Odin

**Odin**, also referred to as the **All-Father**, is the third chief of the Æsir tribe of Norse Gods and one of the most prominent figures in Norse mythology. He is the god of wisdom, poetry, war, death, divination, and magic and the king of Asgard. He is the patron of rulers, wanderers, and outcasts. He was known as Wōden to the Anglo-Saxons and Wōtan to the southern Germanic peoples.

## History

### Birth

Odin was born to the Æsir god Bor and the female jötunn Bestla. Along with his brothers, Vil and Ve, he slew the primordial giant Ymir, and from his body created one of the Nine Worlds, the world of humans: Midgard. Then, the brothers formed the first humans - Ask and Embla - from two tree trunks, and placed them in Midgard, surrounded by a fence to protect them from the inhabitants of Utgard ("Outlands").

## Appearance

Odin is described in *The Sword of Summer* as a barrel-chested man with massive arms. He has close-cropped gray hair, while his beard is cut square, to accentuate his hardened, weathered face. His empty left eye socket is covered by a black patch, while his right eye is dark blue. At the end of *The Sword of Summer* Odin wears a short-sleeve Hotel Valhalla polo shirt, along with a massive sword hanging at his side.

As the half-troll X, Odin was built like a bomb-containment chamber. His skin was the color of a shark’s belly, rippling with muscles and stippled with warts. There were so many welts on his face it was hard to tell which one was his nose.

During Magnus Chase's vision of the past in *The Ship of the Dead*, Odin was seen in one of his many disguises, Bolverk. He was wearing mud-stained blue robes, a big hat, and supporting himself on a wooden staff.

## Personality

Odin is clever and sly, manipulating events and situations from behind the curtains, and almost no one really knows what he's doing or planning, an example of this was when he disguised himself as an half-troll named X, while everyone else believed that he had disappeared from Valhalla. Odin is also a seeker of knowledge, since he sacrificed his left eye, and hanged himself for nine days in order to obtain knowledge over the universe and master reality itself through the runes.

Odin can be extremely ruthless when he's angered, since he killed both the sons of Loki, Vali and Narvi, and used their entrails to bind Loki to a slab while a serpent dripped caustic venom on his face. All of this only to punish Loki for killing Balder.

Despite being a brutal and mischievous god, as a god of war, Odin values courage and bravery, ordering his Valkyries to only bring to Valhalla those warriors who died in battle sacrificing themselves for their causes. He also likes to reward those who have done services to him, since he even offered Magnus Chase, the chance to return to his old life as a living human, something that had not happened to any other einherjar.

## Abilities

Being one of the first Æsir ever born, the All-Father of Asgard, and along with his brothers, the one responsible for slaying the giant Ymir, Odin is an immensely powerful god whose power and authority is respected throughout the Nine Worlds.

* **Divine Wisdom**: As the God of Wisdom, Odin is by far the wisest god of all. After drinking from the Well of Mimir, for which he sacrificed his left eye, Odin's perception transcended the regular, mortal dimension of understanding. After hanging from Yggdrasil for nine days, Odin gained insight into the fabric of reality itself, and that later helped him discover runes, and to utilize them as a form of magic.
* **Mystiokinesis**: As the God of Magic, he has absolute control and divine authority over magic. To understand magic and the runes, Odin hung himself by the neck from the branch of Yggdrasil. After nine days, he gained the knowledge that allowed him to master the reality-shaping force.
* **Shapeshifting**: Odin has the power to change his form, although it seems to be somewhat inferior to that of Loki. His usual traveling disguise is an old mortal vagabond in a blue cloak. During the events of *The The Sword of Summer*, he donned a disguise of a half-troll nicknamed X.
* **Poetry**: After he stole the Mead of Kvasir from the Jotnar, Odin also became the God of Poetry, and gained the ability to speak and write beautifully and persuasively. It is said that he occasionally distributes it to certain gods, humans, and other beings he deems worthy (such as William Shakespeare, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Shel Silverstein).
* **Odikinesis**: As the God of War, he has control over the elements of war, including emotions like rage and anger.
* **Telumkinesis**: As the God of War, Odin has absolute control and divine authority control over weapons.
* **Necromancy**: As the God of Death, Odin has absolute control and divine authority over death and the dead. He is somewhat related to the heroic and mysterious side of death.
	+ **Resurrection**: He once offered to allow Magnus Chase to return to his old life, suggesting that he can bring his einherjar back to life.
* **Divination**: As the God of Divination, Odin has the power to gain knowledge, awareness and wisdom through magic, and might be able to see into the future, past, and present.

## Attributes and Attendants

Odin's main weapon, as well as his symbol of power, is a spear called Gungnir (ON: "Swaying One").

Odin has several loyal attendants, some of which include two ravens, Hugin and Munin ("thought" and "memory"), two wolves, Geri and Freki ("ravenous" and "greedy"), and his faithful stallion, the eight-legged son of Loki, Sleipnir ("glider").

## Trivia

* Odin's name can be translated as either "master of ecstasy" or "master of fury, the furious."
* Odin gained his nickname, the All-Father, because of his status as the spiritual father to all the Æsir gods, as well as his heritage: his father was an Æsir, his mother was a jotunn, and Odin himself is also associated with the Vanir god, Óðr.
* His Greco-Roman equivalent (in terms of supreme authority) is Zeus/Jupiter. In terms of attributes, however, Odin encompasses multiple roles shared by different Greek deities (e.g. Athena/Minerva, Apollo, Ares/Mars, Hecate/Trivia, Dionysus/Bacchus, Thanatos/Letus and Orcus).
	+ A Roman historian and senator, Tacitus, also associated *Wodenaz* (Odin's older Proto-Germanic incarnation) with Mercury due to his role as a psychopomp.
* His Egyptian equivalent (in terms of supreme authority) is Ra. In term of attributes, however, Odin encompasses multiple roles shared by different Egyptian deities (e.g. Thoth, Horus, Anubis, and Isis).
* In the Elder Futhark rune alphabet, Odin is associated with the *Ansuz* rune.
* Along with Freya, he's one of the two greatest practitioners of magic amongst the Norse gods.
	+ Because of his involvement with Alf Seidr magic (taught to him by Freya), Snorri Sturluson named Odin an *argr* in his chronicles.
* He is apart of a trinity of gods responsible for creating mankind from boughs, the other two being Vili/Honir and Ve (or Lodour).
* He stood in a blizzard for six days to learn how to use a smartphone.
* Music inspired by or featuring the god includes the ballets *Odins Schwert* (1818) and *Orfa* (1852) by J. H. Stunz and the opera cycle *Der Ring des Nibelungen* (1848–1874) by Richard Wagner.
* *Odin*, a Swedish satellite used for aeronomical observations, is named after him.
* Many locations in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and England are named after Odin.
* The country Sweden derived its name from *Svidur*, one of the many names of Odin.
* *Santa Claus* is actually a blending of Odin and the Christian legend of Saint Nicholas. In the early days, children in Northern Europe would leave their shoes, filled with carrots or other edibles, near the chimney for Odin's horse Sleipnir to eat while resting from hunting. In exchange, Odin would leave gifts or candy.
* Human sacrifices were made in honor of Odin, with many accounts of even kings being sacrificed.
* He endured weeks of motivational speaking to find how to have a successful afterlife.
* Odin is the second god to have a point of view in a series, the first being Apollo.