Seiðr Loom

concept

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.

The Vanir are the second family of Norse gods, distinct from the Æsir. Only three are named with certainty: Njörðr and his children Freyr and Freyja. Njörðr is "God of the Vanir, or Kinsman of the Vanir, or Wane", Freyr the same Skáldskaparmál 6 Skáldskaparmál 7, and Freyja "Lady of the Vanir" Gylfaginning 35. What they share in the sources is wealth, sea, harvest and love; in the poems the Vanir are also "wise" Skírnismál 17 and know the future Þrymskviða 14.

The war

The Vanir and the Æsir once fought. Völuspá calls it "The war ... the first in the world" and tells it in a few obscure stanzas: the gods spear and burn a woman called Gollveig three times, she is reborn each time and becomes the witch Heiðr; Odin hurls his spear over the host, "The wall that girdled the gods was broken, And the field by the warlike Wanes was trodden", and the gods debate whether to pay tribute or share worship Völuspá 21-24. The poem does not say who won. See The war of the Æsir and the Vanir.

The Eddas agree on how it ended: in an exchange of hostages. Vafþrúðnir tells Odin that the Vanir made Njörðr and "gave him as pledge to the gods", and that at the end of the world "shall he fare once more Home to the Wanes so wise" Vafþrúðnismál 39. Snorri adds that the Æsir gave Hœnir in return Gylfaginning 23. In Skáldskaparmál, Bragi tells how both sides sealed the peace by spitting into a vat, and the gods made the spittle into Kvasir, the wisest of beings Skáldskaparmál 1. Snorri's Ynglinga saga, outside the Eddas, gives a fuller version: Njörðr and Freyr went to the Æsir, and Hœnir and Mímir to the Vanir, who beheaded Mímir when they felt cheated.

A separate world

The Vanir have their own home, Vanaheimr, "the home of the Wanes" in Bellows's translation of Vafþrúðnismál Vafþrúðnismál 39, and their own vocabulary. In Alvíssmál the dwarf Alvíss gives the Vanir's words for earth, sea, fire and other things alongside those of gods, giants and elves; their word for heaven is "The Weaver of Winds" Alvíssmál 12. They also had customs the Æsir did not: Loki accuses Njörðr of fathering Freyr on his own sister Lokasenna 36, and Ynglinga saga says such marriages were lawful among the Vanir. The same saga says Freyja brought the magic called seiðr from the Vanir to the Æsir.

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.

On the host his spear did Othin hurl, Then in the world did war first come; The wall that girdled the gods was broken, And the field by the warlike Wanes was trodden.
Völuspá 23 The first war in the world, between the gods and the Vanir.
In the home of the Wanes did the wise ones create him, And gave him as pledge to the gods
Vafþrúðnismál 39 Njörðr came to the gods as a Vanir hostage.
he was reared in the land of the Vanir, but the Vanir delivered him as hostage to the gods, and took for hostage in exchange him that men call Hœnir
Gylfaginning 23 Snorri's account of the exchange of hostages.
The gods had a dispute with the folk which are called Vanir, and they appointed a peace-meeting between them and established peace in this way: they each went to a vat and spat their spittle therein.
Skáldskaparmál 1 The peace that produced Kvasir and, through him, the mead of poetry.
Then Heimdall spake, whitest of the gods, Like the Wanes he knew the future well
Þrymskviða 14 Foresight is the Vanir's proverbial gift.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • What the war was about. Völuspá links it to the burning of Gollveig (Völuspá 21-24) but does not explain; Snorri, in the Eddas, mentions only the peace and the hostages.
  • Whether the Vanir were originally a separate cult of fertility gods, or a separate people's gods, later merged with the Æsir. This is a widely held theory (for example in Georges Dumézil's work), not something the sources say.
  • Which gods are Vanir beyond Njörðr, Freyr and Freyja; the sources name no others for certain.

Myths with The Vanir

Freyr and Gerðr Freyr sits in Odin's high seat, glimpses the giant's daughter Gerðr and is sick with love. His servant Skírnir rides through fire to woo her, and when gifts fail he wins her with threats and a curse. The price is Freyr's sword. Odin's contest of wisdom with Vafþrúðnir Against Frigg's advice, Odin goes in disguise to the wisest of the giants and stakes his head on a contest of questions about the creation, the gods and the end of the world. He wins with a question only he can answer. 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. 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 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. Thor and the dwarf Alvíss A dwarf named Alvíss, 'All-Wise', comes to claim Thor's daughter as his promised bride. Thor agrees, if the dwarf can tell him what everything is called in every world, and keeps him answering until the sun comes up.

Related

Njörðr The Vanir god of the sea, winds and wealth, father of Freyr and Freyja. Sent to the Æsir as a hostage after their war, he married the giantess Skaði, an ill-matched union of sea and mountain. Freyr The Vanir god of rain, sunshine, harvest and peace, son of Njörðr. He gave away his sword to win the giantess Gerðr, and will fall unarmed against Surtr at Ragnarök. Freyja The Vanir goddess of love, wealth and the slain: daughter of Njörðr, owner of the necklace Brísingamen, who takes half of those who fall in battle to her hall Fólkvangr. 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. Kvasir The wisest of beings, made from the spittle of the Æsir and Vanir at their peace-making. Two dwarves killed him and brewed his blood with honey into the mead of poetry. Hœnir A shadowy god, Odin's travelling companion, who gave sense to the first humans, went to the Vanir as a hostage after their war, and survives Ragnarök to take up the prophetic wand. Mímir The wise guardian of the well beneath Yggdrasil, where Odin pledged an eye for a drink. In the poems only his head survives, and Odin consults it for secret knowledge. Vanaheimr The home of the Vanir, the gods of Njörðr's family; the sources mention it only as the place Njörðr came from and will return to. Seiðr seiðr A form of Norse sorcery used to see the future and to bend minds, bodies and luck; associated with seeresses, with Freyja and the Vanir, and, shamefully, with Odin.