Baldur

**Baldur** (also **Baldr** or **Balder** in other versions) is the Norse God of Light, Peace, Spring, Forgiveness and Purity. Baldur is the beloved son of Odin and Frigg.

## History

Balder is the beloved son of Odin and Frigg. One night, Balder had a nightmare of his own death, so his mother went around the nine worlds having everyone and everything swear that they will never hurt Balder. However, she skipped mistletoe as she thought it would be harmless no matter what. However, Loki finds out and crafts an arrow made of mistletoe and, during a celebration party where the gods were throwing things at Balder to test his invulnerability, Loki tricked his blind brother Hod into throwing the arrow. It landed in his chest and killed him and in anger, the gods killed Hod.

Skírnir goes to Helheim to convince Hel to free Balder, she agrees but only if everything in the nine worlds wept for the slain god. Skírnir tells the other gods this and they set out to free their comrade. However, all but Loki disguised as a giantess and had not wept for Balder, so he is destined to be trapped in Helheim until Ragnarök arrives.

## Appearance

Balder is described as young and handsome with a mop of brown hair and shining blue eyes with dimples and an impish smile.

## Personality

Balder is shown to be a kind deity and a helpful ally, as he offered T.J. his arrow to lure Garm back to his cave. However, he is also shown to be hesitant, as he questioned if Hel would approve of him helping the son of Tyr.

## Abilities

* **Superhuman Strength**: As a son of Odin and Frigg, Balder is an extremely powerful god.
* **Superhuman Durability**: Frigg made him virtually invincible, Balder became invulnerable to nearly anything, rendering him nearly undefeatable.
* **Nigh-Invulnerability**: Thanks to the efforts of his mother, Frigg, Baldur's body was invulnerable to seemingly every object that might potentially harm him. Baldur's only known weakness is self harm and mistletoe.
* **Seasons Alteration** (limited to Spring): Due to being the God of Spring, Balder possesses the ability to manipulate the season of spring, causing the sun to shine, and causing rain to a certain extent.
* **Chlorokinesis**: Due to being the God of Spring, Balder may also possesses a great degree of chlorokinetic capabilities, enabling plants to grow and develop in barren wastelands, and encourage fertility within the land.
* **Photokinesis**: As the God of Light, he has absolute control and divine authority over light.
* **Amokinesis**: As the God of Love, he has absolute control and divine authority over the emotions of love and desire.

## Trivia

* Balder is the only major Norse god to die before Ragnarök, yet he is destined to be resurrected after it is over.
* Baldur's Greco-Roman equivalents (in terms of attributes) are Apollo and Eros/Cupid.
* Baldur's invulnerability was somewhat similar to the Greek Curse of Achilles.
* The only thing that could harm him was mistletoe.
* *Balder, Manitoba*, a village in southern Manitoba, Canada, is named after him.
* In Belgium, the name *Balder* is also used in dialect for a village called *Berlaar* and in another village *Tielen*, the *Balderij* is a street and a swampy area next to it.