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Æsir

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.

Hœnir is a god who appears often but does very little on his own. He is usually one of a travelling trio with Odin and Loki. The three are together when the eagle Þjazi spoils their meal and carries Loki off Skáldskaparmál 1, and when Loki kills Otr and the gods must pay his father the otter's ransom in gold Skáldskaparmál 39 Reginsmál, prose 1. The poets call him Odin's "Bench-Mate or Companion or Friend", "the Swift of God", "the Long-Footed" and "King of Clay" Skáldskaparmál 15.

Völuspá gives him a part in making the first humans, Ask and Embla: "Soul gave Othin, sense gave Hönir, Heat gave Lothur and goodly hue" Völuspá 18. Snorri tells the same story about the three sons of Borr, Odin, Vili and Vé, without Hœnir Gylfaginning 9.

After the war between the Æsir and the Vanir, Hœnir was the hostage the Æsir sent in exchange for Njörðr Gylfaginning 23. Snorri's Ynglinga saga, outside the Eddas, adds that the Vanir made him a chieftain but found that he could decide nothing without his adviser Mímir, so they beheaded Mímir and sent the head back to Odin.

He outlives the end of the world. In Völuspá's vision of the renewed earth, "Hönir wins the prophetic wand" Völuspá 63, which many readers take to mean he becomes a priest or seer of the new age.

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.

Soul gave Othin, sense gave Hönir, Heat gave Lothur and goodly hue.
Völuspá 18 With Odin and Lóðurr, Hœnir gives life to Ask and Embla.
the Vanir delivered him as hostage to the gods, and took for hostage in exchange him that men call Hœnir
Gylfaginning 23 Hœnir is the Æsir's hostage in exchange for Njörðr.
Then Hönir wins the prophetic wand
Völuspá 63 In the world after Ragnarök, Hœnir has a priestly or prophetic role.
By calling him Bench-Mate or Companion or Friend of Odin, the Swift of God, the Long-Footed, and' King of Clay.
Skáldskaparmál 15 The poetic names for Hœnir.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Who gave life to the first humans: Odin, Hœnir and Lóðurr in Völuspá (Völuspá 17-18), or the three sons of Borr, Odin, Vili and Vé, in Snorri (Gylfaginning 9).
  • What 'King of Clay' and 'Long-Footed' refer to (Skáldskaparmál 15); some connect them with the clay of the first humans or with a bird such as a stork or heron, but no story survives.

Myths with Hœnir

Ask and Embla: the first humans Three gods walking by the shore find two lifeless pieces of wood, Ask and Embla, and give them breath, mind, warmth and colour. Völuspá and Snorri agree on the gifts but not on who gave them. 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. Otter's ransom and Andvari's curse Loki kills an otter that turns out to be a farmer's son. To buy their lives the gods must fill and cover its skin with gold, which Loki wrings from the dwarf Andvari, along with a ring Andvari curses. The curse starts working at once. 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. The world reborn After Ragnarök a green earth rises from the sea. Surviving gods meet on Iðavöllr, Baldr returns from Hel, two humans come out of hiding, and a new sun rides the sky. The sources do not agree on who survives.

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. Loki The giant-born trickster counted among the Æsir: father of Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent and Hel, contriver of Baldr's death, bound until Ragnarök. Ask and Embla Askr ok Embla The first man and woman, made by three gods from two pieces of wood found on the shore. All humankind descends from them. 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. 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. 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. Þjazi A giant who, in the shape of an eagle, forced Loki to lure Iðunn and her apples out of Asgard. The gods burned his wings at their walls and killed him; his eyes became stars. Otr Son of Hreiðmarr who fished in otter shape; Loki killed him with a stone, and the gold paid for his death carries Andvari's curse.