Seiðr Loom

god or goddess

Rindr

The mother of Váli, the son Odin fathered to avenge Baldr. The Eddas say almost nothing about her; a skaldic line says Odin won her by magic.

Rindr is the mother of Váli, the god born to avenge Baldr, and she is named in the Eddas for that alone. In Baldrs draumar a dead seeress tells Odin that "Rind bears Vali in Vestrsalir", and that the child will kill Baldr's slayer when one night old Baldrs draumar 11. Snorri confirms that Váli is "son of Odin and Rindr" Gylfaginning 30, and reckons her among the goddesses alongside Jörð, mother of Thor Gylfaginning 36. His kennings call Frigg the "Co-Wife of Jörd and Rindr and Gunnlöd and Grídr" Skáldskaparmál 19.

A line by the tenth-century poet Kormákr, quoted in Skáldskaparmál, says "Odin wrought charms on Rindr" Skáldskaparmál 2, implying that he won her by sorcery rather than consent. The story behind that line is told only by Saxo Grammaticus. In his Danish history Odin, warned that a son by Rinda would avenge Balderus, courts her in several disguises, is rejected each time, and finally gets her by magic while posing as a woman healer. Saxo's version is late and shaped by his own purposes, but it fits Kormákr's line closely enough that many scholars think a similar story was known in Norway and Iceland.

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.

Rind bears Vali in Vestrsalir, And one night old fights Othin's son
Baldrs draumar 11 The dead seeress names Rindr as the mother of Baldr's avenger.
Jörd, the mother of Thor, and Rindr, Váli's mother, are reckoned among the Ásynjur.
Gylfaginning 36 Snorri counts her among the goddesses, as a mother of Odin's sons.
Odin wrought charms on Rindr.
Skáldskaparmál 2 A line from the poet Kormákr: Odin won Rindr by magic.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Whether Rindr was a goddess, a giantess or a human princess: Snorri counts her among the Ásynjur (Gylfaginning 36); Saxo Grammaticus makes Rinda a Ruthenian king's daughter.
  • Vestrsalir ('western halls'), where she bears Váli, is not mentioned anywhere else.

Myths with Rindr

Baldr's dreams and death Baldr dreams of his own death; Odin rides to Hel to question a dead seeress; and, in Snorri's telling, Loki puts a sprig of mistletoe into blind Höðr's hand. The gods lose their brightest member and the slide toward Ragnarök begins.

Related

Váli Odin's son by Rindr, born to avenge Baldr: at one night old, unwashed and uncombed, he killed Baldr's slayer Höðr. He survives Ragnarök. 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. Baldr Odin and Frigg's son, the brightest and best-loved of the gods. His death by a mistletoe dart, thrown by his blind brother Höðr, is the first great loss on the road to Ragnarök. 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. Jörð The Earth personified as a goddess: Odin's bride and the mother of Thor, so that Thor is called the 'son of Earth'. Snorri gives her two incompatible parentages. Gríðr A giantess, mother of Odin's son Víðarr, who helped Thor on his way to the giant Geirröðr by lending him a girdle of might, iron gloves and her staff.