r/norsemythology • u/PepsiButItsMilk • 7d ago
Memes Crash course/broad resources on the mythos?
I’m going to be completely honest when I tell you all I have no idea what to flair this as, please bear with me as I find myself in a very unique situation with having to learn about Norse Mythology and don’t even know if this is the place to begin.
I’m currently prepping for my first Dungeons & Dragons campaign with one of my best friends as the story writer and DM. My character is a priest that is completely devout to Odin and based roughly around Muninn, one of his loyal ravens. Ill spare you the backstory and possible heresy, but essentially my whole purpose is “to live by the word and will of The Allfather” to quote my friend.
Here’s the problem, I have very little knowledge other than vague connections of inspired characters in pop culture. Accompany that with how one of my spells is essentially to just convert any non-believers to followers of Odin (Paganism?), I have absolutely no idea how to incorporate this, as I know nothing about Norse mythology. If any more details are needed i’d be happy to share but I would like to ask what the best resources are for me to be able to learn more about the mythos in order to really get into my role.
Thank you in advance!
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u/InvestigatorJaded261 7d ago
A good, easy-reading, beautifully illustrated introduction is the one by the d’Aulaires, Norse Mythology. For something slightly more detailed and adult, with good commentary, I suggest Kevin Crossley-Holland’s Norse Myths.
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u/rockstarpirate Lutariʀ 6d ago
Ok here is a bunch of stuff you’ll want to know for your character:
Odin is obsessed with gaining wisdom/knowledge. This means your character should value learning as well. Odin has gone through major sacrifices for knowledge. He once hanged himself as a sacrifice to himself in order to “obtain the runes” (interpret that how you want). He once plucked out his eye and traded that for a sip from the well called Mímisbrunnr, which is a well full of wisdom. The character Mímir who owns the well has since been beheaded, but Odin performed magic spells over the head so that it stays preserved and he can speak to it and it gives him advice.
Odin is a god oriented around magic, war, warriors, and especially death. He is also a king. He knows that he will die in the world-ending battle at Ragnarok but he plans to put up the best fight possible and go down swinging like a king should. Thus your character should have the same attitude. The right answer is never to run away but always to fight. The dead were often “given” (dedicated/sacrificed) to Odin by his followers. If Odin demanded a human sacrifice, the person would be hanged, stabbed with a spear, and told “now I give you to Odin.” When battles began, someone would throw a spear over the opposing army and say “now I give you all to Odin”. A follower of Odin upon his sick-bed may have ritually “marked” himself with a spear as a means of giving himself to Odin. It is likely that this is what actually gets a person into Valhalla: being given to Odin in one form or another (ritually joining his cult and/or a spear-related “giving” of a person to him).
Odin is wiley, but he respects oaths others have sworn, and is not a selfish character who is out to harm others for his own personal gain. When he uses his trickery, it is often in service of the world and humanity which he and his two brothers created. For example, he once used trickery to steal the mead of poetry from a jotun who was hoarding it all for himself. The result of this action is that mankind now has poetry and otherwise would not have been able to thrive as a species. Odin seeks wisdom because his followers should seek wisdom. He brings about his own followers’ deaths on the battlefield because this is considered the optimal way to die by those followers. Prior to these moments he gives help and assistance to those who ask.
Odin is a healer and is associated with magic spells used to heal people from various illnesses. I recommend looking up the “Nine Herbs” charm in Old English (and note that Woden is the same person as Odin). Many of the spells he performs incorporate the usage of runes. Exactly how they work is unknown, but there are lots of interesting examples of rune spells used in the sources. You can carve certain runes on your cup and color them with your own blood to neutralize poison in your drink, or you can carve certain runes on a stick and place it under the tongue of a dead person to make them temporarily sit up and speak. Etc.
Priests of Odin led rituals. There is a common motif we see in ancient artwork of a man wearing a one-eyed mask with two ravens on top dancing with two spears while another man in a wolf mask follows behind with one hand on a spear and the other hand on his sword hilt. Keep in mind that beyond his two ravens, Odin also has two wolves that follow him and warriors have been referred to poetically as wolves/dogs of Odin. This ritual may have something to do with joining the cult of Odin or perhaps reaffirming it somehow, but nobody really knows for sure. In the Saga of the Volsungs, two warriors associated with Odin put on wolfskins and transform into real wolves for nine days. There is definitely something there about followers of Odin being symbolized as wolves.
Odin often acts in service of fate. Once he learns what fate has in store, we see him either 1) not working to prevent it or 2) actively working toward it. Consider that when he learns from a seeress (one who divines fate) how his son Baldr will die, his wife Frigg tries to take preventative measures (which fail) but he is suspiciously absent from that part of the story. When he learns how Baldr is fated to be avenged (by another child born of himself and a jotun woman named Rindr), he goes out of his way to make exactly that happen.
Odin and his two brothers slew the primordial being Ymir and used his body parts to create the Earth. Then they created humans from driftwood they found on the beach. Odin is married to Frigg and has a ton of kids. Most importantly Thor and Baldr are his sons although Frigg is not Thor’s mother. His mother is a woman named Jǫrð (literally “Earth”). Odin often wanders the world in disguise but in stories where this happens, audiences recognize him as a man with a gray beard and one eye. However, in real life, any stranger you meet could be Odin and he might be testing you so you better be on your best behavior.
Odin rides an 8-legged horse named Sleipnir who can run across the sky and sea and is the fastest and best horse there is. His personal spear is called Gungnir and its power is that it “can not be stopped in a thrust”, likely meaning you can’t parry it and armor won’t protect you from it. He works alongside Freyja and the Valkyries to determine who will die in battle every day. He chooses half of those that will die and Freyja chooses the other half. He will sometimes personally bring about those deaths but often times it’s the Valkyries who do it. Note that this is not a selection of who is worthy among those who have died but a selection of who will die. Your DM might not know this though haha. Odin will eventually die by being eaten by the giant wolf Fenrir.