being
High, Just-as-High and Third
Hárr, Jafnhárr, Þriði
The three enthroned lords who answer Gylfi's questions in Snorri's Gylfaginning; their names are all names of Odin, and the whole hall turns out to be an illusion.
Hárr ("High"), Jafnhárr ("Just-as-High") and Þriði ("Third") are the three speakers who instruct King Gylfi in Gylfaginning. When Gylfi, disguised as Gangleri, enters the great hall in Ásgard, he sees "three high-seats, each above the other". He is told that the lowest is the king Hárr, the next Jafnhárr (misprinted "Janhárr" in Brodeur's text) and the highest Thridi Gylfaginning 2. Hárr warns that Gylfi will not leave unharmed unless he proves the wiser.
They answer in turn, often each adding a sentence to the last answer Gylfaginning 3. Hárr does most of the talking. When the questions turn awkward, they hesitate. Asked whether Thor was ever overmatched, Hárr dodges, Jafnhárr passes the question on, and Thridi finally tells the story of Thor's humiliation by Útgarda-Loki Gylfaginning 44. At the end Hárr tells Gylfi he has heard all there is, and the hall vanishes around him Gylfaginning 53 Gylfaginning 54.
All three names belong to Odin. In Grímnismál he lists Thrithi and Hor (Bellows's form of Hárr) among his names Grímnismál 46. Snorri's list includes Jafnhárr, Thridi and Hárr Gylfaginning 20, and Hávamál, "the sayings of Hár", is spoken by "Hor" Hávamál 138. So the three may be Odin teaching about himself in triple form, or Æsir wearing Odin's names to impress a visitor. In a closing passage that some editors print and others leave out, the Æsir afterwards give the names from these stories to men and places, so that people would believe they were the same Gylfaginning 54. That makes the whole lesson part of the trick. Snorri leaves the reader to decide how far to trust the speakers. Many readers see this as a Christian author's way of keeping his distance from the pagan lore he records.
In the sources
Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.
He saw three high-seats, each above the other, and three men sat thereon,-one on each.
Then said Jafnhárr: "He fashioned heaven and earth and air, and all things which are in them." Then spake Thridi:
Thekk and Thrithi, Thuth and Uth, Helblindi and Hor;
Then spake Thridi: "Now it is evident that he is resolved to know this matter, though it seem not to us a pleasant thing to tell.
Where the sources disagree or fall silent
- Whether Snorri meant the three as Odin in triple form, as three Æsir using Odin's names, or as pure illusion; the text supports more than one reading.
- Whether the trio is meant to echo or parody the Christian Trinity, as some readers suggest.
