Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

, Váli (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

: ) is a God and the son of the god

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

and the giantess

Rindr Rindr (Old Norse: ) or Rinda (Latin) (sometimes Anglicized Rind) is a female goddess in Norse mythology, alternatively described as a giantess or a human princess from the east. She was impregnated by Odin and gave birth to the avenger of Baldr's ...

. Váli has numerous brothers including

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

Baldr Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was kno ...

, and

Víðarr In Norse mythology, Víðarr (Old Norse: , possibly "wide ruler",Orchard (1997:174—175). sometimes anglicized as Vidar , Vithar, Vidarr, and Vitharr) is a god among the Æsir associated with vengeance. Víðarr is described as the son of Odin ...

. He was born for the sole purpose of avenging

, and does this by killing

Höðr Höðr ( non, Hǫðr ; often anglicized as Hod, Hoder, or Hodur) is a god in Norse mythology. The blind son of Odin and Frigg, he is tricked and guided by Loki into shooting a mistletoe arrow which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr. ...

, who was an unwitting participant, and binding

Loki Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi or Na ...

with the entrails of his son

Narfi Narfi (Old Norse: ), also Nörfi (O.N.: ), Nari or Nörr (O.N.: ), is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Nótt, the personified night. Name The Old Norse name ''Nǫrr'' has been related to the Old Saxon ('night'), a name whic ...

. Váli grew to full adulthood within one day of his birth, and slew Höðr before going on to Loki. He is prophesied to survive

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (; non, Ragnarǫk) is a series of events, including a great battle, foretelling the death of numerous great figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), natural disasters, and the submers ...

Longstanding transcription error

Váli is referred to as the son of

, though this is argued by some historians to be an early transcription error. The mistake arises from a single passage in ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with th ...

'' containing the phrase "''Then were taken Loki's sons, Váli and Nari''". However, ''

'' describes Váli as the son of ''Odin'' in two other instances. All other documents found that date from this time refer to Váli only as Odin's son, with the exception of more recent copies of the potentially mistaken text.

Myths

The Váli myth is referred to in ''

Baldrs draumar ''Baldrs draumar'' (Old Norse: 'Baldr's dreams') or ''Vegtamskviða'' is an Eddic poem which appears in the manuscript AM 748 I 4to. It describes the myth of Baldr's death consistently with ''Gylfaginning''. Bellows suggest that the poem was c ...

'': :Rindr will bear Váli :in western halls; :that son of Óðinn :will kill when one night old – :he will not wash hand, :nor comb head, :before he bears to the pyre :Baldr's adversary. : — translation by

Ursula Dronke __NOTOC__ Ursula Miriam Dronke (née Brown, 3 November 1920 – 8 March 2012Heather O'Donoghue"Ursula Dronke obituary: Inspirational teacher of Old Norse literature specialising in the sagas and poetry of medieval Iceland" ''The Guardian'' 25 M ...

In ''

Völuspá ''Vǫluspá'' (also ''Völuspá'', ''Vǫlospá'' or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress'; reconstructed Old Norse: ) is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It tells the story of the creation of the world and ...

'': :There formed from that stem, :which was slender-seeming, :a shaft of anguish, perilous: :Hǫðr started shooting. :A brother of Baldr :was born quickly: :he started – Óðinn's son – :slaying, at one night old. And in ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...

'' ''

'' (where he is described as Loki's son) :Now Loki was taken truceless, and was brought with them into a certain cave. Thereupon they took three flat stones, and set them on edge and drilled a hole in each stone. Then were taken Loki's sons, Váli and Nari (or Narfi); the Æsir changed Váli into the form of a wolf, and he tore asunder Narfi his brother. And the Æsir took his entrails and bound Loki with them over the three stones: One stands under his shoulders, the second under his loins, the third under his houghs; and those bonds were turned to iron. : — translation by

Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (September 18, 1888 – September 9, 1971) was a scholar of early English, German, and Old Norse literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known primarily for his scholarly work on ''Beowulf'' and his ...

The ''

'' also mentions him again. ''

'' contains this passage: :One is called Ali or Váli, son of

and Rindr: He is daring in fights, and a most fortunate marksman. The same text also states that he will survive Ragnarök, along with his brother

and the sons of

Móði and Magni In Norse mythology, Móði (Old Norse: ; anglicized Módi or Mothi) and Magni are the sons of Thor. Their names translate to "Wrath" and "Mighty," respectively. Rudolf Simek states that, along with Thor's daughter Þrúðr ("Strength"), they embo ...

Parentage

Early mistranslation or confusion has led to a single mention of a Váli who is a son of Loki: "''Þá váru teknir synir Loka, Váli ok Nari eða Narfi''" from the ''Prose Edda'', translated as "Then were taken Loki's sons, Váli and Nari". We find the original of the only reference to Váli as ''the son of Loki'', while even the same text refers to Baldr's death being avenged by his brother (in ''Völuspá'' 33) as well as Váli being the Son of Odin in ''Völuspá'' 51, which is repeated in ''Baldr's draumar''. In the late period ''

Gesta Danorum ''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...

'' we also see that Odin is said to have a son with Rinda that will avenge his other son, Baldr's, death – though in this case the name of this new son is

Boe BOE, BoE or Boe may refer to: Abbreviations, acronyms or initialisms * Bank of England, the central bank of the United Kingdom * Bank of English, a representative subset of the 4.5 billion words COBUILD corpus * Barrel of oil equivalent, a uni ...

rather than Váli. In all these tales Odin goes out immediately – either through seduction, deception, or force – to sire this son. Similarly where each of these documents ascribe Váli the role of Loki's son we see only in the postscript or translation notes that this transformation was a punishment when in fact the gift of wolf's strength and rage is well attested as being granted by Odin to warriors known as ''

ulfhednar In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word '' berserk'' (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers ...

'', which would make his son Váli a

Berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word '' berserk'' (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers ...

and a possible origin for the ''ulfhednar'' legend. Finally we see a different description in

Hauksbók Hauksbók (; 'Book of Haukr'), Reykjavík, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar AM 371 4to, AM 544 4to and AM 675 4to, is an Icelandic manuscript, now in three parts but originally one, dating from the 14th century. It was created by the Icelander Haukr E ...

. In this version of ''

'', stanza 34 begins: "''Þá kná Vála , vígbǫnd snúa''", usually amended to the nominative ''Váli'' in order to provide a subject for the verb;

translates it as "Then did Váli , slaughter bonds twist" which presumably refers to Váli, son of

Óðinn Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

, who was begotten to avenge Baldr's death, and thus it is likely that he bound Loki, while it is highly improbable that it refers to a Váli, son of Loki, who is attested nowhere but one line of the ''Prose Edda''.

Footnotes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vali Æsir Baldr Jötnar Sons of Odin Vengeance gods Norse gods