Norse Gods and Goddesses: The Complete Guide to Every Deity in the Eddas
There is a common misconception that Norse mythology has only a handful of gods. Odin, Thor, Loki, maybe Freyja if you have seen the right films. In reality, the medieval Norse sources name more than forty distinct deities, each with a domain, a story, and a place in one of the most sophisticated religious systems of the ancient world.
This is the complete guide to the Norse gods and goddesses. Not a top ten list. Not the Marvel version. Every named deity the Eddas preserve, drawn directly from the primary sources: the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, and the skaldic tradition that carried these names for centuries before they were written down.
Some of these gods you will recognize. Many you will not. By the end, you will understand not just who the Norse gods were, but how they related to one another, which tribe they belonged to, and why a religion with this much depth deserves far more than the caricature popular culture has made of it.
While you read, the atmospheric music of Mythic Harmonies on YouTube draws from the same Old Norse tradition that preserved the names of these gods.
The Two Tribes: Aesir and Vanir
Before meeting the gods individually, you need to understand the single most important structural fact about the Norse gods and goddesses: they belong to two distinct tribes.
The Aesir are the principal tribe, associated with war, sovereignty, law, and the sky. They dwell in Asgard. Odin, Thor, Frigg, Týr, Baldr, and most of the famous gods are Aesir. They are the gods of power and order.
The Vanir are the second tribe, associated with fertility, prosperity, the sea, and natural cycles. They dwell in Vanaheim. Njörðr, Freyr, and Freyja are the principal Vanir.
These two tribes were not always allied. The Aesir-Vanir War, described in the Völuspá, was the first conflict in the cosmos. It ended in a truce sealed by an exchange of hostages: Njörðr, Freyr, and Freyja came to live among the Aesir, while the Aesir sent Hœnir and Mímir to the Vanir. After this exchange, the two tribes were effectively unified, and the Vanir living in Asgard came to be counted among the Aesir in most contexts.
Understanding this division is the key to understanding Norse religion. The Norse did not worship a single pantheon of similar beings. They worshipped a reconciliation of two different conceptions of the divine: power and fertility, war and peace, sky and earth.
| God | Domain | Tribe | Full story |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odin | Wisdom, war, magic | Aesir | Read: Odin the Allfather |
| Thor | Thunder, protection | Aesir | Read: Thor |
| Frigg | Marriage, foresight | Aesir | Read: Frigg |
| Baldr | Light, rebirth | Aesir | Coming soon |
| Týr | Justice, oaths | Aesir | Coming soon |
| Heimdall | Watchman of Bifröst | Aesir | Read: the Gjallarhorn |
| Njörðr | Sea, wealth | Vanir | Coming soon |
| Freyr | Fertility, peace | Vanir | Coming soon |
| Freyja | Love, war, magic | Vanir | Read: Freyja |
| Loki | Chaos, trickery | Liminal | Read: Loki |
| Hel | Ruler of the dead | Liminal | Read: Hel |
| The Norns | Fate itself | Cosmic | Read: the Norns |
| The Valkyries | Choosers of the slain | Cosmic | Read: the Valkyries |
The Principal Aesir Gods
Odin, the Allfather
Odin is the chief of the Aesir and the most complex deity in the Norse pantheon. He is the god of wisdom, war, death, poetry, and magic, and his name appears more often in the sources than any other.
He is not a god of brute strength. He rules through knowledge, cunning, and sacrifice. He gave his eye at Mímir’s well for a single draught of wisdom. He hung himself on Yggdrasil for nine nights, pierced by his own spear, to discover the runes. He travels the Nine Worlds in disguise, gathering knowledge and preparing for a Ragnarök he knows he cannot survive.
Odin owns the spear Gungnir, the self-replicating ring Draupnir, and the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. He is accompanied by his ravens Huginn and Muninn and his wolves Geri and Freki. At Ragnarök, he is destined to be devoured by the wolf Fenrir.
For the complete account of his myths, sacrifices, and meaning, see our dedicated article on Odin the Allfather.
Thor, God of Thunder
Thor is the son of Odin and the most widely worshipped god among the common people of the Viking Age. While Odin was the god of kings and poets, Thor was the god of farmers, sailors, and ordinary warriors. He is the protector of both gods and humans against the forces of chaos, particularly the giants.
Thor wields the hammer Mjölnir, wears the belt of strength Megingjörð, and rides a chariot pulled by two goats. His myths are full of journeys to Jötunheim and battles against giants. At Ragnarök, he will kill the World Serpent Jörmungandr and then die from its venom after taking nine steps.
For the full story, see our article on Thor, the god of thunder, and our dedicated piece on the true meaning of Mjölnir, Thor’s hammer.
Frigg, Queen of the Aesir
Frigg is the wife of Odin and the queen of the Aesir. She is the goddess of marriage, motherhood, foresight, and the household. She possesses the gift of prophecy, knowing the fate of all beings, but she never speaks what she knows.
Her most famous and most tragic myth is the death of her son Baldr. Knowing he was in danger, she extracted oaths from every thing in the cosmos not to harm him, but she overlooked the mistletoe, judging it too small to matter. Loki exploited this single omission to engineer Baldr’s death. Frigg’s grief is one of the emotional centers of Norse mythology.
Frigg dwells in the hall Fensalir, and she is attended by a court of handmaiden goddesses, several of whom are deities in their own right, covered further down in the section on the Ásynjur.
Baldr, God of Light
Baldr is the son of Odin and Frigg, the most beloved of all the gods. He is associated with light, beauty, joy, and purity. The sources describe him as so radiant that light shines from him.
His death is the pivotal tragedy of Norse mythology and the first sign that Ragnarök is approaching. Killed by a mistletoe dart thrown by his blind brother Höðr and guided by Loki, Baldr descends to the realm of Hel. The gods’ failed attempt to retrieve him, foiled by Loki in disguise, marks the point of no return for the cosmos. After Ragnarök, however, Baldr returns, reborn into the new world, becoming a symbol of hope and renewal.
Týr, God of Justice and War
Týr is the god of justice, law, oaths, and honorable war. He is one of the oldest gods in the Germanic tradition, and linguistic evidence suggests he may once have been a sky-father deity even more important than Odin.
His defining myth is the binding of the wolf Fenrir. When the gods needed to chain the monstrous wolf, Fenrir demanded that one god place a hand in his mouth as a pledge of good faith. Only Týr was willing. When the wolf realized he had been tricked and could not break free, he bit off Týr’s hand. Týr’s willing sacrifice for the good of the cosmos makes him the embodiment of justice that accepts personal cost.
Heimdall, the Watchman
Heimdall is the guardian of the Bifröst, the rainbow bridge connecting Asgard to the other realms. He possesses senses so acute he can hear grass growing and see for hundreds of miles. He needs less sleep than a bird.
His role is to watch for the coming of Ragnarök and to sound the Gjallarhorn when the giants approach. He is also, according to the Rígsþula, the divine ancestor of the three classes of human society. At Ragnarök, Heimdall and Loki are destined to kill each other, two boundary-crossers ending each other’s existence.
Bragi, God of Poetry
Bragi is the god of poetry, eloquence, and skaldic verse. He is described as wise and eloquent above all others, with runes carved on his tongue. He welcomes the honored dead to Valhalla with poetry. He is married to Iðunn, keeper of the apples of immortality.
Höðr, the Blind God
Höðr is the blind brother of Baldr, and the unwitting instrument of his death. Guided by Loki, he throws the mistletoe dart that kills the beloved god. He is later killed in revenge by Váli, a son Odin fathers specifically for this purpose. Like Baldr, Höðr returns after Ragnarök, and the two reconciled brothers rule together in the new world.
Víðarr, the Silent God
Víðarr is the son of Odin and the giantess Gríðr, known as the silent god and second in strength only to Thor. His destiny is one of the most important at Ragnarök: after Fenrir devours Odin, Víðarr avenges his father by tearing the wolf’s jaws apart, using a special shoe made from all the leather scraps humans have ever discarded. Víðarr survives Ragnarök and helps populate the new world.
Váli, God of Vengeance
Váli is a son of Odin, conceived specifically to avenge Baldr’s death. He grew to adulthood in a single day and killed the blind Höðr. He represents the inevitability of vengeance in the Norse moral universe. He too survives Ragnarök.
Forseti, God of Reconciliation
Forseti is the son of Baldr and Nanna, the god of justice, mediation, and reconciliation. He dwells in the hall Glitnir with its silver roof and golden pillars, where he settles all disputes brought before him. Where Týr represents justice through sacrifice, Forseti represents justice through wisdom and arbitration.
Hœnir, the Indecisive God
Hœnir is one of the gods sent to the Vanir as a hostage after the Aesir-Vanir War. He is described as tall and handsome, and he was given the gift of reason when the gods created the first humans. The sources portray him as indecisive without Mímir’s counsel. He survives Ragnarök and gains the power of prophecy in the new world.
Ullr, God of the Hunt
Ullr is a somewhat mysterious god associated with archery, skiing, hunting, and single combat. Place-name evidence across Scandinavia suggests he was once a very important deity, perhaps more prominent than the surviving myths indicate. He is the stepson of Thor, dwelling in Ýdalir, the Yew Dales.
Hermóðr, the Messenger
Hermóðr is the brave messenger of the gods, often called a son of Odin. His great moment comes after Baldr’s death, when he volunteers to ride Sleipnir down the long dark road to the realm of Hel to plead for Baldr’s return. He negotiates the condition for Baldr’s release, that all things must weep, a condition Loki ultimately sabotages.
The Vanir Gods
Njörðr, God of the Sea
Njörðr is the patriarch of the Vanir who came to live among the Aesir after the war. He is the god of the sea, seafaring, wind, fishing, and wealth. Sailors and fishermen prayed to him for safe voyages and good catches.
His marriage to the giantess Skaði is one of the more memorable myths. The two could not agree on where to live. Njörðr could not bear the cold mountains where the wolves howled, and Skaði could not bear the seaside where the gulls cried. They eventually separated. Njörðr is the father of Freyr and Freyja.
Freyr, God of Fertility and Prosperity
Freyr is one of the most important Vanir gods, the deity of fertility, prosperity, sunshine, fair weather, and kingship. He was among the most widely worshipped gods in Scandinavia, particularly in Sweden, where his cult at Uppsala was central.
He owns the ship Skíðblaðnir, which always has a favorable wind and folds up small enough to fit in a pouch, and the golden boar Gullinbursti. In one of the most poignant myths, Freyr gives away his magic sword to win the giantess Gerðr, a sacrifice that leaves him unarmed at Ragnarök, where he falls to the fire giant Surtr.
Freyja, Goddess of Love, War, and Magic
Freyja is the most prominent goddess in Norse mythology and one of the most misunderstood. She is the goddess of love, fertility, war, death, and magic. Reducing her to a “Norse Aphrodite” badly misrepresents her actual role.
She receives half of all warriors who die in battle in her hall Sessrúmnir, in her field Fólkvangr. Odin receives the other half. She is the master of seiðr, the most powerful form of Norse magic, which she taught to Odin. She owns the necklace Brísingamen and a cloak of falcon feathers, and her chariot is pulled by two cats.
For the full account of her domains, her magic, and her place in the afterlife, see our article on Freyja, the goddess of love, war, and magic.
Other Vanir
The Vanir tribe includes several other figures. Nerthus is an early Germanic earth goddess, described by the Roman historian Tacitus, possibly an earlier form connected to Njörðr. Kvasir is the wisest of all beings, born from the saliva of both Aesir and Vanir at the truce that ended their war. His murder by dwarves led to the creation of the Mead of Poetry. Gullveig, whose burning by the Aesir may have triggered the Aesir-Vanir War, is associated with witchcraft and gold, and is sometimes identified with Freyja herself.
The Goddesses: The Ásynjur
The female deities of the Aesir are called the Ásynjur, and they are among the most overlooked figures in popular treatments of the Norse gods and goddesses. Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda names a court of goddesses, many of whom appear only in brief descriptions. For several of them, this single mention is the only attestation in the surviving sources, yet their presence shows how rich the Norse conception of the feminine divine truly was.
Iðunn, Keeper of the Apples
Iðunn is the goddess who guards the apples of immortality that keep the gods young. She is married to Bragi. When the giant Þjazi kidnaps her, with Loki’s forced cooperation, the gods immediately begin to age, revealing how essential she is to the survival of the entire pantheon. Her rescue restores their youth.
Sif, Goddess of the Harvest
Sif is the wife of Thor, a goddess associated with the earth, fertility, and the harvest, famous for her golden hair. When Loki maliciously cut off her hair, Thor forced him to replace it. Loki commissioned the dwarves to forge new hair of real gold that would grow like natural hair, and in the same trip obtained several of the gods’ greatest treasures, including Mjölnir.
Skaði, Goddess of Winter
Skaði is a giantess who becomes a goddess, associated with winter, mountains, skiing, hunting, and the bow. She came to Asgard demanding compensation for the death of her father Þjazi. As part of the settlement, she married Njörðr, though the marriage failed because neither could tolerate the other’s home. She is fiercely independent and one of the most vivid figures in the mythology.
Nanna, Wife of Baldr
Nanna is the devoted wife of Baldr. Her grief at his death is so overwhelming that she dies of sorrow and is burned on his funeral pyre, joining him in the realm of Hel. She is the mother of Forseti.
The Handmaidens of Frigg
Snorri names a group of goddesses associated with Frigg’s court. Each governs a specific domain of human life:
Sága is a goddess of wisdom and history who drinks daily with Odin in her hall Sökkvabekkr. Eir is the goddess of healing and the best of physicians. Gefjon is a goddess of fertility and ploughing, who created the Danish island of Zealand by ploughing it from Sweden, and to whom unmarried women go when they die. Fulla is a virgin goddess who carries Frigg’s casket and keeps her secrets. Sjöfn turns the minds of people toward love. Lofn grants permission for forbidden or difficult unions. Vár hears and punishes the breaking of oaths and vows, especially between lovers. Vör is wise and inquiring, from whom nothing can be hidden. Syn guards the door against those who should not enter and presides over legal defenses. Hlín is a protective goddess appointed by Frigg to shield those she wishes to save from danger. Snotra is the wise and courteous goddess of self-discipline and propriety. Gná is Frigg’s messenger, who rides the horse Hófvarpnir through the air and across the sea.
Many of these goddesses survive only in these brief descriptions, but they reveal a religious imagination that personified nearly every important aspect of human social and emotional life.
The Liminal Figures: Loki and His Kin
Loki, the Trickster
Loki is the most complex figure in the entire pantheon, and strictly speaking he is not one of the Norse gods and goddesses in the ordinary sense. He is of giant descent, son of the giant Fárbauti, yet he lives among the Aesir as Odin’s sworn blood-brother. He is neither fully god nor fully enemy.
He is a shapeshifter and a trickster, responsible for both some of the gods’ greatest treasures and their greatest catastrophes. He engineers the death of Baldr. At Ragnarök, he turns fully against the gods, captaining the ship of the dead and dying in mutual combat with Heimdall.
For the full portrait of this contradictory figure, see our article on Loki, the god of chaos and trickery.
The Children of Loki
With the giantess Angrboða, Loki fathered three beings who are central to the end of the world. Fenrir, the monstrous wolf destined to devour Odin, whose full story we tell in our article on Fenrir, the wolf who will kill Odin. Jörmungandr, the World Serpent who encircles the earth and is destined to kill Thor. And Hel, the half-living, half-dead goddess who rules the realm of the dead that bears her name.
Hel, Ruler of the Dead
Hel is the daughter of Loki, appointed by Odin to rule over the realm of the dead that shares her name. She receives those who die of sickness and old age, as opposed to those who fall in battle. Her appearance is striking: half her body is that of a living woman, half is that of a corpse. She is grim and unyielding, and it is she who refuses to release Baldr unless every being weeps for him.
The Primordial and Cosmic Beings
Beyond the two tribes, the Norse cosmos is populated by primordial beings who predate or stand outside the gods.
Ymir, the First Being
Ymir is the primordial giant from whose body the cosmos was made. Born from the meeting of fire and ice in the void of Ginnungagap, Ymir was slain by Odin and his brothers Vili and Vé. From his flesh they made the earth, from his blood the seas, from his bones the mountains, from his skull the sky, and from his brains the clouds. The entire physical world is, in the Norse imagination, the body of a murdered giant.
Búri and Borr, the First Gods
Búri is the first god, formed when the primordial cow Auðumbla licked the salty ice. His son Borr married the giantess Bestla, and their sons were Odin, Vili, and Vé, the gods who created the world. This lineage links the gods directly to the primordial origins of the cosmos.
Sól and Máni, Sun and Moon
Sól is the goddess who drives the chariot of the sun across the sky, and Máni is the god who guides the moon. They are pursued eternally by the wolves Sköll and Hati, sons of Fenrir, who will finally catch and devour them at Ragnarök, plunging the world into darkness.
The Norns, Weavers of Fate
The Norns are not gods in the ordinary sense but cosmic beings even the gods must obey. The three principal Norns, Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld, weave the fate of all beings beside the Well of Urd at the base of Yggdrasil. For the full account of their role and why even Odin cannot defy them, see our article on the Norns and the Norse concept of fate.
The Valkyries
The Valkyries are female figures who choose which warriors die in battle and which are brought to Valhalla. They are not goddesses in the strict sense, but they serve Odin and operate within the cosmic structure of fate. Their true role is far more complex than the winged warrior maidens of popular imagination, as we explore in our article on the Valkyries and their true role.
How the Norse Gods Differ From Other Pantheons
The Norse gods and goddesses stand apart from the deities of Greece, Rome, or Egypt in one crucial respect: they are mortal, and they know it.
The Greek gods are immortal and untroubled by any final reckoning. The Norse gods live under the shadow of Ragnarök, the doom they cannot escape. Odin knows he will die. Thor knows he will die. They prepare for a battle they know they will lose, and they march into it anyway.
This gives Norse mythology a tragic grandeur unlike any other. The gods are not distant perfect beings. They are powerful, flawed, and doomed, facing their fate with a dignity that the Norse considered the highest virtue. The dignity is not in winning. It is in how you meet an end you cannot avoid.
This is also why the Norse gods feel so human. They make mistakes. They feel grief, fear, and love. They are bound by oaths and obligations. They depend on one another. The death of Baldr is not just a plot point, it is a genuine tragedy that the gods mourn because they loved him.
For the full chronological story of how these gods rose, lived, and met their fate, our complete Norse mythology timeline maps every major event from the creation of the cosmos to the rebirth after Ragnarök.
The Sources: How We Know the Norse Gods
Everything we know about the Norse gods and goddesses comes from a small number of medieval sources, and understanding them is essential for separating authentic mythology from modern invention.
The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems preserved mainly in a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript called the Codex Regius, though the poems themselves are much older. It contains the Völuspá, the Hávamál, and the other foundational poems of Norse mythology.
The Prose Edda was written around 1220 CE by the Icelandic chieftain and scholar Snorri Sturluson. It is the single most important source for organized Norse mythology, and much of what we know about the minor gods and goddesses comes from Snorri alone.
The skaldic poems, composed by court poets across the Viking Age, preserve countless references to the gods through the elaborate metaphors called kennings. The sagas and other medieval texts fill in further details.
These same sources preserve one more treasure: the names themselves. Divine elements flowed directly into human names across the Viking world, from Þorsteinn (“Thor’s stone”) to Freydís (“Freyja’s goddess”) to Ingólfr (“wolf of Freyr”). Our guide to 200+ Viking names and their meanings traces how the gods of this pantheon became the children of the Norse world.
A crucial caveat: these sources were written down by Christians, centuries after the conversion of Scandinavia. Snorri himself was a Christian writing about a religion no longer practiced. This means we must read carefully, distinguishing what the sources actually say from what later interpretation has added. The runic and archaeological record, including the runestones and the rune poems behind the Elder Futhark, provides independent confirmation of which gods were genuinely worshipped.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Norse gods are there?
The medieval Norse sources name more than forty distinct deities, divided into two tribes: the Aesir and the Vanir. Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda lists twelve principal gods and a court of goddesses, but the total number of named divine beings, including primordial and cosmic figures, exceeds forty.
Who is the most powerful Norse god?
Odin is generally considered the chief and most powerful of the Norse gods, ruling as the Allfather of the Aesir. However, power in Norse mythology is complex. Thor is physically stronger, Freyja masters a magic Odin had to learn from her, and even Odin cannot defy the Norns who weave fate. No single god holds absolute power.
What is the difference between the Aesir and the Vanir?
The Aesir are the principal tribe of gods, associated with war, sovereignty, and the sky, including Odin, Thor, and Frigg. The Vanir are a second tribe associated with fertility, the sea, and prosperity, including Njörðr, Freyr, and Freyja. After the Aesir-Vanir War ended in a truce, the two tribes merged, and the Vanir living in Asgard came to be counted among the Aesir.
Who are the main Norse goddesses?
The most important Norse goddesses include Frigg, queen of the Aesir and goddess of marriage and foresight, Freyja, goddess of love, war, and magic, Iðunn, keeper of the apples of immortality, Sif, goddess of the harvest, Skaði, goddess of winter and hunting, and Hel, ruler of the dead. Snorri also names a court of handmaiden goddesses, each governing an aspect of human life.
Are the Norse gods immortal?
No, and this is what makes them unique. Unlike the Greek or Roman gods, the Norse gods are mortal and destined to die at Ragnarök, the end of the world. Iðunn’s apples keep them young, but they can be killed, and the sources are clear that most of the major gods will fall in the final battle.
Is Loki a god?
Loki’s status is ambiguous. He is of giant descent, the son of the giant Fárbauti, yet he lives among the Aesir as Odin’s sworn blood-brother and is counted among the gods in many contexts. He is best understood as a liminal figure who belongs fully to neither the gods nor the giants.
What happens to the Norse gods at Ragnarök?
At Ragnarök, most of the major gods die. Odin is devoured by Fenrir, Thor kills Jörmungandr but dies from its venom, Freyr falls to Surtr, and Heimdall and Loki kill each other. However, the cosmos is reborn afterward. Baldr returns, and surviving gods including Víðarr, Váli, and the sons of Thor inherit the new world.
Where can I learn about each Norse god in detail?
Each major Norse deity has its own complete story. Our dedicated articles cover Odin, Thor, Loki, Freyja, and Fenrir in full depth, with more gods being added regularly. The complete Norse mythology timeline ties them all together into a single chronological narrative.
The Gods Who Knew They Would Fall
The Norse gods and goddesses were not perfect beings looking down on humanity from an untroubled heaven. They were powerful, flawed, and mortal. They loved, they grieved, they made terrible mistakes, and they faced an end they could not escape.
That is what makes them endure. In an age that often promises easy answers and guaranteed outcomes, the Norse gods offer something harder and more honest: the idea that dignity is not found in winning, but in how you meet what you cannot avoid. Odin gathered his armies knowing they would lose. Thor raised his hammer knowing the serpent’s venom would take him. They fought anyway.
More than forty gods and goddesses, two tribes, one doomed and magnificent cosmos. The Norse imagined a divine world as complicated, as tragic, and as alive as the human one. It is still worth knowing, name by name.
We gave these gods their voices. Our album GUÐS STRÍÐ (Gods of War), sung entirely in Old Norse, tells their stories one by one, from Odin’s sacrifice to the fire of Ragnarök. Press play and read the pantheon the way the skalds intended: explore the full catalog.