The Death of Baldur

1.) After many weeks of having dreams about his life being in danger, Baldur, the God of light, finally
told it to the Æsir at a council meeting. Because Baldur is the most loved by all the Gods, they all
agreed that something must be done to protect Baldur from all dangers.

The Goddess Freya the wife of Odin was chosen by the council to make sure that Baldur would not be
harmed. So she set out on a journey throughout all the nine worlds to ask everyone not to harm their
beloved Baldur.

Freya asked everyone and everything not to harm him, humans, giants, animals, trees, flowers, poisons,
diseases, stones and even the dirt she was walking on. After she had asked everyone and everything she
returned to Asgard and told the Gods that Balder was now safe from all dangers.

2.) The Gods were curious and wanted to see if Baldur really was safe from all dangers so they
decided to have a bit of fun. Some of the Gods started to shoot arrows at Baldur and others threw
stones at him, but nothing seemed to cause any injury to him, and all the Gods thought it was
remarkable.

But when Loki, son of Laufey saw this, he got furious. Loki shape shifted himself into a woman and went
to talk with Freya at her house Fensalir. When he arrived at her house, Freya asked him what all the
noise from the assembly was all about. The woman replied, everyone is shooting arrows at Baldur, yet he
suffers no injury.

Freya replied; nothing will harm Baldur, I have received oaths from everyone and everything that nothing
will harm Baldur.

The woman asked; really? Are you sure that everything has given their oaths not to harm him?

Freya replied; Almost everything, there was one thing that I thought was too young to ask for an oath, and
that was the mistletoe that grows west of Valhalla.

3.) After hearing this woman disappeared, Loki shape shifted back into himself and went to get the
mistletoe and brought it back to the assembly.

When Loki arrived at the assembly he noticed Hoder, standing at the edge of the circle people. Loki went
over to talk to him.

Loki asked; Why aren’t you shooting at Baldur?

Hoder replied; You know very well Loki that I am blind, so I can’t see where he is, and even if I did, I have
nothing to shoot at him.

Loki replied; You should be behaving like the other Gods and honoring Baldur like they do. I will help you
Hoder and direct you to where he is standing, I have this twig you can shoot at him.

4.) Hoder took the mistletoe and followed Loki’s directions and shot it at Baldur. The shot went right
through Baldur, and he fell to the ground dead. The atmosphere with music, laughter, and joy
quickly turned into grief. The Gods stood completely still as they were frozen in time, unable to
say a single word. Some of the Gods wanted to revenge Baldur’s death, but they couldn’t this
was revered as a sanctuary. Some of the Gods tried to speak, but they could only weep and were
not able to express their grief in words.
Odin suffered the most, not only had he lost his beloved son, he knew what the death of Baldur meant.
For you see, Odin had been told about Ragnarok by a seer, and the first warning was the death of
Baldur.

5.) Weeks went by, and the Gods had started to accept their loss of the beloved Baldur. Freya then
asked the Æsir who among them that wanted to gain all her love and favor by agreeing to ride the
road to Hel, to see if he could find Baldur and get him back from the dead.

Freya said; Tell Hel the queen of the underworld that she can have anything she wants if she let Baldur
return to Asgard.

Hermod the brave, Odin’s son stood up and said; I will do it, I will undertake this journey.

Hermod was given the horse Sleipnir for the journey, Sleipnir is Odin’s horse and it is the fastest of all
horses.

6.) The Æsir took Balder’s body and placed it on his ship called Ringhorn, which was the greatest of
all ships. It was so big that it could be folded out so everyone from Asgard, Valhalla, and
Folkvangr could be on it. But it could also be folded so small that it would fit inside your pocket.

The Gods wanted to use this ship as Baldur’s funeral pyre, but they could simply not drag the ship out to
sea, not even the God Thor was strong enough. The Æsir sent word to the giantess called Hyrrokkin, she
is a hideous beast, she came riding on her wolf, using poisonous snakes as reins.

She jumped off her wolf and walked over to the ship, Odin called to four of his berserkers from Valhalla to
come and watch her wolf. But the wolf was too strong for them, so they knocked it out.

On Hyrrokkin’s first try she pushed the ship so hard that the log rollers underneath the ship caught fire,
and the ground started to shake. This made Thor furious, and gripped his hammer Mjolnir, and was just
about to crush her skull, but the Æsir begged Thor not to harm her.

7.) When the ship had been dragged out to sea, and Nanna the wife of Baldur saw this, her heart
burst from sorrow and she died. She was put next to her husband on the funeral pyre, which was
then set on fire.

Thor went over the pyre and blessed it with his hammer Mjolnir, and just at that moment a dwarf named
lit, ran in front of his feet, and Thor kicked the dwarf with his foot, so it landed in the fire and burned to
death.

Everyone from near and far even the giants had turned up to Baldur’s funeral because he was loved by
everyone. Odin took off his golden ring Draupnir, which means the dripper and placed it on the pyre.

8.) Meanwhile very far away was Hermod the brave. He had been riding for nine days and nights in
the deepest and dark valleys. They were so dark that he did not see any light before he reached
the river Gjoll, and rode on to the Gjoll bridge. The bridge was shining so bright that it could be
seen from far, this is because the bridge was roofed with gold.

But Hermod was not alone anymore, the bridge was guarded by Modgud. And she asked Hermod; Who
are you, what is your name and what is your family name? Yesterday I had five troops of dead men riding
across this bridge, and yet the bridge echoed more under you alone, and you also lack the color of the
dead. Why do you ride here on the road to Hel?

Hermod answered; I ride to Hel in search of Baldur, have you seen Baldur here on the road to Hel?

Modgud replied; I have seen Baldur, he rode across this bridge and down to the north were Hel lies.

Hermod quickly mounted his horse and rode on until he came to the gates of Hel. The gates were closed
so he tightened the saddle on the horse and jumped over the gate. Hermod rode up to the hall and
dismounted and went inside.

9.) Here he saw his brother Baldur sitting in the seat of honor next to Hel. Hermod stayed here until
dawn and then asked Hel the queen of the underworld to let Balder return with him.

Hermod said; Everyone of the Æsir is weeping in deep sorrow, I beg you to let him return with me to
Asgard.

Hel answered; if Baldur really is loved so much by everyone as you say, I will let him go, but only if all
things around the world, alive or dead, weep for him. If anyone dislikes Baldur or refuses to cry for him,
then he will remain with me here in Helheim.

Baldur led him out of the hall and gave him the ring Draupnir, Nanna gave Hermod a fine linen robe that
he had to give to Freya and a golden ring to Fulla. Hermod mounted his horse and rode back to Asgard.

10.)When the Æsir heard what Hel had said, they were filled with the hope of seeing their beloved
Baldur again. The Æsir sent messengers throughout all the nine worlds to ask everyone and
everything to cry for Baldur. Humans, giants, animals, trees, flowers, stones, and even the earth
web for Baldur.

When the messengers had accomplished their task and were on their way home, they came across a
cave with a giantess inside. She said her name was Thokk, which means gratitude. When they asked her
to weep for Baldur,

She said; Thook will weep dry tears at Baldur’s funeral pyre. Alive or dead, the old man Odin’s son gave
me no joy. Let Hel hold what she has.