Balder
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Balder (also Baldr or Baldur) is the god of light, joy, purity, beauty, innocence, and reconciliation. [1] He is often referred to as a personification of the sun, and can be compared to as the jesus figure of Norse mythology.
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[edit] Origins
He is the second son of Odin's and his mother is Frigg. His wife was Nanna, the daughter of Nep, and their son, the god of justice, was named Forseti.
Balder had the largest ship ever built, called the Ringhorn, or Hringhorni, which was known as the "greatest of all ships". His hall was known as Breidablik, which means "broad splendor", and according to both the Grímnismál and the Gylfaginning, Breidablik is the fairest of dwellings where nothing evil or unclean can exist. [2]
[edit] History
Other than his great courage and honor, he is known primarily for the myth about his death. It started when he had dreams about his death, which caused his mother. Frigg to extract an oath from every object on Earth not to harm her son Balder. All agreed that none of their kind would ever hurt or assist in hurting Balder, and afterward the other Gods used his seeming invincability to practice throwing knives and shooting arrows at him.
This plan was almost perfect except that she had missed one thing that she had thought too insignificant, the weed misletoe. The Trickster God, Loki, took a disguise and asked Frigg if anything could harm Balder. Thinking nothing of it, she told him about the misletoe. Loki immediately left to gather some of the weed and make a dart out of it. At the same time, several of the gods were playing a game with Balder where they were throwing projectiles at him in an attempt to strike him; however, since all objects had vowed to never harm Balder, he could not be touched by the gods' attempts. Still in his disguise, Loki gave the dart of mistletoe to Balder's blind twin brother, Hodr, so that he too could participate in the game. Not knowing what was in his hand, and having the aid of Loki's aim, he launched the dart into Balder's chest, killing him on the spot. Although somewhat innocent, he was later slain by the new son of Odin and Rind, Vali, whom had been born, and grew up in one day, for the single purpose of avenging Balder's death.
The other gods lamented his death, and Odin sent Hermod to the goddess of death, Hel, to plead for Balder's return to life. She said in reply that she would let him live again, if everyone in the world, alive or dead, would weep for him. Loki had now disguised himself as the Witch Thokk, whom some called a Giantess, and was the only who would not weep for him, so he stayed dead.
Now the Gods began the funeral for the God of Light, and placed his body, wrapped in crimson, upon his ship, the Ringhorn as a funeral pyre. Along side of him on the pyre was his wife, Nanna who died of heartache at his passing. Also on his pyre was all of his possesions, his horse and his possesions. The ship was pushed out to sea by the giatness Hyrrokin, who pushed it so hard that fire caught on the rollers.
Loki was punished for his integral role in the death of the most beloved of the gods. He was then hunted down, tied to three rocks, and a serpent was tied above his face, which would continuously drip venom onto his face.
[edit] See Also
[edit] External Links
[edit] References
- ↑ "Balder." Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online. <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/balder.html> [Accessed May 30, 2007].
- ↑ "Breidablik" Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breidablik> [Accessed May30, 2007]
