she would not touch to her
head the water which ran out of the hair of Gudrún, since herself had
the more valorous husband. Then Gudrún went into the river after her
and said that it was her right to wash her hair higher upstream, for
the reason that she had to husband such a man as neither Gunnarr nor
any other in the world matched in valour, seeing that he had slain
Fáfnir and Reginn and succeeded to the heritage of both. And Brynhild
made answer: 'It was a matter of greater worth that Gunnarr rode
through the flaring fire and Sigurd dared not.' Then Gudrún laughed,
and said: 'Do you think that Gunnarr rode through the flaring fire? Now
I think that he who went into the bride-bed with you was the same that
gave me this gold ring; and the gold ring which you bear on your hand
and did receive for linen-fee is called Andvari's Yield (Andvaranaut),
and I believe that it was not Gunnarr who got that ring on Gnita
Heath.' Then Brynhild was silent, and went home.
After that
Brynhild egged on her husband (Gunnarr) and brother-in-law (Högni) to
slay Sigurd, saying falsely that he had taken advantage of her when the
two had travelled to the Giukungs' home from the mountain (thereby
dishonoured his oath of brotherhood to Gunnar). She told Gunnar to kill
his brother-in-law or else she would leave him. Gunnar, who had always
envied the hero's prowess, decided to plot for Sigurd's death, but not
to kill him by his own hand because he and Hogni were Sigurd's sworn
blood-brothers. Instead, the two of them stirred up their younger
brother Gotthormr to slay Sigurd for them. Gotthormr - who was not the
bravest man in the world - thrust his sword through Sigurd as he slept.
But when Sigurd felt the wound, he hurled his sword Gramr after
Gotthormr, so that it cut the man asunder at the middle. Gudrun, who
was pregnant with her and Sigurd's second son, awoke to find her
husband, and their three-year-old son (stabbed by Hogni), both dying.
Sigurd tried to comfort her before he died. When Gudrun wept for her
husband, Brynhild laughed and mocked her sister-in-law's wretched state.
In the Poetic Edda poem called the First Lay of Gudrun,
it is said that Gudrun sat beside Sigurd's body. She was so numb and
overwhelmed by her grief that she could not weep and her friends
thought she would die from sorrow. Each lady tried to convince her to
weep by relating to their own experience, but Gudrun was unmoved.
Finally one wise woman uncovered Sigurd's body and told her to kiss her
husband as if he was alive. Gudrun finally broke down and wept.
At the funeral
of Sigurd, however, Brynhild suffering her own grief over the hero. She
then told her husband the truth, that Sigurd had never broken his oath
to Gunnar, nor had the hero ever taken advantage of her. Brynhild then
foretold the tragedy that would befall upon the Guikings. Gunnar and
Hogni would be captured and killed by her brother Atli. Brynhild also
revealed Atli's own death by Gudrun, as well as the death of Gudrun's
daughter and sons. She then killed herself, asking her husband that she
be laid in the pyre beside Sigurd, whom she never ceased to love.
Gunnarr and Högni took Fáfnir's heritage and Andvari's Yield, and ruled
the Burgundy lands thereafter. The curse, which had been the death of
Sigurd and Bryhild, carried on.
Gudrun
Gunnar tried to console his sister Gudrun for his part in Sigurd's
death, as well as the death of her elder son. But Gudrun could not be
comforted. One day, finding that she could no longer live with her
family, she took her daughter (Svanhild) and fled to Denmark, where she
sought refuge in King Alf's court. Alf was Sigurd's stepfather and,
when Sigurd's mother (Hjordis) had died, the king had married Thora.
Both Alf and Thora had welcomed Gudrun. Here, Gudrun stayed for many
years, finally finding comfort. She would have happily stayed in
Denmark, but Brynhild's brother Atli (king of the Huns), went to
Gunnar's court to ask for her hand in marriage. Gunnar and his mother
Grimhild agreed, mainly because they feared that Atli would otherwise
invade their land for not preventing the death of Brynhild. They went
to Denmark and tried to persuade Gudrun with gifts of gold at first.
Gudrun refused to marry Atli and ignored the conciliating pleas from
her mother and brothers. Gudrun also warned them if she was to marry
Atli, her new husband would one day destroy their family. They ignored
her warning. Again Gudrun's mother (Grimhild) used her potion, this
time to make Gudrun forget about her grief for Sigurd. Without her
memory of Sigurd, Gudrun agreed to marry Atli. It was only after they
were married that her memory returned to her. Gudrun bore two sons to
the king of Hunland.
Atli had learned
of the treasure of Sigurd that should have belonged to Gudrun at his
death. He wanted to gain possession of this. He invited Gunnar to come
to a feast in Hunland. Unlike in the German tradition (ie. the Nibelungenlied),
Gudrun was more loyal to her brothers than her second husband (Atli).
She did not seek to avenge Sigurd upon her brothers. Instead, she
discovered her husband's intention and tried to warn her brothers of
the betrayal. When Atli sent a message to lure his brother-in-laws to
Hunland, Gudrun carved runes to her ring (Andvaranaut), and also
wrapped wolf's hair around the cursed ring. But the message was
distorted by Atli's messenger, Vingi, who could read runes. Vingi
changed the runes so that urged Gunnar and Hogni to come to visit her.
Vingi arrived at
Gunnar's court, inviting the brothers to visit their sister and her
husband. They received gold from Atli, and Vingi told the Gunnar that
there would be more gold if he and Hogni would visit their sister.
Gunnar and Hogni were suspicious of Atli's generosity. And both were
puzzled that the wolf hair on Gudrun's ring, despite the altered
message on the ring. The wolf hair must signify danger, so that Gudrun
was advising her brothers not visit Atli. Gunnar's new wife, Glaumvor,
also warned the king not to go. Gunnar and Hogni, however, decided to
go, but they sank Sigurd's treasures in the Rhine before each of them
swore an oath, never to reveal the location of Sigurd's treasure (which
is how the treasures become known as the 'Rhinegold'). The Giukings and
their followers then set out for Atli's court.
When the brothers
arrived, Atli immediately demanded the treasure of Sigurd. Gunnar
flatly refused, so Atli had the guests ambushed. Fierce battle broke
out, and though the Burgundians proved to be great warriors, they were
helplessly outnumbered. Gudrun, seeing her brothers' plight, donned a
mail coat and took up the sword, where she joined the Burgundians, and
fought as bravely as her brothers. However her aid wasn't enough to
save her brothers. Eventually, all the Burgundian warriors were killed
in the fighting, except for Gunnar and Hogni, who bravely fought on
until Atli's warriors managed to capture them alive.
Neither brother
would reveal the location of the treasure. When threatened with
tortures, Gunnar told Atli that he would reveal the location only on
the condition that the king cut out his brother's heart (Gunnar did not
want his brother learning of his betrayal) . Atli had the heart of the
thrall, named Hjalli, cut out and brought to Gunnar, pretending this
was the heart of Hogni. Gunnar and was not deceived by Atli's trickery;
he told the king that this was the heart of a coward because it quaked
tremendously. So Atli had Hogni murdered and cut out his heart. Gunnar
then knew his brother was dead, because Hogni's brave heart did not
tremble in his hand. Then Gunnar laughed at Atli, telling the
treacherous king that he would never tell them the secret of treasure's
location. For while Hogni was alive Gunnar had wavered, but now that
his brother was dead he was the only person who could reveal its
location. Gudrun came to her husband and cursed him for betraying her
and her brothers.
Realising that Gunnar would not reveal the
treasure's whereabouts, the enraged king ordered him to be thrown into
a pit full of adders. Gudrun, learning of his brother's fate, threw a
harp to Gunnar. Since his hands were tied tightly to his body, Gunnar
played the harp with his toes so well that all but one adder fell to
sleep by his sweet music. That one adder was enough to kill him. The
whereabouts of the hidden treasure has not been found to this day. The
ring' however, continued to work its bale.
Atli boasted over the death of Gudrun's brothers, but tried to
reconcile with his wife with gift of gold. Gudrun was satisfied to live
with Atli as his wife while Hogni lived. With Hogni's death, Gudrun
sought to avenge her brothers. She had a huge funeral feast prepared in
honour of her brothers and those of Atli's kins who had died. While
Atli and his guests became intoxicated wine, Gudrun went into her sons'
room. There she cut the throats of Erp and Eitil; the two sons that she
borne to Atli. Gudrun mixed their blood with mead and roasted their
hearts in the spits before serving them to the drunken king. When Atli
asked his wife where their sons were, Gudrun told him he had drunk
their blood out of cups made from their skulls and eaten their flesh.
Gudrun then took up a sword and stabbed Atli to death. She bitterly
told her dying husband that she still loved Sigurd and, although she
could live with being a widow to Sigurd, she could not bear it with her
being married to Atli. Most of Atli's guests had by this time passed
out. With the help of her nephew, Niflung, son of Hogni, she set the
hall in flame, killing her husband's drunken guests as they slept.
The Fate of Svanhild
With the death of her sons and husband, whom she had murdered, Gudrun
sought to end her life by throwing herself into the sea. She was
however saved by King Jonakr, who made her his wife. Gudrun bore him
three sons: Hamdir, Sorli, and Erp. Gudrun had her daughter Svanhild
brought here to live with their new family.
Years later, a certain
king (Jormunrek) wanted to marry Svanhild, daughter of Sigurd and
Gudrun, and sent his son Randver to help him woo her. Before Jormunrek
was to marry Svanhild, Jormunrek's treacherous counsellor, Bikki, told
Randver it would be better if he was to marry Svanhild rather than his
father. Randver told Svanhild that he was in love with her, a love
which she seemed to readily return. Bikki then told the king of his
son's betrayal and Svanhild's unfaithfulness. Jormunrek had his own son
hanged while he had horses trample Svanhild to death.
Gudrun, having
heard of her daughter's execution, asked her sons to avenge Svanhild's
death. Erp made a comment that his brother misunderstood. They thought
that Erp refused to help them with the vengeance so they killed Erp.
Then Hamdir and Sorli attacked Jormunrek, cutting off the king's hands
and feet. Before they could behead the king, Jormunrek's men attack the
brothers, but were driven back. The armour that Hamdir and Sorli wore
made then invulnerable to swords, spears and arrows. Then Odin appeared
suddenly and advised the king to have them stoned. Jormunrek's men then
stoned Hamdir and Sorli to death. Here ended the last of the Giukings
(a daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild, named Áslaug, lived after young
Sigurd; she was reared with Heimir in Hlymdalir, and great houses are
sprung from her). What became of the cursed ring after this is not know to me.
Most skalds (Norse poets) have made verses and many short tales from
this saga. Bragi the Old wrote of the fall of Sörli and Hamdir in that
song of praise which he composed on Ragnarr Lodbrók:
Once Jörmunrekkr awakened
To an dream, 'mid the princes
Blood-stained, while swords were swirling:
A brawl burst in the dwelling
Of Randvér's royal kinsman,
When the raven-swarthy
Brothers of Erpr took vengeance
For all the bitter sorrows.
The bloody dew of corpses,
O'er the king's couch streaming,
Fell on the floor where, severed,
Feet and hands blood-dripping
Were seen; in the ale-cups' fountain
He fell headlong, gore-blended:
On the Shield, Leaf of the Bushes
Of Leifi's Land, 't is painted.
There stood the shielded swordsmen,
Steel biting not, surrounding
The king's couch; and the brethren
Hamdir and Sörli quickly
To the earth were beaten
By the prince's order,
To the Bride of Odin
With hard stones were battered.
The swirling weapons' Urger
Bade Gjúki's race be smitten
Sore, who from life were eager
To ravish Svanhildr's lover;
And all pay Jónakr's offspring
With the fair-piercing weapon,
The render of blue birnies,
With bitter thrusts and edges.
I see the heroes' slaughter
On the fair shield-rim's surface;
Ragnarr gave me the Ship-Moon
With many tales marked on it. |
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Gautrek's Saga
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Gautreks Saga is a rather strange tale in
which the eponymous king (Gautrak) is actually a minor character. The tale centres more
around two heroes - Starkad and Ref. Parts of the tale seem to be
unrelated to one another, where Gautrek disappear in the middle of the
story and concentrated on King Vikar and his faithful companion Starkad.
Better Dead than Poor.
The tale of
Gautrek begins with an event in the life of his father, King Gauti of West
Gotaland, between Norway and Sweden. Some time, before Gautrek was born, his father, King Gauti, went out hunting and got
separated from his retinue when he chased a stag in the thick forest.
In the chase, he managed to wound the stag, but it still managed to run
with the king's javelin in its body. Such was the chase that he became
hot, so he stripped off most of clothes, and he was left wearing only
his underwear. Gauti had even removed his boots. Gauti became lost, and
would not have been able to return to his palace before nightfall. But
by fortune, he found his way to an isolate farm, when he heard the
sound of a hound barking.
A man with an
axe saw the stranger approached. This man angrily killed the dog for
attracting unwanted visitor to his master's home. The slave refused to
invite him in, but was afraid to stop the nearly naked stranger.
The farmer was angry
that someone had come into his property, but was pleased that his slave
had killed the dog. The farmer was not really poor, but he acted as if
he was. His name was Skinflint and he was a miser. If he was given a
choice, he would never let anyone come to his property nor would offer
any food or hospitality because he feared that he would become poor.
When the family gathered around the table, Skinflint didn't bother to
invite Gauti. Nevertheless, the uninvited guest sat at the table and
partook of the meal with Skinflint's family. When the king finished
eating, the farmer grumbled that there was no food left.
Skinflint's wife
was Totra, and he had six children, 3 sons - Fjolmod, Imsigull and
Gilling - and 3 daughters - Hjotra, Fjotra and Snotra. Snotra was the
brightest one in the family, and only she was willing to talk to the
stranger. At night, Snotra came to the guest who was sleeping near the
fireplace. Although Gauti told her that he would compensate her father
with money for food and lodging, Snotra told him that it was too late.
She told the king that there is a cliff, known as the Family Cliff or
Gillings Bluff. At the highest point of this cliff, known as Ætternisstapi, her family
and ancestors have often jumping to their deaths to avoid poverty,
overpopulation of the farm and starvation, by cutting down the size of
the family. They would also jump off the cliff to avoid old age and
even minor illness. It is believed among these farmers that their death
over the cliff would earn them a place in Valhalla with their god Odin.
Snotra told him that in the morning after the king left the property;
both of her parents would jump to their death. Then the king had
intercourse with Snotra before sleeping; a child was conceived that
night.
In the morning,
before the king left, he asked for Skinflint's shoes because he came to
the farm barefoot. Grumbling, Skinflint gave the king a pair of shoes,
but he took back and kept the laces. The king told Snotra that if she
is pregnant and later give birth to a son, she should name him Gautrek,
and that she should also seek him out in his kingdom. Snotra told the
king that she could not go with him yet.
Skinflint
divided his property between his children. Gilling and Snotra would
have his fine ox; Fjolmod and his sister Hjotra would share the bar of
gold; the cornfields would go to Imsigull and Fjotra. Their father's
final words were to not have any children otherwise there would not be
enough inheritances to dole out. Then the
children watched their father, mother and the thrall (who killed the
dog) went out to the Family Cliff and leaped to their deaths.
Snotra and her siblings heeding their father's words, used wooden pegs
and cloths tied around their bodies so that there was no way that they
should touch one another, so none of the girls could get pregnant. But
Snotra was already pregnant and her brothers and sisters didn't know
about it.
One morning,
when Gilling woke up, he accidentally touched Snotra's cheek, and
realised that her sister's face was exposed. Gilling wasn't afraid that
he may have made his sister pregnant. Snotra wanted to keep it a secret
from their brothers and sisters, but Gilling refused. Some months
later, Snotra gave birth to a boy whom she named Gautrek. Gilling and
others seriously thought that he made Snotra pregnant by just touching
her cheek with his fingers. Gilling was willing to leap off the Family
Cliff, but his brothers urged him to wait.
One day, Fjolmod
fell asleep after attending flock of sheep. When he woke he saw snail
crawling over his bar of gold. Fjolmod seriously thought that the snail
had dented his gold, so the value of gold was now worthless. The gold
was not diminished at all; there was only stained black on the surface
of the gold. Believing that they were now poor, he Fjolmod split his
property between his other siblings, then he and his sister Hjotra went
up the cliff and jumped off the Family Cliff.
One day, in the
cornfield, Imsigull saw a small sparrow had eaten a single grain from
one ear of the corn; he thought his entire crops were ruined. So he and
his sister/wife also went over the cliff.
Years had
passed, and Gautrek was now a boy of seven. He was tall and strong for
his age. The Gilling's ox was killed when the boy stabbed it to death
with his spear. Gilling was devastated, and thought his wealth was
gone, so he too went over the Family Cliff.77
This left Snotra
and her son all alone in the farm, so she decided to leave, and go to
Gauti's kingdom. Gauti welcomed Snotra and their son, where the boy was
brought up in his court. Gautrek reached his manhood at age ten or
eleven. Gauti fell ill and died, leaving his young son to succeed him
to rule Gotaland.
Vikar and Starkad the Old.
Alfhild was the daughter of King Alf, whom the giant Starkad the
Ala-Warrior had abducted. Thor killed Starkad and returned Alfhild to
her father, but it was a bit too late because she was already pregnant.
Alfhild gave birth to Storvirk, a mighty Viking warrior, who served
King Harald of the Agder Province. The king rewarded Storvirk by giving
him a farm at Thruma Island. Storvirk abducted Unn, daughter of Earl
Freki of Halogaland. Unn became the mother of a son, whom Storvirk
named after his grandfather, Starkad.
Unn had two
brothers, Fjori and Fyri, and they attacked Storvirk one night, by
burning the house down. This also killed their sister. Fjori and Fyri
didn't survive very long. On their return journey to their home, they
drowned when their ship sank in the storm.
The only survivor on the farm was Storvirk's son. Storvirk's friend,
Harald, brought up the infant Starkad in his court. But the king had an
enemy, and he was killed by King Herthjof of Hordaland. After capturing
the kingdom, Herthjof took Starkad and Vikar, son of King Harald, as
hostage. Starkad Storvirkson was only three at that time. He was
brought up in the fosterage of Grani Horsehair at Ask on the island of
Fenhring. Grani had long served King Herthjof.
Nine years later
Vikar (Icelandic, Wikar in Danish) went to Ask and found that Starkad
was quite tall for his age. Vikar took his foster brother with him.
Vikar had only twelve men with him, but he took a ship and attacked
Herthjof's castle. Despite being outnumbered, they not only defeated
Herthjof's men in the fighting without losing a single man, but also
killed the king. Young Starkad fought side by side with Vikar. Vikar
became king and regained his father's kingdom (Agder), and Starkad
served him faithfully. Starkad fought in Vikar's army, winning many
wars and battles, expanding Vikar's kingdom. In Kiev, Starkad killed
King Sisar. Vikar also took the kingdoms of Uplands and Telemark, ruled
by Herthjof's brothers - Geirthjof and Frithjof. Geirthjof was killed
in the Battle of Uplands, but Vikar gained Telemark without a battle
because Frithjof was away from his kingdom at that time.
Frithjof
regained his brother's kingdom of Uplands, and the two enemies faced
each other in battle. King Olaf of Sweden was Vikar's ally in the
battle. In this battle, Starkad fought without any armour and weapon;
using his bare hands. Frithjof surrendered when he was defeated; he
went into exile.
Starkad
Storvirksson was Vikar's right hand man and counsellor. Although he was
Vikar's best warrior, Starkad was also a poet. Vikar had two sons,
Harald and Neri. Vikar gave Telemark to Harald, while Neri received
Upland. Earl Neri was a friend of King Gautrek of Gotaland, and he was
known for his wisdom, acting as Gautrek's counsellor.
The King's Sacrifice
Fifteen years after Vikar and Starkad gained their freedom,
unfavourable winds kept Vikar ships stranded on a group of small
islands. Through divination they found out that a human sacrifice must
be performed. So each man drew lots in the army, but the victim chosen
was their king. They tried drawing lots again and again, but each time
it was Vikar who was chosen. They decided to call upon a meeting in the
next day, to see if they can avoid killing their king.
That night,
around midnight, Starkad's foster father woke the hero up and asked him
to follow. They set out on a boat, rowing until they reached another
island. Grani led the hero into the woods and then to a clearing, where
eleven people were seated in twelve chairs. While Starkad stood in the
centre of the meeting, Grani sat in the twelfth chair. Starkad heard
the other seated men greet Grani as Odin. They were Starkad's twelve
judges who would decide his fate.
Thor began by saying that since Starkad's grandmother, Alfhild,
preferred Starkad's grandfather (Starkad the Ala-Warrior) instead of
him, Starkad should have no children of his own. Odin countered Thor
saying that the hero would live a span of three lifetimes, which Thor
immediately cursed Starkad would commit a terrible deed in each
lifetime. Odin declared that Starkad would have the finest clothes and
weapons, but Thor countered that he should have no land or estate. The
one-eyed god said that Starkad would have riches, but Thor announced
that he would never be satisfied with what he had. He shall have
victory in every battle, but he would also be sorely wounded in each
one. He would well-known for his art in poetry, but he would never
remember what he composes. Nobles would admire and respect Starkad, but
the common people shall despise him.
After the
blessings and curses from the two gods, all twelve judges agreed that
everything that was said about Starkad's fate would come to pass. With
that the judges vanished, leaving Starkad alone with Grani Horsehair.
Grani gave his foster son a spear, but it looked like a reed-stalk.
They returned to the army in the morning.
A new meeting
was held, and Starkad advised Vikar and the other counsellors that they
would hold a mock sacrifice. Starkad found a tall pine tree with a very
thin branch. He used a gut from a slaughtered calf and tied it to the
end of slender branch. This was to be the King's gallows, which didn't
look at all dangerous. Vikar climbed on a tree stump and Starkad placed
the noose of calf's gut around the king's neck. Starkad thought all
this was very safe, and the king would be unharmed in the mock
sacrifice. But the fates of Starkad and Vikar were inevitable. When
Starkad jabbed the reed-stalk into the king's chest, the stalk turned
into a real spear, piercing Vikar. Vikar slipped off the stump. The gut
turned into a thick rope around Vikar's neck, and the thin branch
became a thick one. King Vikar died, and the place was named
Vikarsholmar.78
After Vikar's
death, his two sons divided the kingdom of their father. Earl Neri was
wiser than his old brother, he let Harald succeed their father,
but Neri would take Uplands and Telemark. For the death of Vikar,
Starkad's foster brother, he was tormented with guilt, and the common
people hated him. This was his foul deed that he had committed. He was
banished from Hordaland. So he migrated to Uppsala, in Sweden, to serve
Eirik and Alrek, sons of Agni and Skjalf. Starkad often went into
plundering expeditions, so he travelled widely. He never lost a duel or
battle.
Twelve
berserkers in Uppsala would often mock and taunt Starkad, saying that
he was a traitor and the reincarnation of a giant. Ulf and Otrygg, two
brothers, often ridiculed the hero, saying that he had eight arms until
Thor tore six of them out of his body.
The tale about Starkad ends at this point and he isn't mentioned again
in the rest of the narrative. But he did grow very old, living another
two lifetimes, which is why he was called Starkad the Old. In another
tale, Egil and Asmund, it mentions a third foul deed that Strkdad
committed. He killed Armod, son of Asmund, in his bath. I have yet to
find the second crime that Starkad supposedly committed.
A Peasant's Gift.
Gautrek
was known as a fine king and a great warrior. He ruled in Gotaland for
many years before he found himself a wife. Her name was Alfhind,
daughter of King Harald of Wendland. They had a beautiful daughter, who
was named Helga. Her daughter grew into a most beautiful woman in all
Gotaland. Gautrek was very happy until his wife fell into a long
illness before she died. From that point on, Gautrek would not stop
grieving for his wife. All he did was sitting on her burial mound all
day, flying his hawk, ignoring his kingly duties to kingdom.
One of Vikar's champions was Rennir, whom the king gave farmland to in
return for his faithful service. The farm was at Rennis Island, off
Jaederen in Norway. Rennir's most prized possession was a magnificent
ox. Rennir has one son, named Ref. Whereas Rennir was a hardworking
farmer, Ref was lazy, lying around in the kitchen, not even bothering
to wash the filth from his body. Though, he was tall and strong, Ref
refusing to work on his father's farm. When Rennir tripped over his
son's foot one-day, it was the last straw, so he decided throw his
useless son off his property. Seeing that he must leave home, Ref ask
his father if he could take something valuable with him. Not realising
his son's intention, Rennir agreed. So Ref left the farm with his
father's most prized ox in tow.
Ref travelled
to the Uplands. To do that he must cross the sea to the mainland, and
he did so rowing in a large boat. The ox was forced to follow, swimming
behind the boat. He travelled through Norway until he reached Earl
Neri's palace in the Uplands. The doorkeeper refused entry to Ref, but
Earl Neri remembered that Ref's father had serve his father in many
campaigns, so he went out to meet the young peasant. Ref offered his
father's fine ox to Neri, but the earl was known for refusing gifts
because he never want to give any gift in return. But Ref persuaded the
earl to take the ox in return for advice (because of Neri's wisdom),
not gift nor gold. Neri delightfully accepted and invited Ref to a
feast.
In Neri's hall,
the walls were completely lined with overlapping shields. Neri took one
down and gave it to his guest. The fine shield was inlaid with gold.
But after a short while, Neri was upset with giving away the shield
because one of them was missing on the wall. Seeing this, Ref returned
the shield to the earl. Since he has no weapon, what is the point of
carrying a shield, said Ref? Admiring Ref's generosity, Neri told the
peasant that he could stay in the hall as long as he wished, and that
he would promise to give a very good counsel to Ref.
Neri gave Ref a
whetstone, and told him to go to Gotaland. Neri instructed Ref to give
this whetstone to King Gautrek. So Ref went to Gotaland and found the
king sitting on a mound where his wife was buried. Here, the king would
fly his hawk until the bird was tired. Gautrek reached around and would
throw objects at his hawk. When the king ran out of things to throw at
the bird, Ref placed the whetstone in Gautrek's hand. The whetstone
struck the bird and it flew off. So pleased was the king that he gave
his gold ring to Ref without even turning around to see who had gave
him the whetstone. Everything happened as the earl had said.
Ref returned to
the Uplands, and showed the ring to Neri. Ref stayed with Neri all
winter then, in spring, the earl sent Ref to King Aella of England.
Instead of selling the gold ring for money, Ref was to give the ring to
Aella. Following the earl's instruction, Ref gave the gold ring to
Aella. When Aella heard that Ref received the ring from Gautrek in
exchange for a whetstone, the king admired Gautrek's generosity. Ref
returned to Neri in autumn, but not before Aella gave his guest two
little dogs; each dog wore seven rings on a chain around its neck.
At the next
spring, Neri now sends Ref to Denmark. Here, Ref gave his two dogs to
King Hrolf. When Hrolf found about the dogs, Gautrek's gold ring and
the whetstone, he accepted the gift. Hrolf in return gave his guest a
ship, with crew and cargo. Hrolf also gave Ref a helmet and a coat of
mail, made of red gold. Ref returned to his foster father (Neri) with
these new gifts before winter.
In spring, Neri
sent Ref in another venture, this time to King Olaf, who command eighty
raiding ships. Ref followed the earl's instruction again, giving away
the helmet and a coat of mail to Olaf. Olaf was very pleased with these
gifts and found out he received them from King Hrolf. He also heard
about the two dogs, a gold ring and the whetstone. Olaf found that of
all these gifts, Gautrek was the most generous of kings. In exchange
for these gifts, Ref asked Olaf to lend him fleet for only a fortnight.
Before the king could accept the gifts, Olaf's adviser, Ref-Nose, stole
the helmet and mail-coat from Ref and jumped overboard. Ref followed
the evil adviser, but only managed to retrieve the coat of mail, and
gave it to the king. Again, following Neri's instruction, Ref sailed
with Olaf's fleet to Gotaland, where he met Neri. The earl wanted Ref
to pretend that he was intending to invade Gotaland with Olaf's forces.
Neri persuaded the Gautrek to give in to Ref's demand, not realizing
Neri's deception. The price to Gautrek for Ref not to invade his
kingdom, the king accepted the term, offering to Ref, his daughter in
marriage, as well as some lands. Once Gautrek sealed the agreement with
an oath, Ref thanked Olaf, who left with his fleet and men.
Gautrek realised
that Neri and Ref had tricked him, but he was not entirely angry about
the proposal. The king had a feast prepared, and Ref married Helga.
Gautrek also bestowed the title of earl to Ref. So, through Neri's
advice, the earl had repaid Ref for the ox.
So ends the Saga of Gautrek.
|
| 7. Places and Objects in Norse Myth |
| Objects |
Owner(s)
|
Description
|
| Aegishjalmarr (the 'Helm of Awe') |
Odin |
A helmet belonging to Odin |
| Andlang |
|
A heaven above Vingolf, mentioned by Snorri Sturluson in the Prose Edda |
Andvaranaut (Andvari's yield)
|
Andvari
|
A
magic ring that enabled to dwarf Andvari (Alberich) to make or find as
much gold as he liked. The ring was cursed by the dwarf when Loki stole
it to pay the Otter's Ransom. Thereafter, anyone who had the ring was
doomed to tragedy (see The Dwarf-cursed Ring)
|
| Bifrost |
|
The rainbow bridge between Asgard (heaven) and Midgard (Earth). Guarded by Heimdall the 'White God'. |
Brísingamen ('the Brising Necklace')
|
Freyja |
A beautiful gold necklace or girdle made by four dwarfs known as the Brisings.
The Brisings refused to give the necklace to Freyja unless she had sex
with each dwarf. She did (for one night each). Odin was disgusted with
Freyja's wanton behaviour and ordered Loki to steal the Brísingamen,
but Heimdall recovered the necklace for Freyja. |
Dainsleif
|
Hogni
|
In the tale of Hjadningavig ('Battle of the Hjadnings'), Dainsleif
is a sword belonging to a Danish king named Hogni that must kill or
taste blood when unsheathed before it can be re-sheathed again. The
sword was forged by a dwarf, possibly named Dain (the sword's
name means 'Dain's heirloom'). This is part of the story of Freyja's
Brisingamen in the text known as the Sorla Thatter. |
| Draupner |
Odin |
Draupner or 'The Dipper' was Odin's Ring of Power was created by the
dwarf brothers, Brokk and Eiti. Every ninth night there dropped from it
eight other gold rings; each of the same size and weight of the
original ring. Odin lays Drasupner on Balder’s funeral pyre and it is
later returned to Asgard by Hermod. Draupnir probably serves as the model for
the One Ring in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings |
| Eldhrimnir |
Andhrimnir |
The great cooking pot in which Andhrimnir (the cook at Valahalla) cooked the wild boar called Sæhrimnir. |
| Gimle |
|
Another name for Vingolf (below); a Norse version of the Elysian Fields or the Blessed Isle. |
| Ginnungagap |
|
(the 'yawning gap'). The primeval chasm between Niflheim and Muspel (Ice and Fire) before the creation of the universe |
| Gjallahorn |
Heimdall |
The horn that would signal the coming of Ragnarök, belonged to Heimdall, the god that guard the gates to Asgard. |
| Glasir |
|
The tree standing in front of the doors of Valhalla; so called for its red-gold foliage. |
| Gleipnir |
The Aesir
|
A magic ribbon that was the only thing that could bind the wolf Fenrir.
It was made of 'noise of a cat, beard of woman, breath of a fish and
spittle of a bird'. Fenrir will only break the ribbon when the gods
face Ragnarök. |
| Golden Apples |
Idun |
Magic apples which keep the gods immortal. |
| Grídarvöl |
Grid, Thor |
A powerful magical staff that Thor possessed. The giantess Grid gave
him this Grídarvöl, along with her own set of belt of power
(Megingjarpar) and iron gloves. |
| Gungnir |
Odin |
The spear or lance of Odin. Gungnir ('swaying one') was made by the sons of Ivaldi (4 dwarfs). Sometimes called Gungpir |
Hell
'Bad hall' (unnamed)
|
|
There is only one Norse
'hell' as such (Niflhel, below, is an Underworld home of the dead but
not a place of punishment). This is a unnamed 'bad hall' reserved for
murderers and people who have made oaths and not kept them. The door of this hall faced north (towards the cold) and the
hall itself was 'altogether wrought of adder-backs like
a wattled house.' The heads of these snakes are turned into the house
and blow
venom so that rivers of venom run along the hall, and in those rivers
must such men wade forever. |
Hlidskialf
|
Odin |
The throne of Odin in the hall of Valaskialf. Hlidskialf allowed Odin
to see what was happening around the world without moving from the
throne. |
| Hvergelmir |
|
Roaring Kettle', one of the three wells at the base of Yggdrasil. From
it's name, I take it that Hvergelmir fed from Muspelheim (the world of
fire). See also Mimisbrunnr and Urdarbrunnr. |
| Mead of Poetry (Mead of Inspiration) |
dwarves, Suttung,
Odin
|
A
drink made from honey and the blood of Kvasir. It was taken from two
dwarves (who both killed Kvasir and made the mead) by the giant
Suttung. It was then stolen off him by Odin who drank it and thereby
became the god of poetry, wisdom, and prophecy. Some was spilt by
Odin
during his flight from Suttung and was thereby given to humans. It
should be noted that the functions of philosopher, poet, priest and
prophet were not as sharply delineated in Norse times as they have
become since. The same ‘mead’ (the same kind of poetic, philosophical
and prophetic inspiration) served them all equally as well. |
| Megingjarpar |
Grid, Thor |
Megingjarpar was also known as the 'Girdle of Might', which made Thor
even stronger than he was. Thor also possessed a pair of magic iron
gloves, which allowed him to wield Mjollnir. These magical items were
given to him by the friendly giantess, Grid. |
| Mimisbrunnr |
|
'Mimir's Well' or the Well of Knowledge. One of the three wells at the
base of Yggdrasil (the World tree). Odin gave one of his eyes for a
drink from this well. See also Hvergelmir and Urdarbrunnr |
| Mirkwood (Myrkwood) |
|
A large and dense forest between Asgard and the Gianthome. |
| Mjollnir |
Thor
|
The short-handled warhammer made by the dwarf brothers, Brokk and Eiti,
for Thor, the god of thunder. It was Mjollnir that caused the lightning
and thunder. |
| Naglfar |
the Giants
|
The ship in which the frost giants and mountain giants will sail toward Plain of Vigrid for the final battle of Ragnarök. |
Niflhel
|
Hel
|
An Underworld for those who have died of sickness or old age
|
| Nastrond |
|
The shore of corpses within the realm of Nifleim. Nidhogg lives there |
Odrerir
|
Fjalar and Galar |
A
container set consisting of two vats (Bodn and Son) and a pot, into
which the two dwarfs, Fjalar and Galar poured Kvasir's blood in order
to make the Mead of Poetry.
|
| Plain of Vigrid |
|
Site of the final battle during Ragnarök |
| Rati |
Odin
|
An auger that Odin
(disguised as the farmer Bolverk) used to bore hole through a mountain
to gain entry to the Mead of Poetry. |
| Skidbladnir |
Freyr |
The collapsible ship of Freyr, made by the dwarfs known as the sons of Ivaldi. |
| Sword of Freyr |
Freyr, Skirnir |
The magic sword of Freyr. Freyr gave the sword to his servant Skirnir, who helped him wooed Gerd. |
| Urdarbrunnr |
Urda (a Norn) |
Urda's Well' 'Weird's Well of the Well of Fate. One of three wells at
the base of Yggdrasil (the World Tree). Each day the Aesir would hold
court at this well. See also Hvergelmir and Mimirbrunnr. |
| Valhalla (Valhall) |
Odin
|
Odin's hall where slain warriors await the Doom of the Gods |
| Vidblain |
|
A heaven mentioned in the Prose Edda as being aove Andlang and Vingolf. |
| Vingolf |
|
A hall in Asgard. Vingolf means either 'wine-hall' or 'friend-hall'.
This was a sanctuary for the goddesses and may be the hall for the
righteous dead to live in. Another name for Vingolf is Gimle, and it
was a Norse version of the Elysian Fields or the Blessed Isle. Snorri
says Vingolf or Gimle was the fairest of places, located on the
southernmost end of heaven. |
| Yggdrasil - the 'Ash tree of Ygg
(Odin)'.
|
|
The tree that integrates the nine worlds.Yggdrasil, a living and sentient being, held
the fabric of the universe
together but was itself under terrible strain; ‘the ash Yggdrasil
suffers harms, more than men can imagine’. Its trunk was rotting and
suffered fearful torments, even though the Norns kept sprinkling it
with healing water from the Spring (or Well) of Fate. Yggdrasil
reflected the parlous condition of the world - a world that was flawed
and doomed fromthe very start. It is in keeping with the fatalism of
Norse ethics that the world should be doomed from the outset The seeds
of corruption were sown in the creation itself (Odin was father of the
gods, but his mother had been a giantess, and the blood of the gods was
flawed with latent corruption). It is this doom that is summed up in
the concept of Ragnarokkr.
|
Birth and Rebirth, M. EIiade (New York: Harper & Row, 1958), pp.81-3.
Svipdagsmal (i.e., the poems Gróugaldr and Fjölsvinnsmal).
The Laxdaela Saga (translated by Muriel Press, 1899). From OMACL
The Poetic Edda (1250AD), translated by Carolyne Larrington (World's Classics, 1996). The Poetic Edda is a collection of Icelandic poems from the Viking era. It and the Prose Edda (below) together comprise the major source of information about Norse/Viking myths and religious practices.
The Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson (1222-23AD), translated by Anthony Faulkes (Everyman, 1987, 1995). The Prose Edda - sometimes called Snorri's Edda or just Snorri - is a recounting on Norse myths.
The Story of the Volsungs (translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson), Walter Scott Press, 1888. From OMACL.
The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (translated by Jesse L. Byock), Penguin Classics, 1985.
The Story of Burnt Njal or Njal's Saga (translated by Sir George W. DaSent, London, 1861). From OMACL.
The Story of the Ere-Dwellers (translated by William Morris & Eirikr Magnusson, 1892). From OMACL.
The Saga of Hogni and Hedinn (transcribed by Loptsson Northvegr)
The Vikings, Johannes Brondsted, Pelican, 1960
Viking atrocity and Skaldic verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle, Roberta Frank, University of Toronto (downloaded from ehr.oxfordjournals.org)
Viga Glum's Saga (transcribed by Beau Salsman Northvegr)
Volsungasaga (translated by Jesse L. Byock as The Saga of the Volsungs), Penguin Classics, 1990. Also avialable from OMACL.
Blót and Þing. The function of the Tenth-Century Goði, J. H.
Adalsteinsson (Reykjavik, 1985, 1998) p.49, translated by T. Gunnell and J. Turville-Petre.
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Dictionary of Archeology (edited by Paul Bahn), Collins, 1992
Egil's Saga (transcribed by Hermann Palsson and
Paul Edwards) NY: Penguin. 1976.
Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas (Gwyn
Jones) NY: Oxford U.P. 1961.
Eyrbyggja Saga (translated by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards), Penguin Classics, 1972.
Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, J. P. Mallory and D. Q. Adams, (Chicago, 1997).
Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings (translated by A. H. Smith, edited by Erling Monsen), Dover, 1990
"
"
"
"
(translated by Samuel Laing)
London, 1844 (from the Online Medieval and Classical Library (OMACL),
1996.
Hauksbók, Islenzk Fornrit, vol. I, Hið Islenzka Fornritafelag, (Reykjavik) 1968, pp.313-15.
Gesta Danorum or The Story of the Danes, Saxo Grammaticus, (translated by Oliver Elton, 1905). From OMACL.
Human Sacrifice, N. Davies, Macmillan (London, 1981), p.23.
Myth, Kenneth McLeish, (London; Bloomsbury, 1991)
Adam of Bremen, cited in E. O. G. Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia, (London, 1964) p.244.
Njal's Saga (translated by Robert Cook), Penguin Classics, 1997
Online Medieaval and Classical Library (http://sunsite.berkeley,edu/omacl)
sacred-texts.com
Sacrifice and Sacrificial Ideology in Old Norse Religion, Daniel Bray (from escholarship.usyd.edu.au/journals).
Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functions, H. Hubert and M. Mauss, trans. W. D. Halls (Chicago 1898, 1982), p.97.
Icelandic Saga Database (http://sagadb.org)
Sagas of Warrior-Poets (translated by Diana Whaley), Penguin Classics, 2002
Seven Viking Romances (translated by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards), Penguin Classics, 1985.
Svipdagsmal (i.e., the poems Gróugaldr and Fjölsvinnsmal).
The Laxdaela Saga (translated by Muriel Press, 1899). From OMACL
The Poetic Edda (1250AD), translated by Carolyne Larrington (World's Classics, 1996). The Poetic Edda is a collection of Icelandic poems from the Viking era. It and the Prose Edda (below) together comprise the major source of information about Norse/Viking myths and religious practices.
The Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson (1222-23AD), translated by Anthony Faulkes (Everyman, 1987, 1995). The Prose Edda - sometimes called Snorri's Edda or just Snorri - is a recounting on Norse myths.
The Story of the Volsungs (translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson), Walter Scott Press, 1888. From OMACL.
The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (translated by Jesse L. Byock), Penguin Classics, 1985.
The Story of Burnt Njal or Njal's Saga (translated by Sir George W. DaSent, London, 1861). From OMACL.
The Story of the Ere-Dwellers (translated by William Morris & Eirikr Magnusson, 1892). From OMACL.
The Saga of Hogni and Hedinn (transcribed by Loptsson Northvegr)
The Vikings, Johannes Brondsted, Pelican, 1960
Viking atrocity and Skaldic verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle, Roberta Frank, University of Toronto (downloaded from ehr.oxfordjournals.org)
Viga Glum's Saga (transcribed by Beau Salsman Northvegr)
Volsungasaga (translated by Jesse L. Byock as The Saga of the Volsungs), Penguin Classics, 1990. Also avialable from OMACL.
Footnotes
1.
A statue of Freyr, found in the temple at Uppsala, sports a gigantic phallus. This, along with other statuettes and amulets
found in Sweden, confirms his role as a fertility god.
2.
The Prose Edda gives this boar as Slidrugtanni rather than Gullinbursti.
This kind of inconsistency is common in religions which grow up over a
long time because the myths change differently at different times and
places. The Norse peasants, for example, almost certainly conserved the
old myths more, and differently, than did the Vikings.
3. Dís (the Norse word for 'goddess') is mostly used in its plural form (dísir). Disir may be Vanir or Aesir.
4. The word 'Aesir' is commonly used to denote both gods and goddesses who belong to the
tribe of gods living in Asgard. Strictly speaking, however, 'Aesir'
is plural only for the male gods; a single Aesir is called an 'As'. The
Aesir goddesses were known as 'Asynior' or 'Asyniur'. A single Asyniur
is called an Asynia.
5. Mistletoe is neither tree nor shrub, and was apparently sacred to both the Norse folk and the Druids
6. Some say that Frigg was the daughter of Jörd
(Fjörgyn), goddess of the earth. If this is the case then Frigg was the
sister of Thor.
7. Although there are some dispute about whether Loki really was a god and, if so, whether or not he was an As.
8. A kenning is a poetic metaphor substituted for the usual name of a
person or thing. For example, in line 10 of Beowulf the sea is called
the 'whale-road.'The word is derived from the Old Norse phrase kenna
eitt vid, "to express a thing in terms of another", and is prevalent
throughout Norse, Anglo-Saxon literature and Celtic literature.
Kennings are especially associated with the practice of alliterative
verse, where they tend to become traditional fixed formulas (in the Norse 'text book' of poetry, Skáldskaparmal,
for example, a tale is told explaining why gold is called by the poets
'Lair (or Abode) of Fáfnir', 'Metal of Gnita Heath', or 'Grani's
Burden'). A misunderstanding of the kenning 'eagles' claws' (meaning weapons) plays a significant role in the false popularity of the supposed 'blood eagle' sacrifice.
9. Tyr (Tiwaz) was originally the chief god to the ancient Germanic tribes. How and why he was demoted is unknown to me.
10. The word valr (used in Valfather, Valhalla,
and Valkyrie) means ‘the slain’ and is used of men killed in battle.
11. This makes an interesting comparison with Maori primal myth in which
the warrior-like demi-god Maui took from various women control of
skills which had their roots in the non-hunting aspects of ancient
hunter-gatherer culture. Stories like these seem to mythologise the taking
of female mana from women, by men, during the time of the great gender
shift (see A View of Maori Myth and Ritual).
12. The phrase 'to go wood' (meaning to go emotionally out of control) could well have its origins in 'going Wodan'.
13. It is possible that Sol, under the Anglo-Saxon name Eostara is the origin of the word 'Easter'....Festival???
14. Jörd (Jord) was also known asFjörgyn (Fjorgyn) or Hlódyn (goddess of the earth).
15. Snorri had this idea that the story of Ragnarök comes from memories of the fall of Troy (cf. note 24, below)
16. Sigrdrifumal 9, from Poetic Edda translated by Carolyne Larrington
17. Havamal 143, from Poetic Edda translated by Carolyne Larrington
18. The rape of women outside of the rapist's kingdom or tribe, and of slave women
within it, was apparently acceptable to the Vikings. Adultary and
incest were not. Homosexuality is not mentioned.
19. Rime is like hoar-frost; it is caused by
super-cooled water vapour landing on the hard surface to which it
instantly freezes.
20. Based on a translation of the Prose Edda by Arthur Brodeur.
21. Some versions of the creation myth have it that they arrived on the mountain of Jötunheim (Gianthome),
which became the home of the giants. The Prose Edda doesn't say where or when they finally landed. The giants, who represent chaos, are
the implacable enemies of ordered creation. They envy the gods and lust
after the goddesses (especially Frejya). Their final attack on the gods
and mankind, during Ragnarök (qv), will result in the destruction of the
present universe.
22. Niflheim was sometimes confused with
Niflhel, which was also known as Hel and was the world of the dead. The
names Hel and Niflheim are sometimes used interchangeably for the world
of the dead.
23. According to some accounts, the deer
live on honeydew from Yggdrasil's trunk which they turn into the golden
mead. On other accounts, the world's rivers flow from the deer's
antlers while a goat called Heidrun, that feeds from the foliage of
branches of tree called Lerad, produces the mead.
24.Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic author who wrote the Prose Edda and the Ynglinga Saga,
compared Asgard with Troy from the Greek myths. Snorri said that Asgard
was a city in Asaland or Asaheim, in Asia (Asia Minor, or modern
Anatolian Turkey). He compared the Fall of Troy with Ragnarök and some
of the Aesir with either Greek or Trojan heroes - Thor/Hector,
Vidar/Aeneas, Vali/Helenus and Loki/Ulysses. In the Ynglinga Saga,
Snorri also portrayed the Aesir as humans with special powers or magic
rather than gods. The gods were rulers, heroes and heroines, priests
and priestesses. Odin was said to be the first king of Norway. The Ynglinga Saga also had a slightly different version of the war between the Aesir and the Vanir.
25. Only half of the slain warriors in
battle (the Einherjar) were given to Odin. Freyja had the honour of
receiving the other half, who resided with her in Folkvang ('Field of
Folk'), her hall within her palace Fólkvangar (Folkvangar).
25a. According to the Rigsthula (the List of Rig), in the Poetic Edda,
Heimdall or Rig was the creator of the human society. Heimdall also
divided mankind into three social classes. Heimdall enjoy the
hospitality of three old couples in three different houses. Each couple
was old and already great-grandparents. Heimdall secretly mated with
the wife of each house. Each wife gave birth to a son. Rig spent three
nights with the first couple. He had sex with the great grandmother who
had a child who was called Thrall, the labourer, who formed the lowest
social class. When Thrall had grown into a strong young man, he met and
later married a woman named Slavegirl, and they became ancestor of all
the thralls or slaves. The next couple Rig met, he had sex with the
great grandmother who had bore him another son named Farmer. Farmer
also grew into a strong, young man, who would later marry a woman and
have many children. Farmer had many descendants who became farmers like
him. The last couple Rig had visited, he again had sex with this great
grandmother, who also bore him a son who was named Lord. Lord married
Erna, daughter of Chieftain, and they became ancestors of the noble
class, the highest of the Norse social class.
Although the Poetic Edda is an Icelandic document, and the Rigsthula appears in the Poetic Edda I,
the poem (which occurs in original form only asd an unnamed fragment)
doesn't really fit. Kings were regarded with profound disapproval in
Iceland, and this, highly political, poem was always certainly not
composed there.
26. See, for example, Voluspa ('Sibyl's Prophecy'), Havamal ('Sayings of the High One'), and Vafthrudnismal ('Sayings of Vafthrudnir') in the Poetic Edda.
27. According to Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the dwarf Dvalin offered a drink from Mead of Poetry to men.
28. The number nine was significant in term of Norse symbolism and magic.
29. The practice of sacrifice by hanging existed and was written about some hundreds of years before the
Havamal was written. Tacitus, a Roman historian (ad100), recorded an
older tradition practised by the Cimbri, an ancient Germanic tribe. The
Cimbri sacrificed their victims to Wodan (Woden), the Germanic form of
Odin (some called him by his Roman name, Mercury), by hanging their
victims over a cauldron. The priestess then cut the hanged victims'
throats so that they would bleed in the cauldron before their bodies
were thrown into sacred lakes. This custom was practised by the Cimbri
as a means of appeasing Wodan (Odin).
30. Odin's sacrifice of himself to himself has some parallels with God's
scarifice of Himself (as God the Son) to Himself (as God the Father) as
told in the Christian Gospels. The period of darkness is one of these
(cf. The Gospel according to Matthew
27:45). The signal difference is that Christ was God, and was
sacrificing himself for mankind, whereas Odin was after the knowledge
he needed to truly be a god.
31. The story of Ragnarok, given here, is derived from the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda. The Prose Edda has more detail and is easier to understand, while Ragnarök appears only in a number of allusions from various poems of the Poetic Edda.
32. Loki was the son of a giant. The
giants were considered evil and the enemies of the Aesir. His position
and loyalty is, thereby, ambiguous. At Ragnarök, he will lead the
frost-giants against the gods and humans.
33. Saxo Grammaticus gives a different account of Balder's death in his Gesta Danorum (Story of the Danes).
While Saxo says that Balder was Odin's son, Hother (Hod) was not.
Hother was the son of Hodbrodd and foster son of Gewar. Nanna was the
daughter of Gewar. Balder fell in love with Nanna when he saw her
bathing. Since Balder was invulnerable to ordinary weapons, Hother
gained a sword and bracelet belong to Miming the Satyr. When Balder
sued for Nanna's hand in marriage, she refused because he was immortal
while she was mortal. Such unequal partners are incompatible match. A
war broke out between gods and men; a naval battle took place, where
the gods were defeated and fled, after Hother's sword cut Thor's club.
Hother also gained the kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden. Despite being
defeated, Balder managed to spirit Nanna away from Gewar, marrying her
in Sweden. This was followed by Hother's two defeats, which distressed
him so greatly that he abandoned his kingdoms, and live a life in
self-exile. As he wandered through the land, he came upon a cave with
maidens. These maidens comforted him, advising him that he should steal
some food that give Balder his strength. After another battle with his
enemy, Hother went to spy on his enemy. He not only gained Balder's
magic food but the belt that give victory. Before Hother left, he
seriously wounded Balder with his sword. Balder died three days later
and was buried in a barrow. Hother was killed in a different battle
later, against Boe (Vali), son of Odin and Rinda (Rind). See 'Rind' for
how Boe (Vali) was conceived through deception.
34. In stanza I the Völva, or wise-woman,
who has apparently been called upon by Odin as part of his quest for
wisdom, answers him and demands a hearing. Evidently she be longs to
the race of the giants (cf. stanza 2), and thus speaks to Odin
unwillingly, being compelled to do so by his magic power.
35. Nine worlds:
the worlds of the Aesir gods (Asgarth), of the Vanir (Vanaheim), of the
elves (Alfheim), of men (Midgard), of the giants (Jotunheim), of fire
(Muspellsheim), of the dark elves (Svartalfaheim), of the dead
(Niflheim), and presumably of the dwarfs (perhaps Nithavellir, cf.
stanza 37 and note).
36. Leeks were often used as symbol of fine growth (cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 17), and were also believed to have magic power, especially against poisoning (cf. Sigrdrifumol, 7)
37.The exact nature of this table game,
and whether it resembled chess, checkers, or dominoes, has been the
subject of much pointless debate.
38. I can find nothing reliable on Brimir
and Blain, and it has been suggested that both are names for Ymir (cf.
stanza 3). Brimir, however, appears in stanza 37 in connection with the
home of the dwarfs. Some editors treat the words as common rather than
proper nouns, Brimir meaning 'the bloody moisture'. Blain is of
uncertain significance.
39. I suspect that most of these dwarfish
names had some special significance - as with Northri, Suthri, Austri,
and Vestri ('North,' 'South', 'East,' and 'West'), Althjof ('Mighty
Thief'), Mjothvitnir ('Mead-Wolf'), Gandalf ('Magic Elf'), Vindalf
('Wind Elf'), Rathwith ('Swift in Counsel'), Eikinskjaldi ('Oak
Shield'), etc. - but in many cases any interpretations are sheer
guesswork.
40. In Hovamol, Dvalin seems to have given magic runes to the dwarfs, probably accounting for their skill in craftsmanship. In Fafnismol,
he is mentioned as the father of some of the lesser Norns. The story
that some of the dwarfs left the rocks and mountains to find a new home
on the sands is mentioned in Snorri's Edda; of Lofar we know only that he was descended from these wanderers.
41. Andvari the dwarf appears prominently in the Reginsmol,
which tells how the god Loki treacherously robbed him of his wealth;
the curse which he laid on his treasure brought about the deaths of
Sigurd, Gunnar, Atli, and many others (cf. the German Nebelgunelied and the Ring cycle of operas of Richard Wagner)
42. Urd (Urth 'The Past') is one of the
three great Norns. The world-ash (Yggdrasil) is kept green by being
sprinkled with the marvellous healing water from her well.
43. What Urd (the past) and Verthandi (the
present) 'scored on the wood' were the magic signs (runes) controlling
the destinies of humans. It was this supposed destiny that Wise-women
spent a deal of effort trying to decode.
44. This 'first war' was that between the
Aesir gods and the Vanir. Chief among the Vanir were Njörd and his
children, Freyr and Freyja, all of whom became conspicuous among the
gods. Gollveig ('Gold-Might'): apparently the first of the Vanir to
come among the gods, her ill treatment being the immediate cause of the
war. At least one commentator (Müllenhoff) maintains that Gollveig is
another name for Freyja.
45. Heith or Heidi ('Shining One'?): a
name often applied to wise women and prophetesses. The application of
this stanza to Gollveig is far from clear. Some editors (e.g., W. H.
Auden) maintain that it applies to the Völva who is reciting the poem,
and make it the opening stanza, following it with stanzas 28 and 30,
and then going on with stanzas I ff.
46. The story referred to in stanzas 25-26
is that of the rebuilding of Asgarth after its destruction by the
Vanir. The gods employed a giant as builder, who demanded as his reward
the sun and moon, and the goddess Freyja for his concubine. The gods,
terrified by the rapid progress of the work, forced Loki, who had
advised the bargain, to delay the giant by a trick, so that the work
was not finished in the stipulated time (cf. Grimnismol, 44). The enraged giant then threatened the gods, whereupon Thor slew him.
47. By violating their oaths to the giant
who rebuilt Asgarth, and then killing him when he objected, the Aesir
aroused the undying hatred of the giants' race, and thus the giants are
among their enemies in the final battle.
48. In stanzas 27-29, the Völva turns from
her memories of the past to a statement of some of Odin's own secrets
in his eternal search for knowledge. The horn of Heimdall
is Gjallarhorn ('Shrieking Horn'), with which Heimdall, watchman of the
gods, will summon the gods and fallen warriors to the last battle. Till
that time the horn is buried under Yggdrasil. Valfather's pledge
is Odin's eye, which he gave to the water-spirit Mimir (or Mim) in
exchange for the latter's wisdom. It appears here and in stanza 29 as a
drinking-vessel, from which Mimir drinks the magic mead, and from which
he pours water on the ash Yggdrasil. Odin's sacrifice of his eye in
order to gain knowledge of his final doom is one of the series of
disasters leading up to the destruction of the gods. There were several
differing versions of the story of Odin's relations with Mimir; another
one, quite incompatible with this, appears in stanza 47. In the
manuscripts I know and I see appear as 'she knows' and 'she sees'.
49. Valkyries
('Choosers of the Slain in Battle') bring the bravest warriors killed
in battle to Valhalla, in order to reinforce the gods for their final
struggle. They are also called 'Wish-Maidens,' as the fulfillers of
Odin's wishes. Some editors regard the ranks of the gods as the name of a place.
50. The death of Baldr (Balder), the son of Odin and Frigg, was the first of the gods' great disasters (see the Death of Balder ).
51. Frigg: Odin's wife. His search for secret knowledge had an obsessive
quality about it and, on some accounts, led him into black magic and
dark sorcery.
52. After the murder of Baldr, the gods
took Loki and bound him to a rock with the bowels of his son Narfi, who
had just been torn to pieces by Loki's other son, Vali. A serpent was
fastened above Loki's head, and the venom fell upon his face. Loki's
wife, Sigyn, sat by him with a basin to catch the venom, but whenever
the basin was full, and she went away to empty it, then the venom fell
on Loki again, till the earth shook with his struggles.
53. Stanzas 36-39 describe the homes of
the enemies of the gods: the giants (36), the dwarfs (37), and the dead
in the land of the goddess Hel (38-39). The 'swords and daggers' may
represent the icy cold.
54. Nastrond
('Corpse-Strand') is a 'Beach [strand] of Corpses' in the land of the
dead, ruled by the goddess Hel. Here the wicked undergo tortures. A smoke vent was an a opening in the roof of Icelandic houses which served instead of a chimney.
55. This stanza depicts the torments of
the two worst classes of criminals known to Old Norse morality -
oath-breakers and murderers. Nithhogg
('the Dread Biter') was the giant worm or the dragon that lay beneath
Yggdrasil and gnawed at its roots, thus symbolizing the destructive
elements in the universe. The wolf
is presumably Fenrir, one of the children of Loki and the giantess
Angrbotha, who was chained by the gods with the marvellous chain
Gleipnir. The chaining of Fenrir cost the god Tyr his right hand; cf.
stanza 44.
56. With this stanza begins the account of Ragnarök (the final struggle). The name of the giantess isn't given anywhere that I know of, and the only other reference to Ironwood is in Grimnismol,
39, in this same connection. The children of this giantess and the wolf
Fenrir are the wolves Skoll and Hati, the first of whom steals the sun,
the second the moon.
57. Eggther
seems to be the watchman of the giants, much as Heimdall is that of the
gods and Surt of the dwellers in the fire-world. He is not mentioned
elsewhere in the poems.
58. The giant is probably, but not certainly, Fenrir. The head of Mim:
Mimir was sent by the Aesir gods with Hönir as a hostage to the Vanir
after their war (stanza 21). The Vanir cut off his head and returned it
to tThhe gods. Odin embalmed the head, and by magic gave it the power
of
speech, thus making Mimir's noted wisdom always available (this story
does not fit with that underlying the references to Mimir in stanzas 27
and 29).The kinsman of Surt areFire-giants, Surt is the giant who rules the fire-world, Muspellsheim (cf. stanza 52).
59. Hrym is the leader of the giants, who comes to Ragnarok as the helmsman of the ship Naglfar (line 4) which was made out of dead men's nails to carry the giants to battle. The serpent
is the Midgard Worm, one of the children of Loki and Angrbotha (cf.
stanza 39). The serpent was cast into the sea, where he completely
encircles the land. The eagle is the giant Hræsvelg, who sits at the edge of heaven in the form of an eagle, and makes the winds with his wings.
60. Instead of the people of Hel:,
the manuscripts have 'people of Muspell,' but these came over the
bridge Bifrost (the rainbow), which broke beneath them, whereas the
people of Hel came in a ship steered by Loki.
61. As far as I can make out, Hlin is Frigg, Odin's wife (after losing her son Baldr, Hlin/Frigg is fated now to see Odin slain by the wolf Fenrir). Beli's slayer
is the god Freyr, who killed the giant Beli with his fist. Unless Frigg
has a 'bit on the side' about which we know nothing, the joy of Frigg is Odin.
62. The Sigfather ('Father of Victory') is Odin. The mighty son,
Vidar, is the silent god, famed chiefly for his great shield, and his
strength, which is little less than Thor's. He survives the destruction.
63. The son of Fjorgyn
is Thor, who, after slaying the serpent, is overcome by his venomous
breath, and dies. Fjorgyn appears in both a masculine and a feminine
form. In the masculine it is a name for Odin; in the feminine, as here
and Harbarthsljoth 56, it apparently refers to Jord.
64. These last few stanzas of Voluspa have a suspiciously Christian ring to them (compare, for example, the opening line of Stanza 59 with the biblical Revelation of St. John the Divine
21:1). This kiind of cultural appropriation was common when
polytheistic cultures met monotheism. The Stone Age religion of
pre-European Maori in New Zealand, for example, was in transition from
animism to polytheism when the first Europeans arrived (their dieties
were still closer to animi than fully-fledged gods and goddesses per se).
Within two or three generations of European settlement, Moari tohunga
suddenly started talking of a Supreme Being (Io) about which they had
'always' known (a conveient aspect of oral tradtions is that you can
make up what they have 'always' said as you go along and as the current
political climate requires). I suspect much the same happened with the
Voluspa - especially in stanza 65.
65. Baldr (cf. stanza 32). Baldr and his brother, Hod, who unwittingly slew
him at Loki's instigation, return together, their union being a symbol
of the new age of peace. Hropt is another name for Odin. His 'battle-hall' is Valhalla.
66. In this new age Hönir (cf. stanza 18 and note) has the gift of foretelling the future. Tveggi
('The Twofold'): another name for Odin. His brothers are Vili and
Ve. Little is known of them, and nothing, beyond this reference, of
their sons.
67. I suspect that, in this last stanze,
the Sybil is implying that the prophesized end is near (isn't it always
with these kinds of prophets!). Nithhogg is the dragon at the roots of Yggdrasil (cf. stanza 39). Nithafjoll ('the Dark Crags' or 'Cliffs of Night') are nowhere else mentioned.
68. At the time of writing, a lot of European
superstition is cluttered with neo-paganism (i.e., countefeits of
paganism and/or shamanism that have been sanitised to suit the
fastidious lusts of post-Christian inauthenticity). An irony of this is
that the old-time godi and druids wouldn't even condescend to
sacrificing these people to the gods (who could be offended by being
offered junk food).
69. The Old Norse verb blóta,
which means 'to sacrifice', also has the extended meaning 'to worship',
particularly by means of sacrifice, which testifies to the importance
of sacrifice as a form of worship. In a language that had no proper
word for its indigenous religion, the word blót had become a by-word
for all things heathen, evidenced by terms such as blótnaðr ('heathen worship'), blóthus ('sacrifice house' or 'heathen temple'), blótmaðr ('heathen worshipper') and blótguð ('heathen god').
70. Snorri appears to be specifically comparing the sprinklers to the aspergillum used in Catholic ceremony.
71. If nothing else, rigorously enforced
Nazi law forbade, for example, the kind of sexual shenanigans between
Germans and Jews that are a staple of the more prurient attributions.
72. The following tales come from the Icelandic Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. There are over 30 poems in the Poetic Edda,
which is divided into mythological and heroic sections. In this entry I
am interested in the mythological section, which contains a number of
myths about the gods dealing with giants and dwarves.
73. Snorri Sturluson's version of this tale (Prose Edda) leaves out the details concerning Aegir's feast and winning the cauldron.
74. My version of this story comes from the Hymiskvida (Poetic Edda). In the Prose Edda,
Hymir was frightened by the size of the monster and used his bait-knife
to cut off Thor's line. Thor threw Mjollnir at Jörmungand's head, but
failed to kill the serpent. Thor was angry with that the giant for
allowing Jörmungand to escape and struck Hymir's ear with his fist.
Hymir plunged overboard; the giant's feet could be seen sticking out of
the water.
75. In other versions of this story, Skadi is Freyr's stepmother
76. By taking Freyr's sword, Skirnir has deprived Freyr of a great weapon against the fire-giant Surt, at Ragnarök.
77. Leaping from the Family Cliff is a
kind of voluntary euthanasia that is not out of place in some harsh
environments (the Inuit, for example, use suicide by freezing to cut
down the size of the family, so that others may survive). Perhaps
something like this really did happen in old Iceland and the situation
seems somewhat excessive only because the farmers in this story leap to
their deaths for such trivial reasons.
78. Vikar's death carries echoes of Odin's Self sacrifice,
when the god hanged himself on a tree for nine days with his spear
pierced through his body, so that he could learn the magic of the
runes.
79. The name of Muspel, father of the fire-giants, means 'brightness'.
80. A similar kind of economy is seen in the Greek myths when the newer Olympian gods overthrew the earlier Titans.
81. All human religions, except the newer
'made up whole' ones like Islam, Mormonism, or Scientology, seem to have gone
through a shamanistic stage. I say that Norse religion went via 'a kind
of shamanism' because shamanism proper is confined to the Siberian folk
living between the Ural and Atlas mountains. It should be noted,
however, that the sami people became neighbours to the Norse folk after
migrating from Siberia to what is now Finland and Lapland some
millennia ago, and it seems likely that the earliest historical Norse
religion (Seid), was influenced by the noajdde [shamans of the Sami
people]. Certainly, as described in Norse literature, the Norse godi
and wise-women performed more like shamans than priests.
82. In the Nibelungenlied
Andvari is called 'Alberich.' The effects of his cursed ring, as it
passes from person to person, is the central motif of the German poem
and the Ring operas. In these works, Odin is called 'Wotan.'
83. Wergild or | |