Good Beings - Divinities: Æsir/Asynjes - Vanir/Light-Elves and Other Good Beings!

THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF DIVINITIES, FIRST THE ÆSIR, THEN THE VANIR AND LAST THE ELVES.
THE GODS ARE CALLED THE ÆSIR (SINGULAR: AS) AND THE GODESSES ARE CALLED ASYNJES (SINGULAR: ASYNJA) AND THEY LIVE IN ASGARD. THE VANIR (SINGULAR: VANA) LIVE IN VANAHEIM AND THE ELVES (SINGULAR: ELF) IN ELFHEIM.
IT IS SOMETIMES HARD TO TELL YOU IF A CERTAIN DIVINITY BELONGS TO THE ÆSIR, THE GIANTS OR THE HUMANS, AS THEY OFTEN INTERMARRY AND HAVE CHILDREN.
THEREFORE, YOU MAY FIND THE SAME PERSON TWICE WITHIN OUR SITE...

WE HAVE ALSO DEFINED OTHER WORDS / NAMES THAT RELATE TO THIS TOPIC.

THE FOREMOST AND MOST FAMOUS DIVINITIES, ACCORDING TO SNORRI STURLUSON, ARE COLOURED DARK BLUE.
THE DIFFERENT DIVINED "RACES", ARE COLOURED BROWN AND ARE IN ITALICS.

Allfather
Another name for Odin, father of all gods and men.

Asynjes
These were goddesses, often married to the Æsir. They live in Asgard. The foremost Asynj is Frigg, Odin's wife. Other Asynjes are; Saga, Eir, Gefjun, Fulla, Freya (Mardull, Menglad, Horn, Harn, Gefn, Syr, Vanadis and more...), Skufn, Lofn, Var, Vör, Syn, Hlin, Snotra, Gnau, Sun, Bil, Earth and Rind.

Baldur
Son of Odin and Frigg, known for his gentleness, kindness and wisdom. He is extremely beautiful and all the Æsir and Asynjes love him. He is married to the faithful Nanna Nepsdaughter and they live in the castle Breidablick. The one who loves him the most in the whole world is his mother, Frigg. One night, she dreams that Baldur will die, so she exacts promises from all living beings and herbs, that they won't harm Baldur. But she forgets the misteltoe...
The mean and shrewd Loki, finds out about it and he makes an arrow from the misteltoe in order to kill Baldur. The Æsir are enjoying themselves by shooting at Baldur, as he now is invulnerable and Loki entices Baldur's blind brother Hodir to shoot him with the arrow. When the misteltoe-arrow hits Baldur, he dies. This is the greatest disaster that has ever happened to gods and people...

I saw Baldur's - the bloody God's,
Descendant of Odin's - hidden thread of destiny;
I saw in the soil - a growing herb,
Thin and very beautiful - a misteltoe.
-Völuspá, the Poetic Edda.

The corpse is put in Baldur's ship Ringhorne and when Nanna sees it, she dies of a broken heart, and her body is being placed next to Baldurs in the ship-pyre. The god Hermod is sent down to Hel (WORLD OF THE DEAD) on Odin's horse Sleipnir, to try to get Baldur back. Hermod is told that Baldur will return only if all beings in the world cries over his death, but one giant-woman, Thukk, won't cry, and therefore Baldur can't return. Thukk was probably the mean and shrewd Loki, in one of his many shapes.

Battle-father
Another name of the famous Odin.

Battle-God
Another of Odin's many names.

Bestla
Daughter of the giant Boltorn, married to Bur and mother of Odin, Vili and Ve.

Beyla
Maidservant to Frey, she watches over the distribution of the grist. She is married to Byggvir and the mean and shrewd Loki calls her a dirty thralless.

Bond
Name for all the gods and the powers who rule, the maintainer of the world order.

Bragi
The god of poetry, son of Odin, married to Idun. Bragi welcomes new warriors to Valhall, and he is known for his long beard.

Bur
Father of Odin, Vili and Ve, married to Bestla. His father is Buri.
The creation of the World

Buri
The first As, who came from the pure ice, when the first cow Audhumbla licked it.
The creation of the World

Byggvir
Servant to Frey, married to Beyla. Byggvir helps the crops grow. He is derided for his smallness by the mean and shrewd Loki, who also calls him Frey's little tittler-tattler.

Day
Son of Delling and Night. He is very light in both skin and hair. His horse is called Skinfaxi.
Night & Day

Delling
His name means "Dawn" and he is married to Night. Their son is Day.
Delling is the god of every morning and the guarder of Baldur's and Nanna's castle Breidablick.
Night & Day

Disir
Goddesses connected to specific familys as their protectors. It was only in Norway and on Iceland as the Disir cult existed. One Dis was Freya, as a Dis called Vanadis.

Earth
The goddess of the earth, also known as Fjorgyn orHlodyn. She is Thor's mother, and the daughter of Night. She could be Odin's daughter, but also his lover, as he is Thor's father.

Einridi
Another of Thor's many names, it means "the one who travels alone".

Eir
The goddess of the art of healing, also one of the Asynjes.

Elves
These are the third group of the divenesses, below the Æsir and Vanir. They are often mingled with the Dwarfs, as both these groupslive below the Earth's surface where they smith golden things for the others to enjoy.
The Elves have a lot in common with fertility-symboles and they are very artful.
In some myths, the Elves are very beautiful and loving, but in others, they are mean and cheating.
There are two kinds of Elves, the Light-Elves who live in Elfheim, and the Black-Elves - similar to the Dwarfs, who live under ground. This could depend on the fact that fruitfulness is connected to the Heaven's aswell as to the Earth's nourishing power.

Fimbultul
One of Odin's many names. This name stands for Oden as a representative of invocations.

Fimbultyr
Another of Odin's names. It means "the great master of gods".

Fjorgyn
Or Earth, is the goddess of the earth and the mother of Thor and Frigg. Another of her names is Hlodyn. She is together with Fjorgynn the god-couple of fertility.

Fjorgynn
The father of Frigg, and the god of fertility. He and Fjorgyn is a god-couple.

Forseti
Son of Baldur and Nanna and the highest judge in the Æsirs' thing. His castle is Glitni, where everything is made of pure gold and the roofs of heavy silver. He also owns a golden axe.

Frey
The foremost god of fertility and also one of the Vanir. He is the son of Njord, and Freya's twin-brother. He is called Frö (SEED) in Sweden, and Fricco in the Germanic tongue.
It was in Sweden that the Frö cult was strongest, he was here known as "the god of the World" and he was worshiped for good harvest, peace, love and fertility. He was the light sky's and the sun's god and he controled the weather. His cult had strong sexual elements and his statues has always have an erection.
His servant is Skirnir and his animals are the boar Gyllinborsti (GOLDEN BRISTLE) and the horse Blodughofi (BLOODSTAINED HOOF). His ship is made by the Dwarfs and is called Skidbladnir, and it can be crumpled up and put in a pocket. He lives in Elfheim and has a strong connection to the Elves, as they are both beings of fertility.
His other two servants are Byggvir and Beyla, and they tend the grist. His wife is the daughter of a giant, Gerd.
This is a small reproduction of Frey, made of metall. The erection shows to his role as a fertility-God.

Freya
Daughter of Njord, and twin-sister of Frey. She is the great goddess of the Vanir, called Vanadis, and also the foremost goddess of fertility and the goddess that was worshiped the longest in Scandinavia.
Her husband is Od, and this seems to be one of Odin's many names. He is hardly ever at home and some people say that he has abandoned her...
She is pulled in a carriage by cats, and she wears the famous necklace Brisingamén, the most beautiful piece of jewellery in the entire world.
She has her own pig also, Hildiswine, and one of Freya's many names is actually Sow, which points to her close relation with the animals' fertility. Her other names does also point to her as a goddess of fertility, for example Gefn (THE GIVER) or Harn (THE PROTECTOR OF THE FLAX)
Freya is also the the goddess of love and the goddess of children and their mothers. The mean and shrewd Loki accuses her of being all Gods' and Elves' lover, and the other Giants try in every way to get to sleep with her. The Giantess Hyndla says that Freya is like a she-goat among he-goats in the nights.
Freya is also the goddess of war and fights. She lives in the castle Folkvang and she has a falcon-guise, which is the guise that her spirit has when it travels into other spiritual worlds.
Freya also practises seyd, the Nordic form of shamanism, where the shaman extends his/her knowledge about the past and the future, and about other worlds.
Freya was the one who taught seyd to Odin, the other Gods and the people.
When Christianity had made its entry in Scandinavia, they turned Freya into a witch who rode a broom...

Frigg
Daughter of Fjorgynn and Fjorgyn and Odin's legal wife, and the tender mother of Baldur. She is the ruler of Asgard and the Queen of Æsir and Asynjes.
She is the goddess of marriage and mothership, but also the goddess of love. She lives in the castle Fensalir. She can see into the future, as can her husband and she knew that her son was going to die. She exacted promises from all living beings that they would not harm Baldur, and she deeply grieves her sons death.
She has many lovers, for example Odin's brothers Vili and Ve, and also a thrall. When Odin found out about the thrall-affair, he left her and Asgard. But then the evil magician Mithotyn took over the power, and Odin had to return.

Fru
Another of Freya's names, this means wife.

Fulla
One of the Asynjes. Her task is to care of Frigg's shoes and to carry her box. She is a maiden with long, brushed out hair and a golden ribbon around her head.

Fylgja / Fylgjukona
Means follower and is a female protector-spirit. She can only be seen as an animal. Connections to the Disir and the Hamingjes.

Gautr
One of Odin's many names, this means "the breeder". It could point to the fact that he is the father of all Gods and people.

Gefjon
One of the Vanir-goddesses, she is the Godess of the plough and agriculture. The mean and shrewd Loki is always teasing her for an old affair with Heimdal.
She was married to one son of Odin; Skjold.
Gefjon was sent by Odin to find new land. She came to Sweden and met King Gylfi, who gave her as much land as she could plough up with four oxen in 24 hours. Therefor she went to Jotunheim, the home of the Giants, where she gave birth to four sons of a Giant. She turned her sons into oxens, and they ploughed a lot of land for her, what is now known as Jutland in Denmark.

Gefn
It means "the giver", and is one of the Goddess Freya's many names.

Gestumblindi
Another of Odin's names, this one means the blind guest and he uses it when he is disguised as a foreigner.

Gnau
She is one of the Asynjes, and messenger for Frigg, and she travels to all the Worlds on her horse Hoof-varpnir which galopps through the air.

Goll
One of the Valkyries.

Gondul
One of the Valkyries.

Grim / Grimnir
It means "the one in disguise" and is of course another of Odin's names.

Guise
This is the figure that a spirit took when it left the body during a dream or in extasy.

Gunn
It means "struggle" and Gunn is one of the Valkyries who always rides out to the battle-fields to choose the men to die, together with Rota and Skuld.

Hadding
His name could mean "hair as beautiful as a womans" and he is one of Odin's fighters. Hadding was the son of a King, Svipday of Denmark. The king was killed and the young boy was raised by Giants. He gave a promise not to cut his hair before he had avenged his father's murderer...
He came in contact with Odin, who became his protector and taught him how to fight.
He finally hanged himself when he understood that his dear friend Hunding, the King of Sweden, had drowned in a basin with mead.

Haddingjar
Two twin-brothers who are sons of a fighter known as Arngrim. As the time passed, they were reduced into one person; also named Hadding.

Halinskidi
This is one of Heimdal's names and it means "the leaning stick" and the name symbolizes Heimdal's role as the god of the World-pillar.

Hamingja
This is the power that powerful people have, and that makes them victorous and strong. The Hamingja could show itself as a female protector-spirit.

Hangadrott / Hangatyr
These are two of Odin's many names and they mean "the hanged man's King" and "the hanged man's God", and these were used when people were going to be hanged for him as a sacrifice. It was told that he talked to the hanged men to recieve wisdom about the dead mens' world.
Odin hanged himself in Yggdrasil for nine days and nights to recieve the secret of the runes.

Harbard
This name means "grey-beard" and is another of Odin's names, which he uses when he in disguise travels to tease Thor in a bet.

Harn
The goddess of the flax. Her name is found as a part of many Scandinavian town-names. Also called Horn.

Hedin
A common name of Icelandic heroes. Sometimes used instead of Hodir.

Heid
Name of Gullveig when she practises seyd (BLACK MAGIC) and brings misfortune in Midgard.

Heimdal
He is a mystic God in the mythology, but not known in the cult. Heim means "world" and dallr means "prospering tree". He is therefor in one way representative for the World tree, Yggdrasil.
He is called "the White As" and lives in the castle Himinbjorg (THE HEAVEN'S MOUNTAIN) which is situated next to Bifrost (RAINBOW). He is the guarderer of the world and he can hear over hundreds of miles, he also hears the grass grow and the wool grow on the sheeps. He sleeps less than a bird.
One of his names is Halinskidi which also points to him as a god of the World-order and keeper of the world. Halinskidi means "the leaning stick".
Heimdal is Odin's son and he has nine mothers, who symbolizes the nine worlds in the universe. The number 9 is a often used sacred number, both in the Nordic heathendom and in the Siberian cosmosology.
Heimdal is the owner of the Gjallarhorn, which he will use to warn all the nine worlds when Ragnarok, the judgment day, has arrived. In the last battle, Heimdal will fight against the mean and shrewd Loki and they will both die.
Heimdal is most known in the myth where his name is Rig, which is an Irish name for a King. The myth is about how Rig walks around among the people and makes the women pregnant with sons who are forefathers for the three different social classes (THRALLS, FREE MEN AND NOBILITY) and all coming generations of people. Heimdal is the most cosmic of all the Æsir because he stands for the social order which is a reflection of the cosmic order.
Heimdal is also called Gyllintanni (GOLD-TEETH) and his horse is called Gylltopp (GOLD-FRINGE). His holy animal is a ram.

Hel
Hel is the name of both the Kingdom of the dead and its Queen, and it means "the covered".
The parents of the Goddess are the mean and shrewd Loki and the Giantess Angerboda, and Hel has two brothers called the Fenrir-wolf and the Midgard-Serpent. Half of Hel is pale as a corpse and the other half is normal but looks very bitter. She controls the nine worlds and all of the humans who have died a peaceful death come to her in Hel.

Helblindi
Another of Odin's many names and also the name of Loki's brother.

Herfjattir / Herfjutur
The names means "army-link" and she is one of the Valkyries and according to her name, she links the warriors to the curse of defeat and it make them weak and they suffer defeat and die.

Herjan
One of Odin's many names.

Hermod
"The brave" or "the rapid", is known for being the one who was sent down to Hel, in order to bring Baldur back from the dead. Hermod's father is, of course, Odin, the father of all Æsir and men.

Hild
She is one of the Valkyries.

Hle / Le
Another name of Ægir, who lived on Hles-island.

Hlin / Lin
Another name of Frigg, and also the name of one of the Asynjes who serves Frigg and makes sure that the people aren't put into danger.

Hlodyn / Lodyn
Foremost known as Fjorgyn or Earth.

Hlora / Lora
Thor's step-mother.

Hlorridi / Lorridi
One of Thor's many names. He has a step-mother called Hlora.

Hnoss / Noss
Fair daughter of Od and Freya. It is being told that she is so beautiful that all which is beautiful is named after her.

Hodir
He is Baldur's blind brother and son of Odin. His name means "the warlike". He is duped by the mean and shrewd Loki, to shoot Baldur with an arrow made of a misteltoe. Because the misteltoe is the only herb that their mother Frigg, hasn't exacted a promise from, not to harm Baldur. And the arrow kills Baldur.
The both brothers arise anew after Ragnarok, the judgment day. After it a new world will rise up again, filled with love and harmony, and Baldur will be its King, and Hodir will be his advisor and they will both be friends, in spite of the terrible accident.

Honir
An As-God who follows Odin and the mean and shrewd Loki on their walks around the world. He is a passive God, and not much is mentioned about him.
We know that Honir was another name for Ve, one of Odin's brothers, the other brother was Vili, also known as Lodir. Honer took part in the creation of the very first people, Ash and Elma.
Honir was given as a hostage to the Vanir after the Vanir-war and he is known as the most frightened and quiet of the Æsir.
The creation of the World The first humans

Horn
The goddess of the flax, her name is found as a part of many Scandinavian town-names. Also called Harn.

Hropt / Ropt
Another name of Odin.

Hroptatyr / Roptatyr
Also another name of Odin.

Här-father
Another of Odin's many names.

Idun
The Goddess of fertility and love, married to Bragi. She guards the apples of youth, which she carries in a basket. The Æsir eat these apples every morning to keep themselves young. The mean and shrewd Loki accused her of being a big seductress, who slept with all the Æsir.

Jolnir
Odin's name relating to Jul(SCAN. CHRISTMAS).

Kvasir
The most wise of the Æsir. Kvas is the word for strong beer, and Kvasir is the inventor of the mead.
As a sign of the peace between Æsir and Vanir in the end of the Vanir-war, both sides spit in a bowl and they gave the saliva life and formed it into a God and they called him Kvasir.
He is later killed by two Dwarfs, Fjalar and Galar. These gathered his blood in three enormous barrels and mixed it with honey and boiled an excellent mead from it in the cauldron Odrorir, which also gave name to the mead. Anyone who drank the mead Odrorir was blessed with wisdom.

Light-Elves
Probably the same as the Vanir. They live next to Asgard.

Lodir
The most told name for Vili, brother of Odin and Ve, the last one most known as Honir. Lodir took part in the creation of the very first humans.
The creation of the World The first humans

Lofn
One of the Asynjes who was very kind and helpful. She gives the people permission to marry each other as long as they love each other even though other tries to prevent the marriage.

Loftus
Another of the mean and shrewd Loki's names.

Loki
This person is very mysterious, he belongs to the Æsir, but he seems to descend from the Giants. His parents are Farbauti and Laufey. His wife is Sigyn and their son is Narfi. He also have three children with the Giantess Angerboda, the Fenrir-wolf, the Midgard-Serpent and Hel, the Queen in the world of death.
Loki is Thor's follower and is called "the farm hand of the God of thunder" and he also has had a homo-sexual relationship to Odin.
Loki has the power of switching guise, all from a louse, a salmon and an eagle to a horse or a woman. As a mare, he gives birth to the horse Sleipnir, which father is the stallion Sulphurfari.
Loki has many sides, he is untrustful, burlesque, false and crafty. Sometimes, he is really mean, like in the myth about Baldur's death.
Loki is always provoking the other Æsir, he calls Idun a seductress, he accuses Freya of having slept with all Æsir and Elves and he calls Odin unmanly, as he has sex with other men.
When Baldur is dead, the Æsir are given a chance to have Baldur returned to life, and that is if all living beings in the world cry over his death. All except one does, a Giantess called Tukk, orgininally Loki himself in another guise. The Æsir are so mad at him that they tie him in a cave with his own son, Narfi's intestines. Then Skadi places a snake above him which venom drops in his face. Loki's kind wife Sigyn watches over him and she holds a bowl beneath the snake's mouth in order to catch the venom. But when the bowl is full and she walks away and empties it, the venom touches Loki's face and he shivers violently of the pain. That is when an earth-quake comes...

Lopt
Another of the mean and shrewd Loki's names.

Magni
Son of Thor and the Giantess Ironsaxi. He is so strong, that when he was only three nights old, he succeeded in removing a Giant's foot from his father Thor, who was trapped under it during a battle. As a reward, he got the horse Gyllfaxi, which had belonged to the God Rungnir before.
After the judgment day, Ragnarok, Magni and his brother Modi inherits the hammer Mjollnir from their father.

Mardull
Another name of Freya, pointing to her connection the the sea ( LATIN: MARE).

Menglad
This is what Freya is called when she is wanted by the warrior Svipdag. The name means "the one pleased with her necklace" and Freya sure was, as her Brisingamén is the most beautiful piece of jewellery in the entire world.

Mimir
He is probably a Giant but he lived in Asgard with the Æsir. After the Vanir-war, both sides exchanged hostages and Mimir was sent to the Vanir together with Honir. But the Vanir chopped Mimir's head off and sent it back to where it belonged, Asgard. Odin took care of the head and kept it alive with holy herbs and consulted it whenever he needed a piece of advice.
The head of Mimir guards a well, the well of wisdom which gives water to one of Ygdrasil's(THE WORLD-TREE's) roots and he is the wisest in the entire universe.
Before the World-tree got its present name, Yggdrasil, it was called the tree of Mimir, which tells us what a great divinity he once had been.

Modi
One of Thor's sons, and the one who inherits his father's hammer Mjollnir together with Magni.

Modgunn
The maiden who guards the Gjallar-bridge on the way down to Hel and asks the passing persons of their names and family.

Moon
Son of Mundilfari, brother of Sun. He was kidnapped by the Æsir together with his sister and placed in the sky to ride the moon-carriage across the sky. He kidnapped two other children to help him pull the veil over the moon, which gives it the different shapes. Those children are Bil and Hjuki.
Sun and Moon

Nanna Nepsdaughter
The wife of Baldur and mother of Forseti. She dies of a broken heart when Baldur is killed and she is burned together with him on his ship and follows him to the world of death, Hel.

Narfi / Nari
Son of Loki and Sigyn. After Baldur's death, the Æsir turn Loki's son Vali into a wolf and it kills Narfi, with who's intestines they tie Loki in a cave forever.

Nerthus
She is the Goddess of the earth and the fertility, and worshiped in Denmark. Her carriage was pulled by cows and it gave fertility to the ground and the people and animals who touched it.

Night
Dark skin and black hair has this woman, daughter of Nör, married three times. Her children are; in her first marriage: Aud (SPACE), in her second: Earth and in the third and last the son Day. Night and her youngest son recieved each one carriage from Odin in which they would ride across the sky. Her horse is Rimfaxi.
Night & Day

Njord
Vanirgod, halfbrother to Frigg, father of Frey and Freya, whos' mother also is Njord's sister, but we don't know her name. He was worshiped in Norway and Sweden for prevailing the sea and winds, calming storms and give good luck in fishing. Of him, you could ask anything, because he was so rich.
He was one of the Vanir who was exchanged as hostage in the Vanir-war against the Æsir. He personally was exchanged for Honir, brother of Odin, and was then a hostage in Asgard for the rest of his life. There he lived in Noatun (THE PLACE FOR SHIPS) and he was married for the second time by accident to Skadi, a giantess. It wasn't a happy marriage!

Norns

Thence come three maidens - who knows of much,
three from the hall - which is under the tree;
Urd is the first - the second Verdandi,
they carve in wood - Skuld is the last.
They set up laws - they give life,
they measure the fate - of the human children.
-Völuspá, The Poetic Edda

The Norns were the three godesses of the destiny, called Urd (IT-WHICH-HAS-BEEN), Verdandi (IT WHICH IS) and Skuld (IT-WHICH-WILL-BE). They are sisters. They live in a house near the well of Urd, below one of Yggdrasil's(THE WORLD-TREE's) three roots.
They decide over each newborns life and they spin the thread of the world's destiny.
The sisters are relatives with the moon and nobody have ever seen their faces, as they are hidden in shadows. Nobody knows if they are young and beautiful or old and wrinkly. Their well of Urd is especially sacred and they mix its water with the mud from its sides into a dough, which they spread over the root, every morning. This neutralizes the powers of the evil and store the root. Their work prevents the tree from rotting. The sisters came originally from Jotunheim. They seemed to be sisters of Nör, the father of Night. Therefore the sisters were related to the darkness and the moon.
It is the Norns who measures the time and controls the past, this very moment and the future, as they are spinning. The Norns mean "the Destinys".

Od
This is a mysterious divinity. He is Freya's lover and husband, but he is always out travelling and she cries tears of red gold whenever he is away. His name is almost the same as Odin, and it might be the cheating Odin in another of his many shapes...

Odin
His name means "the ecstatic furious" and he is the greatest of all the Nordic gods.
He is the King of the Æsir, the Allfather of the humans and gods, and the Valfather of all the dead warriors.
He is the son of Bur and Bestla, and the brother of Vili and Ve.
His castle is Valhalla, which also is the home of the dead warriors, and where he sits on his throne, Lidskjalf.
His wife is Frigg with which he has the son Baldur, but has with other godesses given birth to almost all the other divinities, for example Thor.
He is tall and handsome, related to the nobility. He has a lot of women, but he also seemed to have had a homosexual relationship with Loki, but this is most certain coming from Christian influences...
Odin is known for practising black magic, seyd. He can change guise, just like Loki and when he falls into ectas, his soul travels in an animal-guise to other worlds. This is exactly the same as the Lappish and Siberian schamans do.
Odin has an eight-legged horse called Sleipnir, on which he travels very quickly wherever he is going.
He is also the god of poetry, together with Bragi, and very wise. After the Vanir-war, when hostages were exchanged between the Vanir and Æsir, Mimir were executed by the Vanir and his head was sent back to Asgard, where Odin kept it alive with magic herbs and contained a lot of wisdom from it's mouth. Mimir's head guards a well - the well of wisdom. Odin wanted to drink from it and he had to make a sacrifice to do it, so he gave Mimir one of his eyes.

I well know, Odin - where you hid your eye,
In the well of Mimir - the mighty esteemed;
Each morning - Mimir drinks mead,
of Valfather's pledge - do you know yet or not?
-The words of the High One, the Poetic Edda.

Odin also used to listen to the dead men in the gallows and to get the secret of the runes, he had to make a great sacriface. Odin had to hang by his neck for nine days and nine nights over an endless pit. He also had a spear which stung him. While he was hanging there, he carefully spyed down into the gulf and caught the runes that came up to him by the winds of the gulf. After this torture he got to know nine powerful secrets about the runes and then he offered his services to the other gods and the people.

I know that I hung - in a wind-swept tree
For nine night - of time;
Harmed by a spear's edge - given to Odin,
me for myself.
I did not get to enjoy - the mead of any horn,
Neither any bread - I spied deep down;
Runes I took up - with shrieks,
Then I fell down - from that gallows-tree.
-Hávamál, the Poetic Edda.

Tormented in pains, starving and thirsty, he saw visions in which sacred wisdom, called the runes, showed themselves to him.
Odin knows everything worth knowing and he gains new wisdom all the time. His throne, Lidskjalf in Valhalla, is situated highest in the world so therefor he can sit in it and see everything that is going on around him.
Odin also has two ravens, Hugin (THOUGHT) and Munin (MEMORY). They fly far, far away every morning and spy on everything and everyone, then they return each night and tell Odin what they have seen.
The reason why Odin is surrounded by ravens, birds which eat corpses, and why he is called the god of ravens, is strongly connected to the fact that Odin is the god of war, death and warriors. He has an own army, the Odin-warriors, who are all berserks, strong as bears and furious in battle.
Odin has two wolfs as well, Gere and Freke, which both live on corpses.
Odin is also known as the god of spears, he always had a spear in one hand, a wide-brimmed hat and a deep-blue coat. In both the old Nordic Mythology and the later Folk Belief, Odin was a god of the wind.
In the Germanic religion, he was known under the name Wotan, and in the Anglo-Saxian: Woden.
The creation of the World The first humans

Ondurdis
Another name for the godess Skadi, who loves to ski.

Rig
This was the name that Heimdal used when he took a walk among the humans, visiting their homes. He would lay with the house-wife and fertilized her, and those children being born was the fore-fathers of the three different classes of society. With Edda (GRANDMOTHER'S MOTHER) he begeted the thralls, with Amma (GRANDMOTHER), he begeted the free men and with Mother, the blond nobility.
Rig is from the beginning an Irish word which means King.

Rota
One of the Valkyries who always chooses which warrior to fall in battle, together with Gunn and Skuld.

Saga
"She who watches" is one of the Asynjes. It is told of her that she together with Odin drink from golden chalices in her great castle Sukkvabeck.

Sidgrani
Another of Odin's many names which means "has a long lip-beard".

Sidhat
Another of Odin's many names which means "has a hanging hat-brim".

Sidbeard
Another of Odin's many names which means "has a long beard".

Sif / Siv
Wife of Thor, mother of Ull. She is the fairest among women, shy and quiet, but very passionated, for example to Loki.
She was famous for her long, golden hair which the mean Loki cut off. Then Thor forced him to make the Black-elves produce new hair from gold, which could grow on the head as usual. These skillful smiths made this!

Sigyn
Wife of Loki, faithful into death. After Baldur's death, when Loki is captured and taken to the cave where he is kept tied, she follows and watches over him, sitting by his side.
They had the son Narfi together.

Skadi
She is actually a daughter of a Giant, but also the goddess of hunting and skiing.
Her father is the Giant Tjatse, killed by the Æsir and when she went the Asgard for vendetta, she is offered reconciliation. She may choose a husband among the gods, but she is only allowed to see their feet when chosing. As she wants Baldur, she chooses the most beautiful feet but they belong to Njord, not Baldur. So their marriage is only by accident!
Her condition for reconciliation is that they have to make her laugh, and Loki succeedes when he ties a rope around his scrotum and the other part of the rope around the beard of a goat.
Odin makes it up to her even more when he throws her father's eye up in the sky where they turn into two shining stars.
Her marriage isn't happy! Njord longed to the sea, while Skadi longed to the snowy mountains and the howling wolfs. Eventually they split up, and she then stays forever in the fjords, where she travelled on skis hunting animals with her bow.

Skirnir
"The shining" is Frey's servant.
He was the man sent down to the Black-elves by Odin with orders to them to make the chain Gleipnir with which the Fenriswolf was caught.
He was also the one who went to the Giant daughter Gerd to propose to her from his master Frey. For safety reasons, he asked Frey before the travel if he could lend his sword.

Skjold
Son of Odin who married Gefjon and became King of Denmark. He is the mythic fore-father of the Skjoldunga-dynasty.