Norse Mythology and Geneology | Norse Mythology Norse Mythology and Geneology the geneology tables and notes on the Easir and Vanir norse gods. Copyright: Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC) In Norse mythology there are ' nine worlds ' (níu heimar), these are: • Asgard , world of the Æsir (East Court). • Vanaheimr , world of the Vanir . • Midgard , world of humans (Middle Court). • Muspellheim , world of the primordial element of fire (Black Smiths (Muorsh Eiron) Home). • Niflheim , world of the primordial element of ice • Svartálfaheim , world of the Svartálfar ( black elves ) (possibly Surt). • Álfheimr , world of the Álfar ( elves ). • Hel , underground world of the dead. • Jötunheimr , world of the jötnar (Giants).

Note the boundaries between Niflheim, Jötunheimr, Hel, Niðavellir, Svartálfaheimr, and several other significant places like Útgarðar (Outer (Far) Court) remain uncertain. Each world also had significantplaces within. Valhalla is Odin's hall located in Asgard. It was also home of the Einherjar , who were the souls of the greatest warriors. These warriors were selected by the Valkyries , Odin ' s mounted female messengers. The Einherjar would help defend the gods during Ragnarok . Niflhel is a hellish place in Hel, where oathbreakers and other criminals suffer torments.These worlds are connected by Yggdrasil , the world tree, a giant tree with Asgard at its top. Chewing at its roots in Niflheim is Nidhogg , a ferocious serpent or dragon . Asgard can also be reached by Bifrost , a rainbow bridge guarded by Heimdall , a god who can see and hear a thousand miles.

Supernatural inhabitants There are several "clans" of Vættir or animistic nature spirits: the Æsir and Vanir , understood as gods, plus the Jötnar , the Álfar and Dvergar . To this list can be added the dead in the Underworld. The distinction between Æsir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchangedhostages, intermarried and reigned together after the events of the Æsir–Vanir War , and afterward the gods are generally referred to collectively as Æsir.In addition, there are many other beings: Fenrir the gigantic wolf , Jörmungandr the sea-serpent (or "worm") that is coiled around Midgard, and Hel , ruler of Helheim . These three monsters are described as the progeny of Loki .

Other creatures include Huginn and Muninn (thought and memory, respectively), the two ravens who keep Odin, the chief god, apprised of what is happening on earth,since he gave his eye to the Well of Mimir in his quest for wisdom, Sleipnir , Loki's eight legged horse son belonging to Odin and Ratatoskr , the squirrel which scampers in the branches of Yggdrasil. The Norse Creation myth According to Norse myth, the beginning of life was fire and ice, with the existence of only two worlds:Muspelheim and Niflheim. When the warm air of Muspelheim hit the cold ice of Niflheim, the jötunn Ymir and the icy cow Audhumla were created. Ymir's foot bred a son and a man and a woman emerged from his armpits, making Ymir the progenitor of the Jötnar . Whilst Ymir slept, the intense heat from Muspelheim made him sweat, and he sweated out Surtr [ citation needed ] , a jötunn of fire.Later Ymir woke and drank Audhumbla's milk. Whilst he drank, the cow Audhumbla licked on a saltstone.

On the first day after this a man's hair appeared on the stone, on the second day a head andon the third day an entire man emerged from the stone. His name was Búri and with an unknown jötunn female he fathered Bor, the father of the three gods Odin , Vili and Ve . When the gods felt strong enough they killed Ymir. His blood flooded the world and drowned all of the jötunn, except two. But jötnar grew again in numbers and soon there were as many as before Ymir'sdeath. Then the gods created seven more worlds using Ymir's flesh for dirt, his blood for the Oceans,rivers and lakes, his bones for stone, his brain as the clouds, his skull for the heaven. Sparks fromMuspelheim flew up and became stars.One day when the gods were walking they found two tree trunks. They transformed them into theshape of humans. Odin gave them life, Vili gave them mind and Ve gave them the ability to hear, see,and speak.

The gods named them Ask and Embla and built the kingdom of Middle-earth for them; and, to keep out the jötnar, the gods placed a gigantic fence made of Ymir's eyelashes aroundMiddle-earth.The end of the norse myth cycle is Ragnarök which refers to a series of major events, including agreat battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the gods Odin , Thor , Freyr , Heimdall , and the jötunn Loki ), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in fire. Afterwards, the world resurfaces anew and fertile, thesurviving gods meet, and the world is repopulated by two human survivors. More From This User Norse Mythology The runes are inextricably bound to Norse mythology. One who aspires to be a user of runes needs a working knowledge of the mythology and writings of the runic era. In the beginning was Muspell, the realm of fire. It is a place of dreadful light and heat. Only its natives, the Fire Giants, can tolerate its flames. Surt, a Fire Giant, guards Muspell's border, armed with a flaming sword.

At the end of the era, at Ragnarok, Surt and his companions will destroy all the Gods and and their world with fire. Outside of Muspell lies the void called Ginnungagap, and north of Ginnungagap is Niflheim, the world of awesome dark and cold. In this world are eleven rivers flowing from a great well. The rivers are frozen and occupy Ginnungagap. When the wind, rain, ice, and cold meet the heat and fire of Muspell in the center of Ginnungagap, a place of light, air, and warmth is born. Where fire and ice first met, thawing drops appeared. Beneath the melting ice lay a Frost Giant named Ymir. Ymir slept, falling into a sweat. Under his left arm there grew a couple, male and female Giants. One of his legs begot a son with the other. The melting frost became a cow called Audhumla from whose udders ran four rivers of milk that fed Ymir. After one day of licking salty ice blocks, she freed a man's hair from the ice. After two days, his head appeared. On the third day the whole man was released from the ice.

The man's name was Buri. Buri had a son named Bor. Bor married Bestla, the daughter of a Giant, with whom he had three sons. Odin was the first, Vili the second, and Vé the third. Odin, in association with his brothers, is the ruler of heaven and earth. He is the greatest and most famous of all Gods. Odin and his brothers killed the Giant Ymir. They carried Ymir to the middle of Ginnungagap and created the world, called Midgard, from his body. Ymir's blood became the sea and and lakes. His skull became the cover of the sky which was set over the earth. Ymir's brains were tossed into the air, and became clouds. Then sparks and burning embers from Muspell were placed in the middle of Ginnungagap to give light to Midgard. They named the stars and set their paths. Ymir's skeleton became the mountains of Midgard. His teeth and jaws became rocks and pebbles. His flesh was ground into dirt in the great mill Grottekvarnen. Ymir's hair became trees.

Maggots appeared in Ymir's flesh became Dwarves, who had human understanding and the appearance of men, but lived in the earth. Under each corner of the sky the suns of Buri put a Dwarf. The four Dwarves are called Austri (East), Vestri (West), Nordri (North), and Sudri (South). Midgard was surrounded by an enormous ocean. Odin, Vili and Vé gave lands along the coasts to the friendlier Giants, the Etin, for their settlements. From two trees they created a human man and woman. Odin gave the man and the woman spirit and life. Vili gave them understanding and the power of movement. Vé gave them clothing and names. The man was named Ask [Ash] and the woman Embla [Elm]. Ask and Embla are the ancestors of all humans in Midgard. Next they built Åsgard, the home of the Gods. In a hall named Hlidskjálf, Odin sits on a high seat from which he can look out over the whole world. Odin married Frigga, the daughter of the Giant Fjörgvin.

Yggdrasil, the World-Tree, the tree of fate, arises in the center of the Midgard. Its branches reach up over Asgard. The entire universe is dependent on the World-Tree. The tree has three three roots. One reaches into the underworld Hel, another to the world of the Frost-Giants, and the last one to the world of human beings. Beneath the tree is the Urda well, guarded by the Norns, the three Goddesses of Fate. Two other wells also feed Yggdrasil. One is called Hvergelmer, and the other is Mimer's well. The dragon Nidhog lies in Hvergelmer and gnaws on the roots of the tree. Mimer's well is the well of wisdom, guarded by the wisest of all beings, Mimer. Odin once gave his right eye for a drink of the water from this well. The Gods built a bridge called Bifröst from Asgard (heaven) to Midgard (earth). They ride daily over the great rainbow bridge. Bifröst is guarded by the God Heimdall.

Heimdall sleeps lighter than a bird, sees one hundred travel-days in each direction, and has such sharp ears that he can hear the grass and the wool grow. But as strong as Bifröst is, it will collapse when the when the Frost Giants ride out over it at Ragnarok. There is nothing that can be relied on when the sons of Muspell are on the warpath. The Norse deities are divided into two major groups, the Aesir and the Vanir. The Vanir, the "Earth Gods", symbolize riches, fertility, and fecundity. They are associated with the earth and the sea. The most important Gods of the Vanir are Njord, Freyr, Aegir and Freya. The Aesir, the "Sky Gods", symbolize power, wisdom, and war. They are long lived, but not immortal. Odin is the leader of the Gods, with magical skills. Thor, with his magic hammer, is the God of Thunder who presides over working men. Loki is a Giant who is an Aesir by adoption. He and Odin made a vow of friendship and became blood-brothers.

Loki is a trickster, a shapeshifter, and a troublemaker. In the distant past a fierce war was fought between the Aesir and the Vanir. The conflict between the Gods began when Odin and Thor refused to recognize the full status of Godhood to the Vanir. The Vanir sent a beautiful woman, Gullveig (gold-drink), to the Aesir, who tried to destroy her. She came back to life three times, and led to their corruption. War then broke out. After both sides were exhausted, each side exchanged members of its group with the other; the Vanir sent Njord and his son and daughter Freyr and Freya, the Aesir sent Mimir and Hoenir. The truce was celebrated by a meeting at which all the Gods spit into a bowl, creating a Giant called Kvasir, who is the sign of peace and harmony among the deities. Kvasir was later sacrificed and from his blood became a potent drink which inebriates deities and gives inspiration to poets. Balder, one of the sons of Odin, appeared as the essence of intelligence, piety, and wisdom.

Both Gods and men came to him to settle legal disputes, and his judgments were reconciling and fair. Balder had a dream in which his life was threatened. Upon reporting this dream to his mother, Frigga, she exacted an oath from fire, water, metals, earth, stones, and all birds and animals. They swore they would not harm Balder. Because of his immunity, the Aesir used Balder as a target in games, throwing darts and stones at him. When Loki saw this, he disguised himself as a woman and asked Frigga why Balder suffered no harm. Frigga told him of the oath. Loki tricked her into telling him that mistletoe was the only being that did not agree to the oath. Loki immediately took mistletoe and created arrows. He took the arrows to the Blind God Hoder, brother of Balder, and volunteered to direct his aim so that he would participate in the game. When the mistletoe struck Balder, Balder fell dead.

Because Balder was not a warrior and did not die in battle, he did not go to Valhalla, the hall of slain heroes, but into the domain of Hel, Keeper of the Dead. When Odin begged his release, Hel (Loki's daughter) responded that if everything in the world both dead and alive wept for Balder, then he could return to the Aesir. If not, he would remain with Hel. The Aesir sent messengers throughout the world asking all to weep for Balder. All responded except a Giantess, Thokk (Loki in disguise), whose refusal to weep forced Balder to remain in Hel's domain. The Aesir succeeded in capturing Loki. To punish him for his many crimes, they chained him beneath a serpent, which dripped venom onto him, causing terrible pain. The Ragnarok, or end of the world, has been prophesied. When Mirmir no longer guards his well, Yggdrasil's root will begin to rot. The Nidhog dragon will finally succeed in knawing through the root that ends at Hvergelmer well.

The Norns will be alarmed at the pollution of the Urdh well and the yellowing of the leaves of the world tree. Odin's sacrificed eye lies in Mirmir's well and sees what is to come. He knows that nothing can stop Fibulwinter, three years with endless winter, which will be followed by Ragnarok. The days will grow colder until even Urda well freezes solid. Storm and sleet will pound the World-Tree. One of Yggdrasil's branches will break and fall, striking Jormungand, the world serpent, which immediately will let go of its tail. The Hel ship Naglfar will become visible in the mist. The wolves Skoll and Manegarm will get closer and closer to Sun and Moon, which they have chased for eons. Fenrir wolf and and the Hel-wolf Garm will break their chains. Giants will release Loki from his fetters on the mountain. Nidhoggr will leave the roots of Yggdrasil and head toward Asgard. Behind him will march all the Giants. Heimdall will see all this, and will take up the Gjallarhorn to blow the warning.

Loki will lead monsters and Giants to attack the Gods in the great battle of Ragnarok on Vigrid plain. The leader of the Fire Giants, Surt, will attack Freyr, who will be armed only with a deer's antler. Freyr will stick his deer horn through Surt's eye, but then Surt will kill him with his flaming sword. Thor's son Magni will send a killing arrow toward Nidhoggr's head. Side by side, Odin and Thor will fight Fenrir and Jormungand. Odin will put his spear, Gungnir, in Fenrir's chest, but the wolf will crush Odin to the ground. Thor will kill Jormungand with his hammer, Mjollnir, but then will take nine steps backwards and fall down, poisoned by the serpent's venom. Tyr will kill the wolf dog Garm. Vidar will take revenge for Odin. The enemies Loki and Heimdall will their spears at each other at the same time and both will die. Modi will be surrounded by Giants, but Magni and Vidar will rescue him. The winds will increase and blow Yggdrasil from every direction until the great World-Tree falls.

The Dark Elves forge will tip and the World-Tree will burn. The Bifrost Rainbow Bridge will collapse and one by one each of the Worlds will fall. The remaining Aesir will escape in Freyr's ship, Skidbladnir. It will be almost taken by the Hel-ship Naglfar. Midgard will then be destroyed by fire, and will sink back into the sea. This final destruction will be followed by a rebirth, the Earth reemerging from the sea. Seven sons of the dead Aesir will return to Asgard and rule the universe. The Havamàl is part of the Elder or "Poetic" Edda, which is one of the primary written sources for Norse mythology. This excerpt from the W. H. Auden and P. B. Taylor translation of the Havamàl contains Odin's telling of how he obtained the runes and runic power. Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows For nine long nights, Graven by the prophetic God.

For the Gods by Odin, for the Elves by Dain, By Dvalin, too, for the Dwarves, By Asvid for the hateful Giants, And some I carved myself: Thund, before man was made, scratched them, Who rose first, fell thereafter. Know how to cut them, know how to read them, Know how to stain them, know how to prove them, Know how to evoke them, know how to score them, Know how to send them, know how to send them. Better not to ask than to over-pledge As a gift that demands a gift. Better not to send Than to slay too many. Do you know, how to carve them? Do you know, how to read them? Do you know, how to color them? Do you know, how to understand them? Do you know, how to pray? Do you know, how to sacrifice?1 Do you know, how to send?2 Do you know, how to discard?3 Better not to pray at all, than to sacrifice too much. A gift requires a gift in return. Better not to send at all, than to counteract too much.

Thus carved Thund before time,4 when he rose, when he returned5 ------- Major Gods and Goddesses in Norse Mythology Major Gods and Goddesses in Norse Mythology By N.S. Gill Updated August 21, 2016. The Norse gods are divided into two major groups, the Aesir and Vanir, in addition to 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. Alberich in Lego. CC Flickr User gwdexter Andvari In Norse mythology , Andvari (Alberich) guards treasures, including Tarnkappe, a cape of invisibility, and gives Loki the magic ring of the Aesir, which is called Draupnir. continue reading below our video Norse Gods and Goddesses Balder being Killed by Hod and Loki. 18th century Icelandic manuscript SÁM 66 in the care of the Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland. Balder Balder is an Aesir god and a son of Odin and Frigg.

Balder was the husband of Nanna, father of Forseti. He was killed with mistletoe thrown by his blind brother Hod . According to Saxo Grammaticus, Hod (Hother) did it on his own; others blame Loki. Forseti is the Norse god of justice. He is the son of Balder and Nanna. More » Freyja, Cats and Angels, by Nils Blommer (1816-1853). CC Flickr User Thomas Roche Freya Freya is a Vanir goddess of sex, fertility, war, and wealth, daughter of Njord. She was taken in by the Aesir, perhaps as hostage. More » Odin, Thor and Freyr or three Christian kings on the 12th century Skog Church tapestry. Public Domain. 12th-Century Tapestry of the Skog Church, Hälsingland, Sweden Freyr Freyr is a Norse god of weather and fertility; brother of Freya. The dwarves build Freyr a ship, Skidbladnir, that can hold all the gods or fit in his pocket.

Freyr goes as a hostage to the Aesir, along with Njord and Freya. He courts the giantess Gerd through his servant Skirnir. Hod Hod is a son of Odin. Hod is the blind god of winter who kills his brother Balder and is in turn killed by his brother Vali. More » Loki with his fishing net. 18th century Icelandic manuscript SÁM 66 in the care of the Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland. Loki is a giant in Norse mythology. He is also a trickster, the god of thieves, possibly responsible for Balder's death. Adopted brother of Odin, Loki is bound to a rock until Ragnarok. Mimir Mimir is the wise one and Odin's uncle. He guards the well of wisdom under Yggdrasil. Once he is decapitated, Odin gets wisdom from the severed head. Njord is a Vanir god of wind and sea. He is the father of Freya and Frey. Njord's wife is the giantess Skadi who selects him on the basis of his feet, which she thought belonged to Balder.

More » Norns The Norns are the fates in Norse mythology. The Norns may once have guarded the fountain at the base of Yggdrasil. Odin on Sleipnir the 8-legged Horse, from the Historiska Museet, Stockholm. CC Flickr User mararie Odin Odin is the head of the Aesir gods. Odin is the Norse god of war, poetry, wisdom, and death. He gathers his portion of the slain warriors in Valhalla. Odin has a spear, Grungir, that never misses. He makes sacrifices, including his eye, for the sake of knowledge. More » Thor With His Hammer and Belt. 18th century Icelandic manuscript SÁM 66 in the care of the Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland. Thor is the Norse thunder god, the main enemy of the giants, and the son of Odin. The common man calls upon Thor in preference to his father, Odin. More » Tyr and Fenrir. 18th century Icelandic manuscript "NKS 1867 4to", at the Danish Royal Library.

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, Viking Religion Scandinavian Mythology, pre-Christian religious beliefs of the Scandinavian people. The Scandinavian legends and myths about ancient heroes, gods, and the creation and destruction of the universe developed out of the original common mythology of the Germanic peoples (Ed. note: This is a common theory among Germanic scholars, who tend to believe that the Sax invented everything.

The truth is that the Nordic, both Wanr & Aesr, and the Saxon (Germanic) mythology originated in, and developed from, India and the Vedas) and constitute the primary source of knowledge about ancient German mythology. Because Scandinavian mythology was transmitted and altered by medieval Christian historians, the original pagan religious beliefs, attitudes, and practices cannot be determined with certainty. Clearly, however, Scandinavian mythology developed slowly, and the relative importance of different gods and heroes varied at different times and places. Thus, the cult of Odin, chief of the gods, may have spread from western Germany to Scandinavia not long before the myths were recorded; minor gods including Ull, the fertility god Njord 1 , and Heimdall may represent older deities 2 who lost strength and popularity as Odin became more important. Odin, a god of war, was also associated with learning, wisdom, poetry, and magic. (ed.

note: Odin associated himself with anything that made him look good.) Most information about Scandinavian mythology is preserved in the Old Norse literature (Icelandic, Swedish, and Norwegian Literature), in the Eddas and later sagas; other material appears in commentaries by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus and the German writer Adam of Bremen (flourished about 1075). Fragments of legends are sometimes preserved in old inscriptions and in later folklore. Gods and Heroes Besides Odin, the major deities of Scandinavian mythology were his wife, Frigg, goddess of the home; Valhalla. There the warriors would spend their days fighting and nights feasting until Ragnarok, the day of the final world battle, in which the old gods would perish and a new reign of peace and love would be instituted. Ordinary individuals were received after death by the goddess Hel in a cheerless underground world. Scandinavian mythology included dwarves; elves; and the Norns, who distributed fates to mortals. The ancient Scandinavians also believed in personal spirits, such as the fylgja and the hamingja, which in some respects resembled the Christian idea of the soul.

The gods were originally conceived as a confederation of two formerly warring divine tribes, the Aesir and the Vanir . Odin was originally the leader of the Aesir , which consisted of at least 12 gods. Together all the gods lived in Asgard. Creation belief The Eddic poem Völuspá (Prophecy of the Seeress) portrays a period of primeval chaos, followed by the creation of giants and gods and, finally, of humankind. Ginnungagap was the yawning void, Jotunheim the home of the giants, Niflheim the region of cold, and Muspellsheim the realm of heat. The great world-tree, Yggdrasil, reached through all time and space, but it was perpetually under attack from Nidhogg, the evil serpent. The fountain of Mimir, source of hidden wisdom, lay under one of the roots of the tree. Religious Ritual The Scandinavian gods were served by a class of priest-chieftains called godar. Worship was originally conducted outdoors, under guardian trees, near sacred wells, or within sacred arrangements of stones.

Later, wooden temples were used, with altars and with carved representations of the gods. The most important temple was at Old Uppsala, Sweden, where animals and even human beings were sacrificed. A Partial Aesir Pantheon: Odin, king of the gods. His two black ravens, Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory), flew forth daily to gather tidings of events all over the world. As god of war, Odin held court in Valhalla, where all brave warriors went after death in battle. His greatest treasures were his eight-footed steed, Sleipner, his spear, Gungnir, and his ring, Draupner. Odin was also the god of wisdom, poetry, and magic, and he sacrificed an eye for the privilege of drinking from Mimir, the fountain of wisdom. Odin's three wives were earth goddesses, and his eldest son was Thor, the god of Thunder. Odin was worshipped under different names, throughout northern Europe. The Germans called him Wotan, and the English Woden. Thor, the god of thunder, eldest son of Odin and Jord, the earth goddess.

Thor was the strongest of the Aesir, whom he helped protect from their enemies, the giants. Thunder was believed to be the sound of his rolling chariot. Also, thursday is named for Thor (Thor's day). Named after the Germanic word for thunder, Thor wielded a hammer, called Mjollnir, which represented a powerful thunderbolt. If thrown, the hammer would return to him like a boomerang. Loki, the handsome giant who represented evil and was possessed of great knowledge and cunning. He was indirectly responsible for the death of Balder, god of light and joy. According to the Poetic Edda, a collection of Scandinavian myths, Loki and Hel, goddess of the underworld, will lead the forces of evil against the Aesir, or gods, in the titanic struggle of Ragnarok, the end of the world. Hel, the goddess of the dead. She dwelt beneath one of the three roots of the sacred ash tree Yggdrasil and was the daughter of Loki, the spirit of mischief or evil, and the giantess Angerbotha (Angerboda).

Odin, the All-Father, hurled Hel into Niflheim, the realm of cold and darkness, itself also known as Hel, over which he gave her sovereign authority. The Valkyries, were warrior maidens who attended Odin, ruler of the gods. The Valkyries rode through the air in brilliant armor, directed battles, distributed death lots among the warriors, and conducted the souls of slain heroes to Valhalla, the great hall of Odin. Their leader was Brunhild. Abodes of the Aesir Gods: Asgard, the abode of the gods. Access to Asgard was possible only by crossing the bridge Bifrost (the rainbow). Asgard was divided into 12 or more realms in which each principal god had his own luxurious mansion of gold or silver. The most important palace was Valhalla, the home of Odin, the chief of the gods. Valhalla, the hall of slain heroes, ruled by the king of the gods, Odin, in the realm of the gods, Asgard. The hall had 540 doors, through each of which 800 heroes could walk abreast, and the roof was made of shields.

The souls of heroic soldiers killed in battle were brought to Valhalla by warrior maidens called Valkyries. The heroes fought during the day, but their wounds healed before night, when they banqueted with Odin. Editor's Notes: Keeping in mind that this document is written entirely from the Aesir/Sax viewpoint, I would like to add these thoughts. 1. Njordur , the father of Frej and Freja , the pre-eminant God of the Vanr; absorbed and dismissed by the Aesr, along with Ull, Heimdal & other Vanir deities. 2. The Older Gods referred to here are the gods of the Vanr and the Sami . The Sami inhabited this area of the world before the Vanir arrived and the Vanir pre-dated the Aesir by hundreds of years.

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

Question: In Scandinavian mythology, who was the son of Odin that had a magic hammer called Miohir?
Answer: Thor