Which he used during his journey to Midgard.
: god of music, poetry and harmony, son of Odin and the giantess Gunnlod, seduced by Odin. Bragi married Idunn. One carved runes on his tongue and suggested composing songs that glorified the gods and fallen warriors staying in Valhalla.
Wack: One of Odin's aliases, which he used during his travels to Midgard.
Vali: son of Odin and Rind. It is believed that it was this god who deliberately took revenge for the death of Balder. (Do not confuse him with another Vali, the son of Loki and Sigyn).
Valtham: Another of Odin's aliases, which he used during his travels to Midgard.
Vara: one of the companions . Vara was responsible for keeping oaths, punishing those who broke the oath, and rewarding those who remained true to their word, no matter what.
Vasud: Windsal's father and Winter's grandfather. By all accounts, Vasud was a very malevolent god.
Be: one of the three sons of Bjorr and grandsons of the giant Ymir. (The other two were Odin and Vili). The three of them killed their grandfather and from his body created the land of mortals. According to some legends, Odin was away from Asgard for so long, traveling the mortal world, that Be and Vili seized the throne and removed Frigga (apparently without any objections from her).
Evening: One of the many aliases he used during his travels to Midgard.
Ver: One of Frigga's companions. Her name means “faith,” and she knew everything that was destined to happen in the future.
Vidar: son of Odin and the giantess Grid. He will kill Fenrir, survive and avenge the death of Odin.
Vjofn: One of Frigga's companions. Vjofn's responsibilities towards the mortal world centered on reconciliation: she sought to maintain peace, softening the hardest hearts, instilling love in them.
Gangrad: One of Odin's many aliases, which he used during his travels to Midgard.
Gefion(Gevion): goddess, one of Frigga's companions. Gylfi, King of Sweden, for the night she spent with him, gave her as much land in his domain as she could plow in 24 hours. She harnessed four huge oxen, which were her sons born from a giant, and began to plow. The plow cut so deep into the ground that in the time allotted to her she plowed a huge piece of Swedish land, which her sons dragged into the sea. This island was called Zealand. And where the land was before, Lake Malaren arose.
Gersemi: one of two daughters and Oda (the second was Khnoss).
wildebeest(Liod): companion of Frigga, who was the messenger of the great gods. Perhaps her most famous commission was to bring the apple of eternal youth to the mortal Rerir.
Grimnir: Another of Odin's aliases, which he used during his journey to Midgard.
Dellinger(Delling): god of the dawn and third husband of the Night, Nott. Their son was Doug (Day).
Winter: worst enemy god Summer; son of Windsal and grandson of Vasuda.
Mimir: the wisest of all gods; he, or, by at least, his head, guarded the source (Mimir's Well), originating at the roots of Yggdrasil. There are different versions of how he lost his head, but as it turns out, he and Hoenir were sent by the Aesir to the Vanir as hostages to seal the peace established between the two families of the gods. The Vanir did not like Hoenir, so they killed Mimir. It is possible that he created the Miming sword. Odin made it a habit to consult Mimir's head when he needed help. According to some versions, Odin lost his eye, because he had to give it to the head of Mimir as payment for wise advice.
Nerthus(hlodin): wife of Njord; goddess, often identified with. 
Norns: three goddesses of fate - Skuld(“life is existence”), Urd(“fate is destiny”) and Verdandi(“necessity”). It is obvious that their images are directly related to the moiras - goddesses of fate from Greek mythology. Every day they watered it with holy water to keep the tree growing. They are also passionate weavers, creating enormous fabrics. Two sisters, Urd (who is very old) and Verdandi (who is young and beautiful) were very friendly with mortals, but Skuld was too touchy; she was offended over any trifle or because of an indifferent attitude towards her. Skuld had a terrible habit of cutting the fabric woven by the three sisters just when the work was almost finished. Wurd: Mother of the Norns.
Nott: goddess of the night; daughter of the giant Norvi. She had three lovers-husbands: Naglfari, with whom she gave birth to a son, Aud; Annar, who gave her a daughter, Erdu; and Dellinger, whose son was named Day.
Swasud: a beautiful and noble god, whose son was Leto.
Sigyn: Loki's third wife, who was infinitely devoted to him. She raised his mortal sons Narve and Vali. Even after Loki was banished from Asgard for his crimes, Sigyn remained loyal to him.
Hel: goddess or monster, daughter of Loki and Angrboda, who ruled Niflheim. It is not known for certain whether she was alive or dead. After the death of the god Balder, Hermod asked her to allow the beloved god to leave her kingdom. She replied that she did not believe that Balder was really loved so much. She reacted the same way when Bragi returned in the hope of finding Idunn. Ull, being the god of winter, spent several months of the year sharing a bed with Hel. Together with an army of ghosts, she will help the gods during the battle at the hour of Ragnarok, after which her kingdom will be consumed by fire.
Henir: There are two versions of the story about the very first gods. According to the first of them, Odin and his brothers Vili and Be gave humanity gifts that people still use today. According to another, Odin's first brothers were Hoenir and Loki. According to this version, Hoenir endowed people with emotions and feelings.
Hermod(Irmin): son and Frigg. He meets the heroes in Valhalla and performs the same functions as greek god Hermes. His most important and famous assignment was a journey to Hel in an attempt to free the god Balder from the kingdom 
dead.
Head: Balder's twin brother. As a result of Loki's tricks, Hed unintentionally killed Balder and was sentenced to death for this. The god was killed by Vali, who was specially sent to carry out this task.
Hler: According to the version of the creation myth, one of the first gods.
Khlin: goddess from Frigg's retinue. A comforting goddess, she was incredibly beautiful. She dried the tears of those suffering with only a kiss, softened grief and listened to the prayers of mortals, accompanying them to the great goddess Frigg with sympathetic recommendations, after which she gave them a positive answer.
Khnoss: one of the two daughters of Freya and Od (the other was Gersemi).
Aegir(Hler): god of the sea.
Eira: one of the companions, and also the goddess of medicine.
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Scandinavian pantheon. Gods. Adam of Bremen about the pantheon of Scandinavian gods. - Thor, Odin and Frey. - Odin and Tyr. - Aces and Asinyas. - Aesir and Vanir. - Jotuns. - Descendants of the Jotuns. - Chthonic monsters. - Loki and his dual nature. - Fenrir. - Miniatures. - Miniatures and dwarfs. - Goddesses of fate. - Valkyries. - The story of Brynhild. 
The medieval German chronicler Adam of Bremen (11th century) in his work mentioned the main sanctuary of the Sveons, that is, the Swedes, in Uppsala, not far from Siktona (Sigtuna). Near the sanctuary, according to Adam, there grows a tree of an unknown species, green in winter and summer, and nearby there is a source in which the Sveons performed human sacrifices. The temple itself “is entirely decorated with gold, and in it there are statues of three gods revered by the people. The most powerful of their gods - Top - sits on a throne in the middle of the main hall, on one side of him is Wodan, on the other is Frikkon. This is how their powers are distributed: “Thor,” say the Sveons, “reigns in the ether, he controls thunder and rivers, winds and rains, clear weather and harvests. Wodan, which means “fury,” is the god of war, he arouses courage in warriors fighting the enemy. The third god, Frikkon, gives peace and pleasure to mortals. They depict the latter with a huge phallus. The Sweons represent Vodanus as armed, as we usually do with Mars. And Thor resembles Jupiter with his scepter.” All their gods have priests in charge of tribal sacrifices. If famine or pestilence threatens, they sacrifice to the idol of Thor, if there is war, to Wodan, if they have to celebrate weddings, to Frikkon.”
Adam's description is very interesting. Firstly, it follows that at the head of the Swedish pantheon (and this is confirmed by archaeological finds - amulets in the shape of Thor’s hammer) was not Odin, but Thor: for the population of the “internal” in relation to the “external” Denmark and Norway, Sweden is rude and the sincere Thor the protector was closer and more understandable than the warlike and two-faced Odin1251. Secondly, the “distribution of functions” between the gods in the description of Adam is fully consistent with the three-member structure of the social functions of Indo-European deities derived by the French researcher J. Dumézil: Thor in this case personifies spiritual and legal power, Odin the military function, and Frikkon (obviously Freyr) - wealth and fertility.
However, the triad Thor - Odin - Freyr is characteristic of the late period of Scandinavian paganism; initially it apparently consisted of Thor, Freyr (or Njord) and Tyr (Tivas, or Tiu, whose name etymologically corresponds to the Indo-European Dyaus; from the latter, in particular, Zeus “descended”). Moreover, in the “original” version of the triad, Thor, as the god of thunder and lightning, identical to the Indian Indra, personified military strength, Frey - fertility and wealth, and Tyr - power. However, with the development of the cult of Odin and the strengthening of the “Odinic” element in Scandinavian mythology, Tyr was forced to give up his place in the triad to Odin, originally the patron of military alliances and the sorcerer god. As E.M. wrote Meletinsky, “the transformation of Wodan-Odin into the heavenly and supreme god is associated not only with the strengthening of military alliances and the increasing share of the god - the patron of military squads., but also with the splitting of the original idea of \u200b\u200bthe afterlife and with the transfer to heaven of a special kingdom of the dead for the chosen ones - brave warriors who died in battle. As the “master” of such a military paradise, Odin turned out to be the most important heavenly deity and greatly supplanted both Tyr and Thor in the function of gods of the sky and war. The process of Odin's transformation into the supreme heavenly god. ended in Scandinavia (starting in the German lands. - Ed.). Here Odin left noticeable traces in toponymy (mainly in the names of reservoirs and mountains).”
Odin, Thor and Tyr, in addition to “joint membership” in the triad of supreme deities, are also united by the fact that all these gods belong to the main deities of the Scandinavian pantheon - the Aesir. In addition to Odin, Thor and Tyr, according to the Eddas, the Aesir also include Heimdall, Bragi, Hed, Vidar, Khenir, Ull, Forseti, Loki, Vali and Balder. The Younger Edda also lists goddesses, or asin: these are Frigg, Saga, Eir, Gevion, Fulla, Sevn, Lovn, Var, Ver, Syun, Khlin, Snotra, Gna, Sol, Bil, Jord and Rind. According to their “spheres of influence,” aces and asinyas are distributed as follows:
Odin is the supreme god, the deity of the sky, the patron of military valor, the god of wisdom and sacred knowledge;
Thor is the son of Odin, the god of thunder and lightning, storms and fertility, protector of gods and people;
Tyr is the god of the sky, war and military rules;
Heimdall is the guardian of the gods, and also (in the guise of Riga) the ancestor of three human classes - kings, peasants and slaves;
Bragi - son of Odin, god of skaldic art;
Hed - son of Odin, blind god, killer of his brother Balder;
Vidar - son of Odin, “silent god”, deity of war;
Henir is the brother and companion of Odin, with whom he revived the first people;
Ull - god of hunting and archery;
Forseti - son of Balder, god of justice and justice; Loki is the god of cunning and deceit; Vali - son of Odin, avenger god;
Balder is the son of Odin, the “bright god”, the deity of fertility, peace and beauty;
Volund - divine blacksmith, patron god of travelers; Frigg - Odin's wife, patron goddess of marriage and marital fidelity;
Saga is probably the goddess of divination; Eir - goddess of healing; Gefion - goddess of chastity;
Fulla - goddess of abundance, patroness of virginity;
Sevn - goddess of love;
Lovn - goddess of love and mercy;
Var - goddess of fidelity and love vows;
Ver - goddess of knowledge;
Xiong - guardian goddess;
Khlin - patron goddess;
Snotra - goddess of restraint, prudence;
Gna - goddess-messenger;
Salt - sun goddess;
Bil - goddess of the moon;
Jord (Fjergyn) - goddess of the earth, mother of Thor; Rind is Vali's mother. 
In addition, the sea giant Aegir and his wife Ran, the mistress of the seas, are sometimes mentioned among the gods; Skadi - skier goddess, patroness of hunting; Thor's sons Magni and Modi; Siv - wife of Thor, goddess with golden hair; Idunn - Braga's wife, keeper of rejuvenating apples; Nanna - wife of Balder; Sigyn - Loki's wife; Hermod - brother of Balder; Vili and Ve are Odin's brothers; Od is the husband of Freya, probably a hypostasis of Odin.
According to the fair remark of E.M. Meletinsky, “the Ases are presented in myths as a patriarchal clan community headed by Odin, in which, however, important issues are resolved at the Thing (national assembly); great importance have ritual feasts of the gods with drinking of the sacred drink.”
In Eddic texts there are often names of three gods who do not belong to the Ases. This is Njord, Freyr and his sister Freya. They are gods representing the Vanir fertility gods, who at the beginning of time were at enmity with the Aesir and even fought with them. The war between the Aesir and the Vanir is considered in the Scandinavian tradition to be the first war in world history. Victory in this war leaned towards the Vanir, and the Aesir hastened to conclude a truce and, as a sign of the inviolability of the peace agreement, gave the Vanir Henir hostage, and they, in turn, handed over Njord and Frey to the Aesir (as well as, apparently, Freya). As a result, Henir, an indispensable participant in Odin’s early campaigns around the world, completely “fell out” of the mythological narrative cycle, but the Vanir, especially Frey and Freya, became direct participants in many events. In terms of their functions, these deities are the gods of fertility, and Njord also commands the sea element, his son Frey is the god of vegetation and the husband of the earth goddess Gerd, and his daughter Freya is the goddess of love and beauty, an expert in seid magic. 
Friedrich von Stassen. Aesir and Vanir (1914). Odin and Frigg are the first to descend the Bifrost Bridge, followed by Frey, Freya, Thor and Loki.
Other representatives of the Vanir tribe are not mentioned in mythological texts, except for the mysterious Kvasir, “half Vanir,” from whose blood, mixed with bee honey, the honey of poetry was made.
A special position is occupied by Delling (dawn), Nott (night), Dag (day), Kari (air), Hler (sea), Wyrd (share) mentioned in the Eddas; from the surviving texts it is difficult to understand whether they were considered gods or frost giants - the latter, it should be noted, were not considered gods at all.
The Aesir and the Vanir assimilated by them live in Asgard, where each god and each goddess has their own palace and their own chambers. In Asgard, the treasures of the gods are kept: the spear Gungnir belonging to Odin, the throw of which marked the beginning of the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, and the golden ring Draupnir, Thor's hammer Mjolnir; belonging to Frey, the wonderful boar Gullinbursti with golden bristles and the ship Skidbladnir, which always has a fair wind and can accommodate any number of warriors; the necklace of the Brisings, or Brisingamen, which Freya owns and which helps during childbirth; rejuvenating apples of the goddess Idunn. These treasures are the object of desire of the giants-jotuns, the main enemies of the deities of the Scandinavian pantheon.
The Jotuns descend from the frost giants, or Hrimthurs, the first of which was Ymir. When the gods Odin, Vili and Ve killed Ymir and created the universe from his body, and the World Ocean from his blood, all the frost giants drowned in Ymir’s blood1261, except for Bergelmir, his grandson
Ymir, who escaped in the funeral boat. The Elder Edda reads:
Bergelmir lived
for many winters
before the creation of sushi:
how he lay
in the funeral boat -
That's what I remember first.
Bergelmir became the founder of a new generation of giants, who received the name Jotuns, or Turs.
Jotuns live in a cold, rocky country somewhere in the east of the world (in its horizontal projection), this country is called Jotunheim, or Utgard. They are ruled by a giant named Utgarda-Loki, or Skrymir. The coincidence of the name of this giant with the name of the ace Loki has not yet received a satisfactory explanation; It is curious that Saxo Grammaticus in his "Acts of the Danes" claims that Utgarda-Loki is Loki himself, expelled by other gods to Utgard.
Jotuns, on the one hand, are the keepers of ancient wisdom, inherited from the frost giants. The wisdom of the Jotuns is shown, in particular, by the Eddic song “The Speech of Vafthrudnir,” in which Odin competes in questions and answers with the giant Vafthrudnir. Mimir probably also belonged to the Jotuns, with whose head Odin consults and from whose source at the roots of the ash tree Yggdrasil he draws wisdom. Skrymir is also wise, testing Thor with his riddles; Suttung and Baugi are wise - the guardians of the honey of poetry.
On the other hand, Jotuns often demonstrate feeblemindedness, which later became a distinctive feature of their descendants, the trolls. Such is Thor’s opponent Thrym, such is Hymir, who together with Thor caught the world serpent Jormungandr, such, finally, is the nameless giant builder of Asgard, deceived by Loki (for more information about the battles of the Jotuns with the gods, see. Chapter III first part).
Over time, myth gave way to fairy tales, and the mythological jotuns “turned” into small-minded trolls, who inherited from their predecessors only enormous strength - and fear of Thor, the protector of gods and people. Many Scandinavian ballads are dedicated to the confrontation between people and trolls; As a rule, people won victories in these confrontations not by force, but by cunning. For example, the Danish ballad “Saint Oluf and the Trolls” tells about the duel between King Oluf and the trolls who lived on Mount Hornelummer:
He orders to build it and push it off the shore
The rook is of excellent equipment.
“From here we will go to ask
A warning to the evil spirits!”
The feedman climbed onto the pile of goods. “A site with a bad reputation at Hornelummer: this mountain is captured by a horde of trolls. Their eldest, nicknamed Ared, has lived on the land for many years. Our boats with fellows in the rock are closed by the villain and the stingy. His peepers glow with fires. Nails blacker than tar, Curved like goat's horns, At least an elbow long. His beard right at his knees flutters like a horse's mane. It’s sickening to look at his claws and see his mangy tail.”
But the king was not afraid and did not give up his intention. As soon as the boat approached the mountain, Ared himself came out to meet the king. “Tell me, Red Beard, how did you not die of fear? Big trouble awaits you! You will remember Hornelummer! No one landed on our land! I’ll knock your arrogance off you: I’ll plant the Rook that’s dangling here into the rock with one hand!”
Ared tried to carry out his threat, but only got stuck in the rock up to his knees. He exclaimed:
“I’m stuck in stone, but my backbone and arms
Hasn't lost any of its power.
You will try it on your own skin
My brave vein!
The king replied:
"A block of stone, an unclean spirit,
In front of the baptized people
You will stand until judgment day,
Without harming anyone!”
No matter what, the hag came running,
Stretching my neck disgustingly.
She kept her eyes wide open,
Squealing: “Get back!”
She ordered that Oluf the king
Immediately he took his feet away,
And he ordered her to stand still
And he turned the hag into a cliff.
Small trolls sitting in a hole
Iron hooks grab:
“As soon as our mother is silent,
Is there any misfortune in that?
And if no one else is to blame,
Like a red-bearded enemy,
We'll treat you with iron bars
Destroyer of our breed."
A nice joke to your squad
Oluf the Saint was amused:
He brought stone to stone with a spell
And he brought the wall together with the wall.
He closed the mountain tightly
So it didn't go away
From now on, from the depths of the mountain
Neither trolls nor their offspring.
The smaller troll was raging locked up
And he shouted these words:
“We have blocks heavier than this mountain
It happened to be shouldered!”
Brothers, tail propped up on forehead,
They began to lift each other up, But the rock was too much for them to climb: The ridges were crushed by the effort1281.
In addition to the Jotuns, chthonic monsters are at enmity with the gods: the world serpent Jormungand, the monstrous wolf Fenrir and the mistress of the underworld Hel, generated in the forest of Yarnvid by the giantess Angrboda from the ace Loki.
Loki, like Odin, descends from the frost giants: his father is the hrimturs Farbauti. In addition, he is Odin's brother or half-brother; in the Eddic song "Loki's Quarrel" he utters the following words:
Both of us, One, during it
Brotherhood was sealed with blood.
K. Kwareström. Loki and Head (c. 1890).
Monsters of the Scandinavian pantheon
From the myths it follows that Loki constantly rushes between the gods and the Jotuns: he either incites the Jotuns to steal the treasures of the Aesir and himself takes part in these thefts, or he helps the gods return the stolen treasures. So, he cunningly returns Thor’s hammer stolen by the giant Thrym, and then cuts off Thor’s wife Siv’s golden hair, but out of fear of Thor, he forces the miniatures to forge new ones for the goddess. He deceives the goddess Idunn, the keeper of rejuvenating apples, into the forest and gives her to the power of the giant Tiazzi; however, frightened by the threats of other gods who began to rapidly grow old, he enters Tiazzi’s home and returns Idunn to Asgard. He, along with Odin and Khenir, takes part in the revival of the first people - and he also greatly contributes to the death of the gods and all living things in the battle before the end of the world.
Many researchers believed that the duality of the image of Loki lies in his “fiery nature” (the name Loki was derived from Logi “fire”); This point of view was first expressed by Snorri Sturluson in the Prose Edda. However, Loki’s tricks and his constant desire to destroy or desecrate what was created by other gods, primarily Odin, show that it would be more correct to characterize this god as a negative version of a culture hero, as a mythological trickster with pronounced chthonic and demonic properties. Moreover, it can be said that Loki is the negative double of Odin; Some works argue that Loki (the trickster deity of the Scandinavian pantheon) is opposed to Odin, just as cosmogony, or world-making, is opposed to eschatology, or world-destruction.
From hints contained in the Völva Divination, it can be assumed that Loki, when he conceived monsters with Angrboda, was aware of the role they were destined to play in the battle before the end of the world. This circumstance reinforces the hypothesis of Loki as a negative cultural hero, destroying and “redistributing” what others have created.
The song “The Brief Prophecy of the Velva” tells about the offspring of Loki in more or less detail: From Angrboda Loki
He gave birth to a wolf, and Sleipnir -
son of Loki by Svadilfari;
another monster
the most evil
born into the world
Buleysta brother.
Found at the stake
half-burnt women
heart, Loki ate it;
that's how Loft conceived
from an evil woman;
let's go from here
all the witches in the world.
The monsters born by Angrboda frightened the gods so much (the Velva prophetess revealed the future to the deities and predicted death) that Odin threw the snake Jormungand into the World Ocean, and, as they say in the “Younger Edda,” “the Serpent grew so large that, lying in the middle of the sea, the whole he has girdled the earth and is biting his own tail”; Hel went to the underworld, and the gods took the wolf Fenrir to Asgard so that he would be under their constant supervision. Only Tyr dared to feed him. The prophecies said that Fenrir was born to destroy the gods, so the Aesir decided to put the wolf on a chain. The first chain was called Leding, and Fenrir immediately broke it; the second chain was called Dromi, and it also did not hold the wolf; The strongest chain turned out to be the third chain, Gleipnir, forged at the request of the gods by the miniatures from the “six essences” - the noise of cat steps, a woman’s beard, mountain roots, bear veins, fish breath and bird saliva. The Aesir put this chain on the wolf, and Tyr had to sacrifice right hand, which he placed in Fenrir’s mouth as a guarantee that the gods would not deceive the wolf. This chain will hold Fenrir until the end of time: on the eve of Ragnarok, the wolf will break his bonds and break free.
There is an interesting episode in the Prose Edda. King Gylvi, having listened to Odin’s story about pacifying the wolf, asks: “Why didn’t the gods kill the Wolf if they expect great evil from him?” Odin’s answer was brief: “The gods so honored their sanctuary and their shelter that they did not want to desecrate them with the blood of the Wolf, although the prophecies said that he would be Odin’s killer.”
The duels between Odin and Fenrir and Thor and Jormungandr in Ragnarok, ending in the death of their opponents, mark both a brief triumph of chaos and the birth of a new cosmos. In modern political and cultural terminology (the sociomechanics model), these fights and Ragnarok itself can be characterized as a metaphorical description of a “phase transition” from one civilizational stage to another. 
Miniatures have already been mentioned several times above, they are also dwarfs, skilled craftsmen, creators of many treasures of the gods. According to Eddic myth, they were created by the gods from the bones and blood of a certain Brimir or Blain (probably an epithet of Ymir):
They met at the trial, sat down on the lavas, all the high gods held advice: someone should make dwarfs from the blood of Brimir, from the bones of Blain; Motsognir was made and named the first among the people of the miniatures, the second was Durin, according to the word of Durin and other humanoid miniatures they sculpted from clay.
True, the “Younger Edda” claims that the miniatures were originally worms in the body of Ymir, but “by the will of the gods they acquired a human mind and took on the appearance of people.” The list of names of the miniatures in “The Prophecy of the Velva” is curious for the modern reader in that there are many names familiar to him from J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic “The Lord of the Rings”:
Nii da Nidi,
Nordri da Sudri,
Austria da Vestri,
Altiov, Dvalin,
Beaver, Beaver,
Bembur, Nori,
An da Anar,
Ai, Mjedvitnir,
Veig and Gandalf,
Vindalf and Thrain,
Tekk and Thorin
Tror, Vit and Lit,
Nar and Nirad
(now all the miniatures), Regin and Radsvinn (I will name them at once), Fili, Kili, Fundin, Nali, Hefti, Vili, Hanar, Svior, Frar and Hornbori, Freg and Loni, Aurvang, Jari, Eikinskjaldi; and here is the genealogy of Lovar's ancestors - the Descendants of Dvalin, whose family came from the stone of the earth, came from the quagmire to the sandy earth: Draupnir, firstly, Dolgtrasir too, Khar and Hraugspori, Hlevang, Gloi, Dori, Ori, Duv and Andvari, Skivir , Vivir, Skafinn, Ai, Alv, Yngvi, Eikinkskjaldi, Fjalar and Frosti, Fin and Ginnar - This is the pedigree of Lovar's ancestors,
Let people keep until forever...
Miniatures live in the earth and in stones, they are afraid of sunlight, which turns them into stone (this feature of the miniatures was used, almost the only time, showing cunning, by the god Thor, who dragged out an argument with the dwarf Alvis, who wooed the daughter of the god, until dawn ).
The hands of the miniatures forged the main treasures of the gods - the spear Gungnir and the golden ring Draupnir, the golden hair of Siv and the boar with golden bristles, the Brisingamen necklace, the hammer Mjolnir and the ship Skidbladnir. Two miniatures, Fjalar and Galar, made the honey of poetry. 
In the later folklore tradition, miniatures “turned” into dwarfs, or gnomes - tiny gray-bearded creatures, distinguished by a powerful physique and remarkable physical strength; They reach maturity at three years of age, and by the age of seven they grow gray beards. They mine gems and ore, forge weapons, armor and jewelry, often endowing their products with magical properties. Distinctive feature in the guise of dwarfs - feet, either similar to a bird's feet (goose or crow's), or turned backwards. That's why they wear raincoats down to their toes. It is believed that you can find out if there is a dwarf in front of you if you sprinkle ashes or flour on the road, and then carefully examine the footprints.
Miniatures in mythological texts are sometimes called black or dark alves, thereby contrasting them, as those living in the earth, with the light alves - the spirits of fertility living in Asgard.
The ruler of the light elves is the divine blacksmith Velund.
* * *
Story about " characters"Scandinavian mythology would be incomplete without mentioning a special group of goddesses - dis.
Diss are lower female deities, whose functions are directly related to fate: they determine the fate of people, especially warriors. The Diss include the Norns and Valkyries.
Norns are goddesses of fate, “related” to the Greek moirai and Roman parks. Their abode is located at the roots of the Yggdrasil ash tree, next to a certain mysterious source (in the “Prophecy of the Velva” it is called the “source of Urd”, after the name of one of the norns). Their names are Urd, meaning “fate” or “past”; Verdandi - “becoming” or “present”; Skuld - "duty" or "future".
According to the Eddic song “Fafnir’s Speech,” there are not three norns, but much more, and they descend from both the Aesir, the Alves, and even the miniatures:
Sigurd said:
"Fafnir, tell me,
you are wise, I heard
and you know a lot:
who are these norns?
that they might come
to wives giving birth?
Fafnir said:
"Different by birth
Norns, I know, their race is not one: some are from the Aesir, others from the Elves, others from Dvalin”1311.
One of the heroic songs of the Elder Edda, the First Song of Helga the Slayer of Hunding, details how the Norns acted to determine human destiny:
It was night in the house
the norns appeared
predict fate
young ruler;
it was judged that he
will be glorified
the best of the kings
will be nicknamed.
So the thread of fate
spinning diligently
that they shuddered
in Bralund there are walls;
gold thread
twisted and to the sky -
to the chambers of the moon -
she was tied up.
To the east and to the west
the ends were pulled,
king of the earth
marked with thread;
threw to the north
Neri sister thread,
in possession
giving the north to him.
As for the Valkyries, these goddesses, companions and helpers of Odin, also determine human destinies - however, if the Norns do this at the birth of a person, then the Valkyries decide which of those killed in battle are destined to go to Valhalla, and who will go to Hel. There are twelve Valkyries in total, they have dazzlingly bright blue eyes and long blond hair, they are usually dressed in armor, with horned helmets on their heads, and swords and spears in their hands. In Valhalla they delight the ears of the Einherjar with music and songs. The Elder Edda calls the Valkyries by name:
Hristi Mglista
give me the horn,
also Sekirnitsa and Pierce,
Sich and Sila,
Suffering and Druzhina,
Swordbell and Spearsword;
a Protection and Shchada, and
The advisor also brings beer to the Einherjar.
At the top are depicted norns spinning the thread of fate, at the bottom is the mistress of the underworld, Hel.
In the heroic songs of the Elder Edda, the Valkyries have other names, of which the most famous is Brynhild (Sigrdriva in the Sagas of the Välsungs) - the betrothed of the knight Sigurd (German Siegfried), who forgot about her, having tasted the drink of oblivion, and married the king’s sister Huns Gudrun. Overwhelmed by revenge, Brynhild incites her husband Gunnar, Gudrun's brother, to kill Sigurd, and when he dies, she herself ascends the funeral pyre - and, according to the Eddic song "Brynhild's Journey to Hel", after death she ends up not in Valhalla, but in the underworld. 
W.T. Maud. Ride of the Valkyries (c. 1890).
The corpus of Eddic texts also contains the “Song of the Valkyries,” which wonderfully characterizes these warrior maidens: A large fabric is woven, like a cloud, to announce the death of the warriors.
Let us sprinkle it with blood, we must weave tightly the steel fabric from the spears with the bloody weft of the fierce battle. Let us make cloth from human intestines; instead of weights on the machine there are skulls, and the crossbars are spears in blood, the comb is iron, the arrows are pegs; We’ll beat the fabric with swords!.. It’s scary to look back now: look! Crimson clouds rush across the sky; Warriors' blood stained the air - only the Valkyries can sing this! We sang gloriously about the young king; glory to those who sing! He who heard our song will remember and tell people about what he heard from the wives of the spearmen! Swords drawn,
on wild horses that don’t know saddles, we will rush away.
By the way, this song reflects the real historical event- a battle that took place on Good Friday 1014 at Clontarw (Ireland). In this battle, the Irish ruler Brian, at the cost of his own death, defeated the Vikings - King Sigtryn and Earl Sigurd. The Njal's Saga, in which this song is preserved, tells of a number of portents that preceded this battle. So, a certain man named Derrud saw how twelve Valkyries drove up to a house in which there was a loom, and, entering the house, began to weave fabric from human intestines and sang this ominous song. Having finished weaving, they tore the fabric into pieces and galloped off in different directions.
In all likelihood, Velva, the prophetess whom Odin called from the grave to learn from her about the fate of Balder, also belongs to the Diss; “The prophecy of the Völva” - a song that expounds the cosmogony and eschatology of the Scandinavian mythological universe - begins
"Elder Edda".
The variety of characters in the Scandinavian mythological system only at first glance seems chaotic, devoid of any structure. The central characters of this mythology, its “axis”, are of course the ace gods, around whom all mythological plots are built. As E.M. wrote Meletinsky, “the gods confront hostile chthonic monsters and jotuns; rise above the natural spirits of the alves and above the dwarfs (tsvergs), above the female fateful creatures (Valkyries and Norns), above the earthly heroes. The highest pantheon of gods in the Scandinavian cosmotheogony is presented as the result of the unification of two groups of gods - the Aesir and the Vanir after the war, more precisely, as a result of the assimilation of the Aesir Vanir - a very limited category of deities associated with agrarian cults, endowed with magical and prophetic gifts, sacred peacefulness... In many texts gods and aces are synonymous, since Vanic agrarian mythology is subordinated to Odinic, that is, celestial-chthonic, military and “shamanic” mythology of Odin.” 
K. Dilitz. Valkyrie (c. 1890).
Just as the ash tree Yggdrasil connects all nine worlds, so the aesir gods, primarily Odin, Thor and Loki, act as the connecting link of various events that, thanks to the “mediation” of the gods, fit into a single, clearly eschatological plot.
Northern mythology represents an independent and richly developed branch of Germanic mythology, which, in turn, in its main features goes back to ancient Proto-Indo-European history...
Norse gods
Gods Asa
The Æsir, in Norse mythology, is a major group of gods led by Odin, the father of most of the Æsir, who loved, fought, and died because, like humans, they were not immortal. These gods are contrasted with the vanirs (gods of fertility), giants (etuns), dwarfs (miniatures), as well as female deities - diss, norns and valkyries. They lived in the heavenly fortress of Asgard, which was connected to the land of people, Midgard, by the rainbow bridge Bifrost.
Ases - warrior gods were worshiped by heroes and kings. The leader of the heroic aces was Odin; in the painting by William Collingwood he is depicted in a horned helmet, following the young and beautiful gods and goddesses, embodying strength and beauty.
Asami, besides Odin, there were twenty-seven warrior gods and twenty-two goddesses.
In myths, the most famous are Balder, Borr, Bragi, Storms, Vidar, Vali, Ve, Vili, Dagr, Dellin, Loki, Magni, Njord, Thor, Tyr, Forseti, Freyr, Hed, Heimdall, as well as the goddesses Eir, Idunn, Nanna , Nott, Saga, Siv, Siginn, Sol, Frigg, Freya.
Actually, in Scandinavian mythology there are two groups of gods - the Aesir and the Vanir.
The Aesir are the inhabitants of the heavenly city of Asgard. In ancient times, the Aesir fought with the Vanir, but then decided to make peace and exchanged gods. The Aesir sent Henir and Mimir to the Vanir, and the Vanir sent Njord, Freya, Frey and the wise Kvasir to Asgard.
God Balder
Balder (“lord”), in Scandinavian mythology, a young god of the Aesir, the beloved son of Odin and Frigg, the goddess of earth and air. The beautiful Balder was called wise and brave, and his loving and gentle soul radiated light. Suddenly, the young man began to have ominous dreams that foreshadowed death. Concerned, Odin saddled his eight-legged stallion Sleipnir and went to the kingdom of the dead. The seer-witch told him that Balder would die at the hands of his own brother, the blind god Höd. Saddened by the news, Odin returned to Asgard, but his wife Frigga came up with a way to save Balder. The goddess walked around all nine worlds and took an oath from all creatures and things that they would not harm her son. The exception was the mistletoe shoot, which she did not take into account. In Asgard, everyone except the fire god Loki rejoiced at the salvation of the young god. Angered by Balder's deliverance from danger, Loki turned into an old woman and went to Frigga's chambers, where he found out that the mistletoe did not take an oath.
And when the gods were amusing themselves by throwing spears and stones at Balder, who had become invulnerable, the wicked Loki slipped a mistletoe rod to the blind Hed. The escape pierced Balder's chest, and the god fell dead. Frigg tried to rescue her son from the kingdom of the dead. At her request, Hermod went there to ransom Balder. While Hermod was on his way, the bodies of Balder and his wife Nanna, who died of grief, were transferred to a funeral boat, set on fire and pushed into the sea. In the lower world, the brave Hermod found a brother who had taken a high position among the dead. Hel, Loki's daughter, agreed to let Balder go if everything living and dead in the nine worlds began to mourn him. Messengers were sent to all corners of the world, and soon even the stones were crying. Only the old giantess Tökk refused to cry, declaring: “Let Hel have what she has.” The saddened gods did not immediately recognize the evil Loki in Tökk. So Balder remained forever in the kingdom of Hel. The myth of the untimely death of the luminous, handsome god is reminiscent of the Greek myths about the dying and reborn god Adonis. The Scandinavians believed that Balder's rebirth would occur after the day of Ragnarok, when a new green land would rise from the sea.
God of Braga
Bragi, in Scandinavian mythology, the skald god, son of Odin and the giantess Gunnhold, husband of Idunn, keeper of rejuvenating apples. Bragi was born in a stalactite cave where his mother Gunnhold kept the honey of poetry. The miniature dwarfs gave the divine child a magic harp and sent him sailing on one of their wonderful ships. On the way, Bragi sang the touching “Song of Life,” which was heard in heaven and the gods invited him to their abode of Asgard.
When Loki, with his characteristic dexterity, organized the murder of Balder and returned to Asgard, Bragi demanded that the vile instigator leave, since the gods did not want his presence. Loki called Bragi a braggart, and he threatened to turn Loki's head away. Despite Odin's attempts to calm the crowd, Braga's words enraged Loki.
Having predicted the death of the gods as a farewell, he left Asgard. Perhaps Bragi, the god of poetry and eloquence, is a god of later origin, which is associated with the deification of poetic inspiration, since skalds in the Scandinavian royal courts were revered almost as much as rulers. Bragi was usually depicted as a bearded old man with a harp, and his name was sealed with solemn oaths pronounced over the so-called Cup of Braga. According to some scientists, there is a possible connection between the skald god and the historical Bragi Boddason (IX century).
Vanir gods
The Vanir are a small group of fertility gods in Norse mythology. They lived in Vanaheim, far from Asgard, the abode of the aesir gods. The Vanirs had the gift of foresight, prophecy, and also mastered the art of witchcraft. In addition, incestuous relationships between siblings were attributed to them. The Vanir included Njord and his offspring - Freyra and Freya.
Ancient legends told of a war that brought an end to the golden age. The reason for the first war was the act of the evil sorceress Heida, who came to the settlement of the Aesir, who beat the sorceress with spears and tried to burn her three times at the stake, but the villainess again rose from the ashes. The war was started by the leader of the Aesir, Odin, who threw his spear in the direction of the Vanir. The fertility gods launched an attack on the heavenly village of the Aesir, but the Aesir turned out to be stronger, and the fight ended with an exchange of hostages. The war between the Aesir and the Vanir can be interpreted as a struggle for sacred honey, which embodied a certain cosmic principle of awareness of life. According to legend, the Vans were considered the guardians of sacred honey.
The Vanir sent the god of the sea Njord and his children, the twins Freyr and Freya, to Asgard, and with them Kvasir, a wise man created from the saliva of the gods, who spat into a jug as a sign of reconciliation between the Aesir and the Vanir.
The Aesir also sent hostages to Vanaheim: Hoenir, the brother of the god Odin, who gave the first people feelings, and the wise Mimir. At first, Hoenir and Mimir were warmly received by the Vanir, but they soon came to the conclusion that they had lost in the exchange with the Aesir. The indecisive Hoenir could not say a word unless Mimir was nearby. The Vanir decided that Mimir was not only the voice of Hoenir, but also his mind. Enraged, they cut off Mimir's head and sent it to the Aesir. One embalmed the unfortunate man's head, then read a spell over it, restoring the ability to speak. Subsequently, Odin instructed the head of Mimir to guard the magical spring under the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. Wanting to gain part of Mimir's knowledge, Odin gave him one eye for permission to drink from the source of wisdom. Before the last battle of gods and monsters, Ragnarok, Odin must go to the source and there seek advice from the head of Mimir.
In Franz von Stassen's illustration, Odin and Frigga are followed by twin hostages across the Bifrost Bridge, and Thor and Loki bring up the rear.
God Volund
Volund, Volund, Volund, in Scandinavian mythology, a wonderful blacksmith god, the son of a sailor and a sea nymph, the ruler of the Alves, the beloved of one of the Valkyries. He became famous as a master of chain mail and swords. He was a talented craftsman and forged the Icelandic labyrinth - the House of Volund. The myth of Wayland is a dramatic story of revenge. The Swedish king Nidud, having captured the blacksmith, cut the veins on his legs and took him and the forge to a remote island. The blacksmith god took revenge on the king by killing the two sons of Nidud, who came to look at the skillful products of the captive master, and sent the ruler their heads, decorated with jewels and set in silver. According to some versions, he also raped Nidud’s daughter. Subsequently, Wayland miraculously flew to Valhalla, having made wings, like the Greek master Daedalus. A parallel can be drawn between the lameness of Wayland and the Greek blacksmith god Hephaestus, whose disability has been explained in different ways. According to one version, he became lame when he intervened in a family quarrel between his parents, Zeus and Hera. An irritated Zeus threw his crippled son from Olympus to the island of Lemnos. The second version says that Hephaestus was lame from birth. It is interesting to note that Lemnos also has an active volcano, as does the remote island where Volund was exiled. In Germanic mythology it corresponds to Wieland.
God Loki
Loki, in Scandinavian mythology, a malicious god is a rogue of the Aesir, who likes to change his appearance. He started out with pranks and mischief, but over time he became the true embodiment of evil and accelerated Ragnarok, the death of the gods and the whole world. Loki simply could not resist cheating and putting the gods in a difficult position. However, his ingenuity often rescued them from mortal danger, take, for example, the story of the kidnapping of the keeper of the rejuvenating apples Idunn. It was Loki who was responsible for the death of the luminous god Balder: he handed the mistletoe arrow that brought death to the blind god Höd. Sometimes Loki, saving himself, was ready to sacrifice the life of any god, as in the case of the thunderer Thor. When Loki lured the unarmed Thor into the palace of the giant Geirrod, only the wonderful staff and iron gauntlets lent by the good giantess Grid saved Thor from death.
Loki deceived his friend only because this was the price set by Geirrod for his own liberation. Having imprudently killed Otr in the guise of an otter, Loki tried to appease the father of the murdered young man, for which he had to steal the treasures of the evil dwarf. The same Loki came up with a risky plan to get Thor's hammer, stolen by the dwarves and falling into the hands of the giant Thrym. The evil god learned that in exchange for the giant’s hammer the goddess of fertility Freya had to be given as his wife, and persuaded Thor to go to Thrym in her clothes. When Thrym showed the hammer to the imaginary bride, Thor in the blink of an eye snatched his weapon from him and killed all the giants on the spot. The gods tolerated Loki's presence in Asgard even after he engineered the murder of Odin's son, Balder. But when Loki, at a feast with the sea giant Aegir, began to harass everyone with his insults and ridicule, the patience of the gods came to an end. Trying to escape from the angry guests, Loki turned into a salmon, but from the heights of Asgard, Odin noticed a fish hiding in a waterfall. Loki grabbed and bound his own son with the intestines, and the giantess Skadi, Njord's wife, hung a snake over the god's head, which exuded a burning poison that dripped onto his face. So he waited for Ragnarok. In the last battle of gods and monsters, Loki had to lead the army of evil and meet death at the hands of the god Heimdall. Loki was married twice, first to the giantess Angrboda, who gave birth to the monsters Fenrir, Jormungandr and Hel; all three inherited dark sides father's character. His second wife was Sigunn, with whom he had two sons, Vali and Narvi. Despite all her husband’s atrocities, Sigunn remained faithful to him and eased his suffering by placing a cup under the dripping poison. But when the cup was filled and the wife went to empty it, the poison dripped onto Loki’s face, causing him to shudder desperately, which was believed to be the cause of earthquakes.
God Njord
Njord, in Scandinavian mythology, the god of the sea. He pacified the storms raised by the violent Aegir. Gentle and good-natured, Njord loved his sun-drenched fjords, the refuge of sacred seagulls and swans. Deeply revered by sailors and fishermen, he helped ships in trouble, sent fair winds and caused summer rains. Njord is a representative of the divine Vanir race, the father of the fertility gods Frey and Freya. When peace was made between the two branches of the divine family, the Vanir and the Aesir, Njord, Frey and Freya went to live with the Aesir.
According to some versions of the myth, the mother of Freyr and Freya was Njord's sister, Nerthus, but since the Aesir did not approve of marriages between brother and sister, Nerthus did not accompany her husband and children to Asgard. Njord's second wife was the giantess Skadi, daughter of the giant Tjazzi. For the theft of the golden apples of Idunn, the gods killed the giant, and Skadi, wearing a helmet and chain mail, came to them, burning with a thirst for revenge, but agreed to make peace. Refusing the gold, Skadi demanded that the gods make her laugh and give her a husband. They set the condition that the giantess would choose a husband based on the shape of her legs. The cunning Loki made Skadi laugh, and as for her husband, mistakenly believing that the most beautiful legs must certainly belong to Odin’s son, Balder, the goddess pointed to the legs of Njord, the good old god of the sea, to whom the passions that worried her were alien. Njord believed that Skadi's homeland, Jotunheim, was too cold and deserted, and Skadi did not like the constant noise of the surf and the bustle of the shipyard near Njord's castle in Asgard; To her, as to the spirit of winter, the snow-covered slopes were dearer than the distant seas. After spending nine nights in each house, the couple decided to live separately. Skadi returned to the mountains, to her favorite hunt, to skiing, and Njord, tarred by all the winds, continued to live by the sea. The unbridgeable gulf between them perhaps signifies more than a difference in taste. Njord, like all the Vanir, undoubtedly served as the god of fertility, since he ensured people not only the safety of travel across the seas, but also prosperity, the availability of land and the birth of sons.
His wife, the giantess Skadi, is a resident of the snow-capped mountains, where heavy clouds obscured the sun and the bare rocks were barren. In her wild and harsh country nothing could grow or bloom. The giantess visited her husband from time to time, and when the gods finally imprisoned the evil Loki in a cave, Skadi hung a snake oozing poison over his head.
God is one
Odin, Wodan, Wotan ("all-father", "warrior"), the supreme god of Scandinavian mythology, the son of Bor and Bestla, the grandson of Storm. His cult was especially popular among the Vikings, and therefore its heyday was in the 8th and 9th centuries. The sailors and pirates of the North worshiped the 6th God, who loved battles, and believed that in Valhalla, the silver-covered dwelling belonging to Odin, this one-eyed god was gathering a host of Einherjar, the “valiantly fallen” warriors.
It seems that it was then that Odin supplanted Tyr, originally the sky god of Germanic-Scandinavian mythology. Tyr remained the “god of battle,” and Odin took the military elite under his protection. Only he could, during a battle, lead the warriors into a state of frantic rage, when they were deprived of the feeling of fear and pain. Odin's name means shamanic ecstasy, obsession, close to the battle frenzy of the Irish hero Cuchulainn.
The fact that it was Odin who took the place of the supreme god shows what an important role war played in the life of the northerners.
It should be noted, however, that the god himself was not subject to warlike ecstasy; he was most likely a sower of military discord. In addition to power over the squads of mortals and the “valiantly fallen,” Odin was considered the god of magic and wisdom. As the oldest of the gods, he was revered by them as a father. He can be accused of treachery and bloodthirstiness, but we must not forget, for example, about his education. Odin's internal struggle between good and evil is akin to the nature of the Hindu god Shiva, the great destroyer-creator of Indian mythology. Odin was often depicted as a one-eyed, gray-bearded old man in a blue cloak, whose face was hidden by a hood or wide-brimmed hat. God gave the eye to Mimir, the owner of the source of great wisdom, for just one sip from it. The remaining eye symbolized the sun, and the lost eye, symbolizing the moon, floated in the source of Mimir. To learn the secret of the dead and gain the gift of clairvoyance, Odin, pierced by his own spear, hung on the world tree Yggdrasil for nine days. Then, having quenched his thirst with sacred honey, he received from the giant Belthorn, his maternal grandfather, magical runes - carriers of wisdom. Odin had a wife, Frigga, who lived in Asgard. She rightfully sat next to her husband on the throne of Hlidskjalve, from where the divine couple could survey all nine worlds, observing the events of the present and future.
Odin knew everything that was happening in the nine worlds, and in this he was helped by his brother-raven, Hugin (“thought”) and Munin (“memory”). Having flown around the worlds, the birds returned and, sitting on Odin’s shoulders, whispered about everything they managed to learn.
Odin stood at the head of the Valkyries, the executors of his will on the battlefields. One day Brunhild, while helping Sigmund, refused to obey Odin. As punishment, Brunhild had to stay on the top of the hill until a mortal loved her. Later, the god softened the punishment by surrounding Brunhild with a ring of fire, which the bravest of the heroes could pass through.
As Ragnarok approached, the wise and clairvoyant Odin became increasingly concerned. If in Scandinavian mythology the universe is purified by the blood of the frost giant Ymir, since the divine brothers Odin, Vili and Ve, having killed the giant, create the world from his body, then the finale of the world’s existence should be the battle of gods and monsters, and as a result - universal destruction. Ragnarok was foreshadowed by the death of Balder. One was powerless to prevent disaster. His only consolation was the knowledge that the reborn Balder would take his place in a new world, on a new land that would rise from the depths of the sea. The growth in the number of the squad gathered in Valhalla served as the key to successful preparations for Ragnarok, since the Einherjar were to participate in this final battle in the Vigrid Valley. where all the people will die. Odin himself must be swallowed by the monstrous wolf Fenrir, the vile offspring of the fire god Loki and the giantess Angrboda.
God Thor
Thor ("thunderer"), in German-Scandinavian mythology, the god of thunder, storms and fertility. He was one of the sons of the supreme god Odin and the earth goddess Jord or Fjörgyn. The name of the god's war hammer, Mjollnir, may have once meant "lightning." It is impossible not to notice that Thor, the worst enemy of the giants, had a lot in common with them. The red-bearded hero was very energetic and had an incredible appetite - he ate a bull in one sitting. Thor loved to measure his strength with everyone. His huge bronze chariot was pulled across the sky by two goats called Tangniostr ("grinding his teeth") and Tangrisnir ("grinding his teeth"). Thor's magical equipment included: a hammer (lightning battle axe), iron gauntlets, without which it was impossible to hold the handle of a red-hot weapon, and a belt that doubled strength. The hammer Mjollnir, forged for God by the dwarf brothers (tswergs), a symbol of creative and destructive forces, a source of fertility and good luck, had a massive head, a short handle and always hit the target. With a red-hot hammer and a belt of power, Thor was invincible. True, he was unable to prevent Ragnarok, the day of universal destruction, but he was able to rid the world of the serpent Jormungandr. Thor was constantly accompanied by the fire god Loki, who usually held onto the thunder belt. Together they experienced many adventures, and Thor could not deny that in some cases Loki's resourcefulness and dexterity forced the giants to be on their guard.
An example of this is the story of Thor's magic hammer, stolen by the giant Thrym. The new owner, as a ransom, asked for nothing less than the hammer - the hand of the fertility goddess Freya. Loki persuaded Thor to change into Freya's dress and go to Thrym instead. Despite the ravenous appetite of the “bride,” which surprised the groom, the “maid” (it was Loki) presented the “bride” as a model of girlish modesty. The delighted Thrym gave Thor the hammer, and he, having beaten the giant, restored his reputation, slightly tarnished by the fact of dressing in a woman's dress.
Another adventure of Thor in the land of giants is also connected with Loki. In the land of men, Midgard, Thor hired servants, Tjalvi and Röskva, brother and sister. It happened like this. Since Thor's goats served as a source of inexhaustible food, at night roosts the thunderer killed and roasted them, leaving only the bones untouched, and then brought the animals back to life. During lunch in a peasant house, the owner's son, Thialvi, disobeyed God and, getting to the bone marrow, chewed one of the bones. The next morning, Thor brought the goats back to life with a magic hammer and noticed that one of them was lame. So, as a ransom, Tjalvi and Röskva became his servants forever. Before reaching Jotunheim, Thor, Loki, Tjalvi and Röskva spent the night in a huge empty house. In the morning they realized that they had mistaken the thumb of the mitten of a giant named Skrymir (“huge”) for a house. The sleeping giant waved away the blows of the hammer on his head as if from a fallen dry leaf. Having reached the walls of Utgard, the travelers were amazed at the size of the fortress. Its inhabitants, the giants, staged several competitions in which Loki, Thor and Thialvi failed to win. First, the god of fire lost the competition of who can eat faster; then Tjalvi was left far behind in the running competition; Thor could not drain the horn filled with intoxicating moisture, raise the cat, and could not even overcome Ellie, the “old, old woman.” Leaving Utgard, Thor admitted his defeat, but the leader of the giants told him that all this was witchcraft. It turned out that Loki was competing with fire, Thialvi was competing with his own thought, and Thor was trying to drink the ocean, lift the world serpent Jormungandr into the air and overcome old age. Then Utgard suddenly disappeared. Only then did Thor realize that Skrymir and Utgard were illusions, witchcraft resorted to by the frightened giants.
Thor's war hammer, Mjollnir, served the gods as protection from giants and had many magical properties: it influenced fertility and death, could bring animals back to life, and blessed marriages. All myths involving Thor testify to the unlimited destructive capabilities of his hammer; like the Indian god of thunder and lightning Indra, Thor was the destroyer of evil, and in Scandinavian mythology the giants-jotuns personified world evil. On the day of Ragnarok, Thor died from Loki's son, the serpent Jormungandr. Thunderer tore off the ugly head of the monster and, moving only nine steps away from it, drowned in a stream of poison spewing out of the gaping mouth of the dead creature.
God Tyr
Tyr, Tyr, Tiu, Tiwaz, in German-Scandinavian mythology, “god of battle,” the son of Odin and his wife Frigg. His cult was closely related to the cult of Odin, and hanging victims were sacrificed to both of them. Tyr was probably originally the god of the sky, whose powers later passed to Odin and Thor. Odin's magic spear Gungnir, which always hits the target, could once have belonged to Tyr, as evidenced by the Viking custom of throwing spears behind the backs of opponents before starting hand-to-hand combat, as well as the latest archaeological finds of magnificently ornamented copies dedicated to the “wise and bravest god” Tyr. One of the myths about Tyr is associated with Fenrir. This monstrous wolf grew so strong that the gods decided to chain him. Ordinary chains did not hold the beast, and in order for Fenrir to agree to put on the magic chains, Tyr had to put his right hand in his mouth as a sign of trust.
When the wolf realized that he was unable to break the bonds, he bit off his hand, and the gods laughed for a long time at Tyr’s suffering. Tyr's demotion in the hierarchy of the gods may be associated precisely with the injury. A similar incident occurred with the Celtic god Nuada, who lost his arm in the first battle of Moytura and therefore ceased to lead the Tribes of the goddess Danu. In the last battle before the end of the world, Tyr fought with the demon dog Garm, and they killed each other. In Roman mythology, the early image of Tyr corresponds to Mars.
God Freyr
Freyr ("lord"), in Scandinavian mythology, the god of fertility, who provided sunlight, rain, abundant harvests and peace, the son of the god of the sea and wind Njord and the twin brother of the goddess of fertility, love and beauty Freya. Frey, along with Odin and Thor, stood at the head of the patriarchal community of gods, since after the reconciliation of the Vanir with the Aesir, the younger generation of gods, the Vanir Freyr, Njord and Freya moved to Asgard as hostages of the world. Frey was the owner of the wonderful boar Gullinbursti (“golden bristle”) and the wonderful ship Skidbladnir (“made of planks”), which could accommodate any number of warriors. The myth of Frey is based on the story of his marriage to Gerda, daughter of the sea giant Gymir. Frey, the affectionate god of summer, seeing the radiant giantess Gerda from afar, fell in love with her at first sight and, not knowing how to win the girl’s favor, fell ill. Njord, having learned about the young man’s heartache, sent his faithful servant Skirnir (“the shining one”) to Jötunheim, the land of giants, promising him a magic horse and a sword. As a gift to the bride, Skirnir carried rejuvenating apples, the wealth-multiplying ring Draupnir and a sparkling portrait of Frey on a horn filled with honey. He was ordered not to return to Asgard without Gerda. Having reached the halls of Gymir, Skirnir tried to persuade Gerda to return Freyr's love in exchange for eleven apples of eternal youth.
When the girl rejected the gift and was not seduced by Odin’s magic ring, Skirnir promised to cut off her head, but the threat had no effect on Gerda. Then the messenger promised to cast a spell of ugliness and eternal exile on her, and this decided the matter. Gerda agreed to meet Frey in nine days. Finding herself next to the god burning with passion, the icy heart of the unapproachable beauty Gerda thawed. Frey found his happiness, however, it cost him a horse and a sword given to Skirnir, although a magic blade, a symbol of a sunbeam, capable of independently cutting off the heads of giants, could have served him well on the day of the last battle of the gods, Ragnarok.
God Heimdall
Heimdall, Heimdalr, in Scandinavian mythology, the son of Odin and nine mothers, the guardian of the gods, living at the edge of the world. His duty was to protect the rainbow bridge Bifrost, which connected Asgard with Midgard (heaven with earth), from the giants-jotuns. Originally he may have been the omniscient sky god, who could hear grass and sheep's wool growing and see a hundred miles away. Heimdall is the owner of the golden horn Gjallarhorn, the sound of which will be heard in all corners of the world. The sound of his horn will herald the beginning of Ragnarok, during which Heimdall must die in a duel with Loki.
According to some interpretations, Heimdall is apparently connected with the world tree Yggdrasil and his place was located at the top of the ash tree, above the highest rainbow.
He could take the form of Rig, the mortal ancestor of the three social groups- nobility, free peasants and slaves. Under the name Riga, God visited three houses in Midgard in turn, and the handsome children born from him became kings, the strong ones became peasants, and the ugly ones became slaves.
God Hermod
Hermod ("courageous"), in Scandinavian mythology, the son of Odin and the brother of Balder, who served as a messenger and messenger of the gods.
In addition, Hermod apparently had a connection with the underworld, since it was he who was instructed to go to Hel to ask for the release of the deceased Balder. The brave god rode there on Odin’s horse, the eight-legged Sleipnir. Arriving in Hel, Hermod learned that his brother had managed to occupy a high position in the kingdom of the dead. The messenger of the gods told Hel about the purpose of his visit, and she agreed to let Balder go if all the creatures and things in the world began to mourn him, and also allowed Hermod to return Odin’s wonderful ring to Asgard, which he, in a fit of despair, put on the finger of his dead son.
One day Hermod almost died on the way to Midgard, the land of people. Concerned about the predictions about his future, Odin sent him to foreign lands to the Finnish sage Rosstjof for advice. With the help of magic, Hermod was saved and hurried to return to Asgard to calm his father.
In Greek mythology, Hermes, the messenger of the gods, corresponds to some extent to him.
Mythology ancient world, -M.: Belfax, 2002
Myths of ancient Scandinavia, -M.:AST 2001
The main family of gods in Scandinavian mythology is the Aesir. They live in a special world - Asgard - and have erected many beautiful palaces for themselves there. The palace of the main Scandinavian god Odin, Valaskjalv, is decorated with silver and the throne of Hlidskjalv stands in it, from which all worlds are visible. When the ruler of Asgard himself, the god Odin, sits on Hlidskjalva, two ravens, Hugin and Munin, sleep on his shoulders, and two wolves, Geri and Freki, lie at his feet. Every morning, crows fly around the world and tell their owner about everything that is happening in the world.
Next to Valaskjalva is Valhalla, a palace in which, according to Scandinavian mythology, warriors who died in battle live. All of them are adopted children of the god Odin, which is why he is also called the Father of the Fallen.
These warriors, the Einherjar, spend all day playing war games. They fight, maiming and killing each other, but in the evening they are revived and their wounds are healed by the Valkyries.
Valkyries are beautiful maidens whom God Odin sends to earth when battles are going on there. According to Scandinavian myths, warlike maidens, related to the norns, invisibly fly to the battlefield on war horses and bring victory to those whom Odin points to. If he is indifferent to the outcome of the battle, the Valkyries themselves decide who should win. They choose who will fall in battle and carry the slain to heaven.
At feasts in Valhalla, the Valkyries offer food to the Einherjar heroes. These feasts last until the morning, and every day the Einherjar cook Andhrimnir prepares the meat of the giant boar Sehrimnir, which then reappears in its former form. This treat is enough for everyone gathered in Valhalla, even though all the warriors who died in battles from the beginning of the world live there. When his end comes, these warriors will be led into battle by Odin himself, and then it will seem that there are few of them.
The head of the gods of Scandinavia is Odin
There were many myths about the god Odin in Scandinavia. The most famous of them are the myths about how Odin established the cycle of day and night, how he sought wisdom and taught people to write in runes.
Odin's wife in Scandinavian myths is the goddess Frigg. In the land of the gods, Asgard, Frigg lives in the palace of Fensalir. Her maids also live there. The most important of them is called Fulla. The Lady of the Aesir considers Fulla her sworn sister and trusts her with her most secret thoughts. Fulla looks very young and wears long flowing hair tied with a gold ribbon. Frigg usually sends her other maid, Hlin, to guard people whom she wants to protect from any danger. And another maid, Gna, carries messages from the goddess Frigga to Odin when he goes off to wander. On these occasions, Gna takes her mistress's horse, Hovvarpnir, who gallops through air, water and earth with extraordinary speed.
Goddess Frigga spinning the clouds
God Thor
Odin's eldest son, the Scandinavian god Thor, lives in his domain, which is called Trudvagar or Trudheim, which means “fields of power.” Thor is strong and powerful, his hair is red. He rides a chariot, which is driven by two golden-horned goats, Tangniostr and Tangrisnir. Thor has a magical Belt of Strength, which doubles his considerable power, and iron gauntlets. He is married to the beautiful Siv and adopted a child from her former lover. This son of Siv is called Ull. From Thor Siv gave birth to a daughter, Trud. Thor and his family live in the hall of Bilskirnir, which contains five hundred and forty rooms.
Gods Thor and Loki on Thor's chariot drawn by two goats
God Balder
Odin's son from Frigg, Balder, lives in the palace of Breidablik, in which there is no place for any evil. No matter how much the aces reverence Odin and Thor, even they sometimes speak not very flatteringly, remembering their weaknesses and bad deeds. Only good things are said about Balder in Asgard. In Scandinavian myths, the god Balder is beautiful in face and body and is so bright that he seems to be surrounded by a radiance. Balder is the kindest, gentlest, most honest and fair among the aces. But it was written in his destiny that all his fair and wise decisions would not be fulfilled. Balder is loved not only by the Aesir, but also by the Vanirs, Alfs, and people. And even the giants do not wish him harm. And people called “Balder's Eyelashes” a delicate flower with snow-white petals growing in Midgard. The god Balder is married to the beautiful and kind Naina, who bore him a son, Forseti. When Forseti grew up, he became the wisest judge of all who lived in this world.
The god Balder was revered not only in Scandinavia, but among all ancient Germanic tribes.
Heimdall - Guardian of the Gods
God Heimdall, son of Odin from nine mothers, lives near the Bifrost Bridge, at the edge of the sky. His home is called Himinbjorg. Heimdall guards the rainbow bridge. He was chosen as the guardian of the gods because he hardly needs sleep, sees vigilantly both day and night, hears everything that can be heard, even how the grass grows. When the end of the world comes, which Norse mythology calls the Decline of the Gods or the Death of the Gods (Ragnarok), Heimdall will blow his horn Gjallarhorn.
God Loki
Loki, the most witty, mischievous and adventurous god of Scandinavia, was neither Odin’s own offspring nor an ace. He was born from the relationship of the goddess Lauveya and the giant Farbauti, but other celestials liked him with his antics and buffoonery. Odin recognized him as his adopted son and ordered him to be accepted as one of the aces. There are a lot of myths about Loki.
Loki is the god of cunning and deception. Drawing from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript
Njord and Frey
Other sons of Odin from different mothers also live in Asgard. Among them, the most famous are Vidar, Hermod and Höd, who was blind from birth. But all the other aesir gods also honor Odin as their father. Loki, Njord, Frey and Freya call him their adoptive father.
Njord and his children do not belong to the Aesir, but to another family of Scandinavian gods - the Vanir. They came to Asgard after the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, famous in Scandinavian myths. Njord and his children are more willing than all other gods to respond to the prayers of people. Njord controls fire, water and the movement of winds. Therefore, sailors and fishermen of Scandinavia considered him their patron.
Njord lives on the seashore in a domain called Noatun. His son Frey knows how to make rain, so people pray to him for the harvest. God Freyr (among the ancient Germans - Fro) is a brave warrior, but he does not like it when wars start in Midgard. Frey helps people maintain peace, although he does not often succeed in this - after all, Odin himself, the lord of the Aesir, loves battles and is not without reason called the Sower of Discord.
Freya - Scandinavian goddess of love
The beautiful goddess Freya, whom Scandinavian mythology reveres along with Frigga, most willingly helps people in matters of love. And Freya herself often falls in love, responding to the passion that awakens in all male gods and elves. Only the goddess does not like giants. But she feels the strongest passion for one of the aces named Od. She even agreed to become his wife and bore him two twin daughters, Khnoss and Gersimi. These names mean "treasure" and "jewel" because the girls are as dazzling as their mother.
They say that Od fell out of love with his wife because of her numerous infidelities, and after that she fell in love with him even more.
Od loves to travel around the world, and returns to Asgard rarely and for only a short time. Freya cries when her husband leaves, cries when he does not return for a long time, and her tears turn into gold. Sometimes the goddess herself leaves to look for a husband in distant countries, but more often she is consoled by love with others.
Freya lives in a domain called Folkvang, and rides in a chariot drawn by two huge cats, her favorites.
Other gods of northern mythology
Among other glorious gods of Scandinavian mythology, one should name the goddess Var, who ensures that all vows made by lovers to each other are observed; Tyr (Zio in ancient Germanic mythology), known for his courage in battle; the goddess Gevion, a young maiden, into whose palace all girls go after death. The Aesir gods instructed the beautiful Idun to keep a casket with magic apples that prolong youth, and her husband, Bragi, is famous for his eloquence and ability to compose poems and songs.
Other aces are less famous, but they all gather in council when some important issue needs to be resolved.
In Scandinavian myths, the Aesir are forever young: among the gods, parents look no older than their children when they are already grown up.
Eternal youth of the gods of Scandinavia
Only experience and wisdom leave their mark on some senior aces. Thus, the god Odin usually looks like a handsome and majestic middle-aged man, and likes to wander among people in the form of a gray-bearded old man in a blue cloak and a low hat.
Scandinavia traditionally refers to vast territories located in northern Europe, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, as well as a number of islands closest to them. The historical features of their development gave rise to a unique culture, one of the facets of which was myth-making, the characters of which, in turn, were the original and unique gods of Scandinavia. Fearless and daring, they were in some ways akin to the Vikings themselves.
Where did they come to our world from?
The gods, the list of which contains the names of characters less famous than their ancient Egyptian and Greek counterparts, are part of the culture of the ancient Germanic tribes. Information about them has survived to this day mainly in the texts of two monuments of medieval literature. This is the “Elder Edda” - a collection of poetry containing ancient Icelandic songs, as well as the “Younger Edda” - the creation of the 12th century Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson.
In addition, a number of myths became known from the work of the medieval Danish chronicler Saxo Grammar, which he called “The Acts of the Danes.” It is curious that one of its plots formed the basis of Shakespeare's Hamlet, written four centuries later.
When turning to the plots of any myths, regardless of whether they were born in Scandinavia, Greece or Egypt, it should be taken into account that over the centuries they have been repeatedly edited, which today inevitably leads to many discrepancies and contradictions that have crept into them. Therefore, one should not be surprised when the same events, and even the gods of Scandinavia themselves, are described differently in different sources.
Scandinavian version of the origin of the world
The picture of the birth of the world presented in it is colored by the extraordinary originality of Scandinavian mythology. According to the ancient epic, it all began with a huge black abyss, on one side of which was the kingdom of ice - Niflheim, and on the other side of fire - Muspellheim.
From the kingdom of ice, 12 streams originated, which immediately froze, but since they beat incessantly, the blocks of ice gradually approached the kingdom of fire. When these two elements came very close, from the sheaves of sparks mixed with ice crumbs, the giant Ymir and a cow of the same size named Audumla were born.
The following describes absolutely incredible events. According to the Elder Edda, one day the giant Ymir sweated a lot, which is not surprising, because the kingdom of fire was nearby, and from his sweat two giants appeared - a man and a woman. This would not go anywhere, but then it is said that one of his legs conceived from the other and gave birth to a son. Since this is difficult to imagine, let’s take it on faith without going into details.
As for the cow Audumla, in Scandinavian myths she is given a very important role. Firstly, she fed Ymir and those who came from him in such a miraculous way with her milk. She herself ate by licking salt from the stones. Secondly, from the warmth of her tongue another giant was born, who received the name Storm. This is how its first inhabitants appeared on earth, from whom the gods of Scandinavia were then born, and even later, people.
Aesir, Vanir and other mythical characters
It is known that all Scandinavian gods and goddesses were divided into several groups, the main one among which were the Aesir, led by their leader named Odin. Their life was by no means easy or cloudless, since they constantly had to come into conflict with other representatives of the Old Norse pantheon.
Most of all the troubles were caused to them by the Vanir - a group of fertility gods who claimed ownership of the world, but they also suffered from giants-jotuns, as well as from miniature dwarfs. And the female deities - diss, norns and valkyries - completely mercilessly spoiled the blood of the aesirs.
One of the main plots of Scandinavian mythology is the war between the Aesir and the Vanir. It began with the fact that the Vanir, offended by the fact that people in their songs glorified not them, but the Aesir, sent the evil sorceress Gullveig to their world (it was called Midgard). Since it was made of gold, then, according to the calculations of the Vanir, its appearance was supposed to spoil the morals of people, sowing greed and selfishness in their souls. The Aesir prevented this and killed the witch. This began a war in which the gods of Scandinavia tried to resolve the issue of primacy by force. Since neither side could gain the upper hand, peace was eventually concluded between them, sealed by the exchange of hostages.
Supreme God of the Aesir
The leader and father of the Aesir was the supreme god Odin. In Scandinavian mythology, it corresponds to a number of characteristics. He is presented as a priest-king, a shaman-runicist, a sorcerer-prince and, in addition, the Scandinavian god of war and victory. was revered as the patron of the military aristocracy and the conqueror of the Valkyries (they will be discussed below). He is in charge of Valhalla - the heavenly palace where fallen hero-warriors whiled away eternity in heavenly bliss.
Odin was depicted as a one-eyed, but full of vital energy old man. He once gave his missing eye to the giant Mimir so that he would allow him to drink water from the source of wisdom he guarded. A commendable thirst for knowledge, in general, was characteristic of Odin. For example, once, in order to comprehend the power contained in ancient runes - ancient Germanic writings, he agreed to sacrifice himself and hang for 9 days, nailed to a tree with his own spear.
Among other qualities of Odin, the myths especially emphasize the ability to transform. He usually wanders the earth in the guise of an old man, dressed in a blue cloak and a felt hat. His constant companions are two wolves or a raven. But sometimes Odin can turn into a poor wanderer or an ugly dwarf. In any case, woe to the one who, violating the laws of hospitality, closes the doors of his home in front of him.
Sons of Odin
The son of Odin was the god Heimdall, who was considered the guardian of the world tree of life. He was usually depicted as a warrior blowing a trumpet. According to legend, this is how he will have to announce the approaching end of the world, and gather all the gods to last battle with the forces of darkness. Heimdall lives in a fairy-tale house called Himinbjorg, which means " heavenly mountains" It is located near the bridge connecting heaven and earth.
Another son of Odin is also widely known - the one-armed god Tyr, who was the embodiment of military valor. He lost his arm, however, not on the battlefield. The poor fellow received his injury while trying to bind a giant wolf named Fenrir with a magic chain. Once upon a time, this monster, while still a harmless puppy, was taken by the Aesir to their country of Asgard. Over time, the wolf cub grew up, turning into a strong and aggressive monster that terrified those around him.
No matter how the gods tried to shackle him, he easily broke the shackles every time. Finally, the elves came to the rescue, forging a magic chain from the noise of cat steps, bird saliva, fish breath and mountain roots. All that was left was to throw it at the wolf. To convince the beast of the absence of bad intentions, the god Tyr put his own hand into its mouth, which was bitten off as soon as Fenrir realized that he had fallen for the trick. Since then, the god of military valor has defeated enemies with only one remaining hand.
God, tormented by bad dreams
It should be noted that the god of spring, Balder the Beautiful - as everyone called him for his extraordinary beauty, was also the son of Odin, whom the supreme goddess of the Aesir Frigg gave birth to. The legend says that one day he shared with his mother that he began to often have bad dreams. To protect her son, Frigga took an oath from water, fire, broken metals, trees, stones, poisons, diseases, animals and birds that they would not cause him any harm. As a result, the god of spring became invulnerable.
Knowing this, the other gods threw stones, spears and arrows at him for fun, which greatly annoyed Balder. And then one day their evil jokes ended very badly. The god of cunning, Loki, tricked Frigg into finding out that she had not taken an oath from the mistletoe, a bush that had barely emerged from the ground at that time.
Taking advantage of her mistake, the insidious Loki tore off a branch of this plant, and, placing it in the hand of the naturally blind god of fate Höd, forced him to throw it at Balder passing nearby. A sharp rod pierced the beautiful young man and he died, becoming the prey of the kingdom of the dead and its terrible ruler, the sorceress Hel.
Next to the supreme god of the Aesir, another popular mythical character is often depicted - Hermod the Brave. He was Odin's envoy to the land of the dead, where he had to ransom his son, the god of spring Balder, from its ruler. This good intention brought Hermod fame, despite the fact that the mission itself failed as a result of yet another machinations of the same god of cunning and deception, Loki.
Competitions at Utgard Castle
It should be noted that the tricks of this rogue and deceiver often discredit the name of his namesake - the completely respectable and respected ace Utgard Loki, who became famous for the fact that very unusual competitions were once organized in his ancestral castle of Utgard. The Younger Edda tells about them. It tells, in particular, how one of his guests - the god of thunder and storm Thor, in the heat of sports excitement, fought with the evil old woman Ellie, who embodied old age, and his friend Loki - that same trickster god, competed in gluttony with fire itself .
The culmination of everything was the attempt of the local peasant Tjalfi to outrun the thought of the owner of the castle with his running speed. And although neither the god of thunder nor his friends achieved success, the holiday was a success. Many songs were later composed about him. The impression was not even spoiled by the fact that the fire, the old woman Ellie, and the owner of Utgard himself, Loki, cheated a fair amount, thanks to which they won victories.
Female deities of the ancient Scandinavians
The Valkyries are most directly related to Odin, whose ruler (and according to some sources, father) he was. According to Scandinavian myths, these warrior maidens, riding flying horses, hovered invisibly over the battlefields. Sent by Odin, they picked up dead warriors from the ground and then carried them to the heavenly palace of Valhalla. There they served them, serving honey at the tables. Sometimes Valkyries also received the right to decide the outcome of battles, and make the warriors they liked most (killed, of course) their beloved.
In addition to the Valkyries, the female part of the pantheon was also represented by the Norns - three sorceresses endowed with the gift of clairvoyance. They were able to easily predict the fate of not only people and gods, but also the entire world as a whole. These sorceresses lived in the country of Midgard, inhabited by people. Their main duty was to water Yggdrasil, on the well-being of which the longevity of mankind depended.
Another group of supernatural inhabitants of the ancient world were the diss. Obeying the changeability of female nature, they were either guardians of people, or forces hostile to them. Among the monuments of ancient Germanic culture, of which, as mentioned above, Scandinavian mythology is a part, texts of spells have been preserved in which diss are credited with the power to restrain the onslaught of enemy troops and decide the outcome of battles.
Golden-haired goddess
In addition to the representatives of the female part of the pantheon, which were discussed above, the goddess Sif, who was the wife of the god of storms and thunder Thor, also deserves attention. Being the patroness of fertility, this lady, second in beauty only to the goddess of love Freya, gained fame for her extraordinary golden hair, the history of which deserves special attention.
One day, Sif's beauty made Loki, the god of deceit, jealous of her husband Thor. Seizing the moment when he was not at home, Loki crept into the bedchamber to his sleeping wife and... no, no, don’t think anything - he just cut her hair bald. However, there was no end to the poor woman’s despair, and the enraged husband was ready to kill the scoundrel, but he vowed to correct the situation.
For this purpose, Loki went to the gnome blacksmiths who lived in a fairyland and told them about what had happened. They happily volunteered to help by demonstrating their skills. The dwarves forged Sif's hair from pure gold, making it unusually long, thin and fluffy, which had the ability to immediately grow to the head and look like real hair. So the goddess Sif became the owner of golden hair.
Gods - lords of the seas
Another prominent representative of the Scandinavian pantheon is the ruler of the seas, Aegir. It is generally accepted that Aegir personifies, first of all, a calm and serene sea, as evidenced by its character. He is a hospitable host, willingly receiving guests and then visiting them at home. The Lord of the Seas is always peace-loving, and never participates in disputes, much less in wars. However, the expression “to fall into the teeth of Aegir”, which was widespread in the old days, meaning to drown, suggests that he, too, sometimes has moments of anger.
It should be noted that a number of sources name another Scandinavian god, Njord, as the lord of the seas, and ascribe to him a quiet and friendly disposition, while Aegir is portrayed as a troublemaker of the seas and the creator of storms, which Njord has to subdue and save ships in distress. One should not be surprised, since this is just one example of discrepancies that have arisen in the Scandinavian epic over the past centuries.
The blacksmith who made the wings
The Scandinavian pantheon also had its own blacksmith god named Volund. This hard worker is a character in the epics of almost all Germanic peoples. His fate was difficult and dramatic in its own way. Being one of the three sons of the Finnish king (supreme ruler), he nevertheless lived by the labor of his hands. IN family life The guy was clearly unlucky. His beloved wife Herver, a maiden who sometimes took the form of a swan, abandoned him, leaving behind only a wedding ring. Suffering from separation, Volund forged 700 of his duplicates.
But his misadventures did not end there. One day, while sleeping, the blacksmith god was captured by the Swedish king Nidud. The villain not only deprived the master of his freedom, but also crippled him, leaving him lame for life. Having imprisoned Wayland in a dungeon, the king forced him to work day and night, forging weapons for himself and precious jewelry for his wife and daughter. Only thanks to chance and his own cunning did the captive manage to regain his freedom.
The legend tells that one day the sons of Nidud came to Volund’s dungeon, wanting, like their father, to have swords made by him. Taking advantage of the moment, the blacksmith killed them, then made goblets from the skulls, which he sent to their father, and from the eyes jewelry for the queen, and from the teeth brooches for the princess. To top it all off, he lured an unsuspecting girl to him and raped her. Having thus taken his revenge, and quite pleased with himself, the blacksmith god flew away on wings of his own making.
New times - new characters
With the spread of Christianity in the countries of Scandinavia, all the previous mythical deities underwent a certain transformation, taking on the appearance of saints, or, generally, disappearing. Volund also changed beyond recognition, turning from a divine character into a demonic one. This is due, first of all, to his profession. It is known that in ancient times blacksmiths were treated with a certain degree of suspicion, attributing to them a connection with evil spirits.
It is not surprising after this that Goethe, slightly changing this name, endowed it with his hero Mephistopheles in one of the scenes of the tragedy “Faust,” who introduced himself as Woland. Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov borrowed the find from the brilliant German, immortalizing it in “The Master and Margarita”, and giving it to the former Wayland new life in the image of professor of black magic Woland.
A small list of Scandinavian gods that were not included in our review:
- Bragi is the son of Odin.
- Vidar is the deity of war.
- Henir is Odin's brother.
- Forseti is the son of Balder.
- Fulla is the goddess of abundance.
- Eir is the goddess of healing.
- Lovn is the goddess of mercy.
- Ver is the goddess of knowledge.
- Jord is the goddess of the earth.
- Skadi is the patroness of hunting.
- Ull is the god of the hunt.
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