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Episode 73: Norse Deities- Mimir and Baldur
544 Plays2 years ago
Welcome back Witches! We're jumping back on the deity train this week and this time in the Norse pantheon. While we will cover some of the more talked about deities in the future, this episode is going to cover Mimir and Baldur. We're gonna cover some variations in the mythology, some ties they both have to other Gods, and their ties to Ragnarök. So get in losers and let's learn about the Norse deities, Mimir and Baldur.
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Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
References:
- Winters, Riley. The Bodiless God of Wisdom: Mimir in Norse Mythology. (2020). Ancient Origins. https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/mimir-0014107
- Skjalden. Mimir. (2020). https://skjalden.com/mimir/
- Norse Mythology for Smart People. (n.d.). Norse Mythology.Org. https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/baldur/
- Prof Geller. (2016). Balder. Mythology.net. https://mythology.net/norse/norse-gods/balder/
- Britannica. (n.d.). Balder. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Balder-Norse-mythology
- https://www.reddit.com/r/NorsePaganism/comments/otzkor/anyone_know_any_good_offerings_for_baldr/
- Cierra Tolentino, "Baldr: Norse God of Beauty, Peace, and Light", History Cooperative, December 13, 2022, https://historycooperative.org/baldr-norse-god/.
- Youtube:Mythology & Fiction Explained
Jon Solo
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Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft and the Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult, but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In Loser, we're doing witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we've learned
Norse Deities: Mimir and Baldur
00:00:16
Speaker
about the craft. So get in witches as we learn about the Norse deities, Mimir and Baldur.
00:00:45
Speaker
I was playing God of War before this. Oh, nice. I got all my Mimir prep. I love it. That game is like ridiculous. When I started, I checked to see what percentage I was at through the game because I've been playing this game for like 30 something hours. And it was only at 58%. And I played it for a couple of hours this morning and I
00:01:12
Speaker
cleared like two areas. I did a bunch of like, what do they call them? They're not like side quest, but they're essentially side quest favors. I did like a bunch of favors. And then I cleared like a quest, like a path quest, which is the ones that like push you forward. And when I got off, cause I killed like bosses too. So I got off and I'm like, what percentage am I at today? It didn't move. Oh my God. I'm still at 58%.
00:01:41
Speaker
How? It's gonna take you like a decade to finish this game. I know. I know. I will say though, I do a lot of the side stuff too. Because technically you kind of need to to get your resources so you can get your skills and your armor and like upgrade your weapon to be able to kill like the big bosses. Yeah. If you don't do that, then you can't kill them. But still.
Emily's Unique Birthday Celebrations
00:02:04
Speaker
Yeah, be playing it for like the next three years. At least like that's crazy. Wild.
00:02:12
Speaker
And it is wild. How was Emily's birthday? It was good. Yeah. It sucked because we had a power outage. Yeah. And she didn't really want to do anything. No, yeah. She didn't. Like a week ago, if you want to pick up your friend or something, you guys wouldn't go see a movie or just go to the mall or whatever, and me and your dad
00:02:36
Speaker
like, your sister, obviously, because we can't leave her home herself, like, hang out in the background and let you guys go off and do your thing. You know what I mean? And she's like, no, I don't want to do that. And so like, just like, OK. So we took her out for breakfast and then we ended up going to the mall. And I'm I'm so happy we did because she is one of those kids where she's like, oh, I don't have any clothes, even though she has like a full closet worth of clothes that are like, yeah, brand new.
00:03:06
Speaker
But, you know, her style's evolving and she's into different things now. And so we were able to find like, but whenever you ask her like, well, what do you like? What are you into? I don't know. I don't know how to describe it.
00:03:20
Speaker
And I'm like, okay. Yeah. So we found a couple of stores, like we, she found a couple of things at Uniqlo and they have like, you know, those parachute pants that we used to wear their back in style, like, you know, and they have them at all the stores now. And so she got a couple of pairs of those and some like cargo pants. And then we found this store and it's like, I don't even know what the store is called, but it's a little Japanese store.
00:03:46
Speaker
And they have the cutest clothes. And they have these like shorts that are like, I don't even know how to describe them, but they look like 90s style shorts, but they're kind of like, they're tight in the waist, but they're kind of baggy and they go almost to the knees. Okay. And she loved them. And she's like, I like these. And so we got her like a couple of different pairs of those. And so I'm just like, thank God, because
00:04:11
Speaker
I'm always just like, she's always complaining that she has nothing to wear. And I'm like, I don't even know what you like. Like it's really hard to...
00:04:19
Speaker
even take you places to find colors because you don't like anything. If you can't describe it, I don't know what it is. Exactly. Yeah. So I'm just like, okay. So now we found a couple of stores in the mall that she likes. That makes it easier. So we did that and then, but she didn't want a birthday cake or anything. Like she wanted for her birthday dinner slash cake. She just wanted on a gurry. And so we got her some salmon on a gurry.
00:04:48
Speaker
And then she wanted a sweet tea. And she's like, you can put a candle in the onigiri if you want to, but I really don't want cake. And I'm like, OK. You're like, we want cake. So would you be bad if we ate cake? You can blow out the candle and we'll just eat it. It's fine. You don't have to eat it. Yeah. But I think we might take her out for sushi today because that was also going to be the plan yesterday. But we spent so many hours at the mall. Like, we were there for like six hours. It was exhausting. Oh, my God.
00:05:16
Speaker
So by the time we got home, everybody was so tired and she didn't want to go back out again. And then I came on and she's like, I just really want to set up my iPad because we got her an iPad with the Apple pencil. That way she can do more digital art creations, which she loves to do. Yeah, that's awesome. It makes me think of, was it Avery when you guys were in England that just wanted this frozen dinner from like
00:05:45
Speaker
Oh, that was Emily too. Was it Emily? I think it was her 11th or 12th, I think it was her 12th birthday. All she wanted was a fucking, like basically a pot pie. It was like a frozen, it wasn't even like the name brand version of the pot pie either, but it was like the Sainsbury, which is the name of the grocery store that we go to, their version of a chicken pie. And that's all she wanted for her birthday dinner. And I'm just like,
00:06:14
Speaker
I thought that was Avery for some reason, but that track. Yeah. Avery, she's always been a balloon girl. She only wants balloons for her birthday. I remember when she turned three, the only thing she wanted was balloons. We'd ask her, what do you want for your birthday? Balloons. That's it. We got her a shit ton of balloons that year, but I just thought it was so funny because yesterday we got Emily the
00:06:40
Speaker
the balloons and it said like 13 on them. And Avery came downstairs and Emily's like, Oh, I mean, because I told her I was like, I'm sorry, you know, the balloons kind of deflated a bit. And she's like, I don't really care about balloons. So it doesn't matter to me. And everyone was like, Well, y'all know, I love balloons. And I'm just like, still, after all this time, she just loves balloons so much. And it's just funny.
00:07:04
Speaker
Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Yeah. So the Polans are basically Avery's and like she plays with them. Like she's like all day and she's playing with them. And I'm like, this is hilarious. Like she knows what she likes. Exactly. Yeah. So.
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, but I think we're gonna take her, like I said, to sushi today and then like the sushi place we go to, they have like a dessert menu. So maybe we'll like order a little dessert for her if she wants like ice cream or something and then sing to her. Cause I felt like, I mean, we didn't really get the opportunity to really do that yesterday.
Norse Mythology: Baldur's Story and Influence
00:07:43
Speaker
So we'll see how it goes. She's like, I'm just a simple kid, mom.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah. I don't need all the fancy. I know. Yeah. And I'm just like, why am I even complaining about this? Like, you know, some kids are like super extra. Yeah. My kids are like, yeah, no, I just want to do my own thing. It's fine. I just want to hang out and be left alone. And I want balloons. Yeah. Yep. And you can buy me like these oniguri from the convenience store for like two bucks. Like I'm down with that. Those are my favorites. Yeah.
00:08:18
Speaker
What are we talking about today? We got some Norse deities. I'm so excited. Although I will say there is not a ton on Baldr. I thought there was going to be a lot more because like you see, I mean, obviously like he's in God of War. Yeah. And then also like, I mean, he's in a lot of like pop culture type thing. Like they mentioned him in Thor. I can't remember who plays him in Thor, but I know they mention him. I don't remember.
00:08:48
Speaker
Um, there's not a lot on Mimir either though. Yeah. I thought there would be more. Yeah. He is like one that I really just didn't know anything about outside of like the God of War Ragnarok, but
00:09:04
Speaker
There's just there's not a lot like all of the sources pretty much repeat the same information over and over again or it's like just slightly different. So his information too is very like it could be this it could be that it's maybe this one who really knows. Yeah. Yeah, I got a lot of like stuff like that too with Balder and yeah, I guess.
00:09:28
Speaker
all we can do is go into it and kind of, because the information I got was kind of, I mean, it was very contradictory. Yeah. And so, I mean, it's still interesting, but a little bit contradictory. So I guess, you know, we'll see. But I feel like with Mimir too, it was hard for me to find stuff that wasn't
00:09:50
Speaker
the video game because it is like you know it's not like brand new but it's a newer game and it does follow a lot of like Norse mythology like it's obviously like Norse gods the whole thing is like Norse gods it's Ragnarok but yeah it was really hard to weed out the stuff that was just the video game because even like on YouTube a lot of the people that were
00:10:16
Speaker
making videos about Mimir were just using the game as their source. And I was like, oh, come on. They did a lot of research, and they do a lot of the actual mythology. But there's also a lot of changes to it for that game. Yeah. And that's how some of, so when I was reading a bit about Baldor and stuff, and just where we see him at today, or where we hear about him today, and pop culture and things.
00:10:45
Speaker
They mentioned that he has like a presence in the God of War games, but he's like the antagonist, which goes completely against a lot of what historically we kind of know about him. Yeah, it's different. Like, I don't know. It's just it's interesting. I'm trying to remember. I think in God of War, which again, I didn't play the original. I've just started with Ragnarok.
00:11:15
Speaker
I believe they make Baldur Freya's son. I think Kratos kills him and they have this whole thing at the beginning and then you finally win her over or whatever. If I'm remembering right, because again, I've been playing this game, I feel like forever and not making any progress.
00:11:39
Speaker
Right, yeah. I could be wrong. Honestly, like I remember playing the very first one, like, I mean, I don't even know, like what, 15 years ago? Like whenever that came out, like I don't even know. And then watching Mike play, like he's played, I don't even know if it's the newest one. I think it was the one before that he played that one a lot, where is the one that you play now where he has a kid,
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah, Kratos and his kid Atreus. Yeah, so maybe it is, he plays that too. Oh, well, interesting. I don't actually know if he is, but sometimes he has these, well, he can shift into a wolf or whatever. Well, he can shift into any animal, I think, if I'm remembering right. He hasn't been part of the game for a while because he ran away to go to Asgard and
00:12:38
Speaker
do stuff with Odin who's kind of a piece of shit in this game. They make references like he'll have like visions or like, he shifts into like a different realm for a while. And they just all refer to him as Loki. Like when he's with the giants, like the there's a giant, I forget her name, but he does like part of the thing with her and she just calls him Loki the entire time. So I don't really know.
00:13:06
Speaker
Maybe yeah, unpacked enough of that to know for sure. But Atreus is often referred to as blokey when he goes into these like other realms. Yeah, that's really interesting how they kind of tied that in with the game and kind of yeah, created their own like lore from it.
00:13:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, but Mike, he's, he plays that from time to time. But I don't know if maybe he got tired of like feeling like he's never going to finish the game. And so he's kind of moved on to other things and back to it. Yeah, he's played, I watched him play with where he has a son. And I'm just like, where the hell did this little boy come from? And he's like, Oh, yeah, he has a son. Just having a son doing all these things and fighting all the time.
00:13:53
Speaker
Interesting. But yeah, so I guess let's kick it off. I'm going to discuss Balder. And there's like three different spellings to this guy's name. So I mean, you might see it with like a U, an E, or like, no, no vowel between the D and the R. So I mean, it just depends. I'm not sure what's right. But you know, it is what it is.
00:14:19
Speaker
They all sound the same. That's, I guess, the important thing here. So the meaning of his name has been debated throughout time, and there's a lot of different possibilities for it. So in Old Norse, the word balder is actually like bold. I guess it means bold. And then there's like a Proto-Indo-European root for
00:14:45
Speaker
like balder which means white and then also there's the old Norse word of bál which translates to either fire and then sometimes it's the word used to I guess
00:15:03
Speaker
a shortened word for Lord. And then other possible meanings that I also found were prince or hero. So who knows? We don't really know. I feel like the most closest meaning could be just tied into the Old Norse word for bolder, which is bold. So that's what I'm going to go for. And we'll see. But I don't know.
00:15:31
Speaker
Okay, so he's one of the Aesir gods and he's the son of Odin and Frigg, the father of the god Forseti and he's the god of justice and husband of the goddess Nana. I'm assuming that's how you say it because it's spelt like Nana and I'm assuming it is not pronounced Nana. So I'm just going to go with Nana. Nanny goddess. Nanny goddess. She's the goddess of like grandmas.
00:15:58
Speaker
So, he was known to be so handsome that he gave off light and he was loved by all. And there's a lot of pictures of Valder where he is depicted with like this halo around his head. And it reminds me of like medieval paintings of like Jesus Christ, you know what I mean?
00:16:19
Speaker
And so, which I'm gonna get into, there's some comparisons here that I'm just like, stuff was heavily influenced by Christianity, which is kind of frustrating, but he was supposedly the favorite of the gods and he was described as being incredibly just, friendly, and kind, but he didn't have great powers like some of the other gods out there.
00:16:46
Speaker
So I mean I guess it sucks like whenever your brother is like Thor and he has like all these amazing powers and you're really just like beloved for how handsome you are. There are a lot of contradictory accounts about how like even though he was like kind or friendly, he possessed a lot of war like dispositions.
00:17:08
Speaker
And in other literature on him, it would say things like that he would always be eager to engage in a battle, that he was an active fighter. And other pictures, there's a huge amount of drawings that depict him with the halo, but there's also a lot that depict him with armor and a spear and a shield. So I feel like that kind of contradicts some of the
00:17:35
Speaker
Oh, I'm just such a tame, demure God who is so handsome that everybody loves me because he's also depicted with war-like possessions as well. Yeah.
00:17:48
Speaker
So as far as like a lot of the contradictions out there too, we don't know why or which one is the most accurate depiction of the Norse god. But I mean so really I mean it's like polar opposite either he was like very warlike and aggressive or in other instances he was very kind and gentle.
00:18:09
Speaker
But many people out there hypothesized that the passive suffering figure of Baldur, especially concerning his death, which I'm going to get into soon, was heavily influenced by Christianity. And I think that that is some shit because it's like we don't know for sure which one is the most accurate because we've lost a lot of that history and mythology and the things that have been written about him, like in the prose eta.
00:18:39
Speaker
is closely linked to Christianity, which kind of sucks. Cause that was written, I could be wrong, but I feel like I read somewhere that the prose eta was actually written by like a monk, like a Christian, some kind of like Christian higher up at the time. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:58
Speaker
I mean, yeah, it wouldn't surprise me. So like it just kind of relates back to some of what we've talked about in the past and like previous episodes with like other deities from different cultures. Like I think we discussed this with like when we were talking about the Morrigan and things like that, like oftentimes like what we know or even like with Druids, like the monks and stuff, like they will write these histories through the lens of Christianity instead of like actually really
00:19:28
Speaker
understanding the Norse mythology. And so it taints the version that we know and that we have now, which kind of sucks. So what we do know about Baldr was most of it was written in the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, which his name still is the fucking wildest name. Could you imagine naming your kid Snorri? Snorri.
00:19:58
Speaker
This is Snorri, he snores a lot. His name was like a tongue twister too, I could barely say it. This is essentially like an old Norse literary source that really goes into the most detail of any other sources on a lot of the Norse deities.
00:20:20
Speaker
And like many other deities, Baldur's featured in the Prose Edda, but he's mostly known for his death, which kind of sucks. I don't know a ton about him before his death, but I mean, his death was wild though, so I guess that's what it is. I guess if you're really only known, you don't have a power.
00:20:42
Speaker
Mm hmm. And you're really only known for your beauty. Like what more is there to say? You know, exactly. Yeah. It makes sense that there's not a whole lot like it's like, oh, he was a nice guy. Like everyone loved him. But it's like, he was me. He didn't really do anything. Right. Yeah. So he the story goes that essentially he would have like these visions of his death.
00:21:04
Speaker
a lot. He would dream about it a lot. His mother, Frigg, went throughout the world and got everyone and everything to promise not to harm him, which is kind of funny because it's like you went to your mom because you were scared of your dad anyway. She was like, I got this. Let me take this baby. Let me make a promise. Yeah. Yes. Look here, Mr. Ivy Plant. Right. You better not touch my son.
00:21:35
Speaker
So because of this, many of the other gods, I mean, at this point, because she got everyone and everything to promise not to harm him, he was basically untouchable. I mean, nothing would harm him. So because of this, many of the other gods would throw things at Balder and watch it bounce off of him, and they thought it was great fun.
00:21:57
Speaker
And so, like, it, I mean, basically the promise that Frank was secured from the entire world made him invincible. But Loki being who he was, he was just like really curious about, you know, the whole situation and he wanted to know if there was
00:22:17
Speaker
anything she possibly could have overlooked whenever she was going out and securing these oaths from all these things to not harm her son. And she basically said that she didn't obtain an oath from mistletoe because she didn't think it would do any harm to Baldur because it was such a small little plant.
00:22:37
Speaker
And so Loki then fashioned a spear out of mistletoe and convinced another god called, I'm assuming Hodor, which is crazy because like Hodor, hold the door. He convinced this other god who was blind too, to throw the spear at Baldor and surprise, surprise, it hit him and killed him. Also, okay, Frigg, like,
00:23:05
Speaker
You know, Loki. He's like, Hey, I got a question for you. Why do you want to know, sir? Right. Like, let me ask you some questions. Why would you tell him that? Like, I just don't understand. I wonder if like, in the actual stories, maybe he
00:23:26
Speaker
went to her in a different form? I don't know. Maybe. Why would you tell anybody that? Like, I would never tell a single, especially, you know, how Loki is, you know, like, that was my thing. Like, Loki is wild. Why would you be like, Oh, yeah, totally. I didn't even talk to the mistletoe.
00:23:45
Speaker
Right. Yeah. He's going to help you. So after he died, all of the gods decided that someone needed to go down to Helheim, aka the underworld, and beg Hel, the goddess of the underworld, to return Baldor back to life. So Hermod, he was another one of Odin's sons, took the trek down to the underworld, but Hel refused to release Baldor unless the whole world wept for his return.
00:24:15
Speaker
And so he goes back up and he's talking to everybody and in the whole world, essentially, did weep for Baldur, except for a giant Hess who many presume was Loki in disguise. And she was like, hell no, like, I'm not going to weep for him. He was an asshole. And so because of this, Baldur was doomed to remain with Hel in the Helheim. So, I mean,
00:24:44
Speaker
whatever. I just thought that was kind of funny. But when I was researching about this, they talked a bit about his funeral. And so with a lot of other, I guess, people from this culture, Baldur was laid to rest on a ship pyre with his horse and his wife, which really sucks. I hate that. Wait, she was alive?
00:25:12
Speaker
I don't know if they killed her or if they lit her on fire with such tea. Definitely her and the horse had to die too, which is really sad. The horse is like, what the hell did I do? I didn't even choose to be his horse. Exactly. I wonder if they did that whole slitting the throat or something to make it quick. I don't know.
00:25:31
Speaker
But I didn't go into detail on that, but I know that she was put on fire and was the horse, which sucks. But the story goes that Odin, like before the ship, like they lit it on fire and sent it on its way. He climbed onto the ship and whispered something in Baldur's ear. No one knows what he whispered in his ear, but people speculate that Odin told his son of his role coming up in the Ragnarok.
00:26:01
Speaker
And so I don't know, but when Hermod was in Helheim and he was trying to fight for Baldur to be released, I guess his wife was already there because they've already at this point had the funeral. And so Nana and Baldur gave him gifts to bring back to the other gods. And what they sent back was Odin received
00:26:29
Speaker
some enchanted ring that I guess Balder had, which I wonder like, if he was Odin's like favorite son, or like, you know what I mean? Because I feel like if you had an enchanted ring, why would you not give it to like, because you had like a lot of kids. Why did he get the ring? You know what I mean? I don't know.
00:26:48
Speaker
I don't know. The Norse gods do a lot of weird things. A lot of weird things. Maybe because he wasn't super powerful they gave him this ring or something. Maybe. But then also too, with Frigg going and asking everybody and everything in the world to not harm her son, he had to be some sort of favorite. I don't know. But Nana, Nana, I'm just going to call her Nana. Nana.
00:27:17
Speaker
not a gay frick, a linen robe, and a ring as well. Which is kind of sweet, but also a little bit sad that she also had to die because her husband died. That is some bullshit. But there is a little bit, when I was researching, a little bit referencing Baldor and Ragnarok and kind of going back to what Odin supposedly whispered in his ear.
00:27:41
Speaker
And so for those who don't really know or haven't seen the Thor Ragnarok movie, which was an absolute gem and you should watch it because it is fucking hilarious. Ragnarok was a series of apocalyptic events that basically killed the gods and created a new world. And so Baldur was one of the few gods that survived Ragnarok because he was in Helheim whenever it happened and he didn't participate in the final battle of Ragnarok.
00:28:09
Speaker
So in the prose at Abaldur returns to the newly regenerated world and rules it along with Thor, Modi, and Magni. I hope that's how you say their names. It could be Modi and Magni. I honestly don't know because I am not super versed in how to pronounce a lot of the Norse deities. So who knows? But their task was to guide humanity to peace and prosperity,
00:28:35
Speaker
I honestly think they probably could have done a better job in my own humble opinion because I feel like there hasn't been a lot of peace and there definitely isn't very much prosperity for most people. There's also a lot of theories to this.
00:28:56
Speaker
I can't remember exactly what it is, but there's something about Loki having, so this is supposed to be like essentially in like the Christian era when Adam and Eve then would be like, they are. And so the snake in the garden, it's like there's a theory that Loki is the snake in the garden that he actually like transformed into a snake and he survived Ragnarok and he's actually like Lucifer.
00:29:22
Speaker
There's some crazy shit out there that's really funny. That is insane. Yeah. I don't want to buy into that because that is bullshit. Honestly, it's really funny reading it though. Sometimes I'm just like, how do people come up with these things? Right. Yeah, a lot of time on their hands, potentially. There's a lot of though, I mean, just with Balder, we mentioned at the beginning,
00:29:49
Speaker
There's a lot of info like he has some influences today like in pop culture related back to like Marvel movies he's mentioned. I don't even know like I was reading something saying that he there was a character in Thor that's named Baldur but honestly I don't know because I haven't watched it in a while. So yeah, I don't remember the name sounds familiar honestly, so wouldn't surprise me but
00:30:15
Speaker
I don't know. But also like in, of course, in the God of War games he's mentioned. And then in Europe, there are a lot of streets and towns that are named Baldur, which I thought was really interesting. So I tried looking, I know there's one in France, there's one in Norway. And then Google Maps was trying to tell me about this car dealership named Baldur. And I was like, nevermind.
00:30:41
Speaker
Yeah, but apparently it's a whole thing over a lot of streets and towns are named Baldur, which is pretty cool. But for those of you who are interested in working with Baldur, wanting to honor him in your practices, I found this Reddit thread where they were talking about working specifically with Baldur and equally pragmatic on Reddit said that
00:31:08
Speaker
Something that they have done to work with Baldur was they've used things like orange, yellow, and red crystals to represent Baldur or to honor him because he was so bright. I don't even know if I mentioned this earlier, but supposedly he was so beautiful that he gave off a light, which is insane, and goes back to the depictions of him.
00:31:36
Speaker
being represented with like a halo around him. So anything that represents the sun or like a shining light can be used in any sort of correspondence related back to Baldor. Also chamomile flowers and or chamomile tea, even dressing a candle with chamomile and olive oil is
00:32:00
Speaker
perfect if you're wanting to work with Baldor. Mead, of course, because he's a Norse deity. And then anything that you envision as beautiful since he was described as being so loved and so beautiful by all. So really, you know, like if you're wanting to work with Baldor, anything that represents the sun or light and anything that you depict as being beautiful are perfect for working with him. Well,
Introduction to Mimir and His Mythological Importance
00:32:26
Speaker
I didn't include that.
00:32:28
Speaker
in Mimir, but I did just try to look it up while you were doing that to see like how you would work with Mimir. And there's nothing on the Google box. It was difficult because I was trying to find like anything else because I felt like the information for Baldur was just like non-existent. Yeah. And thankfully somebody asked about it on Reddit. That's the only way I would have
00:32:51
Speaker
Yeah, after I googled it and I didn't see anything, so I went on Reddit and somebody asked and there were no answers. I was like, oh, okay. So I don't actually know how you can work with Mimir, but I'm just going to tell you about him now. Yeah.
00:33:05
Speaker
So, Mimir basically translates to the rememberer or the memory, one who remembers the wise one or measure, and he's referred to as like the wisest of the gods. He's also known as Mim, Mimir Nihad, Haud Dropner, or Haud Mimir.
00:33:27
Speaker
And for those that have played God of War Ragnarok, you'll know Mimir well as the talking head that hangs on Kratos' belt and gives like hints and wisdom and just like fun stories and riddles all throughout the game. But he wasn't always like a bodyless head basically.
00:33:47
Speaker
He cracks me up in the game. He's just like dangling. And so like when you're fighting stuff, he's just flopping around behind you and he'll be like, watch out behind you. Look at him on your left. It's hilarious. And when you die, he's like, get up, brother.
00:34:02
Speaker
He's probably one of my favorite characters in the game just because he's hilarious. But basically, Mimir is the god of wisdom, and he's well known for his ethereal wisdom and his namesake well at the foot of the Yggdrasal, which is the tree of life. The well is called Mimisbrunner, which is Old Norse to mean basically just Mimir's well, so like real clever on the name there. Yeah.
00:34:26
Speaker
The well is known mostly as the well of knowledge, and it's said that the secrets of the world can be gleaned from it as long as you have Mimir's permission. Mimir's knowledge is often considered to be ancestral and that which holds up both traditions and the world order from its beginning to the present day. He's also noted to be an oracle,
00:34:49
Speaker
Like some things are like, he might have been a giant, he could have been a god. He was probably just an oracle, so I'm not, again, I'm not really sure. But basically, both the Aesir and the Vanir would come to him seeking knowledge as an oracle. Mimir is considered to be older than both the races of the gods and is thought to be part of the Jotunheim, which is the race of the giants. And for any of our listeners that might not have a base knowledge in the Norse pantheon,
00:35:19
Speaker
The aesir and the veneer are the two primary races of the gods, with the aesir being responsible for power over the sky, and the veneer being responsible for fertility, the earth, and earthly desires. The aesir resided in Asgard, and the veneer resided in Vanaheim, and much that is documented describes their relationship with each other pretty vague and ambiguous, but the period of the Golden Age seemed to be a period in which they liked
00:35:48
Speaker
actually got along and interacted with each other in a peaceful manner though like they would like just play games and sports apparently. Which I thought was kind of funny. Yeah that's really cute. But the story goes that the god Freyr went to Asgard and he apparently had an obsession with gold and this somehow led to the Aesir attempting to murder him three times. Like I don't know like maybe he tried to steal it it's not really clear on that.
00:36:16
Speaker
But essentially, he has this obsession. He's in Asgard, and then they're like, well, we're going to kill you. And it doesn't work out three times. And because he was Vanir, the Vanir gods then declared war against the Aesir for trying to murder Freyr. And neither side successfully defeated the others, so a compromise was arranged instead. And the importance of this is that the war and its compromise plays a part in Mimir's story.
00:36:43
Speaker
So according to the Heimskringla, or the saga of the kings, the compromise was that each side would exchange hostages. The Veneer exchanged three, so they gave up Njord, Freyr, and Freya. And the Aesir exchanged two because they were like,
00:37:02
Speaker
higher value hostages, essentially. The first one is Mimir, and he was considered like one of the best counselors in existence. And the second one was Honir, who he helped to create humanity while giving the human race a reason as well during his time amongst the Aesir. And he would go on to be made a chieftain of Vanneheim by the Vanir.
00:37:27
Speaker
The importance of Mimir and Honir being exchanged together was that Honir's reason is said to be nothing without Mimir's wisdom. Since Honir couldn't act without Mimir, it proved that Mimir's counsel was supreme, but this also brought on a lot of doubt for both of them from the Vanir.
00:37:47
Speaker
So because Honir couldn't do anything without Mimir's wisdom, his value was believed to be considered lower by the Vanir, who then believed that the Aesir duped them and thought them to be unintelligent by giving them a useless hostage.
00:38:04
Speaker
So one take is that because Mamir is considered to be an all-knowing supreme wealth of knowledge, the Aesir thought of him as a threat. So that's why they traded him. So the Vanir then took him and decapitated him before returning his head to Odin, and then they left his body to rot in the wilderness. That's really sad. Yeah.
00:38:28
Speaker
And so after being decapitated and returned to Odin as just like this disembodied head, the legend states that Odin placed Mimir's head at the foot of Yggdrasil and he was said to prevent Mimir's head from deteriorating through the use of both magic and herbs and then restoring his ability to talk. And the magic that revived Mimir's head is tied to like Yggdrasil's life force. And so like there's,
00:38:55
Speaker
Again, this is going to be really contradictory information. There's some accounts that say Mimir has to stay at the foot of the Yggdrasil. He cannot leave it and that his well is also at the base of the Yggdrasil. But some of it also says that he was like,
00:39:15
Speaker
after he was revived, he was brought to Odin's Hall, and that's where his well was. So again, I don't really know, but Odin's lost eye is also tied to Mimir and his well as well.
00:39:33
Speaker
In an attempt to gain knowledge, Odin goes to the well and he requests Mimir's permission to drink from it, but Mimir denies him. Odin asks what the price would be for a single horn of the well's waters, and Mimir states, why do I keep saying Mimir?
00:39:50
Speaker
And Mimir states that it would cost him his right eye because Mimir knew that Odin was able to see both far and wide. So Odin saw that as a fair trade for the knowledge that he was seeking. So after he plucks out one of his eyes, like his right eye, the eye was then placed in the well on display to show everyone like
00:40:11
Speaker
Odin would go any length for knowledge. Like, look at his eyeball. He gave it for that. So, Mimir fills up his horn and lets Odin drink. And it's believed that through the knowledge given by Mimir and his well, Odin was able to see the death of many gods through Ragnarok, himself included. And this knowledge is speculated to have expressed a necessity to Odin for his death so that one age could end and another one could begin.
00:40:40
Speaker
Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. And then another story, again, all of these stories like contradict themselves. Another story states that Mamir's well was actually in Odin's Hall in Asgard, which is where Odin brought him. So he would then spend countless hours pacing the halls just holding Mamir's head in his hands and talking to him and asking him for knowledge and counsel and like,
00:41:07
Speaker
he like just he had like this utmost respect for Mimir and it was even believed that they like he really valued their friendship and their intellectual talks in pursuit for more knowledge because if you know anything about Odin he's always tied to like knowledge and learning like he's always trying to get more information and Mimir is just like a wealth of knowledge so the two of them would basically just have the time of their lives talking about whatever they could
00:41:36
Speaker
Um, another take on how Mimir becomes a disembodied head is that Odin basically, this is a, a take that's a little bit darker, I think, because this is more on the end of like Odin being not the best. Like he just, he spent a lot of time like torturing other gods or people or whatever. So in this one, basically Odin be spelled Mimir's entire body to be bound within the tree.
00:42:07
Speaker
and Kratos finds him being questioned by Balder and Kratos kills Balder, which I've never heard this story until I was doing this and it is very close to God of War. So I'm not, again, I'm not sure if this was just someone like putting stuff out there, but basically he kills Balder and he frees Mimir. Mimir basically tells him like,
00:42:34
Speaker
you can't my body can't leave the tree so he beheads him and takes his head to a witch in the woods and the witch brings his head back like revives his head so he's like just this little like disembodied head but he can talk and he's still like alive I guess
00:42:52
Speaker
And then he acts as a guide for Kratos on a quest. And like, again, this story is very, very close to like the God of War Ragnarok story. And I'm not really like it wasn't really clear where this particular lore came from. So it could actually just be someone who played the games and just decided they wanted to write the mirror. I don't really know, but it was on there. So I figured I'd put it out just in case it is like,
00:43:20
Speaker
an accurate depiction. It is one of the ones that's out there. And then outside of serving as the God of Wisdom, Mimir was also a smith when he was like still a whole. He still had a body attached to his head. And it was Mimir that taught the hero Sigfade the smithcrafting
00:43:42
Speaker
And the Havamal also has a line in it that states that Mimir is Odin's uncle, though some of the sources I found state it's like the other way around that Odin is Mimir's uncle, so I'm not like really sure on that piece either. But essentially that's all the information on Mimir that's on the internet. And I tried like
00:44:03
Speaker
I googled all different ways to like try to find information. I went on YouTube and everybody was just repeating this information over and over and over again. So it's really sad that there's not more because he's a hilarious character in the game. There was more like backstory to him. Yeah. I wonder if like, so I'm thinking about like even just like correspondences and stuff and like what you were saying with like, if he was also a Smith, maybe something that people can do to work with him is like, you know,
00:44:33
Speaker
working with metal or... Yeah.
00:44:36
Speaker
using iron or some sort of metal in like your altar or something if you want to give like some sort of like offering to him or something maybe or maybe like spending time learning because he is like a god of wisdom so that would be like a way to honor him essentially yeah one thing i will say i just cannot get over this if i was beheaded and somebody like reanimated my head and like kept me in my head i would be fucking furious
00:45:06
Speaker
like because you're dependent on everybody to do like take you where we're like they could put you like anywhere and you wouldn't even be able to do anything about it except for yell at them yeah and then it's like at that point do you need to eat
00:45:23
Speaker
You're just like sitting there bored for the rest of your life. And people come to you whenever they need help. And you're like, oh my god, let me hear some advice. And then cut off your eye because I'm bored as hell. I would like you to remove your left toes, all of them. Just the left one, so thank you. Thank you. Every other toe, actually.
00:45:45
Speaker
I wonder if there's any way to with that well, if like, there's some sort of way that he could have like, taken just random body parts from people and then made his own like a Franklin store. Yeah. I mean, you're in Stein. You're insane. If I was just some disembodied head.
00:46:07
Speaker
especially since they like left his body. So it's not like he could even attach his head back to his body because his body is like rotting out in the wilderness or stuck in some tree, whichever is like more accurate. But ridiculous. Yeah, but that's Mimir. That's all that's all there is.
00:46:28
Speaker
That's it. That's all that was out there. I'm a little sad. Like, you know, when we were talking about doing this episode, I was like, Oh, I really want to learn more about my mirror because I have been playing the game and he's fucking funny in the game. Like,
00:46:42
Speaker
he just he tells riddles he tells stories he's like super sassy and sarcastic and he's really funny so i was like really looking forward to learning like his crazy backstory and it's really just like well he was traded as a hostage and then he was beheaded because they thought it was a trick and then
00:47:00
Speaker
they brought his head back to life.
Conclusion and Social Media Connect
00:47:05
Speaker
So it is a little sad that there wasn't more out there, but it was fun to learn.
00:47:19
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find your source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you love this episode, we will be forever thankful if you leave us a five-star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft.
00:47:41
Speaker
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