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Writing and Snacks : Greg van Eekhout

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Norse question

Doing some reading about Frigg, I came across this version of Baldr's death:

Baldur's mother was the Norse goddess, Frigga. When Baldur was born, Frigga made each and every plant, animal and inanimate object promise not to harm Baldur. But Frigga overlooked the mistletoe plant -- and the mischievous god of the Norse myths, Loki, took advantage of this oversight. Ever the prankster, Loki tricked one of the other gods into killing Baldur with a spear fashioned from mistletoe. The demise of Baldur, a vegetation deity in the Norse myths, brought winter into the world, although the gods did eventually restore Baldur to life [emphasis mine]. After which Frigga pronounced the mistletoe sacred, ordering that from now on it should bring love rather than death into the world. Happily complying with Frigga's wishes, any two people passing under the plant from now on would celebrate Baldur's resurrection by kissing under the mistletoe.

What's this? The gods restored Baldr to life? In the all accounts I've read (except for the Saxo Grammaticus outlier), Baldr pretty much stews in Helheim, dead, until after Ragnarok. The gods don't resurrect him at all. His whole myth centers on the gods' failure to restore him to life.

Does anyone know about a version in which the gods resurrect him?

3 Comments:

  • All I can find is "In some versions of the myth, the story of Baldur ends happily." Yeah... the baby versions....

    By David, at Thu Nov 30, 12:27:00 PM MST  

  • All I've ever heard is Baldur and his blind brother returning after Ragnarok...

    By Maureen McHugh, at Thu Nov 30, 06:04:00 PM MST  

  • Yeah, that's pretty much the consensus in my Livejournal comments, too.

    ... and the thrashing of the Midgard serpent drowned the world in waves, and the Naglfar, the ship of dead men's nails broke its moorings and set sail with Loki as its helmsman, and the earth cracked apart, and they all lived happily ever after. With cupcakes!

    By Greg van Eekhout, at Thu Nov 30, 07:59:00 PM MST  

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