The History Of Asgard God's and Godesses

All about Odin

Odin is the chieftain of an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Asgardians, who were worshipped as gods by the Ancient Germanic and Scandinavian tribes of Western Europe. Odin was born ages ago as the grandson of Buri, the ancestor of the Asgardians, who is said to have emerged from the ice of the extra-dimensional realm of Niffleheim. Buri sired Bor, god of earth, who took as his wife, Bestla, daughter of the Rime Giant, Bolthorn, and they had three sons, Vili, Ve and Odin (known to the ancient German tribes as Lodur, Hoenir and Wotan). Buri was eventually replaced as Ruler of the Asgardians by Bor who was himself succeeded by his three sons. His whereabouts, if he still lives, are unrevealed, but Buri appeared later several centuries living outside Asgard under the name Tiwaz.

The three brothers eventually assumed leadership of the fledging tribe of Immortals known as the Aesir. They lead the armies of Asgard in war against the Frost Giants of Niffleheim and the three siblings slew the giants' leader, Ymir. The melting ice from Ymir's body flooded the earth and killed almost everything in sight except for a few of the giants and nearly every human being on Midgard (Earth) except for two mortals, Ask and Embla who survived the flood by clinging to two trees, an ash tree and a elm tree, respectively. Ask and Embla became ancestors to the preceding mortal race and Odin and his brothers used Ymir's corpse to create spells binding earth and the heavens. (Later myths claimed they actually constructed much of the cosmos from portions of Ymir's immense body, and created Ask and Embla from ash and elm trees, but this account is not as widely accepted today). The surviving Frost Giants eventually settled in the other-dimensional realm of Jotunheim, yet another of the Nine Worlds in the Asgardian Cosmology. Odin, Vili and Ve created the city of Asgard in the realm of Asgard, which became home to the Aesir. They were bitter enemies of the Vanir worshipped as gods by the ancient Germans as opposed to the Aesir worshipped as gods by the Scandinavians, but eventually both tribes came to a truce between their two tribes in later years and became Asgardians.

Ve, Vili and Odin finally went to explore another of the Nine Worlds, Muspelheim, which was inhabited by demons ruled by the monstrous, Surtur. While there, the three brothers learned of the prophecy that Surtur intended to one day destroy the Nine Worlds with his gigantic sword, which he would ignite with the Eternal Flame of Destruction. Odin and his brothers decided that Surtur must be prevented from carrying out this plan. The three brothers mystically merged into a giant of Surtur's own immense size, and in this form succeeded in shattering Surtur's sword in combat. Having returned to their individual forms, the three brothers carried off the brazier holding the Eternal Flame of Destruction. Surtur and his hordes pursued the three Asgardians to the inter-dimensional nexus between Asgard and Muspelheim. Odin rode through the Nexus, carrying the brazier, but his elder brothers remained behind, saying that if they accompanied Odin, then Surtur would follow the three of them wherever they went. Vili and Ve bade Odin farewell, telling him to rule Asgard wisely. Then, as Surtur came up behind them, there was a tremendous shock wave and a flash of light. When Odin recovered, the Nexus to Muspelheim had vanished. There was a second more powerful shock wave of energy, and the young Odin found himself in possession of his brothers' own godly powers. Thus, Odin now became possessed the "Odin-Power," which consisted of his own powers to manipulate mystical energy with those that had belonged to Vili and Ve.

Despite his power, Odin savored wisdom and he approached Mimir, son of Bolthorn who protected a mystic well that endowed wisdom on those who drank from it. Coveting to drink from the well, he used his own spear to remove his own eye as a price to drink from the well and hung from the branches of Yggdrasil, the sacred tree, for nine days and nine nights without food and water to prove his worthiness to it. Mimir placed Odin's severed eye in the well. The eye eventually became sentient and returned to Odin years later to reveal to Odin that the Asgardian Gods were trapped in a cycle of death and rebirth even they could not control. According to the Eye, Odin was already in a second incarnation and that in his previous incarnation he had lead the gods of Asgard against the combined forces of their enemies two thousand years prior. Odin had been killed in his previous life by being devoured by the Fenris Wolf, and Asgard had been consumed by Surtur's flames. Vili and Ve returned with Vidi and Vali, sons of Odin in this prior existence, and gave their lives to return Odin to life. Finding the other Asgardians and their enemies now in the form of small chessmen-like figurines, Odin restored them to life and created the second incarnation of Asgard. Not all of the gods of Asgard returned in this second incarnation, Forseti, son of Balder and grandson of Odin did not return while figures as Hela and Brynhilda returned with a limited knowledge of their prior existences. Other Asgardians, such as Odin's sons, Tyr, Hoder and Hermod, even forgot their relationships to Odin as their father. (This account of a previous incarnation and subsequent reincarnation of Odin and the Asgardians has been disputed, and may well be a fiction concocted by the Eye for unknown reasons. However, certain revelations in later years have nearly confirmed the Eye's claims.)