Gods and Myths of Northern Europe Chapter Two

Chapter Two: The Gods of Battle - focuses primarily on Odin and his strangely fickle nature, his predecessors Tiwaz, Woden, and Wodan, and to a degree the Valkyries.

The chapter opens with an overview of Odin and Valhalla, it makes a point of the fact that Odin, unlike, Wodan, Woden, and Tiwaz is unreliable. He often betrays his followers, so much so that he gains a reputation for it:

You have never been able to order the course of war; often have you given victory to cowards who did not deserve it. Lokasenna

Balder’s father has broken faith – it is unsafe to trust him. … Ketils Saga Hœngs 

I suspect indeed that it is Odin who comes against us here, the foul and untrue. … Hrólfs Saga Kraka

Davidson, H. (1990-12-13). Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (p. 50). Penguin UK. Kindle Edition.

Which is an interesting contrast because evidently Tiwaz (Davidson explains that it is thought Tiwaz was a precursor to Odin and Tyr) was a deity of justice / law and war. The chapter is very interesting and follows the pattern set up by the first where the latter portion deals more with later resources that may be suspect due to the time frame but still have useful nuggets.

Other sections discuss the Valkyries and the phenomenon of the Berserkers. The Valkyries apparently originated as bloodthirsty beings in tandem with the ancient war god that demanded a sacrifice of all the enemy combatants as well as their arms and armor. At least, that's what I took from it ha.

Thoughts

It was a very good read, surprisingly in depth but brief enough to whet the appetite and move on to the next chapter without losing the thread of narrative and purpose of the work.

I find I keep going back to the idea of Odin father of the gods being kind of an unpredictable dick, it's fascinating to me as it's very alien to see a Father deity (in my nominal culture) subject to 'public' censure and suspicion without the suspicious person being censured as a Turrible Heretic of Badness.