Odin the Wanderer

Odin is the Allfather, the chief of the Aesir gods and the Norse god of war, wisdom, poetry, magic and the dead. He sacrificed one eye at Mímir's well for wisdom and hung for nine nights on a windswept tree, usually taken to be the world-tree Yggdrasil, to win the runes. He rides the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, is flanked by his ravens Huginn and Muninn and his wolves Geri and Freki, and wields the spear Gungnir. At Ragnarök he is devoured by the wolf Fenrir.

Finally, the time has come to write about a Norse God that many of you (if not all) love the most of all Gods in Norse Mythology. He is Thor’s father and is also known as the All-father of Gods. Of course, this article is about Odin, the King of Asgard.

Odin (Old Norse: Óðinn) is the ruler of Asgard, the realm of the Gods. He is also the main God in Norse universe. Odin also has a place in Germanic mythology where he is known as Wuotan (in Old High German) and Woden (in Old English).

Odin has by far the most different attributes than any other God within the Norse pantheon. Often portrayed as a one-eyed wanderer who is the wisest of all Norse Gods, it was believed that Odin was a god of war, poetry, runes, magic, and the dead. The raven and the wolf symbols were dedicated to Odin because of his faithful companions. Furthermore, the All-father has a horse like no other and owns some of the most powerful artifacts in the Norse universe.

He is a member of the Aesir tribe of Gods, he created the world as we know it with his two brothers, and he rules from Asgard (the home realm of the Gods). He chooses the most fierce fallen Viking warriors to join him at his great Hall, Valhalla, to fight at his side when Ragnarök begins. However, even though the All-father might seem invincible to you, he was destined to meet his demise during the final battle, which will bring upon the destruction of the whole Norse universe.

But, just like in the previous articles, let us not get ahead of ourselves, and start from the very beginning, as Odin deserves his story to be told in the right way.

Check out our Odin themed viking bracelets.

Odin’s Home and Family

Odin owns a hall called Valaskjálf (the name is usually read as "the Shelf of the Slain"). According to Gylfaginning 17, the gods built it and roofed it with pure silver. In this hall stands his high seat, Hlidskjalf (Old Norse Hliðskjálf). When Odin sits in it, he can look out over all the worlds. It is a holy seat: when Freyr sat in it, Snorri says he paid for that arrogance and went away full of grief (Gylfaginning 37). Odin shares it with his wife, Frigg. In the prose that opens Grímnismál, the two of them sit in Hliðskjálf and look out over all the worlds.

Now, let’s say a few words about Odin’s ancestors and his family.

Odin’s grandfather is Buri, whom the primeval cow Auðhumla licked out of the salty blocks of ice (Gylfaginning 6). Buri had a son, Bor (Old Norse Borr), who married the giantess Bestla, daughter of the giant Bölþorn. Their three sons were Odin, Vili and Vé. The three brothers created the Norse universe as we know it today.

Odin’s wife is Frigg. Snorri names her the foremost of the goddesses (Gylfaginning 35), and in Skáldskaparmál he calls her queen of the Aesir and the goddesses. Together they have a son, Baldr. Odin is also the father of Hodr, the blind god whose throw kills Baldr. However, Odin had other sons as well. Some giantesses living within the realm of Jotunheim were so beautiful that even the All-father himself was not able to resist them. So on many occasions, Odin went to Jotunheim to be with those beautiful jötunn.

As a result, Odin had many sons, but we will mention only a few of the most important ones. Of course, the most famous son of Odin is the God of Thunder, Thor, whom he had with Jörð (Earth). Rind bore him a son, Vali, and the giantess Grid bore him Vidar.

Odin’s Appearance and Treasures

Odin's Appearance

Odin is mostly portrayed as an old-man with only one-eye and a long beard, usually wearing a hat and a cloak, holding his spear, Gungnir, in his hands. Another item of incredible power owned by the All-father was a piece of viking jewelry, the ring Draupnir.

Furthermore, Odin is often showed with some of his faithful animal companions. He rides an eight-legged steed called Sleipnir. His two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, fly over the whole world gathering news, then sit on Odin’s shoulders and whisper what they have seen and heard into his ears. While in Asgard, Odin is usually accompanied by Geri and Freki, his two wolves.

Odin’s Spear - Gungnir

The Spear Of The God Odin - Gungnir

Gungnir (meaning “Swaying”) was the spear of incredible power that belonged to Odin.

Of course, Gungnir is not just any spear, it is the weapon of a god after all. It was forged by the most skilled craftsmen in the Norse universe, the dwarves.

The story is told in Skáldskaparmál. Loki had cut off all the hair of Sif, Thor’s wife, and Thor would have broken every bone in his body if Loki had not sworn to get her new hair of gold. Loki went to the dwarves called the sons of Ívaldi, who made the golden hair, the ship Skíðblaðnir and the spear Gungnir. Loki then bet his head with the dwarf Brokkr that Brokkr’s brother could not make three treasures as good, and that wager produced Draupnir, Gullinbursti and Mjölnir.

When Loki gave the spear to Odin, he said that Gungnir never stops in its thrust.

The spear is also tied to the runes: in Sigrdrífumál 17, the point of Gungnir is among the things runes were carved on.

In the war between the Aesir and the Vanir tribes, Odin opened the fighting by hurling his spear over the enemy host. Völuspá 24 does not name the weapon, but the line is usually read that way, and the poem calls this the first war in the world.

The famous cry “Odin owns you all!” (Old Norse “Óðinn á yðr alla”) does not come from that poem. It belongs to Styrbjarnar þáttr, a later story about the battle of Fýrisvellir. There, King Eiríkr of Sweden is handed a reed by a tall man in a hood and told to shoot it over Styrbjörn’s army and say those words. In the air, the reed turns into a spear.

Odin’s Horse - Sleipnir

Sleipnir (Old Norse “The Slipper” or “Slippy”) is the best horse among gods and men (Gylfaginning 42). What makes it even more unique is that Sleipnir had eight legs and could ride both through the air and over the water. Odin often rides Sleipnir on his travels across the nine realms, which are held firmly between the roots and branches of Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

Like Odin’s spear, his horse came to him through Loki. During the construction of the impenetrable wall that surrounds Asgard, the builder asked to use his stallion for the work, and it was Loki who advised the gods to agree. The builder turned out to be a mountain giant.

As the giant was going to finish his work on time, the Gods tasked Loki to sabotage the construction. Loki shapeshifted into a mare and seduced giant’s horse, Svaðilfari, who has been of great help during the building of the wall. Eventually, Svaðilfari completely abandoned its construction tasks, and the wall was not built on time. However, in the meantime, Svaðilfari had intercourse with Loki, who later gave birth to Sleipnir, the grey, eight-legged foal that became Odin’s horse.

Odin’s Ravens - Muninn and Huginn

Odin's Ravens Huginn and Muninn

Odin’s ravens are called Huginn (Old Norse "thought") and Muninn (Old Norse “mind” or "memory"). At dawn, Odin sends them out to fly over the whole world, and they come back by the morning meal to whisper the news into his ears (Gylfaginning 38). In Grímnismál 20, Odin says they fly over the earth every day, and that he fears for Huginn, but fears more for Muninn. When they are not out exploring the world, the ravens sit on Odin’s shoulders while he rules from his throne in Asgard.

Because of Huginn and Muninn, Odin is also called “the raven god” (Old Norse Hrafnaguð), as Snorri explains in Gylfaginning 38.

There are also many findings of ancient Viking jewelry featuring Odin’s ravens.

Odin’s Wolves - Geri and Freki

Odin’s two wolves are Geri (meaning “the ravenous”) and Freki (meaning “greedy one”).

The medieval sources say little else about them, and what they do say is about food. In Grímnismál 19, Odin feeds Geri and Freki, while he himself lives on wine alone. Snorri retells it in Gylfaginning 38: Odin gives the food set on his table to his two wolves, because he needs no food himself. Wine is both his drink and his meat.

Odin’s Ring - Draupnir

Odin’s magical golden ring is called Draupnir (Old Norse “the dripper"). The ring has the power to make eight new gold rings of equal weight drip from it every ninth night. That makes it a natural symbol of abundance.

Draupnir was forged by some of the most skilled craftsmen in the Norse universe, the dwarf brothers Brokkr and Sindri (called Eitri in some manuscripts). The ring was forged together with Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir, and the magic boar Gullinbursti as part of Loki’s wager, and Brokkr gave it to Odin.

When Baldr, a son of Odin and the most loved of all Norse Gods, died, Odin laid his magical ring on Baldr’s funeral pyre aboard the ship Hringhorni (Gylfaginning 49).

The ring did not stay with the dead. When Hermóðr rode to Hel to ask for Baldr’s return, Baldr sent Draupnir back to Odin as a keepsake. Baldr himself comes back only after Ragnarök: in Völuspá 62, he returns to live in the renewed world.

The Most Famous Myths about Odin

Odin’s Role in Creation of the World - the Origin Myth

As we have already mentioned, Odin had two brothers, Vili and Ve. The three of them killed Ymir and created the world from his corpse. In short, Ymir’s blood became the lakes and seas, his bones the mountains, and his flesh the earth.

Once the brothers finished with assembling the Norse universe, they brought to life the first humans, Ask (the man) and Embla (the woman), from two trees they found on the seashore. In Snorri’s telling (Gylfaginning 9), the first brother gave them breath and life, the second wit and movement, and the third a face, speech, hearing and sight, and together they gave them clothes and names. In Völuspá 17–18, the three gods are Odin, Hœnir and Lóðurr, and it is Odin who gives the first humans breath. Snorri also says this is why Odin is called Allfather: he is the father of all the gods and of men.

Was Odin Actually a Man?

Even though the origin myth lives on, there is an old idea that Odin was nothing more than a human. But not a common one.

The idea goes back to the Middle Ages. In Ynglinga saga, Snorri presents Odin as a chieftain who ruled from Ásgarðr in Asia and later died of sickness in Sweden. As he was dying, he had himself marked with a spear point, and the Swedes came to believe he had gone back to the old Ásgarðr to live forever, so they began to worship him again (Ynglinga saga 2 and 10). Some modern scholars also suggest that Odin’s cult grew over time and pushed the older god Tyr out of first place. Is any of this true? Truth be told, we don’t know, but if it was, Odin must have been one hell of a warrior!

How Odin Lost His Eye in Pursuit of Wisdom

Odin does not belong to the group of all-knowing Gods, on the contrary, he is always in pursuit of wisdom. His everlasting desire to seek knowledge comes at a great price, as we will now see.

The most famous of all myths surrounding Odin is the one telling about how he lost his eye while seeking wisdom. The All-father went to Mímir’s well (Old Norse Mímisbrunnr), which lies under the root of Yggdrasil that reaches toward the frost giants, because wisdom and understanding are hidden in its waters. There he came to Mimir, who owns the well and is full of wisdom because he drinks from it (Gylfaginning 15).

Straight away, Odin asked for a sip of water from the well, but the guardian knew the value of such a gift. Mimir was not willing to simply give Odin a chance to acquire great wisdom without a certain price. Great wisdom comes at a great cost, as you will see.

To allow Odin to drink from the well, the guardian asked the All-father to sacrifice an eye. Odin agreed to Mimir’s terms and laid his eye in pledge. As a result, he was allowed to drink from the well. In Völuspá 28, the seeress tells Odin that she knows where his eye is hidden: in the famous well of Mímir, who drinks mead every morning from Odin’s pledge. In the end, Odin spent the rest of his life with one eye, but also with unmatched wisdom.

Odin and the Discovery of the Runes

Discovery of the Runes

Another famous myth that tells about Odin’s continuing pursuit of wisdom is how he discovered the runes. Nowadays, we think of the runes as an ancient form of writing, but back in the Viking era, they were far more than that. It was believed that the runes contained the secrets to greater knowledge and even the meaning of life. Here is the short version of the tale:

At the very center of the universe lies the Norse Tree of Life, Yggdrasil. The tree stands ever green over the Well of Urd (Old Norse Urðarbrunnr), as Völuspá 19 says. It is a different well from Mímir’s (Gylfaginning 15). From the water under the tree come three maidens known as Norns. According to Völuspá 20, they carve on wood (skíði), lay down laws and choose the lives and fates of men.

Odin tells the story himself in Hávamál 138–139. He hung on a windswept tree for nine full nights, wounded with a spear and given to Odin, himself to himself, on a tree whose roots no one knows. No one gave him bread or drink. He peered down, took up the runes, screaming, and then fell back from the tree. The poem does not name the tree, but it is usually taken to be Yggdrasil.

In the next stanzas, Odin says he learned nine mighty songs from the famous son of Bölþorn, Bestla’s father, and won a drink of the precious mead. Then he began to grow wise and to thrive (Hávamál 140–141). In the story, this is how Odin became the master of runes and magic.

Odin and the Mead of Poetry

Odin liked to speak in poems, and it is believed that he was the one who gave poetry to mankind. He did it after stealing and drinking the Mead of Poetry, and trust us when we say that stealing the mead was quite an adventure.

There was more about this mead than just poetry. Alongside poetry, Odin acquired the ability to persuade and inspire others after drinking the mead. Snorri tells the full story in Skáldskaparmál, and Odin gives his own side of it in Hávamál 104–110. Here is a short version of how Odin stole the Mead of Poetry.

There are two tribes of Gods in the Norse universe, the Aesir and the Vanir. Throughout history, the two groups fought from time to time. Following a certain battle, they made a truce, sealing it by spitting into a vessel. From that spit, the gods made a man called Kvasir. Kvasir was so wise that no one could ask him a question he could not answer, and he wandered the world teaching people wisdom.

After some time, two dwarves, Galar and Fjalar, invited Kvasir to their home. Once Kvasir got there, the dwarves killed him and mixed his blood with honey to make mead. This magical mead contained Kvasir’s power to provide inspiration and wisdom. Anyone who drank it would acquire these powerful gifts.

Galar and Fjalar got themselves into a situation where they had to give the mead to Suttung, a giant who hid the mead under the mountain. Odin knew where the mead was hidden, but he didn’t know how to enter the mountain. Odin wanted the mead, and so he set upon another adventure in pursuit of wisdom.

Odin started near the farm of Suttung’s brother, Baugi. There he met nine thralls mowing hay, sharpened their scythes with his whetstone, and threw the whetstone into the air. The thralls fought over it and cut each other’s throats with their scythes. Calling himself Bölverkr, Odin then offered to do the work of all nine men for Baugi, and in return he asked for one drink of the Mead of Poetry. As Baugi didn’t own the mead, he promised to go with Odin and try to get the mead once Odin had done his part of the bargain.

After Odin completed all his tasks at the farm, he and Baugi went to meet Suttung. Baugi asked his brother to allow Odin to drink from the mead, but the giant angrily refused. Therefore, Odin and Baugi decided to venture under the mountain on their own. Baugi drilled a hole through a rock, and Odin turned into a snake, so he was able to crawl through the opening into the heart of the mountain.

When he got inside, Odin came to Gunnlod, Suttung’s daughter, who guarded the mead. He slept with her for three nights, and she then let him have three drinks of the mead. With those three drinks he emptied all three vessels, Óðrerir, Boðn and Són. After drinking the mead, Odin shapeshifted into an eagle and flew back to Asgard.

As Odin already possessed vast knowledge and insight, these new gifts allowed him to use his powers to motivate and inspire others.

Odin’s Death during Ragnarök

When Heimdall blows the Gjallarhorn to wake the gods, Odin rides to Mímir’s well and seeks counsel from Mimir (Gylfaginning 51). Völuspá 46 says that Odin speaks with Mím’s head. Then the gods and the einherjar arm themselves and ride out to meet their enemies, even though the battle will be their downfall.

The battle took place on a field called Vigrid (Old Norse Vígríðr). Odin was destined to fight Fenrir the Wolf, and by his side, he had the bravest of all Viking warriors, the einherjar. The All-father and his fallen champions fought like no one has fought before.

But it was not enough.

At a certain point in the battle, Fenrir swallowed Odin (Vafþrúðnismál 53, Gylfaginning 51). Völuspá 53 says only that Odin goes to fight the wolf and falls. And just like that, the most powerful of all Gods was gone. Odin’s son, Vidar, saw the beast devouring his father, and filled with rage he charged to avenge Odin’s death. In Snorri’s version, Vidar sets the foot with his thick shoe in the wolf’s lower jaw, grabs the upper jaw with his hand and tears its mouth apart (Gylfaginning 51). In Völuspá 55, he drives his sword into the wolf’s heart.

Etymology and Modern Day Influence

Odin’s name has many variations such as Óðinn (in Old Norse), Wuotan (in Old High German), Wōden (in Old Saxon), and Wōden (in Old English). The Proto-Germanic theonym wōđanaz is the source of origin for all of the before mentioned names. The word wōđanaz is built on the Proto-Germanic adjective wōđaz, “raging, inspired”, the same root as Old Norse óðr, “mind, inspiration, frenzy”. Related words include Old Irish fáith and Latin vātēs, both meaning “seer” or “prophet”.

Odin is the God with the most known names in Norse mythology. In Grímnismál alone, Odin reels off dozens of his names, and says he has never gone by a single name since he went among the peoples. Most of them describe his powers or the myths about him.

One day of the week is named after Odin. It is Wednesday. The word Wednesday originates from the Old English word wōdnesdæg, which translates as the day of Woden (Odin).

Odin is one of the most influential figures in the Marvel universe (both in comics and movies). In Marvel comics, he was always portrayed with his right eye missing. In Marvel movies, he is shown as the mighty king of Asgard and the father of Thor and Loki. He was played by Anthony Hopkins.

Odin even influenced J.R.R. Tolkien. Gandalf, the grey wanderer with his hat, staff and long beard, is widely seen as an Odin-like figure.

And that is not all. Odin’s influence even stretches into music: in Richard Wagner’s opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848–1874), he appears as Wotan, the king of the gods.

The Last Word

Without further ado, the time has come to conclude our article about the wisest and maybe the most popular God in Norse mythology, Odin, the All-father. We hope that you got a chance to learn something new today so you can share your knowledge with your fellow Vikings.

Additionally, the lessons that we can all learn from these tales today is that gaining something valuable, like wisdom, usually comes at a certain price. And if something is really worth having, it will undoubtedly require a sacrifice that we should all agree to, regardless of the cost. Just like Odin did on many occasions.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts about Odin, the King of Aesir Gods, and the ruler of Asgard in the comments area below. Skål!

Odin, FAQ

Who is Odin?

Odin is the Allfather, the chief of the Aesir gods, and the Norse god of war, wisdom, poetry, magic and the dead. He is the ruler of Asgard and the father of many gods, including Thor.

What is Odin the god of?

Odin is the god of war and wisdom, but also of poetry, magic (seiðr), death and prophecy. In Hárbarðsljóð 24 he boasts that the nobles who fall in battle are his, while Thor gets the thralls, and he is always seeking hidden knowledge.

Why does Odin have one eye?

Odin gave up one of his eyes at Mímir's well in exchange for a drink from its waters, which granted him immense wisdom. Sacrifice for knowledge is central to his character.

What are Odin's ravens and wolves called?

His two ravens are Huginn ("thought") and Muninn ("memory"), who fly over the world each day and bring him news, and his two wolves are Geri and Freki, whom he feeds from his own table.

Does Odin die in Ragnarök?

Yes. At Ragnarök, Odin is swallowed by the great wolf Fenrir, and his son Víðarr avenges him by slaying the wolf.

Keep exploring: the meaning of Odin's missing eye, his ravens Huginn and Muninn, and the full Norse pantheon, or shop Viking jewelry.