Odin

Norse tradition

• Odin belongs to Norse tradition.

  Odin is a central figure of the Norse narrative world as Snorri organizes it for a later audience.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Odin is associated with Knowledge.

  Snorri’s Odin sends Huginn (“thought”) and Muninn (“memory”) to gather news. The knowledge is reconnaissance, not a modern idea of inner wisdom.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Odin is associated with Death.

  Snorri’s Odin receives the slain and is concerned with the dead of battle. That is a war-god’s economy of death, not a generic grim reaper.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Odin is associated with Tree.

  Snorri describes the ash Yggdrasil as the world-tree among whose roots the gods hold court. Odin’s name is later tied to that tree; the pairing is Norse, not a universal axis.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Odin is associated with Prophecy.

  Snorri’s frame includes questions about the world’s course and ending. Odin’s hunger for news is not the same as a Greek oracle’s seated answer.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

  associated with · partially sourced · documented

• Odin is associated with Rune.

  Hávamál has Odin take up runes. The knowledge-cost is a Norse poetic claim alongside Snorri’s ravens.

  from Anonymous (Eddic poems); Carolyne Larrington (translation) · Poetic Edda, medieval Icelandic compilation; Larrington trans. 1996/2014

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• Odin is associated with Memory.

  Muninn is Memory in Snorri’s household of ravens. The memory is a scout.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Raven is sacred to Odin.

  In Norse tradition Odin keeps two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who fly the world and return with news. The bird is a working companion of that god, not a generic emblem of wisdom.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Rune is sacred to Odin.

  Hávamál has Odin hanging and taking up runes. The knowledge is a costly counsel, not Thoth’s scribal office.

  from Anonymous (Eddic poems); Carolyne Larrington (translation) · Poetic Edda, medieval Icelandic compilation; Larrington trans. 1996/2014

  sacred to · sourced · documented

• Memory is sacred to Odin.

  Snorri names one of Odin’s ravens Muninn, Memory. The memory is a scout that might not return, not a modern psychology.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Gungnir is sacred to Odin.

  Snorri’s Gylfaginning names Gungnir as Odin’s spear. A named weapon of that god in the prose, not Mjolnir, and not a generic staff.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Draupnir is sacred to Odin.

  Snorri’s Gylfaginning names Draupnir as Odin’s dripping gold ring. A named ring of that god, not Andvaranaut, and not a generic ring.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

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• Hliðskjálf is sacred to Odin.

  Snorri’s Gylfaginning names Hliðskjálf as the high seat from which Odin looks over the worlds. A named seat of that god, not a generic throne, and not Valhalla as a hall-dump.

  from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

  sacred to · sourced · documented