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| artwork by Ashley Bryner |
Powers and
Associations
Odin,
like any deity, can and will influence whatever he chooses to but there are
particular areas that he is especially associated with. I might not go so far
as to say that he is the god of these things in the traditional sense2,
but they are certainly things that he seems to have an especially keen interest
in or knowledge of.
Poetry
– Odin is known as the god of poets and poetry, although he is not the only
one. It is Odin who possesses the mead of poetry, Odreorir, which gives
inspiration, and Odin himself is known to inspire those who he chooses to. His
direct inspiration is the sort that is rooted in the meaning of his name
‘frenzy’ and perhaps should best be understood in that context. He inspires
through passion, both the obviously good sort that motivates the creation of
epic writing and songs as well as the kind that drives warriors to rush
headlong into battle.
Madness
and Ecstasy – Odin is a God whose very name is rooted in the Old Norse word óðr
‘furious’ and Adam of Bremen said of him, “Woden
id est furor” [Woden, that is madness] (Simek, 1993; translation Daimler,
2017). As with his aspect as a God of poets Odin’s power as God of madness is
rooted in his ability to inspire, in this case inspiring fury and frenzy. We
see this in particular in the way he inspirers the Berserkers to battle-frenzy
where they feel no pain and fight relentlessly. Simek suggest that ecstasy may
have played a vital role in Odin’s cults during the Heathen period (Simek,
1993). Kershaw posits that this madness was directly related to divine
possession and ecstasy, and connects it to a type of inspiration (Kershaw,
2000).
Battle
– Odin is a god of battle who can influence every aspect of battle from
inspiring or stirring up wars, to encouraging warriors to fight to their
utmost, to choosing who gains victory and who dies. Ynglinga Saga relates that
Odin brought war to the world, and we are told that at the beginning of a fight
a spear would be cast over the opposing army to dedicate it as a sacrifice to
Odin (Simek, 1993). In a story in the Eddas where Freya obtains a magical
necklace named Brisgingamen, Odin has Loki steal the necklace and will only
return it if Freya causes two kings to go to war with each other
(Crossley-Holland, 1981). Odin was also the one who could give or withhold
victory depending on who he favored, and those who lost or were killed in
battle were seen as having lost Odin’s favor. In the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki,
after King Hrolf and his men refuse a gift offered them by Odin in disguise and
figure out it was in fact Odin offering it, one of the men comments, “I suspect that we have not behaved very
wisely in rejecting what we should have accepted. We may have denied ourselves
victory.” (Byock, 1998, p69). During wars sacrifices were made to Odin for
victory, both by pouring out drink and offering blood (Tourville-Petre, 1964).
The
Dead – Odin’s connection to the dead is a complex one. There is some suggestion
that the main colors associated with him, particularly dark blue and blár, were
colors of death that were symbolic of corpses (Gundarsson, 2006). His hall in
Asgard was home to some of the dead, especially the heroic battle dead called
Einherjar, and several of his by-names relate to the dead. Besides being
associated with the battle dead though he was also connected to those who died
by hanging, and some of his other names refer to this, making him a god of the
gallows. Additionally we see him seeking out the dead, as will be discussed in the section on prophecy, in order to obtain information on future events,
showing that he had the power and knowledge to call the dead forth from their
burial mounds and communicate with them in Helhiem.
Magic
– Odin is associated with several types of magic, most notably runic magic and
seidhr, both of which we’ll discuss in greater depth in a later chapter. In the
Havamal Odin discusses the various
magical uses for runes that he knows and in Baldrs
Draumar Odin is called the father of magic chants (Simek, 1993). We may
also see an echo of his magical powers in his ability to shapeshift, as Odin is
known to take multiple human disguises as well as the form of an eagle.
Wisdom
– Odin as a God of wisdom could also be described as a God of cunning, because
he is associated with both knowledge for its own sake and with the clever use
of it. It should be kept in mind that his pursuit of wisdom is ruthless, to the
point that he hangs on the World Tree without sustenance for nine days to find
the runes and gives an eye for a drink from Mimir’s Well. Odin does not just
passively collect this knowledge either but rather uses what he gains, such as
the knowledge of runes for magic, and the information in prophecies to affect
the future. And no matter how much he knows he continues to seek more
knowledge, trying to see whatever it might be in creation that he does not know
(Bauschatz, 1982).
Prophecy
– Odin has strong connections to prophecy, both as a deity who sees the future
himself and as a God who is known in the stories to seek out those who can see
the future to tell him what will come to pass. From his throne, Hlidskjalf, it
is said that he can see all things, and we know that to obtain the prophecy
about Ragnarok he traveled to the boundary of Helheim to speak to a dead
Seeress. The practice of prophecy itself in a modern context is one that is
strongly associated with him.
2 By
this I mean that people tend to understand Gods as ‘the God of X’ and then
pigeonhole the deity into that role. However that approach doesn’t work
especially well with the Norse pantheon (or several other pantheons for that
matter) because they have a flexibility to them in what they can and will do.
There is a great deal of cross-over between the different Gods, and overlap, in
who is the God of what, so that we see Odin as a God who foresees the future
but we see Frigga doing this as well. Odin is a God of warriors, especially
berserkers, but Thor is also a God of warriors, although perhaps of a different
sort. In this way there is no true specialization in the Norse pantheon, only
those who favor certain perviews over others.
References:
Bauschatz, P., (1982). The Well
and the Tree
Byock, J., (1998) The Saga
of King Hrolf Kraki
Gundarsson, K., (2006). Our
Troth, volume 1
Kershaw, K., (2000). The
One-eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Mannerbunde
Simek, R., (1993).
Dictionary of Nothern Mythology
Tourville-Petre, G., (1964) Myth and Religion of the North
