30 Days of Devotion: Day 6

Other related deities and entities related with this deity.


The biggest relation to another deity that Odin has would be to Loki.  While only mentioned in two stanzas, it is said that Odin and Loki are blood-brothers and that Odin would not accept drink unless it was offered to Loki as well.  This always stuck out to me, even before I fully dove into Asatru and Heathenism.  Now as I wander through posts about the deities and see huge arguments over the exclusion or inclusion of Loki I wonder what others think of the relationship.  Do these people disregard the bond the two have?  Do people only see the bad Loki will do/has done?  I will not deny that there is some negative things in the tales of Loki but he did much good.  I think the reason why everyone is so upset with Loki is Baldr's death and the coming of Ragnarok.  If it wasn't for Loki, none of it would have happened.  In my mind, though, there is no positive without negative and vice-versa.

Then there is Mimir.  He is the wisest of the Aesir and was given to the Vanir as a hostage during their war.  Unfortunately he was beheaded and his head was returned to the Aesir.  It was Odin who preserved Mimir's head and conversed with him.  Mimir gave Odin his wisdom after the Allfather sacrificed his eye.

As for other entities, one could point to the Ravens of Odin, his wolves, Sleipnir, and even Fenrir, who will kill Odin during Ragnarok.  While each of them play specific parts, for some reason I am not urged to describe them.  Mimir and Loki are more prevalent on my mind. Perhaps I'll go into further details on these creatures at a later date.

30 Days of Devotion: Day 5

Members of the family – genealogical connections

 Ah, the family of Odin. Well, Odin's consort is Frigg, though both deities have hard their share of sexual relations outside of that relationship. There are really only three children that are attested to Odin and that would be Thor(obviously), Baldr, and Váli.  Snori Sturluson does claim that Vidar is a son of Odin by way of the giantess Gríd. He also places Heimdalr, Bragi, Tyr, and Hod as sons of Odin, but these are only mentioned once.  So the only ones we are sure of, in the sense of literature, is Thor, Baldr, and Vali.

There are no daughters of Odin mentioned and I have never seen a claim to it.

Odin did have two brothers, Vili and Ve, whom helped Odin slay Ymir and create Midgard, all born from the same parents: Borr and Bestla.

As far as I can tell, other than the usual claims of kings being descendents from Odin, the relation to other deities ends there.