I don’t know about you guys, but I am definitely feeling the burnout at this point in the semester and the lack of any multiple day breaks doesn’t help. Anyways….for this week’s blog, I decided to dive into something that I don’t know about outside of what Marvel and its Avengers movies have taught me: Norse mythology! In this blog, I will be introducing you to the beloved Baldur.
Names: Baldur, Baldr (Old Norse), Balder (Old English and Old High German)
Region: Scandinavia, Iceland
God of: Baldur of the Aesir tribe is known as the “loveliest and most beloved” god of the Norse pantheon. He is known for beauty, fairness and wisdom.
Appearance: Baldur often appears as a beautiful man surrounded by light.
Origin Story: Baldur is the son of Odin, chief of the Aesir, and Frigg, the goddess of wisdom. I’m sure you guys recognize one of his half brothers, Thor, but some other of his half brothers are Vidarr, Tyr, Heimdall, Hermod, Bragi, and Váli. He also has one full brother, Hodr.
Associations and other important information: Though the meaning of Baldur’s name is uncertain, it most likely means something along the lines of bold. His name in Old Norse comes from the word balder, which means “bold.” Some other possible meanings of Baldur’s name are white, fire, or lord.
Baldur is associated with the goddess Nanna whom he married. They had one son, Forseti, who is the god of peace and justice. Furthermore, Baldur is associated with Loki, the trickster god, and Rindr, a giantess. He is associated with the latter two figures through his famous death story, which somehow is associated with Ragnarök (I think Marvel lied) and is one of the most prevalent myths of Norse mythology.
When Baldur dreamt of his own death and his mother dreamt of the same event, Odin searched for an oracle, the völva, to decipher the dreams of the two wise gods. Odin stumbled upon the deceased völva, and resurrected her much to her dismay. She eventually confirmed that Baldur was going to die and “those who loved him would mourn,” but she did not tell Odin how exactly Baldur would die. In an attempt to stop her son’s death, Frigg made all living things promise to never harm Baldur. This offended Loki, who tricked Frigg into telling him if any object had not made the oath to bring no harm to Baldur by appearing to her in the form of a woman. Loki discovered that a sprig of mistletoe had not made the oath, so he made a spear out of the mistletoe and gave it to Hodr. While making fun of Baldur’s invulnerability, the gods were throwing weapons at Baldur with no harm, until Hodr threw the mistletoe spear and accidentally killed him. One of the biggest mysteries of Norse lore is what Odin spoke to his child while he was dying. Frigg sent Hermod to beg Hel, the goddess of the dead, to release Baldur back to the living, and Hel would under the condition that everything weep for Baldur first. There was only one person who did not weep for Baldur, Loki disguised as a giantess named Thökk, therefore Baldur was not released from Hel’s hall. Baldur’s body, and Nanna’s who died of grief, were placed onto Hringhorni, Baldur’s ship, and set ablaze.
Hodr was killed by Váli, son of Rindr, as revenge for murdering Baldur. However, both Hodr and Baldur were fated to return to the land of the living through the rebirth of the world after Ragnarök. As for Loki, Váli bound him to a rock that was below a venemous snake that would constantly drip its venom onto Loki until the later stages of Ragnarök.
Did you know there is a term for the worship of Norse gods? It’s called “Asatro” and is “the old way,” though the term itself is pretty modern. Though I’m not sure how many passion blogs we have left, what would you like to read about next? A Mesopotamian god, a Hindu god, or a Celtic god? Let me know in the comments!
References:
- https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/baldur/
- https://mythopedia.com/norse-mythology/gods/baldur/
- https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/religion-magic-death-and-rituals/the-old-nordic-religion-today/
Interesting to read about Mr. Baldur, one of the Norse myths I am not familiar with. This story made me laugh to be honest, cause Baldur seems like a less cool version of Achilles in the sense that Achilles has his heal whereas Baldur has his mistletoe weakness. Like imagine being invulnerable except to mistletoe? And why did mistletoe just say “Nah I am not gonna take this oath.” Such a bizarre story haha but certainly interesting to read.
This comment gave a good chuckle lol. Apparently, Frigg decided that mistletoe was too small and not enough of a threat to make it take the oath so it’s pretty ironic.
I have honestly never heard of the term “Norse mythology” before reading this post, but (before Billy has a chance to nonchalantly roast me for not knowing anything LOL) I have watched a few of the Marvel and Avengers movies, so I have been exposed to the idea without realizing it. I learned a lot from reading this post and the story of Baldur is super intriguing! For your next blog post, I would love to read about a Mesopotamian god. I love learning more about the gods worshipped by the early civilizations. Great blog post and I look forward to reading your next one!
Ugh I am right there with you on feeling burnt out 😭 I used to be super into Marvel so reading about Baldur was super interesting as it jogged some good memories for me. I don’t know why I am only realizing how many different cultures/beliefs/ gods there are out there and how different everyone is. Reading the stories is so cool in that I feel I am learning more than just a fable. I don’t have a preference for what god to do next because they all sound interesting haha.