The Death of Baldr
Baldr dreams of his own death. Night after night, the same image, over and over. What does a father do when his son dies in a dream – and the fear lingers that the dream will soon come true? Odin mounts his horse Sleipnir and rides down to Hel, the realm of the dead. He wakes a dead seeress. He wants to know what he fears most.
An Oath With a Gap
Frigg, Baldr’s mother, acts at once. She makes every single thing in the world swear an oath: never to harm her son. Fire swears. Water swears. Iron swears. Only one thing she overlooks – the mistletoe. Too young, too small, too insignificant for an oath.
The gods celebrate the miracle with a game. They hurl weapons at Baldr, just for fun, and everything simply bounces off. No sword cuts him. No spear strikes true. Baldr stands there, invulnerable, and laughs.
Loki looks closer. He finds the gap. He hands the blind god Hodr a shaft of mistletoe wood and secretly guides his hand. Hodr throws. Baldr falls.
The Fire on the Shore
By the sea lies Baldr’s ship, the Hringhorni, far too heavy for anyone to push into the water alone. The gods need help. They fetch the giantess Hyrrokkin. She arrives riding a wolf, with snakes as reins. One shove from her – the ship glides into the water, sparks fly, the earth trembles.
Nanna, Baldr’s wife, sees him lying dead before her. Her heart breaks on the spot. She dies of grief. Thor consecrates the funeral pyre with his hammer Mjolnir. A dwarf named Litr comes too close – he stumbles into the flames and burns along with it. Odin places his golden ring Draupnir beside his dead son. One last gift.
Nine Nights Without Light
Hermod, another son of Odin, rides nine nights through dark valleys where no light shines. His destination: the bridge Gjallarbru, the gateway to the realm of the dead. He asks Hel to release Baldr.
Hel makes an offer: if the whole world weeps for Baldr – every being, every thing – then he may return. And indeed: everything weeps. Stones weep. Trees weep. Humans and gods weep.
Only one giantess does not. Her name is Thokk. She says coldly: “Let Hel keep what she has.” Everyone recognizes at once who hides behind her: Loki.
What Seemed Too Small
And so the best among them remains among the dead. Not strength killed him. Not a sword, not a giant. The overlooked thing killed him – the one thing no one thought was dangerous.
Vali, conceived in a single night and grown to manhood in a single day, later avenges his brother. But revenge brings no one back. Only after Ragnarok, when the world is reborn, will Baldr and Hodr return together – reconciled, in a renewed world.
Perhaps this is exactly the lesson: the greatest things rarely fall because of the great. They fall because of what we consider too small to notice.
Sources
This tale has been passed down mainly through the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda. As with all orally transmitted myths, the material was only written down centuries after it originated, so later influences and differing versions cannot be ruled out.
