Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

but they are entirely

in keeping with the Norse way of looking at things. One of the

functions of a trickster God is to keep things from becoming stagnant.

The trickster causes trouble so that people may evolve, for nothing

brings about ingenuity like need. The Norse did not believe anything

was eternal. In the end even the Gods would die in the battle of

Ragnarok, which would also destroy the world. Balders

invulnerability was not natural. As the Edda says Cattle die, and

men die, and you too shall die... It was deemed much more wise and

valiant by the Norse to live up to ones fate than to try to avoid it.

It would likewise be unnatural to return from the dead. One can see

Loki as merely acting as an agent of nature to return things to their

normal and correct course. In such a view, it was not an act of evil,

but an intervention to stop an evil against the natural order.

Likewise Ragnarok must come. It is in the nature of the world to be

destroyed and then be reborn.

On the other hand, Loki is a God of darkness. As far as we know Loki

was never worshipped, at least not in the same way as the other Gods

were. Recognition of his action and his place in the universe is

essential, but Gods of this type are seldom welcome. It is

fashionable today to laugh at trickster Gods and see them as a sort

of jester figure, but we must not forget that their nature is much

darker than this even when it does serve a purpose. Change is

important, but nothing changes the world faster and more thoroughly

than war.

While seldom reckoned today among the most popular of the Gods, Tyr is

extremely important. He is the God of battle, of justice, and

(secondary to Odin) of Kingship. The most important myth concerning

Tyr shows both his bravery and honor. He gave his hand as surety to

the Fenris Wolf that no trickery was involved in the Gods binding of

him. When the fetter in fact did bind the wolf, Tyr lost his hand.

The honor and reliance on ones word is often overlooked in this myth

in favor of an interpretation of self sacrifice. However, throughout

the myths various deals are made and the Aesir easily get out of them.

Its likely that Tyr could have escaped his fate as well, but ones

word is ones word and thus Tyr lost his hand because it was less

valuable to him than his honor and word. Tyr was held to be the God

of the Thing or assembly. While the ancient Norse were not truly

democratic, and in fact held slaves, within the noble class all were

reckoned to be roughly equal. The Thing was a place where the

landholders would meet for trade and to iron out disputes among them,

in the hope of avoiding feuds. Tyr was originally the chieftain of

the Aesir and the God of Kingship, but he has been gradually

supplanted by Odin, especially during the Viking Age. It is likely

this was because of Tyrs strong sense of honor and justice. For

raiding and pillaging, Odin, the God of the berserker rage, was a much

better patron than Tyr, the God of honorable battle. This is an

important thing to note about Northern religion: it is extremely

adaptable. There are not hard and fast rules about who is what and

while the nature of the Gods cannot be changed they are more than

happy to have the aspects most important to their worshippers

emphasized. Just as a person uses different skills and becomes a

different person when they move or change jobs, so the Gods too have

adapted to new climates and needs.

Baldr

While we only know the myth of Balders death, it is clear that he was

a God of some importance. Unfortunately, modern writers, coming from

a Christian background, have tried to turn Balder into a Christ

figure. Balder was a God of beauty and goodness, but his name also

translates as warrior. It is a mistake to turn him into a Norse

Jesus. The mere fact that he died and will return after Ragnarok is

not enough for this equation. Another interpretation of Balder is

that of the dying and resurrected God of the Sun. This also seems a

mistake, as Balder does not return from the land of death. It makes a

poor symbol to honor Balder on solar holidays, lest the sun not

return! The remaining major interpretation of Balder is as a God of

mystic initiation. While this fits to some extent, we unfortunately