Odin - Norse Mythology for Smart People Norse Mythology for Smart People Odin “Odin the Wanderer” by Georg von Rosen (1886) Odin (pronounced “OH-din”; Old Norse Óðinn, Old English and Old Saxon Woden, Old High German Wuotan, Wotan, or Wodan, Proto-Germanic *Woðanaz, “Master of Ecstasy”) is one of the most complex and enigmatic characters in Norse mythology, and perhaps in all of world literature. He’s the chief of the Aesir tribe of deities, yet he often ventures far from their kingdom, Asgard , on long, solitary wanderings throughout the cosmos on purely self-interested quests. He’s a relentless seeker after and giver of wisdom, but he has little regard for communal values such as justice, fairness, or respect for law and convention. He’s the divine patron of rulers, and also of outcasts. He’s a war-god, but also a poetry-god, and he has prominent “effeminate” qualities that would have brought unspeakable shame to any historical Norse/Germanic warrior.

He’s worshiped by those in search of prestige, honor, and nobility, yet he’s often cursed for being a fickle trickster. What kind of literary figure – let alone a god whose historical worship spanned much of a continent and several centuries – could possibly embody all of these qualities at once, with their apparently glaring contradictions? What’s in a Name? As mentioned above, Odin’s name can be translated as “Master of Ecstasy.” His Old Norse name, Óðinn, is formed from two parts: first, the noun óðr , “ecstasy, fury, inspiration,” and the suffix -inn, the masculine definite article, which, when added to the end of another word like this, means something like “the master of” or “a perfect example of.” The eleventh-century historian Adam of Bremen confirms this when he translates “Odin” as “The Furious.”[1] Óðr can take countless different forms.

As one saga describes Odin, “when he sat with his friends, he gladdened the spirits of all of them, but when he was at war, his demeanor was terrifyingly grim.”[2] This ecstasy that Odin embodies and imparts is the unifying factor behind the myriad areas of life with which he is especially associated: war, sovereignty, wisdom, magic, shamanism, poetry, and the dead. War In modern popular culture, Odin is often portrayed as being an eminently honorable ruler and battlefield commander (not to mention impossibly muscular), but to the ancient Norse, he was nothing of the sort. In contrast to more straightforwardly noble war gods such as Tyr or Thor , Odin incites otherwise peaceful people to strife with what, to modern tastes, is a downright sinister glee.[3] His attitude is not far from Nietzsche’s dictum, “You say it is the good cause that hallows even war? I say unto you: it is the good war that hallows any cause.”[4] In keeping with his associations with sovereignty (see below), Odin doesn’t generally concern himself with average warriors, preferring instead to lavish his blessings only on those whom he deems to be worthy of them.

Many of the greatest Germanic heroes have enjoyed Odin’s patronage, such as Starkaðr and the Volsung family. He maintains particularly close affiliations with the berserkers and other “warrior-shamans” whose fighting techniques and associated spiritual practices center around achieving a state of ecstatic unification with certain ferocious totem animals, usually wolves or bears, and, by extension, with Odin himself, the master of such beasts. Thus, as a war-god, Odin is principally concerned not with the reasons behind any given conflict or even its outcome, but rather with the raw, chaotic battle-frenzy (one of the primary manifestations of óðr) that permeates any such agonism. Sovereignty Odin’s preference for the elite extends to all realms of society. As the chief of the Aesir gods, he’s the divine archetype of a ruler. He’s the legendary founder of numerous royal lines,[5] and kings are as likely as shamanistic warriors to claim him as their beneficiary.

The Germanic peoples, like other Indo-European peoples, originally had a three-tiered social/political hierarchy : the first tier consisted of rulers, the second of warriors, and the third of farmers and others occupied with production and fecundity. The gods and goddesses can be profitably mapped onto this schema, and Odin, along with Tyr, corresponds to the first tier, the rulers.[6] The crucial difference between Tyr and Odin in this regard, however, is that Tyr has much more to do with rule by law and justice, whereas Odin has much more to do with rule by magic and cunning. Tyr is the sober and virtuous ruler; Odin is the devious, inscrutable, and inspired ruler.[7] Paradoxically, Odin is often the favorite god and helper of outlaws, those who had been banished from society for some especially heinous crime, as well. Like Odin, many such men were exceptionally strong-willed warrior-poets who were apathetic to established societal norms – Egill Skallagrímsson (Egil’s Saga) and Grettir Ásmundarson (The Saga of Grettir the Strong) are two examples.

The late twelfth/early thirteenth-century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus even relates a tale of Odin being outlawed from Asgard for ten years so that the other gods and goddesses wouldn’t be tarnished by the vile reputation he had acquired amongst many humans.[8] Whatever their social stature, the men and women favored by Odin are distinguished by their intelligence, creativity, and competence in the proverbial “war of all against all.” Whether such people become kings or criminals is mostly a matter of luck. Wisdom, Magic, and Shamanism One of the greatest differences between monotheistic theologies and polytheistic theologies is that, in the former, God is generally all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, etc. Polytheistic gods are none of these things; like any human, tree, or hawk, they are limited by their particularity. For Odin, any kind of limitation is something to be overcome by any means necessary, and his actions are carried out within the context of a relentless and ruthless quest for more wisdom, more knowledge, and more power, usually of a magical sort. One of the most striking attributes of his appearance is his single, piercing eye.

His other eye socket is empty – the eye it once held was sacrificed for wisdom . On another occasion, Odin “sacrificed himself to himself” by hanging on the world-tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nights, receiving no form of nourishment from his companions. At the end of this ordeal, he perceived the runes , the magically-charged ancient Germanic alphabet that was held to contain many of the greatest secrets of existence. He is depicted as having subsequently boasted: Then I was fertilized and grew wise; From a word to a word I was led to a word, From a work to a work I was led to a work.[9] Odin’s competitive side once drove him to challenge the wisest of the giants to a contest to see who was more knowledgeable and learned. The prize was the head of the loser, and Odin won by asking his opponent something that only he himself could know. Odin then claimed his prize and returned to Asgard.[10] Along with Freya , he’s one of the two greatest practitioners of shamanism amongst the gods. His shamanic spirit-journeys are well-documented.

The Ynglinga Saga records that he often “travel[s] to distant lands on his own errands or those of others” while he appears to others to be asleep or dead.[11] Another instance is recorded in the Eddic poem “ Baldur’s Dreams,” where Odin rode Sleipnir , an eight-legged horse typical of northern Eurasian shamanism,[12] to the underworld to consult a dead seeress on behalf of his son.[13] Odin, like shamans all over the world,[14] is accompanied by many familiar spirits , most notably the ravens Hugin and Munin , the wolves Geri and Freki, and the valkyries . The shaman must typically undergo a ritual death and rebirth in order to acquire his or her powers,[15] and Odin underwent exactly such an ordeal when he discovered the runes. We’ve already, albeit briefly, discussed the berserkers and other distinguished “warrior-shamans” under Odin’s patronage. This was the form of Germanic shamanism that was the most socially acceptable for men to practice.

The other main form of Germanic shamanism is contained within the magical tradition known as seidr , of which Odin and Freya are the foremost divine practitioners. In traditional Germanic society, for a man to engage in seidr was effectively to forsake the male gender role, which brought considerable scorn upon any male who chose to take up this path. As the sagas show, this didn’t stop some men from practicing seidr anyway. However, even Odin wasn’t exempt from such charges of “unmanliness,” and was taunted for adopting the feminine traits and tasks that form part of the backbone of seidr. Saxo, in the passage on Odin’s exile alluded to above, relates that “by his stage-tricks and his assumption of a woman’s work he had brought the foulest scandal on the name of the gods.”[16] Note also the reference to being “fertilized” in the verse quoted above – while this is certainly a metaphor, it’s a metaphor loaded with sexual implications that would have been immediately recognizable to any Viking Age or medieval reader or hearer of the poem. A fuller discussion of the relationship between Germanic shamanism and gender roles can be found here .

For our present purposes, it’s sufficient to point out that, in the eyes of the pre-Christian northern Europeans, Odin’s practice of seidr made him a rather “unmanly” being incapable of fulfilling the expectations placed upon an honorable man. But we’ve already noted Odin’s scant concern for honor. He isn’t one to refuse any ecstatic practice, even those that bring him ill repute. Poetry Odin speaks only in poems,[17] and the ability to compose poetry is a gift he grants at his pleasure. He stole the mead of poetry , the primeval source of the ability to speak and write beautifully and persuasively, from the giants. Ever since, he has dispensed it to certain gods, humans, and other beings whom he deems worthy of it. The mead’s Old Norse name is Óðrœrir, “The Stirrer of Óðr,” and, as we have seen, óðr (“ecstasy, fury, inspiration”) is the root of Odin’s name as well. This intoxicating drink, along with the power it grants, is yet another manifestation of his overflowing ecstasy.

The Dead When Roman writers spoke of the gods and goddesses of other peoples, they generally tried to identify them with deities from their own religion. When they mentioned Odin, they glossed him as Mercury, the Roman psychopomp (the divine figure who guides those who have just died from the realm of the living to that of the dead, and, in due time, back to the land of the living again).[18] This is significant, because it shows that Odin’s associations with death were seen as being even more significant than his associations with war, or else he would have been glossed as Mars. (This designation usually fell to Tyr or Thor instead.) Odin presides over Valhalla , the most prestigious of the dwelling-places of the dead. After every battle, he and his helping-spirits, the valkyries (“choosers of the fallen”), comb the field and take their pick of half of the slain warriors to carry back to Valhalla. (Freya then claims the remaining half.) He was a frequent recipient of human sacrifice, especially of royalty, nobles, and enemy armies.

This was generally accomplished by means of a spear, a noose, or both – the same manner in which Odin “sacrificed himself to himself” (Old Norse gefinn Óðni, sjálfr sjálfum mér) in order to acquire knowledge of the runes. A common – and chilling – way of securing his favor in battle was to throw a spear over one’s foes, sacrificing them to the god with the cry, “Odin owns ye all!” (Old Norse Óðinn á yðr alla).[19] His mastery of necromancy, the magical art of communicating with and raising the dead, is frequently noted.[20] While there are several reasons Odin maintains this commerce with the dead, including his desire to learn what knowledge and wisdom they possess, the most significant reason is his dread-driven desire to have as many of the best warriors as possible on his side when he must face the wolf Fenrir during Ragnarok – even though he knows that he’s doomed to die in the battle.

The Allfather One of Odin’s countless names is “Allfather” (Old Norse Alfaðir), “because,” according to Snorri Sturluson , “he is the father of all of the gods.”[20] And, as we’ve already noted, Odin is listed as the divine ancestor of countless families from all over northern Europe. He’s simultaneously an Aesir god, a Vanir god (the Vanir god Óðr is only an extension or transposition of Odin), and a giant (his mother is Bestla, one of the first frost-giants). One Old Norse poem even identifies him with önd, the breath of life.[22] What can we discern in all of this regarding Odin’s identity? Odin is the primal animating force that permeates all life. Or, to put it in Nietzschean terms, he’s the Will to Power (German die Wille zur Macht) that dwells at the heart of the world, by which the cosmos eternally strives to overcome itself, to grow and to flourish and to sweep away stagnation.

The shamans, rulers, warriors, outlaws, poets, and sorcerers who enjoy Odin’s patronage are the highest ambassadors of óðr, the ultimate and unconditional life-affirming force. Looking for more great information on Norse mythology and religion? While this site provides the ultimate online introduction to the topic, my book The Viking Spirit provides the ultimate introduction to Norse mythology and religion period. I’ve also written a popular list of The 10 Best Norse Mythology Books , which you’ll probably find helpful in your pursuit. References: [1] Adam of Bremen. c. 1080. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. Translated by Francis Joseph Tschan. p. 207. [2] Snorri Sturluson. Ynglinga Saga 6. In Heimskringla: eða Sögur Noregs Konunga. [3] Turville-Petre, E.O.G. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. p. 50-52 and references therein. [4] Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1954.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: a Book for All and None. In The Portable Nietzsche. Edited and translated by Walter Kaufmann. p. 159. [5] Turville-Petre, E.O.G. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. p. 56, 70. [6] Dumézil, Georges. 1988. Mitra-Varuna: An Essay on Two Indo-European Representations of Sovereignty. Translated by Derek Coltman. [7] Dumézil, Georges. 1973. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Edited by Einar Haugen. p. 46. [8] Saxo Grammaticus. The History of the Danes. [9] The Poetic Edda. Hávamál 138-141. My translation. The original Old Norse of verse 141 reads: Þá nam ek frævask Odin - Norse Mythology - Ancinet-Mythology.com Odin | Norse Mythology (also Woden or Wotan in Anglo-Saxon myth) Odin is the chief god of Germanic mythology.

Son of Bor and Bestla , Odin was risen to favor mostly by the Vikings, and became known as the supreme god in the eighth and ninth centuries. The Vikings admired Odin's love for the battle, as he was known as the "father of the slain". Odin's prominence demonstrates the importance of warfare to Germanic traditions. Odin loved to cause conflicts and shifts of power. He once aided Harald, a Danish King, instructing him in tactics and granting him victories for years. In the king's final battle, however, Odin took the place of Harald's charioteer and drove the king to his demise. Although Odin embodied deceit, violence and war, he also embodied many admirable qualities. He was the most knowledgeable god, with a great love for wisdom. He would willingly sacrifice himself for it. With the threat of Ragnarok , the death of all gods, Odin built the Valhalla , a great hall of the "heroic dead". Odin would then gather heroes and warriors who were slain in battle, and bring them to Valhalla so they would fight alongside the gods on the Vigrid plain, in an attempt to strengthen and save the gods in the final battle against the frost giants at the time of Ragnarok.

Odin was killed by a wolf, Fenrir , a monstrous offspring of the god Loki and the frost giantess Angrboda. When the Romans arrived in Germanic territory, they assumed that Odin was their messenger god, Mercury . The Norse Gods The Norse Gods In Blog The Norse Gods are the mythological characters that, as far as we know, came from the Northern Germanic tribes of the 9th century AD. These stories were passed down in the form of poetry until the 11th – 18th centuries when the Eddas and other medieval texts were written. Norse mythology comprises the pre-Christian beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. Norse mythology not only has it’s gods, goddesses and immortals but also a myriad of other characters and creatures that populate the stories including giants, dwarfs, monsters, magical animals and objects. The Norse Myths A List of The Norse Gods Aegir – Norse God of the sea. Married to Ran and lives under the waves near the island of Hlesey. Aesir – A group of warrior gods led by Odin who inhabit Asgard.

Balder – Son of Odin and Frigg. Known as a gentle and wise god. Killed accidentally by his brother Hod. Will return after Ragnarok. Bolverk – The alias Odin adopted when disguised as a giant to win the mead of poetry. Bor – Son of Buri and father of Odin, Vili and Ve. Bragi – The Norse God of poetry and eloquence. Son of Odin and husband of Idun. Buri – Ancestor of the Norse gods. Created by the cow Audmula licking him from ice. Day – Son of Night and Delling. Said to ride around the earth on his horse Skinfaxi. Earth – Daughter of Night and Annar. Einherjar – Band of dead warriors in Valhalla who await Ragnarok. Eir – Goddess of healing Fjorgyn – Lover of Odin and mother of Thor. Also referred to as Earth. Forseti – God of Justice. Son of Balder and Nanna. Freyja – Main goddess of the Vanir (fertility gods). Daughter of Njord and sister of Freyr. Freyr – Important god of the Vanir. Son of Njord and brother of Freyja.

Frigga – Main goddess. Wife of Odin and mother of Balder. Fulla – Goddess servant of Frigga. Gangnrad – Pseudonym of Odin when he visits Vafthrudnir. Gefion – Fertility goddess. Associated with the plow. Tricked the king of Sweden out of a tract of his land. Grimnir – Pseudonym of Odin when he visits his foster son Geirrod, King of the Goths. Gullveig – A Vanir goddess (probably Freyja) who is burned three times by the Aesir. Harbard – Odin disguised as a ferryman when he wrangles with Thor. Heimdall – Watchman of the Norse gods and owner of the horn Gjall. Son of nine mothers. Often identified with Rig, the creator of three races of men. Hel – ruler of Helheim, the realm of the dead Hermod – Son of Odin. Rode to Hel to try and rescue his brother Balder. Hod – Son of Odin. A blind god who accidentally killed his brother Balder. he will return after Ragnarok. Honir – A long-legged, indecisive god.

Sent to the Vanir to seal the truce between them and the Aesir. He will survive Ragnarok. Idun – Guardian of the golden apples of youth and wife of Bragi. Kvasir – the wisest. Created from the spittle of the gods. Lofn – Goddess of ilicit unions. Loki – The sly, trickster of the Norse gods. Son of two giants. Also known as the Sly One, the Trickster, the Shape Changer and the Sky Traveller. Becomes increasingly more evil. He is responsible for the death of Balder. Bound until Ragnarok. Magni – Son of Thor and the giantess Jarnsaxa. Will inherit Thor’s hammer Mjollnir with his brother Modi after Ragnarok. Mimir – Wise Aesir god. Sent to the Vanir to seal the truce between the two groups of the Norse gods. Killed by the Vanir, his head is kept by Odin. Modgud – Maiden guardian of the bridge over the river Gjoll in Jotenheim. Modi – Son of Thor and the giantess Jarnsaxa.

Will inherit Thor’s hammer Mjollnir with his brother Magni after Ragnarok. Moon – Son of Mundilfari. Guides the moon on it’s course. Nanna – Wife of Balder and daughter of Nep. Narvi – Also known as Nari. Son of Loki and Sigyn who was killed by his brother Vali. Night – Daughter of Narvi and mother of Day. Rides around the earth on her horse Hrimfaxi. Njord – A Vanir god associated with wind and sea. Husband of Skadi and father of Freyja and Freyr. Norns – Urd “fate”, Skuld “being” and Verandi “necessity”. Three goddesses of destiny. Od – Missing husband of Freyja who she constantly mourns for. Odin – King of the Norse Gods, God of poetry, battle and death. Chief god of the Aesir. Also known as the “all-father”, the “terrible one”, “one-eyed” and “father of battle”. Ran – Wife of Aegir who dragged drowning men down with her net. Rig – Pseudonym of Heimdall and the creator of three races of men.

Rind – Goddess and lover of Odin. Mother of Vali. Saga – Goddess and drinking companion of Odin. Sif – Wife of Thor whose golden hair was cut off by Loki. Sigyn – Wife of Loki. Sjofn – Goddess of human passion. Skadi – Goddess of Winter and of the Hunt Sun – Daughter of Mundilfari and guide of the sun. Syn – Goddess of the accused at trial. Thor – God of Sky, thunder and fertility. Associated with law and order in Asgard and guardian of the Norse gods. Son of Odin and Earth and husband of Sif. Also known as the “thunder god” and “charioteer”. Thrud – Daughter of Thor. Promised to the dwarf Alvis. Tyr – War god. Son of Odin who sacrificed his hand in the binding of Fenrir. Ull – God of archery and skiing. Vali – Son of Odin and the giantess Rind. Conceived to avenge the death of Balder. Valkyries – Beautiful women who carried dying warriors to Valhalla.

Thor - Norse Mythology for Smart People Norse Mythology for Smart People Thor “Thor’s Battle with the Giants” by Mårten Eskil Winge (1872) Thor ( Old Norse Þórr, Old English Đunor, Old High German Donar, Proto-Germanic *Þunraz, “Thunder”[1]) is one of the most prominent figures in Norse mythology. He was a major god of all branches of the Germanic peoples before their conversion to Christianity, although he reached the height of his popularity among the Scandinavians of the late Viking Age. The Warrior God Par Excellence Thor, the brawny thunder god, is the archetype of a loyal and honorable warrior, the ideal toward which the average human warrior aspired. He’s the indefatigable defender of the Aesir gods and their fortress, Asgard , from the encroachments of the giants , who are usually (although far from invariably) the enemies of the gods. No one is better suited for this task than Thor. His courage and sense of duty are unshakeable, and his physical strength is virtually unmatched.

He even owns an unnamed belt of strength (Old Norse megingjarðar) that makes his power doubly formidable when he wears the belt. His most famous possession, however, is his hammer, Mjöllnir (“Lightning”[2]). Only rarely does he go anywhere without it. For the heathen Scandinavians, just as thunder was the embodiment of Thor, lightning was the embodiment of his hammer slaying giants as he rode across the sky in his goat-drawn chariot. (Of course, they didn’t believe he physically rode in a chariot drawn by goats – like everything else in Germanic mythology, this is a symbol used to express an invisible reality upon which the material world is perceived to be patterned. See Myth .) Thor’s particular enemy is Jormungand , the enormous sea serpent who encircles Midgard , the world of human civilization. At one point in the mythical cycle , he tries to pull Jormungand out of the ocean while on a fishing trip , and is stopped only when his giant companion cuts the fishing line out of fear. Thor and Jormungand finally face each other during Ragnarok , however, when the two put an end to each other.

Given his ever-vigilant protection of the ordered cosmos of pre-Christian northern Europe against the forces of chaos, destruction, and entropy represented by the giants, it’s somewhat ironic that Thor is himself three-quarters giant. His father, Odin , is half-giant, and his mother, variously named as Jord (Old Norse “Earth”), Hlöðyn, or Fjörgyn, is entirely of giant ancestry. However, such a lineage is very common amongst the gods, and shows how the relationship between the gods and the giants, as tense and full of strife as it is, can’t be reduced to just enmity. Hallowing His activities on the divine plane were mirrored by his activities on the human plane (Midgard), where he was appealed to by those in need of protection, comfort, and the blessing and hallowing of places, things, and events.

Numerous surviving runic inscriptions invoke him to hallow the words and their intended purpose,[3] and it was he who was called upon to hallow weddings.[4] (Evidence of this is preserved, amongst other places, in the tale of Thor Disguised as a Bride .) The earliest Icelandic settlers implored him to hallow their plot of land before they built buildings or planted crops.[5] Thor’s hammer could be used to hallow as readily as it could be used to destroy – and, in effect, these two properties were one and the same, since any purification necessarily involves the banishing of hostile forces or elements. The blessing of weddings, for example, was effected through his hammer.

Perhaps the most striking case of this, however, is his ability to kill and eat the goats that drive his chariot, gather their bones together in their hides, bless the hides with the hammer, and bring the animals back to life, as healthy and vital as before.[6] Fertility and Agriculture In addition to his role as a model warrior and defender of the order of society and its ambitions, Thor also played a large role in the promotion of agriculture and fertility (something which has already been suggested by his blessing of the lands in which the first Icelanders settled). This was another extension of his role as a sky god, and one particularly associated with the rain that enables crops to grow. As the eleventh-century German historian Adam of Bremen notes, “Thor, they say, presides over the air, which governs the thunder and lightning, the winds and rains, fair weather and crops.”[7] His seldom-mentioned wife, Sif, is noted for her golden hair above all else, which is surely a symbol for fields of grain.

Their marriage is therefore an instance of what historians of religion call a “hierogamy” (divine marriage), which, particularly among Indo-European peoples, generally takes place between a sky god and an earth goddess. The fruitfulness of the land and the concomitant prosperity of the people is a result of the sexual union of sky and earth.[8] Thor’s Role in the Viking Age Social World Through archaeological evidence, the veneration of Thor can be traced back as far as the Bronze Age,[9] and his cult has gone through numerous permutations across time and space. One of the features that remained constant from the Bronze Age up through the Viking Age, however, is Thor’s role as the principal deity of the second class or “function” of the three-tiered social hierarchy of traditional European society – the function of warriors and military strength. (The first function was that of rulers and sovereignty, and the third was that of farmers and fecundity.)[10] Thor seems to have always had close ties to the third function as well as the second, and during the Viking Age, a time of great social confusion and innovation, this connection with the third function seems to have been strengthened still more.

This made him the foremost god of the common people in Scandinavia and the viking colonies.[11] This role can be made clearer by contrasting Thor with the god who was virtually his functional opposite: Odin. Odin was the foremost deity appealed to by rulers, outcasts, and “elite” persons of every sort. Odin’s primary values are quite rarefied: ecstasy, knowledge, magical power, and creative agency. They stand in stark contrast to Thor’s more homely virtues. The Eddas and sagas portray the relationship between the two gods as being often uneasy as a result. At one point, Odin taunts Thor: “Odin’s are the nobles who fall in battle, but Thor’s are the thralls.”[12] In another episode, Odin is conferring blessings upon a favored hero of his, Starkaðr, and each blessing is matched by a curse from Thor.

In the most telling example, Odin grants Starkaðr the favor of the nobility and rulers, while Thor declares that he will always be scorned by the commoners.[13] Due to demographic shifts, whereby the second and third functions became largely indistinguishable from one another, the prominence of Thor seems to have increased at the expense of Odin throughout the Viking Age (c. 793-1000 CE). Late period sources describe Thor as the foremost of all the Aesir,[14] a statement that would have been rather ludicrous before the Viking Age, when Odin and his Anglo-Saxon and continental equivalents occupied this position. Nowhere was this trend more pronounced than in Iceland, which was originally settled in the ninth century by farming colonists fleeing what they found to be the oppressive and arbitrary rule of an Odin-worshiping Norwegian king.

The sagas are rife with examples of the fervent veneration of Thor amongst the Icelanders, and in the Landnámabók, the Icelandic “Book of Settlements,” roughly a quarter of the four thousand people mentioned in the narrative have Thor’s name or a clear allusion to him somewhere in their own names.[15] Famed Old Norse scholar E.O.G. Turville-Petre admirably summarizes: “In these [late Viking Age Icelandic] sources Thor appears not only as the chief god of the settlers but also as patron and guardian of the settlement itself, of its stability and law.”[16] There’s yet another reason for the upsurge in the worship of Thor during the Viking Age. When Christianity first reached Scandinavia and the viking colonies, the people tolerated the cult of the new god just like they tolerated the cult of any other god.

(Polytheistic gods are seldom “jealous;” each divine force has his or her place, and reverence for one doesn’t necessarily preclude reverence for any other.) However, when it became clear that the Christians had no intention of extending this same tolerance to those who continued to adhere to the worship of the old gods, but instead wanted to eradicate the traditional religion of northern Europe and its accompanying way of life and replace it with a foreign religion, the northern Europeans retaliated. And who better to defend their traditional way of life and worldview from hostile, invading forces than Thor? One of the many areas of life in which this struggle manifested – and one of the easiest to trace by the methods of modern anthropology – was modes of dress. In deliberate contrast to the cross amulets that the Christians wore around their necks, those who continued to follow the old ways started to wear miniature Thor’s hammers around their necks. Archaeological discoveries of these hammer pendants are concentrated in precisely the areas where Christian influence was the most pronounced.[17] Though ultimately doomed, their efforts to preserve their ancestral traditions no doubt benefited from the divine patron whom they could look to as a model. Looking for more great information on Norse mythology and religion?

While this site provides the ultimate online introduction to the topic, my book The Viking Spirit provides the ultimate introduction to Norse mythology and religion period. I’ve also written a popular list of The 10 Best Norse Mythology Books , which you’ll probably find helpful in your pursuit. References: [1] Orel, Vladimir. 2003. A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. p. 429. [2] Turville-Petre, E.O.G. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. p. 81. [3] Ibid. p. 82-83. [5] Ellis-Davidson, Hilda Roderick. 1964. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. p. 84. [6] Snorri Sturluson. The Prose Edda. Gylfaginning 44. [7] Adam of Bremen. c. 1080. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. Translated by Francis Joseph Tschan. p. 207. [8] Ellis-Davidson, Hilda Roderick. 1964.

Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. p. 84. [9] Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall. p. 322. [10] Dumézil, Georges. 1973. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Edited by Einar Haugen. [11] Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall. p. 322. [12] The Poetic Edda. Hárbarðsljóð, stanza 24. My translation. The original Old Norse text reads: Óðinn á jarla, Gods and Goddesses of Norse Mythology When Ymir lived long ago Was no sand or sea, no surging waves. Nowhere was there earth nor heaven above. Bur a grinning gap and grass nowhere.

- Völuspá-The Song of the Sybil Although we know a little from observations made by Tacitus and Caesar, most of what we know of Norse mythology comes from Christian times, beginning with the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson (c.1179-1241). Not only does this mean the myths and legends were written after the period when they were routinely believed, but Snorri, as is to be expected, occasionally intrudes his non-pagan, Christian world view. Types of Gods The Norse gods are divided into 2 major groups, the Aesir and Vanir, plus the giants, who came first. Some believe the Vanir gods represent an older pantheon of the indigenous people whom the invading Indo-Europeans encountered. In the end, the Aesir, the newcomers, overcame and assimilated the Vanir. Georges Dumezil (1898-1986) thought the pantheon reflected the typical pattern of Indo-European gods where different divine factions hold different societal functions: continue reading below our video Norse Gods and Goddesses religious, and economic.

Tyr is the warrior god; Odin and Thor divide the functions of the religious and secular leaders; and the Vanir are the producers. Norse Gods and Goddesses - Vanir Hel The Gods' Home Norse gods don't live on Mt. Olympus , but their abode is separate from that of humans. The world is a circular disk, in the center of which is a concentric circle surrounded by sea. This central portion is Midgard (Miðgarðr), the home of mankind. Across the sea is the home of the giants, Jotunheim, also known as Utgard. The gods' home lies above Midgard in Asgard (Ásgarðr). Hel lies below Midgard in Niflheim. Snorri Sturluson says Asgard is in the middle of Midgard because, in his Christianization of the myths, he believed the gods were only ancient kings worshiped after the fact as gods. Other accounts place Asgard across a rainbow bridge from Midgard. 9 Worlds of Norse Mythology The Gods' Death The Norse gods are not immortal in the normal sense.

In the end, they and the world will be destroyed because of the actions of the evil or mischievous god Loki who, for now, endures Promethe an chains. Loki is the son or brother of Odin, but only through adoption. In reality he is a giant (Jotnar), one of the sworn enemies of the Aesir. It is the Jotnar who will find the gods at Ragnarok and bring about the end of the world. Norse Mythology Resources

Question: Who was the chief God in Norse mythology?
Answer: Odin