Kvasir

Pegasus

Member
In trying to learn more about Norse Mythology, I started reading the story about Kvasir - The God of Wisdom and Poetry. Is it true that Kvasir was created by Odin's saliva? There seems to be many stories about him. What are some stories you would like to share?
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
Found this website, http://www.pantheon.org/articles/k/kvasir.html
On a side note, when I read over this story, ... it brought images of the Egyptian God, Ra, to my mind because of his spittle collected by Isis which she then used to trick him by creating a snake that bit him and she used this to find out Ra's secret name; and further, Odin has over 200 titles/names and so does Ra.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
I remember Kvasir, the wisest of beings, being the one that was murdered by Dwarves.
They then mixed his blood with honey and created a type of mead.
One of the frost giants then stole the mead and hid it away.
Odin seduced the beautiful giantess guarding the mead and stole it himself.
This is the scaldic mead, or the mead of poetic inspiration. (A scald was a type of poet).
Odin gives the gift of mead to whomever he chooses.
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
I remember Kvasir, the wisest of beings, being the one that was murdered by Dwarves.
They then mixed his blood with honey and created a type of mead.
One of the frost giants then stole the mead and hid it away.
Odin seduced the beautiful giantess guarding the mead and stole it himself.
This is the scaldic mead, or the mead of poetic inspiration. (A scald was a type of poet).
Odin gives the gift of mead to whomever he chooses.
Wasn't Gunnlod (the Giantess) Loki's "wife"?
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
Loki's wife was Angrboda, and she is described as hideous.
She is the mother of Hel, Fenrir and Jormungand.
 

Pegasus

Member
This is a whole new realm for me, and in trying to understand the characters a little bit better, I can see that I am more confused then ever before! LOL. So hopefully, you can all set me off in the right direction. From some of the information I could find, Loki's wife is listed as Sigyn. Gunnlod is listed as daughter of Suttung, but I didn't see a reference to being Loki's wife. Loki seemed to have many wives.
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
This is a whole new realm for me, and in trying to understand the characters a little bit better, I can see that I am more confused then ever before! LOL. So hopefully, you can all set me off in the right direction. From some of the information I could find, Loki's wife is listed as Sigyn. Gunnlod is listed as daughter of Suttung, but I didn't see a reference to being Loki's wife. Loki seemed to have many wives.
Found this visual... maybe it will help :)
http://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/viking_family_tree.html
 
From some of the information I could find, Loki's wife is listed as Sigyn. Gunnlod is listed as daughter of Suttung, but I didn't see a reference to being Loki's wife. Loki seemed to have many wives.
Sigyn is also Loki's wife, and when the gods punished Loki by binding him(I think?), Sigyn didn't leave Loki and instead, she assisted and helped him by catching the venom dropping to Loki, because the venom bring unbearable pain to Loki.
 

Pegasus

Member
Thank you for helping me to understand the characters better, I really appreciate it! :) Rhonda, the link was really helpful, and now I understand how I got confused. Eirine, thank you for sharing the story about Sigyn! It seems like there is much to learn about Loki and Kvasir.
 

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
Eirine is the closest. Sigyn was Loki's wife, though I believe she was his only wife, though he mated with many other beings such as frost giants and fire giants, etc. And it was from these unusual choices as mates that brought about the creatures like Fenrir and Jormungandr.

When Loki was bound inside the cave with snake venom dripping on him, Sigyn was there to catch it in a bowl, but when she had to empty it, Loki was forced to bear the pain during that time which caused the earthquakes.
 
@Pegasus no problem! :D
@Myrddin yup, and when Ragnarok comes Loki will be freed and will be part of it, taking sides with the giants against the gods.
 

Alexia

Member
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vudupins/baldurs-dreams-a-norse-myth-short-film
 

Lyfing

New Member
Kvasir was made out of the combined spit of the Aesir and Vanir when they made peace after the first war in the world. It probably had something to do with fermenting stuff with spit. It would then be a very communal thing to do and denote a sense of togetherness in peace..He did end up as mead you know..
 
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