His magnificent throne Hlidskjalf offered a complete view of all Nine Realms. On multiple occasions, he consulted with the decapitated and embalmed head of Mimir which revealed many secrets to him. Odin was often depicted with a staff or spear, but otherwise wielded no specific weapons. Additionally, Odin spoke in poetic verse and had the power to bewitch humans into committing deeds outside their characters. He was also a shapeshifter who could take the form of snakes, eagles, and other powerful creatures. Having cultivated the magical arts of seidr, the set of rituals enabling foresight, Odin could see the future and commune with spirits and the dead. Odin’s chief attributes were his wit, wile, and wisdom. The god’s name also lent itself to the word “Wednesday,” meaning “ Wōden’s day.” Attributes Odin was recognized and commonly referred to in other Germanic languages: he was known as Wōden in Old English, Wōdan in Old Saxon, and as Wuotan and Wotan in Old German. Such focus was a boon knowledge, magic, and war-among other domains over which Odin held sway-all necessitated such intensity. In all his personae-as warrior and king, shaman and seer, traveler and trickster-Odin channeled a focused intensity and single-mindedness of purpose. The name fit Odin's character nicely, as a kind of inspired fury and passion permeated his many thoughts and actions. Other translations included “the furious,” “the passionate,” “the inspired,” and, more appropriately, “the inspiring.” Odin was thought to inspire fury, passion, and ecstasy even as he was defined by such traits. The name has been translated to mean “the Fury.” The German chronicler Adam of Hamburg proposed this as a literal translation in his eleventh-century work, the History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. The name “Odin,” rendered in the Old Norse as Óðinn, derived from two words: óðr, meaning “fury, rage, passion, ecstasy, or inspiration,” and the masculine definite article suffix -inn. Though hero gods, such as the mighty Thor, fought with brute strength and bravado, the trickster god Odin dismissed these tools in favor of craft and cunning. He spoke in poetry and riddles and commanded beasts, even taking their forms upon occasion. He sought knowledge above all else-of his enemies and the future-and courted shamans, seers, and necromancers in order to attain it. While Odin kept his court in the hall of Valhalla located in Asgard-one of the Nine Realms in Norse mythology-he preferred to wander in the guise of a traveler. Wikimedia Commons Public Domainĭespite his military prowess, Odin defied many conventions of the warrior-king archetype so highly idealized by the Norse. Tolkien based the character of Gandalf on Odin. This image better captures Odin as he appeared in myth. This image appeared in an 1893 Swedish translation of the Poetic Edda (also known as the Elder Edda), a compilation of Norse mythic poetry that serves as the most important single source for the history of Norse mythology. Oden som vandringsman, or Odin as Wanderer by Georg von Rosen (1886). He would often be accompanied by his familiars-the wolves Geri and Freki, and ravens Huminn and Muninn-and rode an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir.īefitting his kingly stature, Odin was also a mighty warrior-it was said that he never lost a battle there were even some who believed he could not lose a battle. Known as “all-father,” among many other epithets, Odin was usually depicted with one eye and a long beard. Widely worshiped by the Germanic peoples of the Middle Ages, Odin, furious lord of ecstasy and inspiration, was the highest of deities and the chief of the Aesir tribe of gods and goddesses. Odin, the Runic Alphabet, and Yggdrasil.From the Aesir-Vanir to Ragnarök: Odin in the.
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