Odin (mythology)

Odin, also known as Godan, Wōtan, The Wednesday Man, The Raven God, or The All Father, is the central character of ancient Norse and Germanic theology. Odin is the king of Ásgarðr, realm of the Æsir and Vanir tribes of deities. He empathizes fore-thought for leaders, honour in battle and promises glory for warriors who die as heroes.
==Biography==
Norse mythology posits that there are nine-levels to the world, and Odin conquered all of them and then made his home on Ásgarðr of the uppermost of these realms. Odin is the eldest of the Norse pantheon due to his work in it's foundation. He defeated the primordial Jötunn, Ymir, giant rulers of the nine-realms. Humanity's home realm, Midgard, is said to be the corpse of Ymir himself. As the Jötnar represent wild-elemental chaos, Odin's defeat of them symbolizes/ushers in, order over the cold heartless chaos of the world in it's natural state and the beginning of his reign over the nine-realms during which he kept the fierce Jötnar in check for a long time. While solidifying his power, Odin met the Norns, overseers of the nine-realms and keepers of fate, the Norns offered Odin a chance to share in their vision if he gave-up his own. In response to the Norns' offer, Odin removed his left-eye as an offering to fate. Though visually half-blind, his empty socket actually does view the world all at once.
Odin has five animal familiars, two of them are the ravens, Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory) scout the world, whatever they see, Odin sees, whatever rumours they hear, they tell Odin; Another set of familiars are Geri and Freki, Greed and Hunger - two wolves which are hungry for knowledge and collect poetry and stories daily, with Odin to pick the greatest for himself to keep before they devour the rest; The final familiar of Odin is Sleipnir, an eight-legged horse, birthed by Odin's blood brother Loki. Sleipnir is hailed as the greatest of all horses. Between his ability to gaze into fate's plans, his visions of far-away places, his stock-pile of stories and his majestic war-horse, Odin is portrayed flooded in boons as recognition of his greatness.
Odin frequently engaged in Oskoreia, wild hunts and raids against monsters, in this pursuit, he would recruit mortal souls to join him. Mortals who died in battle were recruited by Odin's angelic handmaidens, the Valkyries. The Valkyries would escort mortals who left their bodies upon death to Ásgarðr if they died as heroes/warriors and to the halls of Valhalla, Odin's mead-hall (or to Fólkvangr, the hall of Freyja). In Valhalla, Odin insisted all the honorable dead in his ranks, now reincarnated as stronger versions of themselves called Einherjar, were friends and any rivalries they had back in theory mortal lives were meaningless. This lead to the Viking mind-set that all warriors were to be admired as warriors regardless whose side they were on. In-between feasting, Odin lead the Einherjar in his Oskoreia raiding the other realms for monsters, as mortals could not die a second-time thus their defeat in these raids simply meant they return to Valhalla and seeing how many monsters they could kill before returning were seen as something of a game while simultaneously keeping monster populations down. Regardless of who well a hunt went, Odin threw a great feast for the souls of mortals every night. Many of Odin's peers and children joined in these great hunts and though gods were seen as the guests of honor at Valhalla, Odin treated all equally and resplendently.
In addition of Oskoreia, Odin also had his Einherjar forces honing their skills further to ensure their preparation against bigger threats.
Odin saw though he would eventually die in the fated Ragnarök- Twilight of the Gods, and so the Allfather also instructed his brethren and Vanir allies to train daily as much as his Einherjar forces for this fated end. Though Odin saw fate could never be changed he also was of the mind-set that even unavoidable fates should be fought against, applying the same level of heroism to himself as he did to mortals, that dying well meant fighting to the bitter-end, regardless of the outcome.
==Powers and Abilities==
Odin was one of earliest generations of Æsir and eventual ruler of Ásgarðr, making him the greatest of Gods of Ásgarðr.
* Supernatural Strength: As one of earliest generations of Æsir, Odin possessed great strength which enabled him, Vili, and Vé to defeat the primordial Jötunn Ymir, a trait he passed on to his famous son Thor.
* Self-Sustenance: It has been mentioned in the Lay of Grimnir that Odin has never eaten any food, but does like to drink wine. He usually gives his food to his pet wolves, Geri and Freki. 
* Supernatural Mobility: As one of earliest generations of Æsir, Odin's speed and agility are plausibly superior than those of his descendants. Odin's reaction time is much better than those of his descendants, more so since here also trained himself to become a formidable warrior befitting to his association with war.
* Biological Immortality: Like other Æsir, Odin can live forever where this was backed by mystical apples supplied by Iðunn to maintain his prime condition. Only beings with sufficient power like Fenrir that can kill him, however.
* Arcanepotence: Odin is a potent magic user among Gods of Ásgarðr. The All-Father famously learned how to alter the fabric of reality via. runes after hanging himself on the world-tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nights while being pierced with his own spear Gungnir and forbade any of the other gods to grant him the slightest aid — not even a sip of water — all in a bid to prove his mettle before mystical forces within Urðarbrunnr, (one of three supernatural wells beneath Yggdrasil alongside Mímisbrunnr and Hvergelmir). He also learned some magical arts from prominent members among Vanir hosts such as Freya.
** Illusion Manipulation: When King Gylfi, a king of ancient Scandinavia who was wise and a skilled sorcerer who went under the alias of Gangleri, went up north to discover more about the mysterious Æsir, Odin cast a massive tangible illusion over the area. He even projected three illusory manifestations who went by High, Just-as-High and Third who would speak to Gylfi and answer his questions about his theological disparities. 
** Near-Invulnerability: Through his mastery over Rune Magic, Odin, who already resilient thanks to aforementioned immortality, can render himself invulnerable to weapons, fires and curses. Unfortunately it won't save him from Fenrir, his archenemy and destined bane.
** Healing Magic: Odin's mastery over runes also provides him access to supernatural powers of regeneration and healing. The All-Father is able to use this runic magic to heal emotional and bodily wounds of himself and whomever he chooses to.
** Mental Manipulation: Thanks to Odin's runic magic, he can calmly pacify an opponent in battle. He can also use his runic magic to make women fall in love with him and make woman unable to reject him as well as help women during childbirth. This power also extends over to animals, such as his ravens and wolves. 
** Dark Magic Manipulation: Odin is able to manipulate mystical forces related to curses and malevolence. He can use this cast curses which bind his enemies and rendering their weapons worthless as well as breaking curses by freeing himself from mystical constraints. Odin can even use runic magic to expose and banish practitioners of malevolent magic, such as witches. 
** Weather Manipulation: Odin can even use runic magic to manipulate elemental forces regarding the weather, lightning, winds and storms. 
** Blessing Inducement: In addition of endowing blessings of prestige and victory, Odin can also induce battle frenzy upon berserkers. 
** Parachronal Cognition: Odin is also skilled in shamanism and has also became a renowned practitioner of seiðr (the art relating to both the telling and shaping of the future) through his association with Freya who taught him the craft. He is able to perform a mystical ritual while dressing in women's clothing to have some foresight into an upcoming future event.
** Transmogrification: Even before gaining his powerful runic magic, Odin had shown the ability to alter all forms of matter and energies into anything else he wishes to, although the full extent of these abilities are never clarified. 
*** Biological Manipulation: He used this power to manipulate and transform biological matter into whatever he wished. He used this power to create the first human male (Ask) by transmogrifying an ash tree, and then created a human female (Embla) by transmogrifying an elm tree. He also took pity on the maggots which sprouted from Ymir's body and used his powers to transmogrify them into the first Dwarves.
*** Cosmological Creation: Odin was also among the main figures who fashioned the cosmos by transmuting Ymir's deceased body. After slaying Ymir, Odin along with his brothers Vili and Ve took the body parts of Ymir to fashion the nine realms: teeth for the cliffs, blood for the ocean, brain for the clouds, etc. He also fashioned the realm of Ásgarðr. Odin also used his powers of transmutation to transform the maggots who were feasting on Ymir's flesh into the Dwarves.
*** Shapeshifting: Odin can transmogrify his appearance at will, though his mastery over it was pale in comparison to Loki's own since he retained his missing eye. His signature appearance was a storybook elderly wizard with robe and pointy hat albeit with a spear instead of magic staff. Some known examples of this include when he shapeshifted into a serpent to get inside mountain Hnitbjǫrg and then turned himself into an eagle to flay back to Ásgarðr once he drank the mead of poetry to escape the wrath of Gunnlöð. 
*** Sentient Life Creation: Odin, along with his fellow deities Æsir and Vanir alike was responsible for the creation of Kvasir. Kvasir was a sentient humanoid who was transmogrified from the spits of Æsir and Vanir tribes gathered to cement the truce following the conclusion of Æsir-Vanir War. 
** Sentience Bestowal: Odin used his magic to imbue the first humans Ask and Embla with souls. This gave human beings thoughts, emotions and higher reasoning abilities. It also allowed humans to be capable of passing on to various heavens after their deaths. He also gave sentience to the Dwarves after he created them, as well as to Kvasir an artificial humanoid who he created alongside the Æsir and Vanir tribes.
** Dimensional Lordship: Having established his dominion over Valhalla along with the rest of Ásgarðr, Odin possessed absolute power in it as much as authority over his fellow Gods of Ásgarðr within. He is also has dominion over Hel to some extent and the gallows, having scarified himself to himself. 
** Near Omniscience: Odin possessed the supernatural ability to have nearly unlimited understanding and awareness of everything within Ásgarðr. His pursuit of knowledge saw him amplifying this ability further that he also perceived things going on beyond his home realm albeit to a limited degree that he also relied on his supernatural raven familiars, Huginn and Muninn, to gather information in Nine Realms on his behalf. He can also "see" everything when sitting on his throne called Hliðskjálf.
** Death Force Manipulation: One of Odin's runic magic grants Odin the powers of necromancy. Odin's dominion over Valhalla, the hall in which honourable spirits of dead warriors brought to him by Valkyries gathered and prepared themselves for the upcoming Ragnarök also granted him the ability to manipulate death forces to sufficient degree where he could revive them as einherjar. He even used this power to temporarily revive someone for unexplained reasons.
* Genius-Level Intellect: Odin's obsessive thirst for knowledge, which is partly motivated by the desire to help his brethren prepare for the incoming Ragnarök, saw him mastering innumerable crafts and scholarly works to supplement his own. 
** Manipulative Charisma: Many have stated that Odin is a master of wit and manipulating individuals, who is only slightly surpassed his blood brother, Loki. Odin was able to manipulate Baugi to assist him in stealing the Mead of Poetry from Hnitbjǫrg, also known as Suttungr's vault. He did this my tricking his workers into getting each other killed before shapeshifting into a simple workman named Bolverk, and offered to work for Baugi in exchange for his help in stealing the Mead of Poetry. 
** Supernatural Wisdom: While he already wise befitting to his status as one of greatest Æsir, this trait of Odin's had been amplified tenfold after offering one of his eyes to Mímir, the wise guardian of Mímisbrunnr (one of three supernatural wells beneath Yggdrasil alongside Urðarbrunnr and Hvergelmir), in exchange for a drink of said well's mystical water during his journeys. His wisdom also applies to his capabilities as a leader and even in hunting. Befitting to his ties with Oskoreia, Odin displayed unparalleled skill as a hunter, and he would lead his Einherjar in such events.
** Poetry Embodiment: Much like Bragi, Odin embodies poetry, though he achieved it via. consuming Mead of Poetry that in turn brewed out of blood of Kvasir, humanoid incarnation of spits of Æsir and Vanir tribes gathered to cement the truce following the conclusion of Æsir-Vanir War. During his journey, Kvasir was murdered by Fjalar and Galar so they could stole his power over wisdom through brewing his blood into a special mead that they consumed to do so. With their newfound powers, the two conducted atrocities that led to their downfall where the Jötunn Suttungr and his daughter Gunnlöð seized the Mead at the conclusion of the confrontation between them and Fjalar and Galar. After a painstaking effort that involved trickery and Baugi's assistance, Odin retrieved the Mead that used to be Kvasir and secured it in Ásgarðr, though in process a few drops of it and became the source of the abilities of all bad and mediocre poets and scholars. To rectify this, Odin personally dispensed the Mead of Poetry to help them writing the best of their works.
* Master Combatant: While not to an actual warrior but nonetheless associated with war through his ties with berserkers, Odin nonetheless a formidable combatant as much as his battle-capable peers. Odin wields his trademark spear Gungnir with extraordinary power and skill, enough to match most formidable of foes in combat with it and further compliment the weapon's quirk to not miss its target.
* Master Horse Rider: Odin was a master horseman famed for Gleipnir, supernatural horse-Jötunn hybrid as his ride with which he could travel around Nine Realms just as his son Thor with his chariot.
==Gallery==
Georg von Rosen - Oden som vandringsman, 1886 (Odin, the Wanderer).jpg
Odin from Erik Evensen's Gods of Asgard.jpg
==Trivia ==
*The Romans compared Odin to their own god Mercury, who was the messenger of the the Roman pantheon. He is also similar to the Finnish god Väinämöinen.
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