special devotees. It is related how he hung on the world-tree for nine nights in order to
obtain the runes, how he went into a mountain in order to have sex with the giant
daughter Gunnlo ̨ð, so that she would let him have the mead of wisdom and poetry, and
we have a strange myth in which he gains the head of the wise Mimir, which can tell him
things from other worlds. Besides this he knows all kinds of magical skills, and many of
these remind us of the skills of the Sámi shamans, which have caused many modern
scholars to see him as a shaman (Solli 2002 ; Price 2002 ). On the other hand it is obvious
that he has no special connection to human magicians and those who perform the seiðr.
His worshippers were, as stated, kings and warriors; he can often be seen in connection
with groups of warriors (Kershaw 2000 ), the Männerbünde. This connection seems to
indicate that Óðinn’s magical skills must be seen not primarily as those of a specialised
magician, but as those being necessary for a king or a warrior in a society whose world-
view was strongly based on the conviction that everything happening in our world was
connected to things in the other world.
In the same way as the king was responsible for the wellbeing of society and thus for
the communication with the other world, Óðinn was responsible for the wellbeing of the
world as such. Therefore he gathered the best warriors in Valho ̨ll, the heavenly abode
of the dead, in order that they could defend cosmos against the powers of chaos at
Ragnaro ̨k. This final battle has no doubt existed as a collective notion in the conscious-
ness of the old Scandinavians, and they no doubt also had an idea of how it was going to
take place. In this connection in particular two gods in the sphere around Óðinn should
be mentioned, namely Baldr and Loki. The first one is known from one myth only,
namely the one in which he is killed. He is described as the most innocent of the gods,
and eventually his killing is the worst thing that has happened among gods and men. It
is noteworthy that in the religious present of the Viking Scandinavians Baldr is dead,
and he will return only after Ragnaro ̨k. This probably means that his killing is the
introduction to the end of the world, so that the religious or mythical present is
characterised as the last time before the destruction. And the god responsible for the
death of Baldr was Loki, who is one of the most ambiguous figures in the pantheon. It is
related how he mingled his blood with Óðinn’s, at the beginning of time, and how he
helped the gods in many situations, often by playing tricks on them or his opponents.
He may thus be seen as a trickster god. But on the other hand we also know from several
myths how he endangered the whole cosmos, culminating in the killing of Baldr, and
about his part in Ragnaro ̨k where he leads one of the giant armies. The figure of Loki may
thus be seen as the catalyst of the happenings that eventually bring about the end of the
world, and even if it has been suggested that he represents the dark side of Óðinn
(the two gods have many characteristics in common), it seems obvious that the two gods
are true antagonists in relation to the cosmic development.
As a third side in a triangle we may look upon the very powerful god Þórr who is
second only to Óðinn, and is depicted as his son. Þórr is a fighting god. In the myths in
which he is the main character he is almost exclusively seen as an opponent of the giants.
As opposed to Óðinn he is very physical in his way of fighting, but he is, as far as our
sources let us see, never connected to human warriors. He is to be seen more as the god of
the peasants, who worship him, because he is seen, as is especially accentuated by Adam
of Bremen, as a god of fertility, since he is the master of thunder (his name means he who
causes thunder) and rain. In that way it can be discussed whether he was primarily a
god of fertility or of war. However, he, in the same way as Óðinn, is seen as an opponent
–– Jens Peter Schjødt––