Mythology Book

148

THE UNLUCKIEST DEED

EVER DONE AMONG

GODS AND MEN

THE DEATH OF BALDUR

T

he Norse myths recount

a complete history of the

world, from its creation

to its ultimate destruction at the

cataclysm of Ragnarök, at which

even the gods themselves would

perish. The eddic poem “Völuspá”

(“The Seeress’ Prophecy”) made it

clear that Ragnarök had been

inevitable since the beginning of

time, but it was the death of Odin’s

son, Baldur, that forced the gods to

face their mortality. Baldur, Odin’s

son by his wife Frigg, was noted for

his good looks. Everyone praised

him—his appearance was so

brilliant that light flashed from him;

his voice was mellifluous; and he

was the kindest of all the Aesir.

Baldur was also ineffectual: no one

took any notice of anything he said

or did. His role in the myths was

simply to be beautiful and loved—

and to die in tragic circumstances.

Prophecy of death

After Baldur reported experiencing

disturbing dreams, Odin rode to

the Underworld and revived a long-

dead seeress to ask her what the

dreams meant. She told him that

Baldur would soon be killed by his

IN BRIEF

THEME

Fate

SOURCES

Poetic Edda, Anonymous,

10th–13th century ce;

Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson,

1220 ce.

SETTING

Asgard, land of the gods,

and Hel, the underworld.

KEY FIGURES

Odin The leader of the gods.

Baldur Odin’s son.

Frigg Odin’s wife; the mother

of Baldur and Hod.

A seeress Prophesier of

Baldur's death.

Loki A trickster.

Sigyn Lok i’s w ife.

Hod The blind god; brother

of Baldur.

Hel Ruler of the Underworld.

Loki

An enigmatic character, Loki was

a giant by birth, but Aesir by

adoption. He was as much at

home in Jötunheim, land of the

giants, as in Asgard. Brimming

with malice, deceit, and spite, he

was amoral rather than pure evil.

There is no evidence that he was

ever worshipped, and no one has

yet satisfactorily explained his

place in the Norse pantheon.

One theory is that he was a

personification of fire, which

can both help and harm.

Despite his mischief, Loki was

tolerated by the Aesir, who found

his cunning useful. His most

common role was to create a crisis

by his mischief-making and then

to resolve it by his quick thinking.

All of Loki’s children were

monsters: the eight-legged

wonder-horse Sleipnir; Hel, the

decaying goddess who ruled the

Underworld; the giant wolf Fenrir;

and the world-circling serpent

Jörmungand. The last two,

fighting alongside Loki, would play

a major role in the demise of the

Aesir gods at Ragnarök.

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NORTHERN EUROPE 149

See also: Creation of the universe 130–33 ■ War of the gods 140–41 ■ The adventures of Thor and Loki

in Jötunheim 146–47 ■ The twilight of the gods 150–57

Loki causes the death of Baldur, as

depicted in a 17th-century manuscript

of the Prose Edda by Icelandic farmer

Jakob Sigurdsson for his foster father,

the Reverend Ólafur Brynjólfsson.

He convinced the Aesir to

offer the goddess Freyja

in return for the building of

a defensive wall.

He cut the golden hair of

Sif, the wife of Thor, who

forced Loki to replace it.

He made Hod kill Baldur

and refused to join the Aesir

gods in weeping for him.

He tricked the goddess Idun

into taking her apples of youth

to the Aesir, thus allowing her

to be kidnapped.

Loki's tricks often hurt the other gods.

brother, the blind Hod. To prevent

this from coming to pass, Frigg

sought promises from everything

in the world not to harm Baldur.

Loki, who was jealous of Baldur’s

popularity, learned that Frigg had

failed to extract a promise from the

unobtrusive mistletoe. Unaware of

this, the Aesir gods entertained

themselves by playing a game in

which they threw all manner of

things at Baldur, who always

remained unharmed. Loki then

fashioned an arrow from mistletoe,

placed it in Hod’s hand, and guided

the blind god’s aim so that the

mistletoe struck and killed Baldur.

Frigg hoped to save her son, and

sent the god Hermod to Hel to

plead for Baldur’s release from the

Underworld. (Hel was both the

name of the realm and the being

who presided over it.) She agreed to

release Baldur, but only if all things

wept for him.

Loki's punishment

All things did weep for Baldur, bar

one, a giantess who was none other

than Loki in disguise. Baldur was

thereby forced to stay in the

Underworld. The Aesir gods took

vengeance on Loki by chaining him

to a rock beneath the open jaws of

a serpent so that the snake’s venom

dripped onto his face. Loki’s faithful

wife, Sigyn, held a bowl over him

to catch the venom, but whenever

she turned to empty the bowl, the

venom dripped onto Loki’s face,

causing earthquakes as he writhed

in agony, punished for his trick. ■

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