Freyja

Goddess of Love, Magic and Battle

Freyja’s name means “Lady”, just as Freyr means “Lord”. Snorri says she lives at Folkvangr, the Field of the People, and her hall is Sessrumnir. When warriors fall in battle, Freyja receives half while Odin receives the other half. The sources do not explain exactly how the division works. This role makes it wrong to describe her only as a gentle romance goddess. Freyja practises seidr, magic connected with prophecy, altered states and influencing events. The saga Ynglinga says she taught this skill to the Aesir. Odin also uses seidr, even though Loki mocks him for taking part in a practice that could be judged unmanly. Freyja’s knowledge therefore changes the divine world and places her among its most important magical figures. Brisingamen is her best-known treasure.

The sources call it a superb necklace or neck ornament, but they do not preserve one universally agreed story of how she obtained it. A late tale says four dwarfs made it and demanded a night each with Freyja, yet that account appears in a Christianised text and should not automatically be treated as the oldest version. What is secure is that the necklace belongs to Freyja and is greatly valued. Thor borrows Brisingamen when he disguises himself as Freyja to recover Mjolnir. Freyja herself refuses furiously when the giant Thrym demands her as a bride, and the necklace shakes as her anger fills the hall. Giants often want to marry or possess Freyja, which turns her into a symbol of something the gods must defend.

She is never simply a prize who agrees to be handed over. Her husband is Odr, a mysterious traveller whose name resembles Odin’s. Odr goes away for long periods, and Freyja searches for him under different names, weeping tears of red gold. Their daughters are Hnoss and Gersemi, whose names suggest treasure. Scholars have debated whether Freyja and Frigg developed from an earlier common goddess, but the surviving Norse texts distinguish them. Freyja’s animal connections add to her character. Her cats pull her chariot, and she can use the falcon garment to travel swiftly. She also rides the boar Hildisvini in the poem Hyndluljod. The disguised boar is linked with her human favourite Ottar, whom she helps learn his ancestry.

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