object
Gungnir
Odin's spear, made by the dwarves called Ívaldi's sons; Snorri says it never stops in its thrust, and Odin carries it into his last battle.
Gungnir is the spear of Odin. Snorri tells where it came from. When Loki has cut off Sif's hair, he goes to the dwarves called Ívaldi's sons, and they make new golden hair, the ship Skíðblaðnir, "and the spear which became Odin's possession, and was called Gungnir". Presenting it to the gods, Loki says that "the spear would never stop in its thrust" Skáldskaparmál 35. In the judging that follows, the gods rank Thor's hammer above all the other treasures, but Odin keeps the spear (see The treasures of the gods: Sif's hair and Brokkr's wager).
The name is rare in the poems. In Sigrdrífumál the valkyrie lists "Gungnir's point" among the places runes were carved Sigrdrífumál 17. A skaldic line quoted by Snorri says "Hroptr bore with him Gungnir", Hroptr being Odin Skáldskaparmál 2. At Ragnarök Odin rides out first "with the gold helmet and a fair birnie, and his spear, which is called Gungnir", and goes against Fenrir Gylfaginning 51.
Odin is often linked with spears in poems that do not name Gungnir. In Völuspá he hurls his spear over the host, and "then in the world did war first come" Völuspá 23. In Hávamál he hangs on the tree "with the spear … wounded" Hávamál 139. In a prose passage of the Helgi poems, Odin gives his spear to Dagr, who kills Helgi with it Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, prose 13. Modern readers often assume all of these are Gungnir; the texts leave it open.
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.
they made the hair, and Skídbladnir also, and the spear which became Odin's possession, and was called Gungnir.
the spear would never stop in its thrust
Odin rides first with the gold helmet and a fair birnie, and his spear, which is called Gungnir.
On Gungnir's point, and on Grani's breast
Where the sources disagree or fall silent
- Odin hurls a spear in Völuspá 23 and is wounded by a spear in Hávamál 139; the poems do not say either is Gungnir.
In modern culture
Not from the medieval sources.
In Wagner's Ring cycle Wotan's spear carries the treaties on which his power rests, and Siegfried breaks it; that idea is Wagner's, not the Eddas'. Marvel's Odin also carries a spear called Gungnir.
