Freyja is a Vanir goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, seidr, war, and death. Freya is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, keeps the boar Hildisvíni by her side, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Odr, is the mother of Hnoss.
Description[]
Blonde, blue-eyed, and beautiful, Freyja is described as the fairest of all goddesses, and was a spectacular beauty known for her appreciation of romantic music and stunning floral arrangements. That was her softer side; she was also known as the goddess of war and death.
Freyja has a large, beautiful hall called Sessrúmnir, and that when Freyja travels she sits in a chariot and drives two cats, and that Freyja is "the most approachable one for people to pray to, and from her name is derived the honorific title whereby noble ladies are called fruvor [noble ladies]". Freyja has a particular fondness for love songs, and that "it is good to pray to her concerning love affairs"
Overview[]
Due to being a goddess of death and war, she was appointed to be the leader of the Valkyries, and thus she had considerable power. She had the right to claim half the souls of the bravest warriors who died in battle while Odin would receive the other half. She would gather them up and return along with them to spend the after-life in her home in perpetual rest and recreation. A sweet and generous woman, she always invited their wives or lovers to come and live with them.
Freyja assists other deities by allowing them to use her feathered cloak, is invoked in matters of fertility and love, and is frequently sought after by powerful jötnar who wish to make her their wife. Since the other half of the heroic warriors, who belonged to Odin, would be gathered up by the Valkyries and taken to Valhalla where they were able to live in comfort and honor, Freyja was also called upon to comfort those who were dying, to ease their transition into Fólkvangr, serving as a guide and companion on the journey to Fólkvangr for many Viking heroes who had died nobly.
History[]
Background[]
Freyja is the daughter of Njörðr and the twin sister of Freyr. She was part of the Vanir family of the gods who handle all things fertility-related, including harvests which is attributed to her brother Freyr; wind, sea, and wealth (her father Njord); and her own expertise regarding love, lust, and wealth, as well.
What Freyja excelled at like most of the Vanir gods was her usage of Seiðr magic that allows her to see into the future. But this only served to paint her as a target for the Æsir, especially Odin who longed to attain the knowledge pertaining to his doom in Ragnarök and sought means of forestalling it. Freyja was quite proud of her gifts and wandered from town to town plying her craft for hire. When her gifts caught the all-seeing eye of Odin, he invited her to Asgard, attending the halls of the Æsir under the name Heiðr (“Bright”).
When she presented herself before the Æsir, she revealed her Seiðr magic before them and understandably were quite taken by her powers, so much that they zealously sought her services. But soon they realized that their values of honor, kin loyalty, and obedience to the law were being pushed aside by the selfish desires they sought to fulfill with the goddess' magic. Blaming Freyja for their own shortcomings, the Æsir labeled her as “Gullveig” and attempted to murder her. Three times they tried to burn her, and three times she was reborn from the ashes.
Æsir-Vanir War[]
This was a violation of hospitality when entering another's home under invitation which soon escalated into all out war between the Æsir and the Vanir. The war went on for some time, with both sides gaining the upper hand by turns. Eventually the two tribes of divinities became weary of fighting and decided to call a truce. As was customary among the ancient Norse and other Germanic peoples, the two sides agreed to pay tribute to each other by sending hostages to live among the other tribe. Freyja, Freyr, and Njord of the Vanir went to the Æsir, and Hoenir and Mímir went to the Vanir.
When they came to a truce, Freyja found herself developing a close friendship with Frigg, the queen of the Æsir and the wife of Odin. Frigg intended to sew bonds between her Freyja where she would entrust Frigg with the secrets of Seiðr. However, Frigg shared said secrets with Odin which is what he wanted from the beginning, while she also used it for her own benefit. Because of her importance and to show that there was no bad blood between the Æsir and Vanir, Odin appointed Freyja as the leader of the Valkyries. She had the right to claim half the souls of the bravest warriors who died in battle while Odin would receive the other half.
Building of Asgard's Walls[]
The war between the Æsir and the Vanir created untold devastation that even reached Asgard to where their defenses were demolished. Soon after the gods built the hall Valhalla, they were concerned about the fact that the jötunar would lay seige to Asgard with its defenses down. It was not until a builder (unnamed) came to them and offered to build for them in three seasons a fortification so solid that no jötunn would be able to come in over from Midgard. In exchange, the builder wants Freyja for his bride, and the sun and the moon. After some debate the gods agree, but with added conditions. In time, just as he is about to complete his work, it is revealed that the builder is, in fact, himself a jötunn, and he is killed by Thor. In the meantime, Loki, in the form of a mare, has been impregnated by the jötunn's horse, Svaðilfari, and so gives birth to Sleipnir.
At some point, Freyja met and eloped with the fallen Watcher Gadreel who was known as Óðr by the Old Norse. Initially, Gadreel consorted with Freyja to avoid persecution, but he would succumb to his feelings of genuine love for the goddess which she wholly returned. Freyja soon became pregnant with a girl: Hnoss, a goddess associated with loved ones and treasure. However, Gadreel's involvement with Freyja would not pass over blind eyes as his actions would be exposed by proxy through his brothers' heinous activities. When he was subdued and imprisoned in Sheol by the Heavenly Host, Freyja would cry golden tears that would forever stain her cheeks, symbolizing her longing and grief for her beloved.
Þrymskviða[]
Thor wakes up to find that his powerful hammer, Mjölnir, is missing. Thor tells Loki of his missing hammer, and the two go to the beautiful court of Freyja. Thor asks Freyja if she will lend him her cloak of feathers, so that he may try to find his hammer and Freyja agrees.
Loki flies away in the whirring feather cloak, arriving in the land of Jötunheimr. He spies Þrymr sitting on top of a mound. Þrymr reveals that he has hidden Thor's hammer deep within the earth and that no one will ever know where the hammer is unless Freyja is brought to him as his wife. Loki flies back, the cloak whistling, and returns to the courts of the gods. Loki tells Thor of Þrymr's conditions.
The two go to see the beautiful Freyja. The first thing that Thor says to Freyja is that she should dress herself and put on a bride's head-dress, for they shall drive to Jötunheimr. At that, Freyja is furious—the halls of the gods shake, she snorts in anger, and from the goddess the necklace Brísingamen falls.
Skáldskaparmál[]
Freyja is mentioned among eight goddesses attending a banquet held for Ægir. One account details the abduction of the goddess Iðunn by the jötunn Þjazi in the form of an eagle. Terrified at the prospect of death and torture due to his involvement in the abduction of Iðunn, Loki asks if he may use Freyja's "falcon shape" to fly north to Jötunheimr and retrieve the missing goddess. Freyja allows it, and using her "falcon shape" and a furious chase by eagle-Þjazi, Loki successfully returns her.
The jötunn Hrungnir finds himself in Asgard, the realm of the gods, and becomes very drunk. Hrungnir boasts that he will move Valhalla to Jötunheimr, bury Asgard, and kill all of the gods—with the exception of the goddesses Freyja and Sif, who he says he will take home with him. Freyja is the only one of them that dares to bring him more to drink. Hrungnir says that he will drink all of their ale. After a while, the gods grow bored of Hrungnir's antics and invoke the name of Thor. Thor immediately enters the hall, hammer raised. Thor is furious and demands to know who is responsible for letting a jötunn in to Asgard, who guaranteed Hrungnir safety, and why Freyja "should be serving him drink as if at the Æsir's banquet".
Sörla þáttr[]
In the first chapter of this tale, one day Freyja passed by an open stone where dwarves lived. Four dwarfs were smithing a golden necklace, and it was nearly done. Looking at the necklace, the dwarfs thought Freyja to be most fair, and she the necklace. Freyja offered to buy the collar from them with silver and gold and other items of value. The dwarfs said that they had no lack of money, and that for the necklace the only thing she could offer them would be a night with each of them. "Whether she liked it better or worse", Freyja agreed to the conditions, and so spent a night with each of the four dwarfs. The conditions were fulfilled and the necklace was hers. Freyja went home to her bower as if nothing happened.
Loki, under the service of Odin, found out about Freyja's actions and told Odin. Odin tells Loki to get the necklace and bring it to him. Loki said that since no one could enter Freyja's bower against her will, this would not be an easy task, yet Odin told him not to come back until he had found a way to get the necklace. Howling, Loki turned away and went to Freyja's bower but found it locked, and that he could not enter. So Loki transformed himself into a fly, and after having trouble finding even the tiniest of entrances, he managed to find a tiny hole at the gable-top, yet even here he had to squeeze through to enter.
Having made his way into Freyja's chambers, Loki looked around to be sure that no one was awake, and found that Freyja was asleep. He landed on her bed and noticed that she was wearing the necklace, the clasp turned downward. Loki turned into a flea and jumped onto Freyja's cheek and there bit her. Freyja stirred, turning about, and then fell asleep again. Loki removed his flea's shape and undid her collar, opened the bower, and returned to Odin.
The next morning Freyja woke and saw that the doors to her bower were open, yet unbroken, and that her precious necklace was gone. Freyja had an idea of who was responsible. She got dressed and went to Odin. She told Odin of the malice he had allowed against her and of the theft of her necklace, and that he should give her back her jewelry. Odin said that, given how she obtained it, she would never get it back. That is, with one exception: she could have it back if she could make two kings, themselves ruling twenty kings each, battle one another, and cast a spell so that each time one of their numbers falls in battle, they will again spring up and fight again. And that this must go on eternally, unless a Christian man of a particular stature goes into the battle and smites them, only then will they stay dead. Freyja agreed.