Sonof Odin and Frigg.. His wife isNanna, daughter of Nep, and their son is Forseti, the god of justice.Balder's hall is Breidablik "broad splendor".Most of the stories about Balder conce
Trang 1The god of light, joy, purity, beauty, innocence, and reconciliation Sonof Odin and Frigg He was loved by both gods and man and wasconsidered
to be the best of the gods He had a good character, wasfriendly, wise and eloquent, although he had little power His wife isNanna, daughter of Nep, and their son is Forseti, the god of justice.Balder's hall is Breidablik ("broad splendor").Most of the stories about Balder concern his death He was dreamingabout his death 1, so Frigg extracted an oath from every creature, objectand force in nature (snakes, metals, diseases, poisons, fire, etc.) that theywould never harm Balder They agreed that none of their kind wouldever hurt or assist in hurting Balder Thinking him
invincible, the godsenjoyed themselves thereafter by using Balder as a target forknife-throwing and archery.The malicious trickster Loki, who was jealous of Balder, changed hisappearance and asked Frigg if there was absolutely nothing that couldharm Balder Frigg, suspecting nothing, answered that there was just onething: a small tree in the west that was called mistletoe, but she thought itwas too small to ask for an oath Loki immediately left for the west andreturned with the mistletoe He tricked Balder's blind twin brother Hod toshoot with a mistletoe fig Not knowing what he did, Hod threw the fig,guided by Loki's aim, and Balder fell dead, pierced through the heart.While the gods were lamenting over Balder's death, Odin sent his otherson Hermod to Hel, the goddess of death, to plead for Balder's return.Hel agreed to send Balder back to the land of the living on one condition:everything in the world, dead or alive, must weep for him And everythingwept, except for Loki (who had disguised himself as the witch Thokk) soBalder had to remain in the underworld.The others took the dead god, dressed him in crimson cloth, and placedhim
on a funeral pile aboard his ship Ringhorn, which passed for thelargest in the world Beside him they lay the body of his wife Nanna, whohad died
of a broken heart Also Balder's horse and his treasures wereplaced on the ship The pile was set to fire and the ship was sent to seaby the
giantess Hyrrokin.Loki didnot escape punishment for his crime and Hod was put to deathby Vali, son of Odin and Rind, who was born for just this purpose Afterthe final conflict, when a new world arises from its ashes, both Balderand Hod will be reborn