Odin:
The Allfather

Odin is known by many names. In one story he is Grímnir, the hooded one. In another he is Gagnrádr, the one who wins victory. He is called Bölverkr, worker of evil, when he travels among giants. He is Hár, the High One, whose words are remembered in Hávamál. He is Valföðr, father of the slain, in Valhalla. And he is Alföðr, the Allfather.

The name Allfather stands above the others because Odin stands at the centre of so many Norse stories. He is the ruler of Asgard, father to Thor and Baldr, husband of Frigg, keeper of Valhalla, and the god who gathers the fallen before Ragnarök. Yet he is rarely found sitting still upon a throne. Again and again, Odin leaves Asgard and enters the worlds in another name.

He travels through Midgard in a cloak and a broad hat. He crosses into Jötunheimr to speak with giants. He comes to kings without announcing who he is. He visits the dead. He seeks out seeresses, drinks from wells, trades for wisdom, and asks questions that no one else would think to ask.

Where Thor often arrives with Mjölnir in his hand, Odin arrives with a question.

The One Who Made the World

Before Asgard stood above the other realms, there was the empty space called Ginnungagap. On one side lay the cold of Niflheimr, and on the other the fire of Muspell. Between them, the first being came into existence: the giant Ymir.

Odin was born later, the son of Borr and Bestla. He had two brothers, Vili and Vé. Together, the three brothers killed Ymir. From the giant’s body they made the world: his flesh became the earth, his blood became the sea, his bones became mountains, and his skull became the sky above them.

They set the sparks of Muspell in the heavens as sun, moon, and stars. They made a home for the gods and built Midgard as a defended world for humankind. Then, on the shore, they found two trees. From them came the first man and woman, Ask and Embla. Odin gave them breath and life, Vili gave them understanding and movement, and Vé gave them senses, speech, and appearance.

This was the work that placed Odin among the first makers of the world. But creation did not make him all-knowing. The stories that follow are filled with things Odin still needs to discover.

In Asgard stood Hliðskjálf, Odin’s high seat. From it he could look out across the worlds. It was from this seat that he watched gods, giants, and men, and from it that he saw things hidden from others.

But seeing far did not mean seeing everything. Odin still sought the wisdom of Mímir. He still questioned the giant Vafþrúðnir about the oldest things in the world. He still woke a völva from the dead to ask about Baldr. He still travelled to learn what was coming at Ragnarök.

At his side were Huginn and Muninn, the ravens who flew out over the world each day and returned to tell him what they had seen and heard. Two wolves, Geri and Freki, sat with him in Valhalla. Odin gave them the food set before him and drank wine himself. Beside him stood Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse who could carry him between worlds.

These names belonged to Odin’s hall, but none kept him there. When he travelled, he often went alone, disguised as an old man with one eye beneath the brim of his hat.

Odin did not always enter a story as Odin.

In the hall of King Geirröð, he called himself Grímnir. The king did not know who stood before him and had him bound between two fires. For eight nights Odin endured the heat and the smoke. On the ninth night, Geirröð’s young son Agnarr gave him a drink. Then Odin began to speak.

He named the halls of the gods, the rivers of the worlds, the places where the dead were received, and the paths that led through Asgard. He spoke of Valhalla and of the warriors who fought there each day before returning to feast at night. He named the gods and told of their homes. At last, he gave name after name for himself: Grimnir, Gangleri, Hár, Jálkr, Þundr, Viðurr, Yggr, and many more.

Only then did Geirröð understand whom he had tortured. He leapt up to free Odin, but his sword slipped and he fell upon it. Odin disappeared, and Agnarr became king.

In another story, Odin went to the hall of Vafþrúðnir, one of the wisest giants. He did not come as the ruler of Asgard. He came under the name Gagnrádr and challenged the giant to a contest of questions. They asked each other about the beginning of the world, the end of the world, the sun, the moon, the dead, and the gods. Vafþrúðnir answered every question until Odin asked him what words he had spoken into Baldr’s ear before the funeral pyre was lit.

Only Odin could know the answer. The giant knew then who had come into his hall.

Odin’s names allowed him to cross boundaries that the name of the king of Asgard could not. Grímnir could enter a king’s hall. Gagnrádr could sit opposite a giant. Bölverkr could work among the servants of Baugi while seeking the Mead of Poetry. The Allfather was also a wanderer, a guest, a stranger, and sometimes an enemy.

Odin’s name Valföðr means father of the slain. It belongs to Valhalla, the hall where he receives warriors who die in battle. The valkyries choose those who fall, and many of them are brought to Odin’s hall. There they become the einherjar, the warriors who fight each day and feast each night.

Valhalla is not simply a reward after death. The einherjar are being gathered for Ragnarök. When the last battle comes, Odin will lead them from the hall to fight against the enemies of the gods.

Odin knows what waits for him there. He will meet Fenrir, the great wolf, and Fenrir will swallow him. The knowledge does not keep Odin from gathering the slain or preparing for the battle. Throughout the stories, Ragnarök is always ahead of him: in the words of seeresses, in the answers of giants, and in the future he continues to seek.

Odin is called Allfather because he is placed at the head of the Æsir and at the beginning of the world. He is a father, a ruler, a god of the slain, and the keeper of a great hall. But those names do not keep him in one place.

He is the god who rides Sleipnir to the world of the dead. He is the hooded stranger in a king’s hall. He is the one-eyed traveller on the road. He is the god who gave an eye at Mímir’s Well and hung from Yggdrasil to take up the runes. He is the one who looks toward Ragnarök even while he gathers an army for the day it comes.

There are many stories of Odin, and each one gives him another name. Together, they tell of the Allfather: not a distant figure above the world, but a god who moves through it, asking, watching, bargaining, and returning with knowledge that no one else possesses.

Odin appears throughout the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, but there is no single ancient story that gives a complete life of Odin. The account above brings together the main traditions without treating them as one continuous tale.

The creation story comes chiefly from Völuspá and Snorri Sturluson’s Gylfaginning. The surviving sources differ in detail. Völuspá names Odin, Hœnir, and Lóðurr in the making of Ask and Embla, while Gylfaginning names Odin, Vili, and Vé. This page follows Snorri’s version for the names of Odin’s brothers and keeps the difference here rather than forcing the two accounts into one.

Odin’s high seat, ravens, wolves, and Valhalla appear in Grímnismál and Gylfaginning. His ordeal as Grímnir is told in Grímnismál; his contest with Vafþrúðnir is told in Vafþrúðnismál. His many names are also listed in Grímnismál. The title Allfather appears in both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, while Valföðr means father of the slain.

The name Allfather should not be understood as a simple Norse equivalent of the Christian God. It is an Old Norse title used for Odin in the surviving texts. Odin is the highest of the Æsir in Snorri’s account, but he is also part of a larger and older world of giants, fate, and powers beyond his control.

Explore Next

If you’d like to continue exploring, these stories will take you deeper into the Norse world:

  • Yggdrasil: The World Tree – Explore the great ash tree that stands at the centre of the Nine Worlds.
  • Gungnir: Odin’s Spear – Discover the legendary spear forged by dwarves that never failed to strike its mark.
  • Huginn and Muninn – Meet Odin’s ravens, who fly across the world each day gathering news and knowledge.
  • Sleipnir – Ride alongside Odin’s extraordinary eight-legged horse across the Nine Worlds.
  • Mímir’s Well – Visit the ancient well where Odin traded one of his eyes for wisdom.
  • Frigg – Discover the queen of Asgard, renowned for her wisdom, foresight, and quiet strength.
  • Valhalla – Step inside Odin’s great hall, where fallen warriors prepare for Ragnarök.
  • Ragnarök – Witness the final battle that brings an end to the old world and the beginning of a new one.

Sources and further reading

Primary sources
  • *Völuspá*, *Hávamál*, *Vafþrúðnismál*, and *Grímnismál*, in the *Poetic Edda*.
  • Snorri Sturluson, *Prose Edda*, especially *Gylfaginning*.
  • Henry Adams Bellows (trans.), *The Poetic Edda*, 1923. A public-domain edition is available from [Project Gutenberg].
  • Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (trans.), *The Prose Edda*, 1916. A public-domain edition is available from [Wikimedia Commons].
Further reading
  •  Carolyne Larrington (trans.), *The Poetic Edda*, revised edition, Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • John Lindow, *Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs*, Oxford University Press, 2001.
  • Rudolf Simek, *Dictionary of Northern Mythology*, D. S. Brewer, 1993.
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