Symbol reference · Galdrastafir
Óðinn
/ˈoːðinː/Old Norse Óðinn, masculine noun: óðr 'frenzy, inspiration' + the suffix -inn, 'master of'
The short answer
The chief god of the Norse pantheon: god of poetry, wisdom, war and the dead. He traded an eye for a drink from Mímir's well and hanged himself nine nights on the windswept tree to win the runes, and he gathers the battle-slain into Valhalla against the day of Ragnarök.
Odin is the god who pays for what he knows. Twice the sources show him buying knowledge with his own body: he leaves an eye in Mímir's well for a single drink from it, and in Hávamál he hangs nine nights on a windswept tree, wounded with a spear, given to himself, until the runes come to him and he falls back screaming. Neither trade makes him safe. What he buys is foreknowledge of Ragnarök, and it does not let him escape it.
That pattern runs through everything else. He is the god of poetry because he stole the mead of poetry from the giants in the shape of an eagle; the god of the dead because he needs an army for a battle he already knows he loses; the god of wisdom because he keeps asking, of seeresses, of severed heads, of anyone who will answer. His ravens Huginn and Muninn fly out each day so that he misses nothing, and Grímnismál has him admit he fears more for Muninn, memory, than for Huginn, thought.
He is also, plainly, not trustworthy. Hávamál has him confess to breaking oaths sworn on the ring. He gives victory and then withdraws it, because the warrior he abandons is the warrior he gains. Lokasenna throws his practice of seiðr at him as unmanly, and the poem lets the accusation stand. The sources are not embarrassed by any of this: a god of frenzy, poetry and the gallows is not supposed to be safe.
His name says as much. Old Norse Óðinn is built on óðr, the word for fury, inspiration and poetry, so the name means something like 'master of frenzy'. Behind it stands Proto-Germanic *Wōðanaz, which gives Old English Wōden and, through him, Wednesday. Tacitus, writing around 98 AD, says the Germani worship 'Mercury' above all other gods, and that is generally read as this same figure, a thousand years before anyone wrote the Eddas down.
That pattern runs through everything else. He is the god of poetry because he stole the mead of poetry from the giants in the shape of an eagle; the god of the dead because he needs an army for a battle he already knows he loses; the god of wisdom because he keeps asking, of seeresses, of severed heads, of anyone who will answer. His ravens Huginn and Muninn fly out each day so that he misses nothing, and Grímnismál has him admit he fears more for Muninn, memory, than for Huginn, thought.
He is also, plainly, not trustworthy. Hávamál has him confess to breaking oaths sworn on the ring. He gives victory and then withdraws it, because the warrior he abandons is the warrior he gains. Lokasenna throws his practice of seiðr at him as unmanly, and the poem lets the accusation stand. The sources are not embarrassed by any of this: a god of frenzy, poetry and the gallows is not supposed to be safe.
His name says as much. Old Norse Óðinn is built on óðr, the word for fury, inspiration and poetry, so the name means something like 'master of frenzy'. Behind it stands Proto-Germanic *Wōðanaz, which gives Old English Wōden and, through him, Wednesday. Tacitus, writing around 98 AD, says the Germani worship 'Mercury' above all other gods, and that is generally read as this same figure, a thousand years before anyone wrote the Eddas down.
Primary source Verbatim
Veit ek at ek hekk vindga meiði á nætr allar níu, geiri undaðr ok gefinn Óðni, sjalfr sjalfum mér.
I know that I hung on a windswept tree nine full nights, wounded with a spear and given to Odin, myself to myself.
HÁVAMÁL, st. 138 · translation editorial
Etymology
óðr
Old Norse
frenzy, fury, inspiration, poetry: the state, not the person
*Wōðanaz
Proto-Germanic
the one possessed by frenzy; behind Old English Wōden, and behind Wednesday
The name is not a title of rule but of state: óðr is the fury that takes hold of a poet, a seer or a berserker. Odin is its master, not its victim.
Common misconceptions
Common claim
What the record says
“Odin is a benevolent all-father, a kind of Norse Zeus.”
The sources give a colder figure. He breaks oaths (Hávamál says so in his own voice), stirs up wars, and grants victory to men he then abandons at the decisive moment, because he is collecting the slain for a battle of his own. Lokasenna has Loki throw both the broken oaths and his practice of seiðr in his face. He is worth respecting, not trusting.
“Vikings wore horned or winged helmets like the ones Odin is drawn in.”
No Viking-Age helmet with horns or wings has ever been excavated. The image comes from 19th-century opera costume and romantic painting. There is something older and much narrower behind it: the Vendel-era helmet plates from Torslunda and Sutton Hoo show figures wearing bird-crested and horned helms in ritual scenes, centuries before the Viking Age and not as battle dress. Our own figure follows the popular image rather than the archaeology, and says so.
“Odin gave his eye for power or immortality.”
He gave it for a single drink from Mímir's well, and what he bought was knowledge: above all the foreknowledge of Ragnarök. The trade does not let him escape it. He learns exactly how he dies, and walks toward it anyway. That is the point of the story, and it is lost when the eye is treated as a purchase of strength.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Odin in Norse mythology?
The chief god: of poetry, wisdom, war and the dead. He traded an eye for a drink from Mimir's well and hanged nine nights on the world-tree to win the runes, and he gathers the battle-slain into Valhalla for Ragnarok. The longer telling is in our Odin guide.
Why did Odin sacrifice his eye?
For one drink from Mimir's well, and what he bought was knowledge, above all foreknowledge of Ragnarok. It does not let him escape it: he learns exactly how he dies and walks toward it anyway. More in the meaning of Odin's missing eye.
Did Odin really hang himself on Yggdrasil?
Havamal 138 has him say it in his own voice: nine nights on a windswept tree, wounded with a spear, given to himself, until the runes came to him. The poem does not name the tree, and identifying it as Yggdrasil is an old and reasonable inference rather than the text. See Yggdrasil.
Did Vikings wear horned or winged helmets?
No. No Viking-Age helmet with horns or wings has ever been excavated; the image is 19th-century opera and romantic painting. Vendel-era helmet plates from Torslunda and Sutton Hoo do show bird-crested and horned helms in ritual scenes, centuries earlier and not as battle dress.
What is Odin's spear called?
Gungnir, forged by the dwarf sons of Ivaldi. He casts it over an enemy host in Voluspa to open the first war in the world. See Gungnir.
Is Wednesday named after Odin?
Yes. Wednesday is Old English Wodnesdaeg, the day of Woden, the English form of the same god. Tuesday belongs to Tyr, Thursday to Thor and Friday to Frigg.
Bibliography
- 1. The Poetic Edda (Hávamál, Grímnismál, Völuspá, Lokasenna), Codex Regius, c. 1270. Trans. Carolyne Larrington, rev. ed., Oxford World's Classics, 2014.
- 2. Snorri Sturluson, Edda (Gylfaginning; Skáldskaparmál), c. 1220. Trans. Anthony Faulkes, Everyman, 1987.
- 3. Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology, trans. Angela Hall, D. S. Brewer, 1993, s.v. 'Odin'.
Cite this entry
VikingsBrand. “Óðinn.” VikingsBrand Library, reviewed 10 August 2026, vikingsbrand.co/pages/library/odin.