The Death of king Óðinn

Foreword:





Today we'll take a look at two translations of the Annales Ryenses, a Danish book from the last part of the 13th century. Only one copy of the original Latin texts survives, but 3 (medieval) Danish translations exist, all deviating from each other. The book is named after the abbey where it was written, Ryd abbey, near Flensborg fjord. The first 2/3 of the text is a chronicle of kings, and the last part dealing with the period from year 1157 and forth is annals. The Annales Ryenses is influenced by a number of other works, such as Annales Lundensis, Annales Waldemariani, Annales Colbazenses and Gesta Danorum, especially for the parts dealing with ancient history such as the two following excerpts. In fact, they are modelled after a much more elaborate and dramatic story in Saxo's Gesta, which we'll take a look at sometime.





Texts:





&

Annales Ryenses, NkS 606 8

°, 11. Last half of the 15th century.





Location:





Denmark.





Translations:





E don. Var. 3, 8vo, 17:

"Óðinn [OD:

Othæn] died a sudden death in Odense [OD: Othæns], and there he was also buried.

Óðinn

was very skilled in sorcery, and fared much with the black arts. Therefore, all lands around Denmark honoured him as a god and worshipped him. Therefore the Danes made a golden idol [OD: belætæ] of him, and sent it to the Greeks to great praise, and the Greeks received it with great dignity."





NkS 606 8

°, 11:

" After him [Hjarvar] followed

Óðinn [OD:

Othen], who died suddenly at a town that is now called Odense [OD: Othens], and there he was buried. He was such a great wizard and sorcerer, that he was worshipped as a god in many countries. And Danish men sent his idol [OD: belædhæ], which was made from gold, as a great present to the Greeks, and they received it with great dignity."









RIP (in Odense of all places).





Interesting stuff:





The first thing that comes to mind is "how the hell does

Óðinn die? Isn't he supposed to get wolfed to death?". The answer is, YES, my dear strawman/reader, the god

Óðinn commits suicide by wolf, but this is not

Óðinn the god

™, but

Óðinn the king. Bow, you shits. You see, this is an euhemerized account of

Óðinn, a mortal king, who by his sorcery (OD: kaglespel) makes people worship him as a god.









Óðinn! Óðinn king! Eh, close enough.





The fact that

Óðinn is a wizard and sorcerer (OD: kogler ok throllkarl) is nothing speciel really. Saxo makes it clear that the gods are mortal (Lat: "talium quorundam mortalitas"), and that

Óðinn and

Þórr use sorcery and magic tricks to deceive people into worshipping them as gods. The texts are not unique in inserting

Óðinn

into a line of kings either - Ynglinge saga and Gylfaginning do the same.





But whence does Ó

ðinns

sorcerous skills come from? Why, demons of course, according to Lactantius, Augustine and Isidor. Both excerpts build on Saxo's work, but he is reluctant to make the Danes worship demons - the Gesta Danorum is basically propaganda - but is happy to let other ethnic groupings such as Slavs be vile demon-worshippers. Thus, the Annales Ryenses lets the Danes off the daemonic hook.

The natural consequence of the gods being mortal is that they, like all men, must die. Valar morghulis! Gods drop like flies in the texts!

Óðinn, Freyr and Njör

ðr all die

of sickness (ON:

sóttdauðr)

in Ynglinge saga. In Gesta Danorum, Ullr is slain by the Danes, Frigg just dies and the mysterious Mitó

ðinn (Lat: Mithothyn) is slain by the Finns, returns as a revenant and is then decapitated and impaled

. H

ödr and Baldr all die by various hands (each other, Váli, Bous, Biørn), but this seems to be a genuine mythic tradition and doesn't really count.

In both the above excerpts, poor ol'

Óðinn dies suddenly in Odense on the Danish isle of Fyn. Why there is anyones' guess.

Óðinn was worshipped in Denmark, and the town of Odense is named for him (

Óðinns vi,

Óðinns shrine

). Snorri also connects

Óðinn with Odense in Ynglinge saga, but gets the etymology wrong as usual. Making

Óðinn die in Odense reveals a sort of childish homologic way of thinking, kinda like having somebody named Jack die in Jacksonville. The cause of death isn't mentioned

,

but it's probably due to lifestyle related diseases, since he only lives on wine (Grímnismál 19). Jesus, he should've been on a 12-step program or something.









Pictured: not a healthy diet.





The Danes worshipped

Óðinn

while he was alive, and fashions a golden idol of him. We must assume then, that once again the idol is anthropomorphic. According to Lactantius, the desire for earthly possessions is ungodly behaviour, and it's foolish to adorn an idol with gold. The desire for riches betrays the non-divinity of the false gods, and idols themselves are perishable. The worship of idols is, according to Lactantius, nothing more than self-deception.





The Danes ship the idol to the Greeks, which is a bit puzzling, considering that

Óðinn

was a Danish king. Doubtlessly, it's because the "gods" reside in Byzantium in Saxo's account. It's yet another medieval explanatory model - the gods are human kings who migrated from somewhere in Greece. Compare for example the prologue to Snorris Edda, where one of the

Óðinns

originally came from Troy. Unsurprisingly, the "gods" are thrilled to receive a golden idol of one of their own. It tickles the ego juuust right.





As mentioned in the foreword, these excerpts are built on a much more elaborate story in the Gesta Danorum. A grand story featuring betrayal! Adultery! Exile! And a robot fuelled by sorcery?? All this and more in a future installment.





Sources:

Lassen, Annette - Odin på Kristent Pergament.

Stavnem, Rolf - "Odin og Tor i Troja - mytologi, historie og allegori i Snorris Edda".