About three years ago, the first pagan temple in Iceland was opened by the neo-pagan association Asatruarfelagid, where veneration and worship of the Viking gods are held. Without apparent scientific explanation, the rise of this type of religion or sect is spreading throughout northern Europe, especially in the Scandinavian regions.

Returning to the data of the mentioned associations, only the Icelandic one has tripled in number of members in 10 years of history. Wanting to get out of the way of the controversies generated by this phenomenon, the highest authority of the Asatru association, Hilmar Örn, claims the metaphorical and poetic role that his beliefs have. Fleeing from the bad image generated, the priest claims not to believe in monstrous beings with mutant heads and green skin.

However, in the past the Viking gods were indeed entities in which these Nordic people fervently believed . Even today, the mythology associated with them continues to fascinate many people.

The main Viking gods

Nordic and Germanic mythology is full of superpowerful beings that have to do mainly with the earth and nature. Below you will find a brief explanation of the most important Viking gods.

1. Thor

Today, he appears in movies, comics, comic books and even in cereal. At present, the god Thor is surely the most popular Viking mythological being at a universal level . Son of Odin, the god of gods, Thor represents strength, power and war. A blond or red beard and a fierce look were part of the physical characteristics with which he was usually described, although almost as important as he was his weapon.

Thor is always depicted wielding a hammer known as a mjolnir, forged by dwarves. His means of transport was an imposing chariot that was pulled by goats whose path was marked by sounds that emulated lightning and thunder.

2. Odin

As we mentioned first, Odin was the god of gods, to whom we had to pay homage. Father of Thor, he possessed some of the characteristics he passed on to his son: strength, skill, warfare, intelligence and cunning. It was his reason for being, knowledge and wisdom. He changed his ways to acquire more intellect, and was always accompanied by crows .

In order to carry out an increase in intelligence, Odin was associated with human and animal sacrifice, which cost him an eye. It is said that the word “Wednesday”, day of the supreme god, is due to the name in English: “Woden”.

3. Frigg

She’s Odin’s wife and Thor’s stepmother. This Viking deity represented love, fertility, marriage, motherhood and the art of the home. As a special power she had the quality of prophesying, knowing and knowing the destiny of all humans, as well as the only one, after Odin, to be able to occupy the throne of the gods and observe the universe.

It is said that the origin of the word “Friday” in English, which means Friday, comes from the Germanic origin “Freitag”, whose epistemology has much to do with this Viking goddess.

4. Tyr

Within the Nordic-German mythology, the god Tyr is considered to be the absolute warrior among all the Viking gods. Although most of his encounters, stories and narratives have to do with scenarios of war and force, he was not an exclusively brutish character, but he is also attributed with iconographies associated with wisdom and laws.

In the same way, he also made a self-sacrifice and allowed himself to amputate his left arm so that the gods could save the world from the wolf Fenrir . It should be noted that only Thor surpassed him in terms of physical strength.

5. Freyja

She was the goddess of love and fertility, beauty and romance. She was madly in love with her husband Odr. It is said that when he walked away from her, Freyja would burst into tears and, because she was so beautiful, she would shed golden tears between her eyes. For these reasons, among others, she was one of the most respected deities, although from a modern perspective it seems more like a grouping of characteristics traditionally associated with the feminine .

His clothing was worthy of what he stood for. Beautiful shining and precious necklaces, a hypnotic plumage that allowed her to fly between the underworlds and a chariot carried by wonderful felines were part of the objects with which she was represented. Although she was the least bellicose deity, she accompanied soldiers and gods to war in order to instill security and motivation, as she was considered a wise woman.