![]() The beloved son of Odin and Frigg, and a younger half-brother of Thor, Baldur was worshipped as the god of the sun itself. Loki even fights on the side of the jötnar, giants, and other monsters against the gods during Ragnarok. Loki is also the father of the World Serpent Jörmungandr who kills Thor, the giant wolf Fenrir who kills Odin, and the goddess of the underworld Hel. Whatever his ancestry, Loki’s deeds have peppered the Nordic legends with myriad mischievous “accidents” and eventually even lead to Ragnarok. A god of mischief, he was also said to be a jötunn and the son of the giant Farbauti and the goddess or giantess Laufey. Loki is widely-known as Thor’s brother thanks to modern-day MCU movies but in the Nordic mythos, he was actually Thor’s uncle and a brother to Odin. During Ragnarok, Thor managed to kill the World Serpent (and Loki’s monstrous child) Jörmungandr but he also died moments later from its venom. He was believed to be the strongest of all gods and other mythical beings, and he would ride across the sky on a chariot drawn by Tanngniost and Tanngrisnir, the two giant goats. Either way, Thor is famous as the god of thunder and strength, as well as for being Asgard’s most staunch defender. ![]() In some Germanic myths, he was the son of the goddess Fjörgyn instead. Thor, or Þórr, was the son of Odin and the Earth goddess Jörð. She was also associated with fertility, marriage, motherhood, and domestic stability. Nevertheless, Frigg was worshipped and beloved by all Norse people. It also didn’t really stop Odin from going behind her back to enjoy the company of many other goddesses, giantess, and jötnar. This didn’t give her the power to stop Ragnarok or save her beloved son Baldur, however, as events in the Norse mythology are predestined and cannot be changed. More than just “wise” like her husband, Frigg could see what would happen to everyone and everything around her. Wife of Odin and matriarch of the Æsir pantheon, Frigg or Frigga was a goddess of the sky and had the power of foreknowledge. In fact, the modern English word Wednesday comes from the Old English Wōdnesdæg or The Day of Odin. In the different Nordic cultures, Odin was also called Wōden, Óðinn, Wuodan, or Woutan. As wise and loving as he was fierce and powerful, Odin looked after the Nine Realms from the day of their creation until Ragnarok itself – End of Days in Norse myths. The All-Father god who stands atop the Æsir pantheon, Odin is one of the most beloved and well-known of the Nordic gods. His body became mountains, his blood became the seas and oceans, his hairs became trees, and his eyebrows became Midgard or Earth. When Odin and his brothers killed Ymir, the jötnar fled on the rivers of their father’s blood and scattered across the 9 worlds.Īs for the worlds themselves – they were formed from Ymir’s dead body. A cosmic entity that’s essentially a personification of the entire universe, Ymir was slain by Odin and his two brothers, Vé and Vili.īefore his death, Ymir had given birth to the jötnar – primeval beings with chaotic, morally ambiguous, or outright evil characters who came directly from Ymir’s flesh. ![]() ![]() While not technically a god, Ymir is at the center of the Norse creation myth. Additionally, many of the gods in both pantheons were also believed to have been giants or jötnar (plural for jötunn) in older legends, further adding to their mysterious and convoluted origins. Vanir war, while in others they stayed separate. In some myths, the Vanir gods would join the Æsir in Asgard after the great Æsir vs. The Vanir are believed to have come from Scandinavia while the Æsir were worshipped among all Norse people, from Scandinavia to the Germanic tribes in central Europe. Mostly represented by Freyja and Freyr, the Vanir were the more peaceful gods compared to the war-like Æsir gods and they had their fair share of confrontations with them too. While the Æsir were the more numerous and well-known gods, the Norse also worshipped the Vanir gods. One of the major misconceptions about the Nordic deities is that they had only one pantheon of gods, similar to the Greeks. Æsir and Vanir – The Two Norse God Pantheons ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |