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 as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, Váli (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

) or Boe or Bous (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

) is a

god In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

and the son of the god

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

and Rindr (who is either a

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

herself or a human princess, depending on the sources). Váli has numerous brothers including

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, 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 g ...

Baldr Baldr (Old Norse also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, he 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 known in ...

, and

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

. He was born for the sole purpose of avenging

, and does this by killing

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

, who was an unwitting participant, and binding

Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...

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 which ...

. 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, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...

Attestations

Icelandic sources

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 com ...

'': :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 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 March 201 ...

In ''

Völuspá ''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...

'': :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. He was thought of as a great

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

and a courageous fighter on the battlefield. The ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'' (''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'', after the initial Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' takes the form of ...

'') describes him: :One is called Ali or Váli, son of

and Rindr: He is daring in fights, and a most fortunate marksman. In stanza 51 of '' Vafthrúdnismál'',

Vafþrúðnir Vafþrúðnir (Old Norse "mighty weaver"Orchard (1997:170).) is a wise jötunn in Norse mythology. His name comes from ''Vaf'', which means weave or entangle, and ''thrudnir'', which means strong or mighty. Some interpret it to mean "mighty in rid ...

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 ...

: :Stanza 51: :"In the gods' home Vithar , and Vali shall dwell, :When the fires of Surt have sunk; :Mothi and Magni , shall Mjollnir have :When Vingnir falls in fight."

''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 and is an essentia ...

'' by

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...

is a euhemerised account of the history of the kings of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, but draws on other mythological stories and presents them in a historical context (i.e. presenting gods as human figures from the past). In this story, after the death of Balder at the hands of Hother (the human king of Denmark and Sweden), Odin (a human sorcerer who was believed to be a god) enchants Rinda (a human princess of the Ruthenians) and fathers Boe or Bous on her. This crime leads Odin to be exiled by the other gods for nearly 10 years. When he returns, he seeks out Boe and encourages him to take revenge on Hother. Hother, foreseeing that he will die in the battle, passes the kingship on to his son Rorik. Hother meets Boe in battle and is killed, but Boe also dies of his wounds a day later. The Ruthenian army held a funeral for him and buried him in a barrow.

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 ''

'' 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: Arts, media and entertainment * Bastards of Evil, a comic book supervillain team * '' Blades of Exile'', a computer role-playing game * ''Boletín Oficial del Estado'', official gazette of the Spanish government Org ...

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, berserkers () were Scandinavian warriors who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English adjective '' berserk'' . Berserkers are attested to in num ...

'', which would make his son Váli a

Berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers () were Scandinavian warriors who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English adjective ''wikt:berserk#Adjective, berserk'' . Berserkers ...

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

Hauksbók Hauksbók (; 'Book of Haukr') is a 14th-century Icelandic manuscript created by Haukr Erlendsson. Significant portions of it are lost, but it contains the earliest copies of many of the texts it contains, including the '' Saga of Eric the Red''. ...

. 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 ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Emp ...

, 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