Odin

**Odin**, also known as **Woden** or **Wotan**, is the God of Wisdom, War, Bloodshed, and Death from Norse mythology. He is the Lord of Valhalla, and the leader of the einherjar and the Aesir gods. He was the former God-King of the Norse Pantheon before passing down the title to Vidarr.

## Overview

**Odin** is a widely revered god in Germanic mythology. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and depicts him as the husband of the goddess Frigg.

Odin appears as a prominent god throughout the recorded history of Northern Europe, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania through movement of peoples during the Migration Period and the Viking Age. In the modern period the rural folklore of Germanic Europe continued to acknowledge Odin. References to him appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples, and the day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages, including in English.

In Old English texts, Odin holds a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure among royalty, and he is frequently referred to as a founding figure among various other Germanic peoples, while some Old Norse sources depict him as an enthroned ruler of the gods. Forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record, though narratives regarding Odin are mainly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland. These texts make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology.

Old Norse texts portray Odin as the son of Bestla and Borr along with two brothers, Vili and Vé, and he fathered many sons, most famously the gods Thor (with Jörð) and Baldr (with Frigg). He is known by hundreds of names.

Odin is frequently portrayed as one-eyed and long-bearded, wielding a spear named Gungnir or appearing in disguise wearing a cloak and a broad hat. He is often accompanied by his animal familiars — the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who bring him information from all over Midgard — and he rides the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into the underworld.

Odin is also associated with the divine battlefield maidens, the valkyries, and he oversees Valhalla, where he receives half of those who die in battle, the *einherjar*, sending the other half to the goddess Freyja's Fólkvangr. Odin consults the disembodied, herb-embalmed head of the wise Mímir, who foretells the doom of Ragnarök and urges Odin to lead the *einherjar* into battle before being consumed by the monstrous wolf Fenrir. In later folklore, Odin sometimes appears as a leader of the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession of the dead through the winter sky.

The figure of Odin is a frequent subject of interest in Germanic studies, and scholars have advanced numerous theories regarding his development. Some of these focus on Odin's particular relation to other figures; Other approaches focus on Odin's place in the historical record, exploring whether Odin derives from Proto-Indo-European mythology or developed later in Germanic society.

In the modern period Odin has inspired numerous works of poetry, music, and other cultural expressions. He is venerated with other Germanic gods in most forms of the new religious movement Heathenry; some branches focus particularly on him.

## Appearance

As a god, Odin possesses the power to transform himself into numerous forms and appearances. There are, however, three forms he's most often appeared in, nicknamed the **Allfather**, the **Old Traveler**, and the **Third Prince**.

### The Allfather

As the Allfather, Odin appears as an old man in his 50s with the well-muscular body of a seasoned warrior, barrel-chested with massive arms, and a weathered face that still holds a certain regalness of a king. He has long silver-white hair and his remaining eye is blood-red, his empty left eye socket is covered by a black eye-patch, and his long beard reaches the middle of his chest.

He wears Bone Steel light armor beneath red-and-gold noble robes, as well as carrying with him his famous spear Gungnir as a walking staff. His raven familiars, Hugin and Munin, are often seen perching on his shoulders. As casual attires, he wears a short-sleeved Hotel Valhalla polo shirt, faded jeans, and military boots.

### Old Traveler

As the Old Traveler, Odin appears as an *incredibly* elderly man, with long graying hair and a matching long bear. He wears a gold-and-white monocle over his left eye, without the addition of the chain, while his other eye shines an eerie-blue.

He wears tattered yet still noble-looking robes, which is short and blue with gold linings on the top and bottom of the collar, the sleeves, and at the front of the robes, all the way down to the bottom, while the rest of his attire is white with matching shoes, as well as wearing a gold-and-black hat.

In the past, he used to wear dusty gray robes and a pointed wide-brimmed hat, but stopped after people started to call him a "cheap Walmart-version of Gandalf".

### Third Prince

As the Third Prince, Odin takes on the appearance of a handsome young man in his mid-20s. He has fair skin, long snow-white hair styled into a braid over his shoulder, and striking crimson eyes. He talks in a deep, authoritative voice, with the slight hint of a Boston accent.

## Personality

Odin is known as a patient, just, and wise god who strives to maintain the peace between the various mythological factions within the supernatural world. He cares deeply for the fate of humans and is thoughtful of the lives of the innocent. Despite the colossal amount of enemies warring against him, he is compassionate enough to not seek the obliteration of the innocents of the opposing force, showing his mercy whenever he can.

He is considered to be one of the wisest gods, admired by many for his leadership skills, which have shown through his numerous victories throughout the millennia. As a chieftain god, he was firm in his rule and did not hesitate to mete out justice onto those who deserved it. However, in his ancient years, he realized peace is the only way to truly unite the moonlit world together. Since then, he had become the benevolent, knowing, and peace-loving god he is nowadays, using his authority and influence to keep the peace between his pantheon and other mythological factions.

As a result of his millennia-worth of experience ruling over the Norse Pantheon - A great faction consisting of two minor pantheons, several unique species with their own cultures and set of values, nine different minor realms, and a large territory of influence on Earth - he undoubtedly possesses some sly, cunning, and manipulative qualities. Due to his paranoia over Ragnarök, he personally set parts of the prophecy into motions just so even the worst possibilities born from them would be beneficial to him. According to Frigga, manipulation has become such an ingrained part of him that, at times, he can be subconsciously manipulative without him ever realizing it.

In addition, he is also known and feared for his terrifying wrath. Unlike other god-kings like Zeus or Poseidon, or even his son Thor, his wrath is not loud and destructive, but rather quiet, secretive, and almost unnoticeable until the very last moment when there's nowhere to hide. As shown from his depictions in Norse myths, he can be extremely cruel and vindictive when angered. According to Týr, he has a problem when it comes to dealing with his past mistakes, and tends to solve them through trickery, lies, and manipulations, if not just out-right ignoring them entirely.

Another one of his infamous traits is his lecherous nature. He is extremely perverted, often harassing attractive people, and truly considers brothels and strip clubs to be proper entertainment. He also has a tendency to make fun of his valkyrie bodyguards of their inability to maintain a romantic relationship, often calling them "Valkyries whose age is equal to the number of years without a boyfriend".

## Equipment

**Gungnir** (グングニル, *Gunguniru*): Odin's legendary spear. It is a divine spear created from the wood of the world tree Yggdrasil and fragments of Judean Silver, with angelic runes engraved on the handle. It has the power to warp the fabric of space and reality, reserving the nature of causality so that the spear will fatally injure the target even before it is thrusted.

## Trivia

* His three forms correspond to the three stages of a man's life: The youth, the father, and the sage.
* His name can be translated as either "master of ecstasy" or "master of fury, the furious."
* He gained his nickname, The All-Father, because of his status as the spiritual father to all the Aesir gods, as well as his heritage: his father was an Aesir while his mother was a jötunn.
* In the Elder Futhark rune alphabet, he is associated with the *Ansuz* rune.
* The English weekday "Wednesday" was named after him, originally meaning "Woden's day".
* He stood in a blizzard for six days to learn how to use a smartphone.
	+ He endured weeks of motivational speaking to find how to have a successful afterlife.
* Several characters from J.R.R Tolkien's fiction were inspired by him. The appearance of the wizard Gandalf was particularly inspired by Odin's "wanderer" guise, whereas other aspects of the god directly influenced other characters such as Saruman, Sauron, Morgoth, and Manwë.
* Music inspired by or featuring him 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.
* Many locations in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and England are named after him.
	+ The country Sweden derived its name from "Svidur", one of his many names.
	+ Odin, a Swedish satellite used for astronomical observations, is named after him.
* Human sacrifices were made in honor of him, with many accounts of even kings being sacrificed.
* *Odinism* is an off-set of the white supremacist movement who believe that Caucasians were made in the image of the old gods and that all other humans are beneath them.