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 sobrilliant 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 hisIN BRIEF
THEME
FateSOURCES
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.US_148-149_Death_of_Baldur.indd 148 30/11/17 4:56 pm
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 150–57Loki 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. ■US_148-149_Death_of_Baldur.indd 149 06/12/17 4:31 pm