Gods and Goddesses
The Gods in old Norse religion was divided in two different classes: the Aesir and the Vanir. The Aesir were much connected to power and warfare, the Vanir to fertility.
Æsir
Oden
Oden was the supreme God of ásatrú . His father was Burr, who was son of Búri, who came into being when the primeval cow Audhhumbla licked some frost-covered, salty stones. Had two brothers - Hoenir and Loki.
Oden's wife was Frigg, but as supreme God he had a lot of children and was not quite monogamous. As lord of the battle-field, he was the chief war-god, but not the only one. God of poetry as well as of warfare.
Thor
God of thunder and battle. Thor is a straightforward God, not necessarily the wisest or most intelligent. Thor was the son of Oden and Jord (Earth)
Thor travelled in a chariot drawn by goats, the sounds of thunder comes from him racing his vagon. The flash of lightning comes from the short-handled war hammer, Mjollnir, which, when thrown at a target, returned magically to the him.
He had a simple way of righting wrongs: if it moves - kill it! The evil God/Giant Loki knew that, so he tricked Thor several times to do some damage!
Tyr
God of warfare and battle. He was a son of either Oden or the giant Hymir.
Tyr was the bravest of all the Gods. He lost his right hand when the monstrous wolf Fenir bite it off. Tyr volunteered to put it in the terrifying gap, making possible for the other Gods to tie Fenir up by the chain Gleipnir.
Heimdallr
He is the guardian of the Gods Asgard, and will blow the Gjallarhorn if danger approaches. He was called the "White God" and is said to be born of nine mothers - possibly nine female giants who turned the world-mill - and thereby created him - or maybe the nine daughters of the sea-god Aegir, thus the waves of the sea, from which he was born.
He was also the guardian of the rainbow Bifrost.
Loke
God of mischief, lying, deception and tricks. Also a considered a Giant. A son of Fárbauti and Nál. Unclear relations to Odin, probably Odin's blood brother.
Loki was the father - and in one instance the mother - of many evil creatures, men and monsters like the three most important:
- Jörmungandr, the sea serpent
- Fenrir the giant wolf preordained to slay Odin at the time of Ragnarök
- Hel, ruler of the realm of the dead.
Because of his ill doing the Gods bound Loki to the rock. Then they tied a serpent above him, dripping poison onto his face. Loki´s wife Sigyn gathers the poison in a bowl, but sometimes she has to empty the bowl and when the poison drips onto Loki, he is in pain, causing the earthquakes when pulling hard to get loose.
Mimer
Counsellor of the Gods, said to be wisest of aesir.
Ægir
God of the sea, the power of the ocean. His wife was Ran. They had nine daughters - called the billow maidens - who may have been identical with the nine mothers of Heimdallr. Their names were Bára, Bloðughadda, Bylgja, Duva, Himinglæva, Hefring, Hrönn, Kólga and Unnr and the names reflect different types of waves of the sea.
Aegir was brother to Loki and Kari and rather unpopular among the Viking, due to his way of making waves that made ship capsize.
Delling
Was the God of the dawn. By Nótt (night), he was the father of Dagr (day). He was Nótt´s third husband.
Dagr
God of the daytime, son of Delling
other Æsir:
Andhrímnir, Borr, Búri, Forseti, Hermóðr, Hœnir, Kvasir, Lóðurr, Magni, Meili, Modi, Ódr, Ríg, Vali, Ve, Vidar, Vili
Tor with his Goats
Balder
God of peace, beauty, innocence, joy, purity and rebirth. Son of Oden.
Balder was a master of herbal medicine and he could see the future - except for the truth about he's own fate. When Balder was worried about that his mother Frigga made all animals, plants, stones, etc promise that they wouldn't hurt Balder. Frigga didn't care to ask the mistletoe; she thought it was too soft and young to be able to any serious harm to her son.
Loki tricked the blind Höðr to shoot his brother Balder with an arrow made of mistletoe.
Bragi
God of poetry and music. Son of Oden and Gunnlod.
Buri
Búri was the first god in Norse mythology. He was the father of Borr and grandfather of Odin.
Ullr
God of winter, ski (yes - like in cross country ski), hunt and duel. He is son of Sif and stepson of Thor. High in rang by the Gods. Ull is forced every year to spend some time in Hel so that somebdoy else (often Frey) can rule the weather. This time is called the summer.
Höðr (Hoder)
He was the blind brother of Balder. He was tricked by Loki to shot a mistletoe missile which was to kill his otherwise invulnerable father. Höðr was killed by Vali.
Vali
Son of Odin and Rind. Brought up just to revenge the death of Balder.
From the Poetic Edda (Atlakviða)
"Svá gangi þér, Atli,
sem þú við Gunnar áttir
eiða oft of svarða
ok ár of nefnda,
at sól inni suðrhöllu
ok at Sigtýs bergi,
hölkvi hvílbeðjar
ok at hringi Ullar."
"So be it with thee, Atli!
as toward Gunnar thou hast held
the oft-sworn oaths,
formerly taken -
by the southward verging sun,
and by Sigtý’s hill,
the secluded bed of rest,
and by Ullr’s ring."
– Thorpe's translation
Next Page Giants and Creatures