HŒNIR — LODUR

Hœenir and Lodur are also reckoned, though very infrequently, among the gods. Hœnir’s name is found in the Prose Edda among the major divinities, and he appears besides as the companion of Odin. According to the Voluspá, Lodur takes part with Odin and Hœnir in the creation of man. These three “mighty and benevolent Æsir” once came down to the seashore, where they found Ask and Embla lying lifeless, without breath, without soul, and without blood; Odin gave them breath, Hœnir gave them soul, and Lodur gave them blood and bodily color. According to the Prose Edda, however, it was the sons of Borr, namely Odin, Vili, and Ve, who created Ask and Embla. Odin, Hœnir, and Lodur, or Odin, Vili, and Ve thus function as a sort of trinity of the Æsir. In the Gylfaginning something of the kind is to be found in Snorri’s formulation of the ancient mythology, namely, the trinity Hár (The High), Jafnhár (The Equally High), and priði (The Third). At the end of the war between the Æsir and the Vanir, Hœnir was delivered over to the Vanir as a hostage. As the more complete account runs in Snorri’s Ynglinga Saga: Hœnir was a tall and handsome man, whom the Æsir declared to be well fitted to be made a chieftain; but for fuller security they sent the wise Mimir with him. Hœnir was at once given leadership in Vanaheim, and all went well so long as Mimir remained at his side; but when Hœnir, in the absence of Mimir, had to make difficult decisions, he invariably declared that “others must determine that.” Whereupon the Vanir at length lost patience, killed Mimir, and sent his head back to the Æsir. On the evidence of Snorri’s Edda, Hœnir was also called The Fleet God or The Long-Footed God or The King of Eld (aurkonungr, Snorri’s Edda I, 168). In the “Saga Fragment” mentioned below, Rœrek Slœngvandbaugi — brother of king Helgi and son-in-law of Ivar Vidfadmir — is compared with Hœnir, who here is called the most timorous of the Æsir. Possibly other myths having to do with him have failed to survive.