Hod (deity)

Culture: Norse

Mother: Frigg

Father: Odin

Siblings: Balder, Hermod, Thor, Vali, Tyr, Bragi, Vidar

Hod was a deity in Norse mythology, the ancient stories from the countries of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. These sagas were sometimes referred to as Teutonic myths because the people who told them were Teutons from Scandinavia, Britain, and Germany. Other names for Hod were Hoder, Hodr, Hodur, and Höõr.

Although Hod was not mentioned often in the myths, his role was important because he set in motion a terrible event, the accidental killing of the god Balder. In this most famous of the Norse myths, Hod, who was blind, was the god of darkness and winter. This attribution probably reflected the harsh climate of northern Europe where there was little daylight during the long winters. Early in the myth, the tragedy that Hod initiated was foretold as an event that men and gods would long remember.

In Mythology

According to the story, Hod and Balder were twin brothers. They were the sons of Odin, also known as Allfather, and the most important of the gods. The twins’ mother was Odin’s wife Frigg, the highest goddess of Norse myths and the patroness of childbirth. Balder was known to be the gentle champion of goodness and forgiveness. He was greatly beloved by Odin and Frigg and was sometimes referred to as Balder the Beautiful. In some respects, Hod and Balder were opposites. While Hod was blind and represented darkness, Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic historian in the thirteenth century wrote about Balder, "He is so fair of face and bright that a splendour radiates from him . . . ."

According to the myth, Balder dreamt that his life was in danger. When he related this dream to the other gods, they resolved to save him. In particular, Frigg convinced all things to swear an oath never to harm him. She extracted a promise from fire, water, iron, and other metals. She made trees, animals, diseases, and even poisons promise they would not hurt her son. Even so, Odin worried. As a result, he saddled Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse, and descended through the Norse universe to the lowest level called Niflheim. This was the world of the dead where it was always night. There, Odin confronted a seeress and sought answers about Balder’s fate. The seeress proclaimed that blind Hod would carry a fatal branch and slay Balder. Odin recognized that the seeress was really Loki, an evil trickster who was cunning and cruel. Odin returned to Asgard, the home of the gods, with a sad heart.

However, the other gods thought that Frigg had made the world safe for Balder. They began to play a game in which they threw things at him, knowing that nothing could harm him. This activity became a favorite pastime. Loki, seeing that sticks, stones, and darts did not hurt Balder, decided to find out why. He changed himself into a woman and went to Frigg’s mansion. There, he tricked Frigg into telling him that all things—except for one—had sworn not to hurt Balder. Frigg confided that the one thing she had not asked was the mistletoe. In Frigg’s mind, the mistletoe was too young and feeble a plant from which to demand such an oath.

Armed with this knowledge, Loki left and changed into his natural shape. He then cut some mistletoe and went immediately to find Hod. He saw the god standing apart from the game and asked why he was not throwing darts at his brother. Hod answered that he was blind and could not see Balder. He also said that he did not have anything to throw. Loki handed the mistletoe to Hod and then guided Hod’s hand as he threw it at Balder. The mistletoe flew through the air, struck the fair god, and passed through him. Balder fell to the ground, dead.

At first there was silence; the gods could not speak. Then they began to weep. Odin was deeply affected. He knew that a great evil had occurred and that the death of Balder foreshadowed the Ragnarok, the death of all gods and the destruction of the cosmos. He knew, too, that his son Vali by the goddess Rind would take the life of Hod in revenge, for Vali had been born just for this purpose. In the myth, Vali grew to manhood in one day and shot Hod with his bow and arrows.

Frigg asked for a volunteer to ride to Hel in Niflheim and offer a ransom to get Balder back from the dead. Hermod, another son of Odin, offered to go. Odin gave the reins of Sleipnir to Hermod who galloped off on this mission. After nine days and nights, Hermod found Balder in Hel in a place of honor. There, Hermod learned that Balder would not be released unless all things wept for him. Hermod returned to Asgard with this news, and the word went out. All things wept except for one giantess who would not. This creature, the gods believed, was Loki. Thus it was that Balder stayed in the land of the dead.

Loki ran away but the gods found him. They bound him with the entrails of his son and left him in a cave with a snake dripping poison onto his face.

Origins and Cults

One version of this story was recorded by Snorri Sturluson in a work called the Prose Edda in about 1220. Another version was recounted by the Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus in about 1215. In this version, Hod, called Höõr, and Balder were clever humans who tricked people into thinking they were gods.

Scholars have noted that the story of two sons of a king, one of whom accidently kills the other, was not uncommon in Northern Europe. For example, in Beowulf, one of the king’s sons is slain by his brother with a stray arrow.

Bibliography

Bullfinch, Thomas. Bullfinch’s Mythology. 1867. New York: Gramercy, 1979. Print

Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Norse Myths. New York: Pantheon, 1980. Print

Leeming, David. The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print

"Hoder." Mythology Dictionary. Mythology Dictionary, 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.