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The Æsir

Æsir

The main family of Norse gods, led by Odin and living in Asgard: Thor, Baldr, Týr, Heimdall and others, with the goddesses called Ásynjur. They fought and made peace with the Vanir.

The Æsir are the gods of Asgard, the family of Odin. Snorri says "Odin is highest and eldest of the Æsir: he rules all things, and mighty as are the other gods, they all serve him as children obey a father" Gylfaginning 20. The goddesses are called Ásynjur, "Not less holy ... and they are of no less authority" Gylfaginning 20.

Who counts as one

Snorri says the Æsir are twelve Gylfaginning 20, then describes Thor, Baldr, Njörðr, Freyr, Týr, Bragi, Heimdall, Höðr, Víðarr, Váli, Ullr, Forseti and finally Loki, who is "Also numbered among the Æsir" Gylfaginning 21-33. The count does not work, and the list includes Njörðr and Freyr, who were born among the Vanir: Snorri says outright that "Njördr is not of the race of the Æsir" Gylfaginning 23. In practice "Æsir" often means simply "the gods", and the Vanir hostages came to count among them. The Ásynjur are listed separately, with Frigg first and Freyja, another Vanir goddess, among them Gylfaginning 35.

History of the gods

Völuspá tells the gods' story in outline. In the first age they meet at Iðavöllr, build shrines and forges, and play at tables, with "no lack" of gold Völuspá 7-8. Then come the war with the Vanir Völuspá 21-24, the death of Baldr, and Ragnarök, where most of the Æsir die. A few, Baldr and Höðr among them, return to the green world that rises after Völuspá 62.

Gods or men?

Snorri, a Christian writing around 1220, frames the myths in two ways. In Gylfaginning the Æsir speak of themselves as gods. But his Prologue explains them as human beings: "those men of Asia, who were called Æsir", led by Odin from Troy into Scandinavia, where their wisdom and good fortune made people worship them Prose Edda, Prologue. He even says of Asgard, "men call it Troy" Gylfaginning 9. This explanation, known as euhemerism, was common among medieval scholars; it tells us about Snorri's learning, not about pagan belief. The real word áss, "god", has relatives in Old English and Gothic and has nothing to do with Asia.

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.

The divine Æsir are twelve." Then said Jafnhárr: "Not less holy are the Ásynjur, the goddesses, and they are of no less authority.
Gylfaginning 20 Snorri's count of the gods, gods and goddesses alike.
At Ithavoll met the mighty gods, Shrines and temples they timbered high
Völuspá 7 The gods' first age of building and peace.
When the king learned of the coming of those men of Asia, who were called Æsir
Prose Edda, Prologue Snorri's Prologue makes the Æsir human migrants from Asia.
these were their names: Thor, Njördr, Freyr, Týr, Heimdallr, Bragi, Vídarr, Váli, Ullr, Hœnir, Forseti, Loki
Skáldskaparmál 1 The twelve gods who sat as judges at the feast for Ægir.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Snorri's 'twelve' Æsir do not add up: Gylfaginning lists Odin and then thirteen more (Gylfaginning 20-33), while the list of judges in Skáldskaparmál (Skáldskaparmál 1) is different again. Hyndluljóð says the gods were eleven when Baldr died (Hyndluljóð 30).

Myths with The Æsir

Odin's eye and Mímir's well Odin gave one of his eyes as a pledge for a drink from the well of wisdom kept by Mímir. The sources tell it in a few lines, and the eye's hiding-place becomes one of the secrets the seeress of Völuspá throws back at the god. Skaði chooses a husband Þjazi's daughter Skaði comes armed to Asgard for vengeance and accepts a settlement instead: a husband chosen by his feet, and a laugh. She picks Njörðr, hoping for Baldr, and the marriage of mountain and sea does not last. The binding of Fenrir The gods raise Loki's wolf-son Fenrir at home until they fear him, then trick him into a magic fetter made of impossible things. Týr puts his hand in the wolf's mouth as a pledge, and loses it. The giant builder and the wall of Asgard A stranger offers to wall the gods' stronghold in a single winter, for the price of Freyja, the sun and the moon. When he is about to win, Loki saves the gods by turning himself into a mare — and gives birth to Sleipnir. The mead of poetry From the spittle of the gods' peace comes Kvasir, wisest of beings; from his blood two dwarfs brew a mead that makes poets. It passes to the giant Suttungr, and Odin wins it by labour, seduction and theft, flying home as an eagle. The theft of Iðunn and her apples Caught by a giant in eagle's shape, Loki buys his freedom by luring Iðunn and her apples out of Asgard. The gods grow old, and Loki must steal her back as a falcon, with Þjazi beating after him. The war of the Æsir and the Vanir The first war in the world, fought between the two families of gods. The surviving texts give only fragments — a witch burned three times, Odin's spear, a broken wall, a truce sealed with spittle and hostages — but they add up to the story of how the Vanir came to live among the Æsir.

Related

Odin Óðinn Chief of the Æsir: a one-eyed god of wisdom, poetry, magic, war and the dead, who gave an eye and hanged himself on a tree for knowledge, and who dies at Ragnarök. Thor Þórr The thunder god, strongest of the Æsir: son of Odin and Earth, husband of Sif, and with his hammer Mjöllnir the gods' defender against the giants, until he dies killing the World Serpent. Frigg Odin's wife and the foremost of the goddesses: she knows the fates of all but never speaks them, and her failed attempt to protect her son Baldr is the hinge of Norse myth. Asgard Ásgarðr The stronghold of the Æsir, walled against the giants, full of halls such as Valhall and Bilskirnir; Snorri also identifies it, confusingly, with Troy. The Vanir Vanir The second family of gods, associated with wealth, fertility, the sea and foresight. After a war with the Æsir they exchanged hostages, and Njörðr, Freyr and Freyja came to live among the Æsir. Iðavöllr The plain at the heart of the gods' home where they first built their temples and forges, and where the surviving gods meet again after Ragnarök. Ragnarök The foretold end of the gods' world: wolves swallow sun and moon, Loki and the monsters break loose, the gods fall in battle, Surtr burns the earth, and a new world rises. Gylfi The legendary king of Sweden who, disguised as the wanderer Gangleri, questions three mysterious lords in Ásgard; their answers make up Snorri's Gylfaginning. Valhalla Valhöll Odin's vast hall of the battle-dead, roofed with shields and raftered with spears, where the einherjar feast and fight each day until they march out to meet the wolf at Ragnarök.