Mimir | God of War Wiki | Fandom

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Personality [ ]

“ Some people value their privacy. Best not to judge, brother. ” –Mimir to Kratos

Mimir is well-mannered, kind and possesses a cheery and witty, though occasionally sarcastic, sense of humor. Even in his beheaded state, Mimir tries to make the most of the situation, finding it better than imprisonment and as such he tries to be helpful in any way he can. Mimir has a wealth of information regarding the deities, monsters, civilizations, the Nine Realms and famous figures of the Nine Realms, which he will eagerly share with Atreus whenever prompted.
Mimir is a master of diplomacy, though some like Freya, Hildisvíni and even some of the Aesir would state otherwise. Regardless, a testament to his skills is shown in his interactions with Kratos; from the get go Mimir is able to converse with Kratos without making him annoyed or angry at times, a difficult feat even his son struggles to accomplish. He is shown to know when to speak up, when to be silent, when to challenge Kratos's viewpoint and when to let things go.
Being a part of the traveling company of Kratos and his son, Mimir becomes something of a balancing force between them, teaching Atreus to use his abilities for good and often advising Kratos to be more open about the truth of his past. To that end, Mimir demonstrates that he is emotionally sensitive and insightful to the potential impact that Kratos' distant attitude towards Atreus could have but respects Kratos' wishes and doesn't inform Atreus himself. He also was the first to notice the dark change in Atreus' behavior once he finally learned of his godly heritage and thus tried to instill the ideals that figures like Týr stood for, using one's powers with wisdom and for good. When this shift in behavior began to fracture the already tense bond between Atreus and Kratos, Mimir did his best to address the issue carefully.
Quickly, Mimir proved to be a loyal ally and friend to Kratos and his son, addressing the former as "Brother" and the latter as either "little brother" or "lad", and eagerly helping them find the realm of the giants. Mimir also expressed great concern and worry for Atreus when he began to grow ill after the battles with Magni and Modi. He even begged Baldur to stop attacking Kratos and Atreus, offering himself in their stead, though his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Despite his bright personality, Mimir possesses a great deal of anger and resentment towards the Aesir Gods, Odin and Thor in particular. He finds a great majority of them to be hedonistic, paranoid, arrogant, warmongering and the ones to blame for the tragedies the Nine Realms have endured. Before his imprisonment, Mimir did his best to try to bring and make peace between the Realms wherever he could, such as advising Odin to marry Freya in order to end the conflict between the Aesir and Vanir Gods. The one exception is Týr , whom Mimir held in the highest esteem, believing him to be a great leader who fought for peace, knowledge, and understanding, not for power and control.
Over the course of travelling with Kratos and Atreus, it becomes increasingly clear that Mimir is deeply remorseful about his time working for the Aesir. Initially, it seemed that he merely blamed himself for never managing to do any actual lasting peace when he was Odin's advisor. One of the examples was when he openly professed that he deserved Freya's anger and showed remorse for what his convincing Freya to marry Odin caused her. He also apologized to Sigrun for being so helpless to save her and the Valkyries, and regrets inadvertently causing the death of Starkaðr , having told Odin that if the giants ever had an army, Starkaðr might have been their general.
Over time, however, it becomes more and more apparent that he was not simply a bystander, but in fact a willing participant in Odin's plans. At the beginning of his career as Odin's advisor, Mimir admits that he considered it his duty to enable the Allfather, something he confesses to having been "fucking excellent" at. According to Mimir, he was "young enough to be ambitious"  at the time and, enamored by the "perks" that came with serving the Aesir, eagerly worked to aid Odin's plans, being instrumental in, among other things, the exploitation of Svartalfheim and the capture and enslaving of the Lyngbakr. These actions earned him the contempt of those harmed by the Aesir, with Hildisvini describing him as a "Half-blind, piss-drunk, oversexed liar" and "more of a pig than [Hildisvini] ever was.
Later, during their quest to the Well of Urd, a spectral visage of Sigrun denounced Mimir as always taking the side of powerful gods, accusing him of plotting Odin's wars and standing idly by while innocents like Gróa or Skaði suffered at the hands of the Allfather, never caring until Odin eventually turned on him. Faced with these accusations, Mimir despairingly admitted it all to be true, though how much of this was really true and how much was Mimir's guilt is unclear.
Perhaps because of this, Mimir has proven himself to be quite humble, an oddity for a God, as while he takes pride in being the Smartest Man Alive, he openly admits when there are "gaps" in his knowledge or when dealing with something he has never seen before. He has also shown great respect to Kratos and Atreus' journey to Jötunheim and asked to be left behind in Týr's Temple as this moment was important for Kratos and Atreus, and he didn't want to ruin the moment. The Spartan and his son would come to be fond of Mimir, in that they took him home with them once their journey was over.
Mimir also has a drinking history, having fallen off a mountain in a drunken stupor and suffered severe enough wounds that Eir had to heal him, which he was visibly ashamed of, and was noted to have been at least intoxicated when in the presence of giants, implied when he said he never spoke their language while sober.
Mimir is also aware of other pantheons, mentioning in Týr's vault about the Egyptian gods and of the Greek pantheon in Helheim. With the Olympians, he also knows of their demise, which he claimed was deserved. However, he did not know who had dismantled the pantheon until he accompanied Kratos, whom he later learned was Zeus' son and recognized him as the Ghost of Sparta.
Even before becoming Odin's advisor, Mimir was aware of the Aesir gods and, recognising their lack of focus, strategy and sage counsel, offered his services. Over time, however, as his conscience overcame his ambition, he began to view the Aesir, with the exception of Týr, with a great dislike and hatred. This only intensified following his imprisonment by Odin, and he openly describes Thor with insults like "fat dobber" , "sweaty bawbag " and "thunder lummox", calls Heimdall a "vicious, spiteful little shit" and considers Magni and Modi to be the biggest pair of twits in Asgard.
However, he is also fully aware of the power of the Aesir and the danger they pose, describing Thor as the "biggest, butchering bastard in all nine realms" admitting that while Magni and Modi are a pair of fools, they're still formidable when fighting together, rare though that may be, and making it clear that, despite his paranoia, arrogance and apparent madness, Odin himself is also ruthless, deceitful and "almost as clever as he thinks", as well as having a seemingly endless capacity and creativity when it comes to cruelty.


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Powers & Abilities [ ]

Being a Fae and an Aesir God, Mimir is stronger than any mortal, but his body is still bound in the place Odin imprisoned him. Only his head is reanimated,  and he therefore has to rely on Kratos and others to move and see.

Genius-level intellect: As the self-proclaimed "Smartest Man Alive", Mimir is extremely intelligent and knows almost everything in the Nine Realms: he claims to be aware of every deal, war, and corner of all the Realms. Mimir can also speak and read many languages, even dead tongues like Jörmungandr 's. It was hinted that he is somehow capable of esoterically learning and keeping track of new knowledge, in addition to perfectly retaining already acquired information, in spite of Mimir's imprisonment that Baldur visited him with his nephews at their Aesir uncle's heels, believing he was their best chance of finding the "tattooed man". And despite literally facing the other way as he hangs from Kratos' hip, Mimir seems actively aware of what happens before the Spartan without the disembodied head actually facing such. Mimir is also well aware of other cultures and pantheons, able to recognize that Kratos is divine and not from any of the Nine Realms. He is accomplished at deductive reasoning: by piecing together several context clues, he was able to discern that Kratos is the Ghost of Sparta, as well as the demigod son of Zeus. Freya herself would infer that releasing Mimir from his imprisonment was bound to incur Odin's fury upon the liberator, plainly indicating that the King of all Aesir still sees Mimir's erudition as an invaluable resource that he wants at no one else's disposal but his own such that he would permit neither Mimir's release nor demise. Despite all that, he openly admits that even his knowledge has limits, such as to why Odin wants Kratos and his son. The biggest exception is Baldur's weakness: Mimir knew about it (the mistletoe), but Freya bewitched him to keep others from learning it. As a result, until the spell was broken, Mimir would suffer short-term memory loss whenever the subject arose. In addition to his immense wealth of knowledge and experience begetting him as Odin’s former advisor, he also was greatly talented in strategy and tactics which he saw that despite the Aesir being extremely powerful lacked in this regard. Mimir also has a working knowledge of magic, it's rules and substances. He knew enough to explain Vanir magic as powerful but slippery and elusive in regard to its rules. He also knew to use a well laced with magic mushrooms powerful enough to give a God as powerful as Odin hallucinogenic visions.

Reanimated Immortality: Mimir has lived for an extremely long time, even before his imprisonment at the hands of Odin. Before his decapitation by Kratos, he spent approximately 109 winters imprisoned on the top of the Mountain in Midgard, apparently having aged very little in that time. After having his head cut off by Kratos’ Leviathan Axe and later revived by Freya, he is able to survive situations which would normally be lethal, such as drowning, with no ill effects. However, when Atreus suggests Freya could bring Baldur back the same way she did Mimir, he admits he isn't truly alive but reanimated.

Magic Eyes: Mimir has magic eyes made of Bifröst crystal that allowed him to travel between realms, though one was removed by Odin after his imprisonment, partly to prevent Mimir from travelling, and partly as revenge for tricking him when they first met. However, Mimir is still capable of revealing secrets in places like Týr's storeroom and projecting images using his remaining eye. Towards the end of the game, Kratos and Atreus retrieves Mimir's missing eye, which enables them to travel to Jötunheim .  Due to an extension of the Dwarves using Mimir's eyes to reconfigure the Yggdrasil gateways, Mimir also has the ability to project Bifrost energy beams from his eyes as a form of attack, though this causes him considerable discomfort.

Superhuman Durability: Mimir, being a god, possesses a stronger body structure than regular mortals. This is implied as he was able to survive a fall from a mountain while being drunk (to his embarrassment), although he was seriously injured and had to be tended to by the Valkyrie healer Eir . Even after being revived as a head, he still retained his superhuman durability. He was able to take a full-blown kick to the face from the Aesir Baldur without being damaged.

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Norse Mythology [ ]

Mímir, meaning "the rememberer" or "the wise one" in Old Norse, is a figure in Norse Mythology who is renowned for his knowledge and wisdom. He is beheaded by the Vanir Gods during the Æsir-Vanir War. Odin revives the head of Mimir through some magic after the Vanir gift it to Odin. Afterward, Odin carries around Mímir's head and it recites secret knowledge to him. He is the maternal uncle of Odin.


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Background [ ]

Hailing from a faraway land, Mimir was a faerie king 's errand boy and unofficial jester. Frequently, Mimir and other faeries, nicknamed "Goodfellows", would walk amongst mortals to sow mischief and as long as his lord was kept amused, they were spared the consequences. Eventually, Mimir's king grew weary of his antics, forcing him to leave his homeland.
After many years traveling north, Mimir eventually ended up in the Nine Realms , where he first settled down in the Midgardian kingdom of Lejre . He became advisor to its king, Aldis, and vouched for the warrior Hrólf Kraki . Hrólf betrayed Aldis, killing and usurping him, which brought Mimir great guilt and gave him a vendetta against Hrólf and his Berserkers . Mimir approached Odin , king of the Aesir , and provided him with Mímisbrunnr, a supposed mystical well of knowledge, which was actually a well of water laced with enough mystic mushrooms to "make a God see visions". Despite Odin tearing out one of his eyes after imbibing of the hallucinogen, Mimir claimed the Allfather was bestowed with greater sight and was hired as Odin's primary adviser and ambassador to all the other realms. By his own admission, his job was initially to enable Odin. However he took his role as adviser seriously, his goal always being to help Odin be a great king for the good of his people. But after watching Odin over time he began to notice that Odin was an incredibly dangerous, quick to violence and willing to sacrifice anyone and anything not for his kingdom but himself. He became concerned with the well-being of ordinary people and the world in general and sought to contain the Allfather whenever possible. Unlike the Aesir, Mimir sought to establish peace between the realms, as he believed it was the best plan to avert Ragnarök . However, Odin rarely listened to such advice and often led many wars, particularly with the Vanir and the Giants. When the war with the Vanir caused unprecedented devastation and left both sides weary, Mimir suggested a truce: Odin would marry his deadliest enemy, the leader of the Vanir, the Goddess Freya . After much convincing, Odin and Freya agreed to the terms, thus ending the war.
At some point early in his service to the Raven King, Mimir forged an alliance between the dwarves of Svartalfheim and the Aesir of Asgard . This would ultimately work out to the detriment of the miners as Odin would use them for mass production of weapons for his Einherjar ,  and other mining materials, seeing to it that that the Dwarves mining skills were only used by Asgard. This would also serve to undermine the Dwarves' creative abilities as the Aesir didn't care for elaborate designs and exquisite forging skills. They only wanted as many as they could provide as quickly as possible. This robbing of one of their great passions of life would drive one Dwarf to commit suicide in the Bay. Mimir was also responsible for having mining rigs installed throughout the Bay of Bounty, ensuring production of weapons for Asgard continued to grow while said rigs and other mining operations poisoned the land of Svartalfheim. To be able to feed themselves, the Dwarves relied on the Aesir for food and other necessities, thereby putting the Dwarves squarely under the Allfather's thumb. Around this time, Mimir also captured and enslaved a Lyngbakr in order to impress Odin as the creature's fat proved a great source of oil for Odin's lamps. The creature would be chained up in the Bay of Bounty in Svartalfheim for over a century. All of these actions Mimir would later on come to regret and would attempt for atonement centuries later. Mimir was also present at the rebellion of some dwarves against the Aesir, and helped Odin's adivisor, Heimdall , mark Durlin on his head.
Overtime, Mimir grew to befriend many Giants from Jötunheim to the point where he was bestowed with Bifröst crystals in his eyes. Because Mimir spent so much time traveling through realms, they believed it would be more convenient than a crystal he could lose. To numb the pain of the procedure, Mimir drank sixteen cups of billow maidens' ale. So inebriated, Mimir almost convinced the Giants to put the crystals in his nipples instead, jokingly calling himself, "Mimir of the Bifröst Teats".
However, Mimir's efforts to preserve peace would be stymied by Odin's paranoia, his obsessions with prophecies and allowing his son, Thor , to go on a killing spree on the Giants . Thus, much like with Týr , Odin confronted Mimir, suspecting that he aided the Giants. As punishment, Odin imprisoned him on Midgard 's highest peak, bound to a tree made indestructible even to Thor's hammer . As additional punishment, Odin removed the horned god's bejeweled left eye and hid it to keep Mimir from traveling to other realms; Mimir then realized that Odin had never been fooled from the drugged well incident where they first met. Mimir would spend the next century being tortured by Odin himself on a daily basis, causing him to develop an immense hatred for Odin, and eventually making him yearn for death for Odin's torment rendered Mimir's bound existence anything but "living".