Odin is no comfortable sky-father. He is wanderer, war god, poet and master of runes – and ready to pay almost any price for knowledge.
Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is the all-father of the Æsir – but anyone who takes him for a gentle sky god is mistaken. He is god of wisdom and poetry, but equally of war, magic and death. Cunning, restless and unpredictable, he travels the worlds as a grey wanderer in a broad hat and cloak.
Two stories show how far Odin will go for insight. At Mímir’s well he gave up an eye to drink from the spring of wisdom. And to win the runes he sacrificed himself: for nine nights he hung, wounded by a spear, on the world tree.
“I know that I hung on a wind-rocked tree nine whole nights, wounded with a spear and given to Odin, myself to myself.”Hávamál 138, translation after Henry Adams Bellows (public domain)
On Odin’s shoulders sit the ravens Huginn (‘thought’) and Muninn (‘memory’). Each morning they fly out and report to him in the evening what is happening in the world. At his feet lie the wolves Geri and Freki, and he rides the eight-legged steed Sleipnir, swiftest of all horses. His spear Gungnir never misses its mark.
In his hall Valhalla, Odin gathers those fallen in battle, the einherjar, whom he needs for the final battle of Ragnarök. To this day Wednesday bears his name in many languages – English Wednesday goes back to Woden's day.
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