Odin: The Allfather of Norse Mythology
Explore Odin, the Allfather of Norse mythology, his many names, his quest for wisdom, his ravens Huginn and Muninn, his spear Gungnir, and his role at Ragnarok.
Odin stands at the centre of the Norse pantheon as the chief of the Aesir and the god of wisdom, war, poetry, magic, and death. Known by dozens of names — among them Allfather, Yggr, Grímnir, Hárr, and Óðinn — he presides over Valhalla, the great hall where half of those slain in battle are welcomed to feast and fight until the final battle. While Thor is the more popular god among the common folk of Scandinavia, Odin was the supreme deity of the aristocratic and royal cults, and the Norse kings traced their lineage back to him through legendary ancestors. His mythology is preserved in the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, in the Poetic Edda, in the Heimskringla, and in the great body of skaldic verse that survives from the Viking Age and the early Icelandic commonwealth.
The Many Names of Odin
The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson lists more than 150 names for Odin, a number matched by no other Norse deity. Each name reflects a different aspect of his character, a particular story, or a poetic kenning used by skalds. Among the most frequently encountered in the surviving literature are:
- Óðinn, the principal name, related to Old Norse óðr (“fury,” “poetic inspiration”), and cognate with the Old English Wōden and the Old High German Wotan.
- Allfather (Alföðr), a name used in the Grímnismál and elsewhere, signifying his paternity of the gods and of all the slain warriors in Valhalla.
- Yggr (“the terrible”), the name by which the young Agnar in the Grímnismál addresses him, and the basis of the name Yggdrasil (“Yggr’s horse”) and the name of Odin’s hall in the afterlife, Valhöll.
- Grímnir (“the masked”) and Hárr (“the hoary”), names used in the Grímnismál when he sits bound between two fires, revealing his wisdom to his grandson.
- Hroptr, Böðvarr, Fjölnir, Gautr, Sannr, Svipall, Váfuðr, Viðfríðr — each appearing in the great catalogues of the Gylfaginning and the Þulur.
The names of Odin are not mere synonyms. They are theological statements, each pointing to a different story, attribute, or cultic context. To list the names of Odin, in the medieval Icelandic tradition, was to demonstrate learning; to invoke one was to call upon a particular aspect of his power.
Odin’s Family and Genealogy
Odin is the son of Borr and the giantess Bestla, and the brother of Vili and Vé. In the Völuspá the three brothers are described as the first of the gods, who slay the primordial giant Ymir and from his body make the world. In the Prose Edda the three brothers share rule of Asgard, and in Odin’s long absences (notably his eight-year exile described in the Ynglinga saga) Vili and Vé govern in his place. The name Vili is sometimes glossed as “will” and Vé as “holiness,” suggesting an early theological division of attributes among the three.
Odin’s principal wife is Frigg, mother of Baldr and Höðr. In the Lokasenna Loki accuses Odin of having fathered children upon many women; matches what the Prose Edda and the Ynglinga saga record about the wandering of the Allfather.
Odin’s children are numerous. From Frigg he has Baldr and Höðr. From the earth-goddess Jörð he has Thor. From the giantess Gríðr he has Víðarr, the silent god. From the giantess Rindr he has Váli, born for the specific purpose of avenging Baldr. From a brief union with Freya (according to one passage in the Lokasenna, contested by scholars) he has Narfi and Váli the Lopt’s son. The saga heroes Sigurðr of the Völsunga saga and Hadingus of the Saxo Grammaticus tradition are sometimes counted as descendants.
Odin’s Attributes
Odin’s most famous possessions are his eight-legged horse, his two ravens, his two wolves, his spear, his high seat, and his missing eye. Each is an object of deep mythic and cultic significance.
Sleipnir, the Eight-Legged Horse
Sleipnir is Odin’s eight-legged grey horse, born of Loki and the stallion Svaðilfari during the building of Asgard’s walls. He is described in the Prose Edda as the best of horses, who carries Odin across the nine worlds. He is the ancestor of many noble horses in the saga tradition, and his name has been the subject of extensive etymological speculation: it may mean “slipper” (i.e. one who slips between worlds) or “the sliding one” (cf. the “slipway” of a ship).
Huginn and Muninn
Huginn and Muninn are Odin’s two ravens, whose names mean “thought” and “memory.” Each morning Odin sends them out across the worlds, and each evening they return to whisper into his ear all that they have seen and heard. In the Grímnismál Odin says, “Huginn and Muninn fly each day over the wide earth; I fear for Huginn lest he come not back, but I fear more for Muninn.” The passage is one of the most often cited in the entire Norse corpus, and the ravens are attested on a number of Viking Age objects (e.g. the picture stones of Gotland, where Odin appears with two birds on his shoulders).
Geri and Freki
Geri (“the ravenous”) and Freki (“the greedy”) are Odin’s two wolves, named in the Grímnismál. Odin gives them all the food set before him at his table in Valhalla, for he himself lives on wine alone. The names are also kennings for “fire” in skaldic verse.
Gungnir, the Spear
Odin’s spear Gungnir was forged by the dwarves and bears the runes of victory cut upon its point. It never misses its mark and never returns empty. In the Völuspá the spear is cast by the Vanir during their war with the Aesir, and it becomes the symbol of Odin’s martial power. The custom of casting a spear over the head of a slain enemy, marking him as a victim of Odin, is recorded in the Hauksbók and the Saxo Grammaticus tradition.
Hliðskjálf, the High Seat
Hliðskjálf is Odin’s high seat in Asgard, from which he can see over all the nine worlds. It is reserved for Odin and his wife Frigg, and sitting upon it confers the gift of sight over all things. In the Þrymskviða Loki borrows the seat and sees Freyja’s lost necklace. In the Gylfaginning Frigg is said to sit beside Odin there, sharing his foreknowledge though remaining silent about what she sees.
Odin’s Eye and Mímir’s Well
The most famous of Odin’s self-inflicted wounds is the loss of his eye at Mímir’s well. In the Gylfaginning Odin travels to the well of Mimir, which lies under one of the three roots of Yggdrasil, and asks for a draught of its waters, which contain the wisdom of the nine worlds. Mimir demands an eye as the price. Odin plucks out his eye and drops it into the well, and from that day the waters of the well are said to be white with the foam of his eye. Mimir keeps the eye in the well, and the wisdom of the ages is preserved in its waters. Snorri notes that the well is named for the wise being Mimir, who is also identified with the severed head that Odin keeps with him and consults on matters of great moment.
The myth of Odin’s sacrificed eye is the most striking expression of his character. He is willing to lose a part of his body for the sake of knowledge, just as he is later willing to hang himself on the wind-rock for nine nights to win the runes. The price of wisdom in Odin’s theology is bodily sacrifice, and the wisdom of the Allfather is always shown in the scars it leaves.
The Self-Sacrifice on Yggdrasil and the Winning of the Runes
In the Hávamál, the most important of the Eddic poems, Odin describes how he won the runes by hanging himself on a wind-rock, wounded by spear, given to Odin, self-sacrificed to himself, for nine nights. He describes how the winds blew and how no man came to help him, and how the runes rose up to meet him. The poem is the principal source for Odin’s association with the runes and is the basis for his identity as a god of writing, magic, and the secret knowledge of the runic alphabet.
The self-sacrifice is sometimes interpreted as a reflection of human shamanic initiation: the shaman-to-be undergoes a death-like ordeal, a descent into the underworld, and a rebirth with new knowledge. In Odin’s case, the descent is followed by the gift of the runes, the gift of poetry (he took the mead of poetry from the giants and brought it back to Asgard), and the gift of prophecy (he sits at the world tree and sees the fate of gods and men).
Odin’s Magic: Seiðr and Galdr
Odin is the principal practitioner of seiðr among the Aesir, having learned it from Freya (who herself brought it from Vanaheim). The Ynglinga saga describes his use of seiðr to determine the future, to send his spirit out of his body, and to influence the weather and the outcomes of battles. The practice was considered shameful for a man — ergi, unmanliness — but Odin engaged in it anyway, and his willingness to transgress gender norms is part of his theological character.
He is also the master of galdr, the incantation; of ljóð, the sung verse; and of the runes, the written characters of power. The Hávamál catalogues eighteen “rune-songs” for healing, for protection, for victory in battle, for the winning of a lover, for the saving of a hanged man, and for many other purposes.
Odin’s Hall: Valhalla and the Einherjar
Valhalla is the great hall in Asgard ruled over by Odin, where half of those slain in battle are received after death. The Grímnismál describes its roof as shields, its rafters as spears, its benches as breast-plates. Each day the Einherjar, the warriors brought there by the Valkyries, fight one another until the world is reborn; each evening they are healed, feast on the boar Sæhrímnir, and drink the goat’s mead provided by the she-goat Heiðrún.
Odin himself sits in Valhalla, surrounded by his wolves and his ravens, sharing out the mead to the slain, choosing champions from among them, and consulting on the fate of the world. The Valkyries serve the mead, and the Einherjar form the army that Odin will lead against the forces of chaos at Ragnarok.
The Valkyries
The Valkyries (“choosers of the slain”) are Odin’s handmaidens, sent into the world of mortals to select those who will die in battle and to bring them to Valhalla. They are sometimes counted as divine beings, sometimes as the spirits of dead women, sometimes as the daughters of kings. The Grímnismál lists them by name: Skuld, Skögul, Hildr, Þrúðr, Hlökk, Herfjötur, Göndul, Geirahöhðr, Ráðgríðr, and Reginleif. In the heroic legends individual Valkyries — Brynhildr, Sigrún, Sváva — become the central figures of romantic and tragic stories.
The Valkyries also serve in Valhalla, where they pour the mead and bring the slain warriors to the great feasts. In the Völuspá the seeress describes them as a host of armed women riding the air, with helmets and spears, and their presence in the sky is one of the most striking images in the Poetic Edda.
Odin in the Lokasenna
The Lokasenna, a poem of the Poetic Edda, is structured as a flyting in which Loki, after being ejected from the feast, returns to insult each of the gathered gods in turn. When his turn comes, Odin replies with a speech that reveals a great deal about his character. He acknowledges that he is the patron of those who fall in battle, that he has taken lovers, that he has used seiðr, that he has stirred up war among kings. He claims the right to be feared and obeyed, and he is silent about Loki’s accusations. The exchange is one of the central moments in the Norse mythology of the gods’ quarrels, and it sets in motion the binding of Loki that will culminate in Ragnarok.
Odin’s Role at Ragnarok
In the Völuspá and the Gylfaginning, Odin’s role at Ragnarok is to lead the Einherjar against the forces of chaos: the Jötnar, the Fenrir, and the legions of Hel. He rides out on Sleipnir, wearing a golden helmet and a coat of mail, his spear Gungnir in his hand. He is to fight the wolf Fenrir, and the two are destined to kill each other. According to the standard Völuspá and Gylfaginning accounts, Odin is swallowed whole by the wolf; in a few later redactions the two kill each other. The end of Odin is, in either case, the central tragedy of Ragnarok.
The survival of Odin after Ragnarok is unclear in the surviving sources. The Völuspá describes Víðarr avenging his father by kicking the wolf in the mouth, and a “mighty one” returning to the new Asgard. The identity of this “mighty one” is debated: some commentators read it as Víðarr, some as the reborn Odin, and some as Baldr returned from the dead.
Odin’s Cult and Worship
Odin was worshipped as the principal god of the aristocratic and royal cult in the Viking Age. The cult was concentrated in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, and the great English dynasty of the Vikings (the Ynglingar of the Heimskringla) traced their descent to him. In the Ynglinga saga Snorri Sturluson treats Odin as a historical ruler who came from the east and established the Swedish kingship, sacrificing at Uppsala and making laws.
Place-names containing Odin’s name — Odense (“Odin’s holy place”) in Denmark, Odinsharg and similar compounds in Sweden — attest to the geographical distribution of his cult. In the Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum of Adam of Bremen (c. 1075), the great temple at Uppsala is described as having idols of Thor, Odin, and Freyr, and being the centre of a major sacrifice every nine years.
The cult of Odin was also closely tied to the institution of human sacrifice, the hangir. The hanged man was the victim of Odin, and the noose of the gallows was sacred to him (he is sometimes called Hangaguð, “god of the hanged”). The image of the Allfather on the gallows is central to his theology: just as he hanged himself on the wind-rock for the runes, his devotees die by the same method and are taken to him in Valhalla.
Odin and the Continental Germanic Woden
The cult of Odin can be traced well outside the Norse world. The Germania of Tacitus (c. 98 CE) identifies the Germanic Woden (also rendered Mercury) as the principal deity of the Germanic peoples, and the second century Gothic historian Cassiodorus reports that the Goths sacrificed to him as the bringer of victory. In Old English the Nine Herbs Charm and the metrical charm Wið færstice invoke Woden as a healer; in Old High German the Merseburg Incantations describe Wodan as a healer of the wounded horse of the Phol and Wodan.
The English word Wednesday and the German Mittwoch (“mid-week”) preserve his name; in the Scandinavian languages the day is Onsdag (Danish and Norwegian) or onsdag (Swedish). The -dagr of Onsdag is a borrowing from the Latin dies Mercurii, the day of Mercury, with which the Roman syncretism identified Woden. The association with Mercury is significant: Mercury is a psychopomp, a guide of the dead, a patron of eloquence and thieves — all attributes that Odin shares.
Odin in the Heroic Sagas
In the heroic sagas, Odin appears in disguise as a one-eyed old man, advising the heroes, testing them, and sometimes leading them to their doom. In the Völsunga saga he gives a sword to Sigmund, the father of Sigurðr, and he shatters the sword when Sigmund tries to draw it against the powers of fate. In the Hervarar saga he appears as a prisoner, bound between two fires, and teaches the young Hervör the genealogies of the heroes. In the Sörla þáttr he tricks the giant Sörli in a chess game, and the giant’s death is recorded in the saga. In the Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar he sits on Hliðskjálf and sees a Valkyrie riding to the aid of the hero Helgi, and he counsels the other gods to support Helgi’s cause.
In each case Odin is the silent, all-seeing god, who knows the fate of the world and acts to bring it about, even when his actions contradict the will of the other gods. He is the divine agent of fate, and his appearances in the heroic sagas are the occasions on which the human world touches the divine.
Conclusion
Odin is the most complex and the most theologically developed of the Norse gods. His mythology is built around four great themes: wisdom won at the cost of bodily sacrifice; war and death as gifts to the chosen few; magic and the runes as the secret knowledge of the divine; and fate as a force that even the gods cannot escape. Each of these themes is developed throughout the Norse literary tradition, and each gives Odin a depth and seriousness unmatched in the other gods. To read the Hávamál is to read the gospel of a god who knows that wisdom is paid for in pain, and that the highest knowledge is the knowledge of one’s own death.