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Ásynjur

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'.

Vár is one of the few minor goddesses of Snorri's list who also turns up in an Eddic poem.

Snorri ranks her ninth among the Ásynjur. She listens to "the oaths and compacts made between men and women", and she "takes vengeance on those who perjure themselves" Gylfaginning 35. He connects her name with várar, pledges; Brodeur translates the word-play with "vows".

At Thrym's wedding

The poem is Þrymskviða. Thor, disguised as Freyja, has been brought to the giant Thrym as his bride, and at the wedding feast Thrym calls for the hammer:

Bring in the hammer to hallow the bride;On the maiden's knees let Mjollnir lie,That us both the hand of Vor may bless.Þrymskviða 30

Bellows writes the name "Vor", but the goddess meant is Vár, not Vör: the Old Norse text has the form belonging to Vár. The stanza fits Snorri's description well. A goddess of marriage vows is invoked at a wedding, alongside the hammer that hallows it. The irony is that the vow is a fraud, and the hammer laid in the bride's lap is the one Thor uses to kill the groom (see Thrym steals Thor's hammer).

Because the giant names her in passing, as a matter of course, the stanza suggests that Vár's link to weddings was real and not only Snorri's etymology. That is a reasonable inference from one line, not something the poem states.

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 ninth is Vár: she harkens to the oaths and compacts made between men and women; wherefore such covenants are called 'vows.' She also takes vengeance on those who perjure themselves.
Gylfaginning 35 Snorri makes Vár the guardian of oaths, especially between lovers.
Bring in the hammer to hallow the bride; On the maiden's knees let Mjollnir lie, That us both the hand of Vor may bless.
Þrymskviða 30 At the mock wedding, Thrym calls for the bride to be hallowed by Vár's hand; Bellows spells the name 'Vor'.

Myths with Vár

Thrym steals Thor's hammer Thor wakes to find Mjölnir gone. The giant Þrymr will return it only for Freyja as his bride, so Thor goes to the wedding himself, in a veil, with Loki as his bridesmaid.

Related

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. Lofn In Snorri's list of goddesses, the kindly Lofn wins Odin's or Frigg's leave for marriages that had been forbidden. Sjöfn A goddess of love whom Snorri ranks seventh among the Ásynjur: she turns the thoughts of men and women towards love. 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. Þrymr The giant king who steals Thor's hammer and demands Freyja as his bride, and is killed at his own wedding feast when the 'bride' turns out to be Thor. 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.