Njord’s Honor

The presentation of Njord in the Eddas is not necessarily the most inspiring or honorable. In Gylfaginning, we are told that “…the Vanir delivered him as hostage to the gods” as an atonement for the war between Æsir and Vanir. Gylfaginning goes on to tell us that Njord was once married to Skadi, but neither could abide moving to the other’s home, since Njord lived by the sea and Skadi lived in the cold mountains. They came to the arrangement of spending each nine days and nights in the other’s home before switching, but we are told that Njord could not tolerate even nine days in the mountains, preferring the song of swans to the howling of wolves. For her part, Skadi couldn’t tolerate the ‘wailing’ of sea gulls, it disturbed her sleep, and she much preferred hunting in the mountains. This led to the end of the marriage.[1]

In Skáldskaparmal, we are told how it came to be that Njord and Skadi were married. After the gods killed Skadi’s father, the giant called Thjazi, Skadi donned armor and weapons and resolved to have her revenge in Asgard. The gods were loathe to do battle with Skadi, so they asked for her terms for peace. Her first term was that she be allowed to choose from among the Æsir a husband, and her second term was that she be made to laugh. The gods agreed to this, and made the condition that Skadi could only choose her husband by seeing his feet. When the gods lined up, Skadi chose the prettiest feet she could find, thinking they belonged to Baldr…but it turns out that she chose Njord.[2]

These descriptions of Njord seem humiliating, he is sent by the Vanir as a hostage, then chosen by a giantess by the beauty of his feet. The entire story of how Njord and Skadi came to be married is seen as a story that inverts traditional gender roles, which seems only the more humiliating for Njord.[3] To make matters worse, in Lokasenna, Njord is accused by Loki of incest – having a son from his sister – and is also accused of being defiled by the daughters of the sea-giant, Hymir.[4]

So, with all of these things taken together, it would seem almost as though Njord’s standing among the mighty Æsir should be pretty low – but in fact it isn’t. In Gylfaginning, Njord is named third among the Æsir, after Thor and Baldr – a pretty lofty status, actually. Njord is also to be called upon for voyages and hunting – two very important activities among our Heathen forebears. Finally, Njord is said to be so rich that he can afford to give great amounts of land and gear to those who call upon him for it. Keep in mind with this that the honor of kings and chieftains among the Norse was often dependent on their wealth and generosity. So we have the beginnings of a very interesting contradiction within the Eddas. A god who is at once considered weak, passive, and in some ways feminine – yet is counted third among the gods, is depended upon for important things, and has an unimaginable amount of wealth. To solve this contradiction, I will rely on other sources that are fairly uniform in their regard for Njord.

First, I would point out that it isn’t just among the Æsir that Njord holds such high status. In looking at place names in the Scandinavian region, we see that place names in Norway for Njord outnumbered those for Odin nearly two-to-one.[5] We are also told that, along with either Odin or Thor, Njord and his son, Freyr, were invoked when taking public oaths…a practice which continues in current times among Heathens.

Viktor Rydberg identifies Njord with Fridleif (from Saxo Grammaticus), and credits him with being not just the chief of the Vanir, but also the one responsible for defeating the original defenses of Asgard.[6] There are a couple of descriptions of Njord from Rydberg that I will quote here.

Njörðr klauf Herjans hurðir – “Njord broke Odin’s doors open”
Gauts megin-hurðar galli – “the destroyer of Odin’s great gate”
(this second reference is a kenning for the battle-axe, and thus compares Njord to the battle-axe)

I would also point out at this point that the name, Fridleif, translates into ‘lover of peace’, and Njord’s son, Freyr, is often identified with the king Frodhi – also known for peace and plenty. So what we are given by Rydberg’s interpretation of things is that we have a god, a chief among the Vanir, who is by nature a lover of peace (as indicated by the name) and prosperity. This much is also supported by the Eddas. However, when angered and driven to war, he is powerful and clever enough to threaten Asgard itself, and cause the Æsir to sue for peace.

The other thing I will point out at this time is the accusation of incest by Loki in Lokasenna, where Njord is accused of begetting a son from his own sister (Njord is only one of several gods Loki insults in this story). We are told in the Eddas that incest was something permitted among the Vanir, but rejected by the Æsir…but we are not given the exact nature of the incest. By Norse reckoning, a man’s sister-in-law would also be seen as and referred to as ’sister’, and for a man to have romantic relations with her would be construed as incest. The same could also apply to the sister of a blood-brother. So the incest referred to here may not be quite as drastic as it appears at first glance. The other thing to consider here is that the Vanir are nature deities. Njord is the fertile coastal areas, where the land meets the sea. He does not dwell in the sea, as does Ægir, but near it in his ship yard. A related goddess, Nerthus, is often identified as being the unnamed sister of Njord (sometimes also as Njord, himself – but Nerthus will be dealt with in another post), and Nerthus is regarded also as a sea or coastal deity. So it is possible that the incestuous relationship cited is an Æsir-dominated reaction to how the cult of Vanir regarded the relationship between land and sea. There are scholars who believe that the entire war between the gods is a takeover myth, describing the incorporation of the cult of the Vanir into the more dominant cult of the Æsir. So the relationship between sea and land argument is viable in this situation, and would also explain the need for Njord to be humbled in the Eddas, so that he does not draw glory or attention away from Odin or the other Æsir.

Considering the importance of Njord among our Heathen forebears – by way of oathing, areas of dependency, wealth / giving and place names – we have a god who can claim great honor. That he is credited with basically winning the war against the Æsir should also indicate that this is not a god of weak-willed nature. That he is honored hostage among the Æsir is not a matter of debate; but to contrast the description in Gylfaginning with the descriptions given by Rydberg and Saxo, I would say that a chief among the Vanir would give himself as hostage, not be handed over. This would be a great sacrifice for Njord to make, and it must have been done to ensure peace among the gods at a time when he could have simply defeated the Æsir (that the Æsir were defeated by the Vanir is also attested to in the Eddas.[7] Looking at all of this, it’s easier to understand why such effort is undertaken to humiliate Njord in the Eddas; and why Njord’s honor is greater and deeper than how it may be reflected on the surface to some.

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[1] Gylfaginning, XXIII
[2] Skáldskaparmal (p. 91-92)
[3] Lindow, John (2001), Norse Mythology (p.242), Santa Barbara, Oxford University Press
[4] Lokasenna (p.163)
[5] Cherry, Nicole (2001), Norse Mythology (Njord)
[6] Rydberg, Viktor (1889), Teutonic Mythology (ch. 36)
[7] Voluspo, st. 23 (p. 11)

This article was originally published on 16. August, 2006, in Noatún