Balder

balderBalder, son of Odin and Frigga, the god of Love and Light, is sacrificed at Midsummer by the dart of the mistletoe, and is reborn at Jul (Yule). Supposedly his return will not occur until after the onslaught of the Ragnarok, which I see as a cleansing and enlightenment more than wanton, purposeless destruction. Balder’s blind brother Hodur was his slayer, whose hand was guided by the crafty Loki. He is married to the goddess of Joy, Nanna.

Balder’s dreams are the beginning of the end. He dreams of his own death and shows Loki the truly evil god that he is which shows the ultimate limitations and mortality of the gods. The gods capture and punish Loki but they cannot rescue Balder from Hel and the beautiful, passive god who embodies the qualities of mercy and love is lost to them. This is the beginning of the end, the first step towards Ragnarok begins.

There is nothing but good to be told of him. He is the best of them and everyone sings his praises. He is so fair of face and bright that a splendor radiates from him, and there is a flower so white that it is likened to Balder’s brow; it is the whitest of all flowers. From that you can tell how beautiful his body is, and how bright his hair. He is the wisest of gods, and the sweetest-spoken, and the most merciful, but it is a characteristic of his that once he has pronounced a judgement it can never be altered. – Snorri Sturluson

Previous

Hel

Next

Njord

4 Comments

  1. Nick

    slain by accident loki found the mistletoe branch which was the only thing that had promised not to harm him and led to the murder of Balder if not for Loki his death would not have occured by the way loki fights for evil at Ragnarok

    • tay

      I think he/she mean ‘accident’ by the fact that Hodur didn’t mean to kill Balder, but he was tricked into throwing the mistletoe by his jerk brother Loki. Thus, an accident from Hodur.

      • Kaal

        I don’t think Loki was anyone’s brother. I know this site on his page says that he’s Odin’s adopted brother, but I firmly believe he just tricked the Gods into sharing Indun’s apples with him, tricked Odin into a pact saying that Odin will not drink in a place where Loki is not offered a drink, and is the father of the monsters of Norse Myths. In short, Loki is the father of all that is evil and undesirable of this world, like Evil, Cheating, Dishonor, and all that sort. Short of Gossip, which Ratatosk is responsible for between the eagle atop Yggdrasil and Níðhöggr. I also argue that there is a reason Loki has no Hall in Aasgard. (Hint hint, not a genuine God.)

        • Marie

          Did Loki not trick Odin into mixing blood with him, becoming his brother and therefor also half god.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

The Norse Gods & Powered by WordPress