Most of us can probably also relate to doing something stupid to impress said crush.
I personally went through a phase where I pretended to despise country music because the object of my affection hated it. Sorry, Stephen - I actually really, REALLY like country music. For a different crush, I tried to make it seem like I thought the Transformer movies were works of fine art instead of two-and-a-half hour long explosions of sound and metal with questionable story and acting. Don't get me wrong, I liked the first one well enough - it was the ones after it that I had some problems with.
You guys probably have similar stories of things you’ve done - or tried to do - to garner the attention of your crush.
Well, not even the gods are immune to that sort of behavior. Case in point: Freyr, the Norse god of plants and fertility. Freyr is famous for a story in which he pines (heh - plant god, pines. Heheh!) away for a beautiful woman he has only glimpsed from afar. Unfortunately, he does something pretty stupid to win her over...and in the long run, it costs him his life.
In fact, the whole world dies because of Freyr’s mistake.
I hope none of us can relate to that!
In last week’s post I talked about the similarities between the goddesses Frigg and Freya. Freyr and Freya are siblings, and they’re not quite like the other gods. Several tales call them “Vanir”, whereas the other gods are referred to as “Æsir”. The Vanir hail from the Norse realm of the elves, Alfheim. In fact, Freyr was the Lord of Alfheim.
As I said before, Freyr is the Norse god of fertility and plants. He is also attributed as being the god of the sun, the rain, and the harvests. Freyr possessed several magical relics. Perhaps the best known is the boar Gullinbursti - the image of this boar is frequently found on shields and armor of Norse warriors.
Gullinbursti was made out of gold, and his skin reflected the light of the sun, allowing crops to grow. Gullinbursti is also credited with teaching man how to plough the ground, because his tusks dug up furrows in the ground in which seeds could be planted.
The second relic of Freyr is the ship Skidbladnir, a truly magical vessel. It was capable of holding all of the armies of the gods, yet could fold up incredibly small and fit into Freyr’s pouch.
The ship also possessed the ability to sail on sea, air, or land. Why am I picturing this?
Freyr’s final relic - and the most important one - was his magical sword. The blade was endowed with the ability to fight against the giants without anyone needing to hold it. This sword had long been prophesied to be incredibly important during Ragnarok, the doom of the gods. During Ragnarok, Freyr was foretold to fight against this guy:
Surtr, leader of the fire giants.
With his sword, Freyr might have been able to defeat Surtr. Unfortunately, the Norns knew long before he did that the fertility god would give away his sword for love of a woman, dooming himself to fall at the hands of Surtr.
This is the story which I wish to tell you.
Once, while the other gods were off on some business, Freyr decided to climb onto Odin’s throne. From here all of the realms could be seen, and the god was able to oversee everyone and everything. It was while he was in this chair that Freyr happened to glimpse a woman named Gerda, daughter of one of the giants. Her beauty so dazzled him that Freyr immediately fell in love with her.
Unfortunately, Freyr also knew that he would never be able to woo Gerda. After all, she was a giantess, enemies of the gods! What chance could their relationship ever have?
Because of this, Freyr fell into a deep depression. He pined for Gerda so badly that he could not eat, drink, or sleep. The god was so distracted by his love for Gerda that he failed to tend to his heavenly duties. As such, the crops began to fail on the earth. Nature grieved with the god, so the plants all started to die.
At these events Freyr’s father, already worried for his son, grew frantic. He sent Freyr’s loyal friend and servant Skirnir to find out what was wrong. Freyr confessed his love for Gerda, but also his knowledge that he could never possibly hope to have her.
Skirnir refused to give up so easily. He offered to go in Freyr’s stead to win over the beautiful maiden. After a while Freyr agreed to let him try, and lent Skirnir his sword to keep him safe on his journey.
His friend immediately set off, and eventually came to the home of Gerda and her father. Skirnir was granted an audience, where he told Gerda of Freyr’s love for her. However, Gerda was one of the frost giants - and her heart was as cold as ice. She was unmoved by Skirnir’s pleas on his friend’s behalf.
Noticing this, Skirnir changed tactics. He offered Gerda gold and jewels if she would return with him and become Freyr’s bride. Once again, the frost giant turned him down.
Desperate, Skirnir began to threaten the maiden. When threats of death did not phase her, he threatened to curse her to a life of eternal misery and loneliness. That struck a note of fear in Gerda, who relented and agreed to return with Skirnir and marry Freyr. (Gentlemen, please don’t take your cues from Skirnir. Threatening a lady is NOT an appropriate way to woo her.)
It is here that Skirnir makes a very foolish mistake - a mistake that Freyr does not chastise him for when he returns. In olden days there was a tradition called a bride price - sort of like a reverse dowry. The man who wished to marry gave a gift to the parents of the woman he sought. Essentially, he bought her off of them.
(I read a great Marvel fanfiction a while ago in which Thor approaches Dr. Selvig, Jane’s father figure, and gives him a few hundred cattle in exchange for Jane’s hand in marriage. Of course, he’s working in Stark Tower at the time, so Iron Man walks downstairs in the morning and sees a TON of cattle randomly standing there. Hilarious! Hopefully that helps you to picture a bride price.)
Skirnir offers Freyr’s sword as the bride price for Gerda.
So, I suppose Skirnir is the one to blame for everyone dying during Ragnarok. But still! Freyr sent him off to represent him, and gave him the sword for the journey. He doesn’t even try to get the sword back when Skirnir returns without it! What fools we are for love...
Anyway, Gerda and Freyr are married soon after, and the giantess quickly falls in love with the god. The poem this story is contained in was interpreted as the sun (Freyr) melting the frozen earth (Gerda’s heart), which is kind of sweet, and beautiful.
What happens next? Not so much.
During Ragnarok, Freyr has no weapon with which to face Surtr. Depending on the story, he fights with his bare hands, a tree branch, or an antler. None of those fare very well against fire.
Surtr wins. We all die.
But at least Freyr got the girl, right?
I hope you guys enjoyed the post! I love that the gods are as fallible in love as we mortals are. It makes them easier to relate to, and also probably made those who worshipped them feel less foolish when they acted stupid to win someone over - after all, they were just following the example of the gods!
Got any requests, questions, or comments? Feel free to enter them below, or to email me! I’ll be back with another post next week, though it’s still a mystery (to you and me both!) what it’ll be! See you then!
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