��inn

��inn is the father of all gods and men, and the husband of Frigg.. ��inn usually
appears as a graybearded man, sometimes tall and thin, with a blue-black cloak and
an eyepatch or wide-brimmed hat tilted to hid his missing eye. ��inn lives at
Valh�ll. He has the casting spear Gungnir, with which he dooms his chosen ones to
die in battle. This spear throwing was not only done by ��inn, men would in
battles give ��inn the enemies by throwing a spear over them. ��inn has two
wolves, Geri and freki (the names mean "the Greedy"), two ravens Huginn ("the
Thoughtful") and Muninn ("the Mindful"), who tell him everything they see and
hear. ��inn also has a gray, eight-legged horse called Sleipnir.
��inn was originally a god of death, whose range later came to encompass magic,
battle, poetry and the fury of the berserk-warriour.��inn is the leader of the
Wild Hunt, he also brings fruitfulness to fields.��inn is the one who seems to
take the most active part in the affairs of humans, and the one who appears most
often in the writings of the Germanic people.��inn is assisted by the valkyrjur
who work his will on the battefield. His purpose is always clear: to strengthen
the hosts of the gods for the last battle so that life and knowledge can be
preserved and the new world born after the old is destroyed.
��inn is known as the chief of the gods, although historical accounts of Germanic
religion do not necessarily support this. Some scholars therefore assume that
Snorri was modeling the Norse pantheon somewhat on the Classical. It could also be
that the Germanic religion does not support this because ��inn was primarily
worshiped by kings and vikings, thus there are more stories of Thor. This
difference between the cultus of the masses and the kings and vikings was already
known in antiquity.
One woman was not enough for ��inn, and therefore he had a lot of love affairs.
But these love affairs were not always for pleasure only. ��inn "did" Gunnl�� to
get the mead of poetry. ��inn also had an affair to have the sons V��ar and V�li,
who avenge for the Gods when they have fallen at Ragnar�k.
��inn often went on journeys, and it is said that he was twice exiled when he was
young. On these journeys he would often disguise and change his name. Generally he
would put on a green coat and put on a hat and a mask. ��inn did also know how to
shape-shift, his body then would lay on the ground while he was a bird or a beast,
fish or a worm. The most famous of these journeys are the stories Gr�mnism�l and
Vaf�r��nism�l.
��inns search for knowledge.
��inn is said to know all, but his search for knowledge never stops.��inn learned
the runes, that is the power of magic, by hanging in a tree for nine days and
nights, wounded with his own spear. The pains which ��inn went through is a well
known rite, some kind of an initiation. These kinds of initiation, which often
includes faking one's death and then resurrecting as a fully-grown man, are well
known among tribes all over the earth. Some think that the story of ��inn hanging
in the tree is an imitation (of the story) of Christ on the cross.The runes were
not the only thing ��inn learned during this tree hanging ceremony. He also
learned nine fimbullj��, very powerful incantations. With these incantations he
could do a great deal of things. These poems, which were sung, were later called
magic. ��inn was also a sorcerer.��inn's knowledge made him very powerful but not
all powerful. ��inn was above all a powerful warlock.In his never ending search
for wisdom ��inn often seeks the enemies of the Gods for help. Once ��inn even
gave up one eye for a drink from the Well of M�mir (the name is thought to mean,
"to puzzle over" or "memory"). Since then ��inn has only one eye, and the eye he
gave rests at the bottom of M�mir's well. M�mir was later killed and his head cut
off. ��inn scavenged the head and got a lot of wisdom from it. Often when ��inn is
in trouble he asks the head for advice.He won the mead of poetry by seducing the
giant-maid Gunnl��ur who had been set to keep it. He slept with her for three
nights and in return was allowed to drink three drinks from the three cauldrons
(��rerir, Bo�n and S�n); he of course emptied them all.Sometimes ��inn went to
prophetess of J�tunn lineage to gain knowledge. When he thought that Ragnar�k were
coming he went to such a seeress who told him the V�lusp�.If ��inn wants to know
what is happening in the world, he can ask his ravens Huginn and Muninn what they
have heared. But if he wants to see him self what is happening he goes to his
throne Hli�kj�lf from which he can see all the world.

Thor
Thor, Thonar, Donar, Thunor, *ThunraR

Thor is the son of Odin and Earth (also named Hlodgyn or Fjorgyn). His wife is
Sif. They have the daughter Thrudur and the two sons Modi and Magni. Thor lives in
Thrudheimi (or Thrudvangar). His palace is called Bilskirnir. Bilskirnir is the
world's biggest house, 640 floors and 540 doors. Thor appears as a big muscular
man with red hair and beard and huge fiery eyes. He likes to eat and drink a lot.
Thor is the god of the common man.
Thor was originally the god of thunder like Zeus and Jupiter, and one of the main
gods of the old Norse mythology, Thor was in some countries also worshipped as the
god of winds, rain and fertility. It's easy to see the relatedness between Jupiter
and Thor just by looking at the names of the week. The fifth day is in English
named after Thor "Thursday" but in Latin it's named after Jupiter. Thor is also
often called Jupiter in scripts written in Latin. Some scholars believe that he is
related to the Indian god Indra which is almost identical to him.
Thor is the strongest of the gods. His weapon is the hammer Mjollnir, which is the
best object known to gods and men. Thor has also got iron gloves that he has to
wear when he uses his hammer. Thor protects Midgard and Asgard against the
menacing beings who would destroy the world. Thor is said to be in the East
fighting Jotuns, in most of the stories. Thor is the only god that Loki seems to
respect.
Thor is also the protector of living men and he was adjured when men found them
selves in troubles. Little hammers were also made as amulets. These hammers were
later used as wands.
Thor would be in big troubles if he had not got the hammer Mjollnir. In one of the
stories, the hammer Mjollnir is stolen by Jotuns. They demanded Freyja in return
for the hammer. Thor had to dress up as Freyja to get the hammer back. The story
of the dealings between Thor and the Jotuns is one of the most humorous of the
stories of the gods.
Thor is ever traveling like Odin, but he almost never changes his name or
masquerades like Odin often does. Most of Thor's journeys are made to fight
Jotuns. Thor travels alone most often, but sometimes he takes Thjalfi with him,
and in the beginning he often took Loki with him. Thor travels either by feet or
in his wagon, drawn by the two goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngjostur. The goats are
also Thor's food, because he can revive them each morning. When the goats fly,
thunder and lightning follow.

Loki
(Loki Laufeyjarson)

Loki is often thought of as the most negative of the Gods. He became a God when
hefraternized with Odinn, but as we know Loki was a Jotunn. His father was the
JotunnFarbauti and his mother was Laufey (sometimes called Nal), he had two
brothers, Byleisturand Helblindi. Loki is the father of Midgardsormur, Fenrisulfur
and Hel, the foes of theGods. Their mother was the female Troll, Angurboda. Loki's
"wife" was Sigyn. Theyhave two sons, Nari (or Narfi) and Vali. Loki was very good
looking but he had a badtemper, was wicked, cunning and deceitful.
Loki is also called "vinur Hrafnasar" (the friend of the God of Ravens, Odinn),
the friendof H�nir and "Thors runi" (friend of Thor). This does not seem to fit
with the Loki weknow, for he is so often the Gods' enemy. Loki has also got some
names, like e.g. "VammGoda" (the disgrace of Gods), that show how evil he was.
In the beginning Loki was a friend of the Gods and often accompanied them,
especiallyOdinn and Thor, though his rashness and thoughtlessness often gets them
into troubles. Later on his friendship with the Gods became more and more unstable
and at the end hehad becomn the Gods' worst opponent, and was even thought of as a
devil. This might besomekind of an influence from christianity.
Sometimes Loki helps the Gods. This was especially when he had gotten them
intotrouble, and the Gods threatened him. There were times when Loki helped them
eventhough he wasn't to blame, like the time when Thor's hammer Mjolnir had been
stolen andLoki helped him get it back. There are some stories known about how Loki
betrayedthe Gods and then helped them to get things back to normal. At first he
only betrayedthem because he was made to do so by the Jotunns, but later on he
started doing so byhimself. The most famous of these stories is maybe the story of
how Loki gave Idunn tothe Jotunn Thjassi, and then got her back with help from the
Gods.
The worst thing that Loki ever did was when he got Baldur killed. Baldur's death
was saidto be the Gods greatest misfortune of all. Because of that Loki was
punished, as said in thestory Gylfaginning.
The last story about Loki is Gylfaginning, the story of how Loki was punished.
Loki hadchanged himself into a salmon, and hidden himself from the Gods in
Franangursfossi (theFranangurs waterfall). The Gods found him and captured him
into a net that Loki haddesigned himself. They brought him to a cave were they
tied him to rocks.and put apoisoned worm above him. This worm gives out poison,
which drips into Loki's face. Sygin, Loki's "wife" holds a bowl to keep the poison
away from him. Sometimes Syginhas to empty the bowl, then the poison drips onto
Loki's face. When this happens theearth shivers, this we know as earthqakes.
At Ragnarok Loki gets free and fights against the Gods, becomes the opponents'
leader. Loki fights Heimdallur and they both die.
Loki was never worshiped as the other Gods, which is quite understandable.

Freyja
Freyja, Freo, Frau, Freia, Frowe

Freyja is probably the best known of the goddesses. Her title Freyja means Lady,
but her original name is not known. Freyja is the wildest of the goddesses, free
with her sexual favours, mistress of Odin and several gods and men, though she
never wants to marry when the gods want her to do so. She is skilled at the form
of ecstatic, consciousness-altering and sometimes malicious magic called seidhr.
Freyja is also the chooser of half the slain on the battlefield (Odin gets the
other half).
Freyja is the most beautiful and princely of the goddesses. Freyja is the twin
sister of Frey (and possibly originally his spouse), daughter of Njord and his
sister. Freyja is married to a man called Odur, with whom she had the daughter
which is in Snorri's Edda called Hnoss and in Ynglinga-saga Gersemi, but both
those names mean the same thing, "dear, bijou". Odur went away a long time ago and
has never since been seen and Freyja has traveled to distant countries to look for
him.
Freyja is like Odin often a stirrer of strife. She came among the Aesir to cause
trouble as Gullveig (Gold-Drunkenness). She was stabbed and burnt three times, but
arose from the flame each time. Through this torment she transformed herself into
Heith (the-Glorious), mistress of magic, in a typical shamanic initiation. This
also seems to have started the war between the Aesir and the Vanir.
Freyja lives in a lodge, in heaven, called Folkvangur. She also has a palace
called Sessrumnir, that is a big and beautiful. Freyja as her brother Frey is
though to have originally been a fertility goddess, but there are no sources
suggesting that she was called on to bring fruitfulness to fields or wombs. She is
rather a goddess of riches, whose tears are gold and whose daughters are precious
objects. Freyja taught the gods to use seidr, magic.
When she travels she drives a wagon drawn by two cats, perhaps large forest-cats
such as lynxes but some believe they are weasels. When traveling Freyja often
changed her name, using names like Mardoll, Horn, Gefin and Syr. Those names
suggest that she was the guardian of homes, and the name Syr has to with the fact
that she sometimes rode the boar Hildisvini (Battle-Swine). Freyja has also (like
Frigg), a gyrfalcon coat, which she uses when she needs to fly.
Freyja's chief attribute is the necklace called Brisingamen, which she bought from
four dwarves at the price of four nights of her love. This necklace is sometimes
seen today as embodying her power over the material world, but this necklace has
been the emblem of the earth-goddess since the earliest times.
The Jotuns are always trying to take her away from the gods, and it is clear if
that happened it would be a great disaster. She was obviously known to be the
embodiment of the holy lifeforce on some level.

Baldur

Baldur was the son of Odin and Frigg. His "wife" was Nanna Nepsdottir (Neps
daughter), and their son was Forseti.They live at a place called Breidablik.
Baldur was the most beautiful of the Gods, and Snorri says he was the wisest
too.Why there is only one story known about Baldur (the story of his death) is not
known, maybe he was a shy God. There are many explanations about his role in the
Mythology. Some say he is there to show that the Gods are humanlike as well as
they care about the other Gods well being. One could also say that the death of
Baldur shows that the Gods know that they can not run away from their destiny.
The story of Baldurs death:
Once Baldur had a dream that made him scared for his life. He tells the Gods about
his dream, and Frigg decides to ask all things, living and dead, not to harm
Baldur. This she does to every thing, except the mistletoe which she thinks is too
young and harmless to hurt Baldur. Loki finds out that she didn't ask the
mistletoe and makes an arrow from it. Loki gets Bod to shot the arrow at Baldur,
and Baldur dies instantly. Hermodur volunteers to go to hel and get Baldur back.
Hel says that this is okay if everything in the world, living or dead, mourn
Baldur. This seems to work out, everything mourns Baldur, but on the way home he
meets Thokk, a female Troll. She says:
Thokk will cry,
dry tears,
Baldurs cremation.
Dead or alive,
I did not get Karls son (Baldur).
Hel shall keep what she has got.
The Troll is supposed to be Loki in disguise.

Frigg
(Frigg, Frige, Frija, Frigga, Fricka, Frea)

Frigg is the wife of Odin. She is the supreme goddess of Asatru, and lives at
Fensalir (marsh-halls). Frigg has three servants, the goddesses Fulla (her
handmaiden) and Gna (her messenger). Frigg is the daughter of Fjorgyn, who this
Fjorgyn was is not known. Fjorgyn means "earth" so her father, Fjorgyn, could very
well be the earth. This shows the close relationship between Frigg and the earth,
and it's even thought that Frigg was originally the earth. This is very likely
considering that men have always thought of the earth as Odins wife. Frigg is the
mother of Baldur, and is often thought of as still mourning for him. She is a
seeress, who knows all fates, though she seldom speaks of them.
The name Frigg in fact means "the one who loves", which suits her well, because of
her role as the patron goddess of love and marriage. Frigg was like many goddesses
giddy, and there was one time when Odin could not take it any more and left her.
Except from this, has their marriage been successful. Odin shares his high-seat
hlidskjalf and wisdom with her. He also tells her the things he can not tell
anyone else. Sometimes they quarrel over men they want to choose (Einherjar), then
usually Frigg tricks Odin to choose the one she wants. Frigg often takes Odin's
brothers Vili and Ve as husbands during Odin's journeys away from Asgard.
Frigg is especially concerned with keeping social order. She is called on for
blessings when women are giving birth and for help in matters of traditional
women's crafts (spinning, weaving, cooking and sewing) and the magics worked
thereby. Frigg can also be called on by mothers who want to protect their children
in olden days. This was especially the case with sons going out to battle, for
whom their mothers would weave or sew special protective items, also called Hlin
(protectress).

Tyr

Tyr is the son of Odin. It seems that Tyr was most deified in Danmark, but he was
never worshiped much in Norway or Sweden. Tyr was the most courageous and boldest
of the Gods as well as being very smart.
The name Tyr simply means god. Tyr is thought to have been the equivalent of Zeus
or Jupiter as the "Sky-Father" of the Indo-Europeans. There are however hints that
suggest that Tyr may originally have been the God ofjustice. Tyr's justice was not
the calm Solomonic legislation we know but that of the lively wrangling of the
Germanic legal process, which was effectively a battle sublimated into a form
where the process of working out the problem could help rather than harm the
community. In Icelandic scripts it seems though that Tyr was always looked upon as
a war God.
Tyr would fight Garm, the hound of Hel at Ragnarok. Tyr appears in only one story,
the story of how the Gods bound the wolf Fenrir and he lost his arm.
The story of how Tyr lost his arm:
The Gods kept and fed the wolf at home. Tyr was the only one who was brave enough
to feed him. But when the Gods saw how fast the wolf grew, and as for all
prophesies foretold that he would harm them, the Gods decided to make a strong
fetter for Fenrir called "L��ing". They took the fetter to Fenrir and asked him to
try to break it, Fenrir did that without any trouble. The Gods then made the
fetter called "Dr�mi" and asked the wolf to break that one. Fenrir thought to
himself as he hadn�t had any trouble braking the "l��ing" why should he not be
able to break this one as well. Fenrir told the Gods to put the fetter around his
neck, he then broke the fetter easily. The Gods then became scared that there
would be no way to contain the wolf. Odin then sent a messenger of Frey called
Skirnir down into the world of the Swart Alfs, below the earth, to meet some
Dwarves. The Dwarves make the fetter called "Gleipnir". Gleipnir was made of six
things: the boom of the cat, the beard of the woman, the roots of the mountains,
the sinews of the bears, the breath of the fish and the spit of the birds. You
might think there are no such things but this story shows why women don't grow
beards, why the cat makes no sound and why the mountains have no roots. The fetter
was smooth and wet as a strip of silk, but as strong as you are now going to read.
The Gods went to the lake called �msvartnir, and went to the eyot called Lyngvi.
The Gods called the wolf to come, and when Fenrir came they showed him the strip
of silk and told him that this fetter was stronger then the two he had already
broken. They tried to break it, with no luck, but then told the wolf to try
himself. The wolf said that he thought he wouldn't get famous for breaking such a
thin fetter, but if the fetter was made with any magic it would not touch his
feet. The Gods told Fenrir that he would break the fetter without any trouble. I
don't like this the wolf said, sure that the Gods were playing tricks on him. If
you want to put this fetter around my neck you can do so, but only if one of you
puts his arm into my mouth while I try to break the fetter. No God of course
wanted to lose his arm, then suddenly Tyr put his right arm into the mouth of the
wolf. When the wolf tried to unfasten the fetter the fetter got stronger and
stronger. Then all the Gods laughed, except Tyr because he gave his arm. When the
Gods saw that the wolf had been tied they took the chain called Gelgja which was
fastened to the fetter and pulled it through a slab called Gjoll and fastened the
slab deep into the earth. They then took a very big stone called Thviti and put it
upon Gjoll to fasten is even better. Fenrir was of course not happy, so he tried
to bite them. They then put a sword into his mouth so he can't close it. His drool
formed a river called Van. The wolf would lie like this to Ragnarok.
It is said that Tyr will help you if - and only if - your cause is just.