By the Gods!

Odin

Today is Norse day!

The chief deity of the Norse pantheon and foremost of the Aesir, Odin is the father of the Gods. Baldr, Hod, and Thor–Norse Gods of mighty repute–are all his sons. Odin himself is a god of war and death, but also poetry and wisdom. The idea of the warrior poet is an older one than we often think, and indeed most references in popular culture would not credit Norse tribes with ideas as “sophisticated” as the veneration of poetry and wisdom on the same level as valour in battle, but there you go.

Odin hung for nine days, pierced by his own spear, on the world tree. It was there he learned nine powerful songs and eighteen runes that would become the foundation of power for the Aesir and the Norse people. His hall is in Asgard, and he also dwells in Valhalla.

Odin’s main attributes are his famed spear, Gungnir, which never misses its target, the ring Draupnir, and his eight-footed horse, Sleipnir. He has one eye which blazes like the sun, the other he traded for a drink from the Well of Wisdom to gain incredible knowledge. Odin often walks among mortals, disguised as an old man.