Víðarr
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In Norse mythology, Víðarr (often Anglicised Vidar or Widar) is a god associated with vengeance.[1] Víðarr is described as the son of Odin and the giantess Gríðr. Víðarr is to avenge his father's death at Ragnarök and is described as a survivor of the conflict.
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[edit] Poetic Edda
[edit] Völuspá
According to Völuspá, Víðarr slays Fenrir not by tearing his jaws apart but by thrusting his sword into the wolf's heart, although this does not prevent Snorri from quoting the passage after giving his own version in Gylfaginning.
[edit] Vafthrúdnismál
According to Vafthrúdnismál, Víðarr and Váli both "shall live in the temples of the gods when Surtr's fire is slaked". Also, "the wolf will swallow the Father of Men. Víðarr will avenge this. The cold jaws of the beast he will sunder in battle". These passages, along with others from the same poem, are likewise quoted or expanded upon by Snorri in Gylfaginning.
[edit] Grímnismál
According to Grímnismál, during Odin's visions of the various dwelling places of the gods he describes that of Víðarr in stanza 17:
- "Brushwood grows and high grass
- widely in Vidar's land
- and there the son proclaims on horseback
- his eagerness to avenge his father"
[edit] Lokasenna
According to Lokasenna, Loki rebukes the gods at the start of the poem for not properly welcoming him to the feast at Aegir's hall, so Odin finally relents to the rules of hospitality, urging Víðarr to stand and pour a drink for the quarrelsome guest.
[edit] Prose Edda
[edit] Gylfaginning
According to Gylfaginning, Víðarr is called the silent god who wears a thick shoe, is almost equal in strength to Thor, and can always be counted on to help the Aesir in their struggles. During Ragnarök, when the wolf Fenrir devours Odin, Víðarr will avenge him by stepping down with one foot on the lower jaw of the monster, grabbing his upper jaw in one hand and tearing his mouth apart, killing him. Víðarr's "thick shoe" consists of all the leather waste pieces that people have cut from their own shoes at the toe and heel, collected by the god throughout all time. Therefore, anyone who is concerned enough to give assistance to the gods must throw these pieces away. Following Ragnarök and the rebirth of the world, Víðarr along with his brother Váli will have survived both the deluge of the sea and the fiery conflagration unleashed by Surtr, completely unharmed, and shall thereafter dwell on the field of Idavoll, "where the city of Asgard had previously been".
[edit] Skáldskaparmál
According to Skáldskaparmál, when Aegir was a guest in Asgard, Víðarr was one of the twelve presiding male gods seated among those hosting the banquet. Later in the book, various kennings are given for Víðarr, including again the silent god, possessor of the iron shoe, enemy and slayer of Fenrisulf, the avenging god, brother of the Aesir, son of Odin and dweller of his father's homestead. In the tale of Thor's visit to the hall of the giant Geirröd, we are told that Gríd is the mother of "Víðarr the Silent", and at a certain point in the dialogue between Bragi and Aegir, Snorri himself begins speaking of the myths in euhemeristic terms and states that the historical equivalent of Víðar was Aeneas who survived the Trojan War and went on to achieve great deeds.
[edit] Theories
John Lindow states that some scholars believe Víðarr's silence may derive from a ritual silence or other abstentions which often accompany acts of vengeance, as for example in Völuspá and Baldrs draumar when Váli, conceived for the sole purpose of avenging Baldr's death, abstains from washing his hands and combing his hair "until he brought Baldr's adversary to the funeral pyre". The shoe, he states, is "definitely" associated with vengeance.[1]
According to H.A.Guerber's "Myths of the Norsemen", Vidar is considered a reflection of the primeval forest. His home was Landvidi (the wide land) which was said to be surrounded by thick vegetation deep in the woods, where he could meditate in silence.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515382-0.
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