The Norse Myths Read online

  Þórr

  • Red-bearded, batterer of giants. Short-tempered and not especially clever. God of weather, of sea-faring (in Iceland), of the fields and crops; worshipped by farmers.

  • Attributes: hammer Mjöllnir; a pair of iron gloves; the belt of divine power.

  • Halls: Þrúðheimr (Vigour-home); Bilskírnir (with 540 doors).

  • Transport: goat-drawn chariot.

  • Animal associations: the goats Tanngnjóstr and Tanngrisnir (Tooth-gnasher; Tooth-grinder). These animals can be killed, eaten, and reconstituted the next morning.

  • Married to Sif, the golden-haired; son of Jörð (Earth, a giantess), and Óðinn.

  • Children: Magni and Móði and daughter Þrúðr. In one poem Þórr returns home to find his daughter betrothed to a hideous dwarf; the god tests the dwarf Alvíss (All-wise) in arcane lore until the sun comes up and he’s turned to stone.

  • Most important god in Norway and Iceland.

  Not very much is known about Heimdallr. He is the divine watchman, keeping an eye open for the approach of enemies. He will blow his mighty horn at the onset of ragnarök. His hearing is – mysteriously – sunk in Mímir’s Well, like Óðinn’s eye, but this does not damage his capacity to keep watch, for his hearing is so keen that he can hear wool grow on a sheep’s back. He’s also responsible for establishing the social hierarchy among humans. The poem Rígsþula (Rígr’s List) tells how, assuming the name Rígr (an Irish word for ‘king’), Heimdallr goes walking through the human world. He comes to three houses in turn: one is a peasant hut, one a pleasant farmstead and one a noble hall. At each place, he is invited in, offered food and, for three nights, he sleeps between the married couple in their bed. Each woman later gives birth to a child. The peasant couple’s baby is Thrall, ugly, but brawny, and destined for manual labour. The farming couple’s son is Karl, a well-to-do yeoman who works the land he owns, while the noble pair bring up Jarl, or Earl, a splendid young aristocrat. Jarl’s youngest child is Konr ungr, ‘young Konr’, a phrase meaning ‘king’ (konungr). When Konr is of age, Rígr comes to teach him knowledge of runes. The poem breaks off as Konr is setting out to acquire a kingdom through battle.

  Heimdallr with the Gjallar-horn, which he will blow to signal the coming of ragnarök. From an eighteenth-century Icelandic manuscript.

  Heimdallr

  • Known as the white god; has golden teeth.

  • Watchman of the gods who sits at the edge of the gods’ domain. His back is always dirty from the mud cascading down Yggdrasill.

  • Hearing is hidden in Mímir’s Well at foot of Yggdrasill.

  • Attribute: the great Gjallar-horn, blown at the onset of ragnarök.

  • Hall: Himinbjörg (Heaven-refuge).

  • Animal association: the horse Gulltoppr (Golden-forelock).

  • Son of nine mothers, all sisters. Has fought in seal-form against Loki; they are fated to meet again in combat at ragnarök (see Chapter 6).

  The radiant Baldr, believing himself invulnerable, allows the other gods to throw missiles at him. To the right, a hooded Loki puts the mistletoe dart into blind Höðr’s hand (Chapter 6). Elmer Boyd Smith (1902).

  Baldr

  • Best and brightest of the gods; radiates light.

  • Has remarkably blond eyelashes.

  • Dies young. Will return after ragnarök.

  • Hall: Breiðablikr (Broad-view).

  • Married to Nanna, who goes to Hel with him.

  Baldr has little to do in Norse myth, except to die; the story of his murder is related in Chapter 6. Of all the gods, he is the one who has the strongest kinship ties and when, before his death, he begins to have bad dreams, both his parents spring into action. He is accidentally slain by his brother, while his wife dies of grief at his funeral. It’s foretold that he will come back to the dwellings of the gods after ragnarök. This piece of information is crucial for Óðinn, for it offers him hope that some of the gods will return to make the world anew.

  Occupying a strange and ambivalent position, Loki has mixed parentage which makes his loyalties uncertain. He is Óðinn’s blood-brother, and the highest god has sworn never to drink ale unless Loki is also offered a drink. Loki is always getting the gods into trouble, and thus often has to get them out again. His luck runs out when, through his boasting in the poem Loki’s Quarrel, his role in the death of Baldr becomes clear, and he is captured and bound until ragnarök. On that day he will declare his final allegiance to the giants and march with them against the gods. Loki’s mother seems to be a goddess and his father a giant, a match which runs contrary to normal divine marriage rules. His relationship with a giantess brings forth monstrous offspring. His gender is also subject to slippage: he’s the mother of the eight-legged horse, Sleipnir (see Chapter 3); he becomes pregnant from eating a half-cooked female heart; and, as Óðinn claims, he seems to have spent eight winters underground as a woman.

  Loki and his invention, the fishing-net, from an eighteenth-century Icelandic manuscript. A net such as this brings about Loki’s capture (Chapter 6).

  Loki

  • Son of a goddess and a giant. Good-looking but nasty in temperament, and variable in behaviour. Exceptionally cunning, while his sexuality is distinctly polymorphous.

  • Married to Sigyn. Has two sons. Snorri names them as Váli and Nari or Narfi; the Poetic Edda calls them Nari and Narfi. Father of these cosmic monsters by the giantess Angrboða: Fenrir the Mighty Wolf; the Miðgarðs-serpent; and Hel, goddess of death. Also the mother (see Chapter 3) of Sleipnir, Óðinn’s eight-legged horse.

  THE VANIR

  The Vanir are an important subgroup of gods. How they came to be among the Æsir is explained in Chapter 2. There are four named Vanir: Njörðr and his two children Freyr and Freyja, who live in Ásgarðr, the realm of the gods, and Kvasir, the wisest of gods, who has a very chequered fate (see Chapter 3).

  Njörðr releasing the winds, from a seventeenth-century Icelandic manuscript.

  Njörðr

  • One of the Vanir. God of the sea.

  • Has oversight of fishermen and sea-journeys and hunting.

  • Can quieten winds.

  • Attributes: exceptionally clean feet. Not fond of the mountains.

  • Hall: Nóatún (Ship-yard), by the seashore.

  • Married to the giantess Skaði for a while. Father of Freyr and Freyja, allegedly by his sister.

  Njörðr’s chief claim to fame is his unsuccessful marriage to the giantess Skaði (see Chapter 3). The earlier incestuous relationship with his sister, on whom he fathered Freyr and Freyja, seems to be permitted among the Vanir; certainly his daughter is accused of having had sex with her brother, along with a good many other men. Njörðr shares the root of his name with Nerthus, a very ancient Germanic female deity mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus, writing in 98 CE. Njörðr has clearly undergone a sex-change on his journey northwards, but the details of the Nerthus-cult match some of the archaeological evidence for the worship of wooden figures in the later Scandinavian Iron Age.

  Nerthus, an Early Germanic Deity

  Nerthus, so Tacitus tells us, was the Mother Earth goddess of the Langobardi, a Germanic tribe who lived in northern Italy. Nerthus lived in a sacred grove on an island in a lake. On the island was a holy chariot which only the priest of Nerthus was allowed to touch. Around the chariot was a curtain, and on occasion the goddess would manifest herself behind it. At such times, the priest would lead the chariot, yoked to cows, among the people so that the goddess could visit them. No war or fighting was permitted while the goddess was on her travels; peace and happiness broke out. When the goddess’s journey was over, chariot and cows, and perhaps the goddess herself, were washed by slaves in the sacred lake. Then the slaves were drowned in the same lake, ‘a place of mysterious horror’, Tacitus writes.

  Nerthus is borne by her priests among the people. Emil Doepler (1905).

  Freyr with his boar, Gullinbursti (Golden-bristle). J
ohannes Gehrts (1901).

  Freyr

  • One of the Vanir. Handsome. Mentioned as a war-leader, but in Sweden he is chiefly in charge of crops, weather and harvests.

  • Attributes: gave away his sword and must fight with a deer antler at ragnarök.

  • Hall: Álfheimr (Elf-home).

  • Transport: a fold-up boat, manufactured by dwarfs, called Skíðblaðnir.

  • Animal association: the boar Gullinbursti (Golden-bristle).

  • Married (or had a relationship with) Gerðr, a giantess. Son called Fjölnir. Possible sexual relationship with sister Freyja. Ancestor of the kings of Sweden.

  Freyja, the beautiful golden-haired goddess of love. John Bauer (1911).

  Freyja

  • One of the Vanir. Good to invoke in affairs of the heart, and very fond of love-songs. Chooses half the slain, along with Óðinn.

  • Attributes: falcon-feather flying-cloak. Weeps tears of gold. Owns the Brisinga men neck-ring.

  • Halls: Folkvangr (People-plain) and Søkkvabekkir (Sunken-benches).

  • Transport: chariot drawn by cats.

  • Married to Óðr, who has gone away on a journey, but has apparently slept with almost everyone, including her brother.

  Freyr’s name means simply ‘Lord’ and he has two roles. One, less often mentioned, is as a battle-leader, apparently a more hands-on fighter than Óðinn the tactician. He’s called ‘the gods’ war-leader’ and a ‘bold rider’ who redeems captives from their chains. His other role is as the god of fertility of beast and field. As ancestor of the kings of Sweden he brought good harvests and people sacrificed to him for prosperity. The story of his courtship of the giantess Gerðr (see Chapter 3) has often been thought to reflect the action of the sun-god on the earth in springtime. He also possesses a boar called Gullinbursti (Golden-bristle), capable of being ridden.

  Freyja, whose name means ‘Lady’, is the goddess most closely associated with sexuality, though she also has some kind of authority over the dead. Her husband Óðr has gone off on a long journey and Freyja weeps tears of gold in his absence. Loki accuses her of having had sex with her brother – but then, as a fertility goddess associated with love-affairs, Freyja seems to have had sex with every-one: ‘of the Æsir and the elves who are in here / each one has been your lover’, claims Loki. And when the gods caught her in the act with Freyr, she was so alarmed that she farted! She is also a patron of humans and helps her protégé Óttarr to gain his inheritance, by questioning the giantess Hyndla (see Chapter 3).

  Freyja’s fondness for jewelry is evidenced by the price she was prepared to pay for the wonderful Brisinga men neck-ring (see pages 73–74). She is so pleased with her new treasure that she even wears it to bed. Freyja is said by Snorri to have two daughters, whose names are Gersemi and Hnoss. Both are words for ‘treasure’, cementing the goddess’s association with gold.

  LESS IMPORTANT ÆSIR

  Týr, the one-handed god, gives victory in battle. He lost his hand in the jaws of the great wolf, Fenrir; how this came about is told in Chapter 3. He is associated with law and justice and, meanly, Loki twits him on his lack of even-handedness in this respect. Little more is known about him. His mother is apparently one of the Ásynjur, yet married to a rather unfriendly giant. Týr’s name connects him with both Zeus and Jupiter (they come from the same root), and perhaps he was originally a sky-god. In his Old English form, Tiw, he gives his name to Tuesday.

  Týr, watched by Óðinn, places his hand in the mouth of Fenrir, as the fetter tightens around the wolf’s paws. From an eighteenth-century Icelandic manuscript.

  Víðarr, the ‘silent god’, attacks Fenrir (Chapter 6). W. G. Collingwood (1908).

  Höðr, the blind god, is the brother of Baldr. The gods prefer not to talk about him, it’s said, because of his role in his brother’s death. He will be killed by Váli in vengeance for Baldr’s slaying. Höðr too will return in the glorious days after ragnarök, when ‘all harms will be healed’, and he will then live in peace with his brother.

  Víðarr is known as the silent god and has thick-soled shoes. He will need these at ragnarök when he will have to avenge his father Óðinn by leaping into the maw of Fenrir the wolf and tearing his jaws apart.

  Váli is born to avenge Baldr. How this comes about is narrated in Chapter 6.

  Forseti is the go-to god for legal difficulties. He has the best judgment-place at his hall, known as Glitnir (Shining-place). He’s Baldr’s son, and his name is the title now given to the President of Iceland.

  Ullr, on skis, with his bow, and perhaps the yew tree from which it was made. From an eighteenth-century Icelandic manuscript.

  Ullr is the god of archery; he is an excellent skier and he’s good to invoke if you’re going to fight in single combat. He lives in Ýdalir (Yew-dales), fittingly, for yew-wood is excellent material for bow-making. He is the son of Sif, and thus the stepson of Þórr, but no one knows who his father is.

  Finally, there is Bragi, who is the god of poetry, eloquence and language and is married to Iðunn. Bragi was, most likely, originally a human; one of the earliest named poets in Old Norse was called Bragi the Old, and some of his poems have been preserved. He seems to have been a late addition to the pantheon.

  THE ÁSYNJUR (GODDESSES)

  Frigg, Óðinn’s wife, knows all about fate, even if she does not reveal her knowledge publicly. That her hall is called Fensalir (Fen-halls) suggests that she has an affinity with standing water, and it’s possible that some of the early Iron Age sacrifices made by depositing precious objects in Danish bogs may have been intended to honour her. Frigg’s Old English counterpart Fricg gives her name to Friday in English; Freyja is not known outside Scandinavia and so it is Fricg who has strong associations with sex in Anglo-Saxon England.

  Sif is married to Þórr and had exceptionally beautiful golden hair. This was stolen by Loki – how is unclear, but he insinuates that he has slept with her, and that may have offered the opportunity for his theft. Sif wept for the loss of her locks, but Loki made amends with a dwarf-made substitute set of tresses. This wig grafted itself instantly onto Sif’s head and was even lovelier than the original. ‘Sif’s hair’ is thus a kenning for gold.

  Iðunn, married to Bragi, is the guardian of the apples of eternal youth. The gods need to eat these regularly if they are to remain young and vigorous. When she and her apples are kidnapped by a scheming giant (see Chapter 3), the gods quickly fade and grow old. It’s a situation which, as usual, Loki is responsible for creating and which he has to remedy through his habitual ingenuity.

  Gefjun visited King Gylfi of Sweden in the guise of a wandering woman, and, as ‘a reward for his entertainment’, Gylfi agreed to let her have some land – as much as four oxen could plough in a day and a night. This might have constituted a decent-sized farm, but in fact Gefjun had four giant sons. They were transformed into oxen and managed, in their twenty-four-hour ploughing marathon, to carve out a huge hole in Gylfi’s territory. The hole is now Sweden’s third largest lake, Lake Mälaren, and the land that they dragged away has formed the Danish island of Sjælland, where Copenhagen now stands. Gefjun, Snorri tells us, is a virgin and the patron of virgins, which doesn’t exactly square with the giant-son tale. Like Frigg, Gefjun is said to know all about fate.

  Frigg

  • Most important of the goddesses.

  • Patron of love and marriage.

  • Attributes: knows all fate. Also said to have a feather flying-cloak.

  • Hall: Fensalir (Fen-halls).

  • Married to Óðinn, mother of Baldr. Her serving-maid is Fulla.

  Gefjun drives the plough with her four giant sons transformed into oxen in order to create the Danish island of Sjælland. Statue sculpted in 1897–99 by Anders Bundgaard for a fountain in Copenhagen.

  Skaði, a giantess and warrior woman, is the goddess of hunting and skiing. Her hall is Þrymheimr (Þrymr’s home – Þrymr is a giant), inherited from her father Þjazi.
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  When Skaði marches, fully armoured and brandishing her weapons, into Ásgarðr, she’s seeking compensation for the death of Þjazi at the hands of the gods (see Chapter 3). On that occasion she’s sweet-talked into accepting a husband from among the gods, with the proviso that she must choose from a range of candidates hidden behind a sheet. Since only their feet are visible, she ends up selecting Njörðr, the god associated with the sea – whose feet are, of course, remarkably bright and clean! Skaði is displeased for she had hoped to win Baldr as husband, but she’s persuaded by Loki that if he can make her laugh, she will accept the situation. Grim-faced Skaði is in no mood for amusement, but Loki ties a goat by the beard to his testicles and each of them pulls in different directions. ‘Both of them screeched very loudly at that,’ Snorri says. Loki tumbles into Skaði’s lap and, finally, she laughs. The sexualized burlesque has done its work, though, as we’ll see, the marriage between Skaði and Njörðr is not a successful one.

  Skaði in her mountain habitat, hunting on skis. Drawn by ‘H.L.M.’ (1901).