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Ásynjur

Lofn

In Snorri's list of goddesses, the kindly Lofn wins Odin's or Frigg's leave for marriages that had been forbidden.

Lofn is the eighth goddess in Snorri's list. She is "so gracious and kindly to those that call upon her" that she obtains permission from Allfather (Odin) or Frigg for men and women to marry, "though it were forbidden before, or seem flatly denied" Gylfaginning 35. Snorri derives a word for "leave" from her name and adds that she is much "loved" by men; Brodeur's translation imitates the Old Norse puns with the English leave and loved.

Her name also survives in skaldic verse as the base of a kenning for a woman. A verse Snorri quotes in Skáldskaparmál calls a lady "Lofn / Of the Foam-Fleck's flame-gold", that is, a goddess of gold Skáldskaparmál 60. Any goddess's name could be used this way, so the kenning shows the name was current, not that Lofn had a cult.

There is no story about Lofn in either Edda and no mention of her in the poems. Her role as the one who unlocks forbidden marriages is Snorri's, and it rests largely on the meaning of her name. She sits alongside Sjöfn (love) and Vár (vows) in a group of goddesses who govern the stages of courtship.

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 eighth is Lofn: she is so gracious and kindly to those that call upon her, that she wins Allfather's or Frigg's permission for the coming together of mankind in marriage, of women and of men, though it were forbidden before, or seem flatly denied
Gylfaginning 35 Snorri's description of Lofn as the patron of forbidden unions.
The hawk-like, heedful Lady Has every virtue: Lofn Of the Foam-Fleck's flame-gold
Skáldskaparmál 60 A skaldic verse using 'Lofn of gold' as a kenning for a woman.

Related

Sjöfn A goddess of love whom Snorri ranks seventh among the Ásynjur: she turns the thoughts of men and women towards love. Vár The goddess who hears the oaths of men and women and punishes oath-breakers; in Þrymskviða the giant Thrym wants his bride blessed 'by the hand of Vár'. 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. 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. Vör A wise and searching goddess from whom nothing can be hidden; she is known only from one sentence in Snorri's list of the Ásynjur. Syn The goddess who keeps the hall door against unwelcome visitors and stands as defence for those who deny a charge at law.