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Description
Odin (or "Oðinn" as Old Norse has it) is perhaps the only Norse god who can match the popularity of his son Thor in today's media. He is the chief god of the Æsir, lord of the dead and arbiter of battles, whom every Viking worth their salt would look to for exaltation. He is clearly a very ancient god, being attested as far back as Tacitus's 1st century work Germania, though his exact origins are a bit obscure. The etymology of his name is pretty straight forward, at least. The oldest occurrence of his name is found on a 5th century pendant from Vindelev in Denmark, on which the words "iz wōðnas weraz" ("he is Wōðnaz's man") are inscribed. This matches pretty well to what we'd anticipate the Proto-Germanic form of this god's name would've been: Wōdanaz or Wōðunaz. In Old English, this name mutates into "Wēden", hence why our modern word "Wednesday" is named after this variant. All of these ultimately translate to something along the lines of "the Mad One", which in Old Norse can mean either crazy or angry as it does in English. Either way, though, it is an apt descriptor of Odin's character in our surviving myths. As we'll see, Odin is a powerful god, and he is one who will break all the rules to hold onto that power.

Both the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda have it that Odin was the son of obscure figures named Borr and Bestla. Together with his brothers, Vili and Vé, Odin slew the primordial giant Ymir and dismantled his body to create the universe. The first humans, Ask and Embla, were given vitality by Odin and his brothers, whom Snorri cites as also being Vili and Vé, but the Völuspá says instead Odin teamed up with Lóðurr and Hœnir to accomplish this. The exact identities of Odin's brothers are the kind of thing you can spend hours arguing over and still not get a clear answer on, but there is one relationship that is more clear: Odin is blood brother with the trickster Loki. This means that at some point in their past they mixed their blood and swore fraternity to each other. In Lokasenna Loki specifically claims that he and Odin swore to be drinking buddies, that one could not drink without the other. As Odin is explicitly stated to survive on mead and mead alone, that sure is a tall order, but hey we all say crazy things when we're plastered. I'm sure it won't come back to bite either of them on the ass. I mean come on, Loki's antics aren't that bad. It even resulted in Odin getting his magic spear Gungnir, which never misses and flies back to his hand, crafted by the dwarves that Loki pissed off. Win win.

As chief of the Æsir, Odin presides over all of Asgard, literally. Situated at the pinnacle of Odin's hall Valaskjálf is the lofty throne called Hlidskjalf, from which Odin can survey everything in creation. From here, he sends out his two ravens, Huginn ("thought") and Muninn ("memory") to collect information, though Grímnismál tells us he dreads the possibility that one or the other may not return to him. Sometimes he will travel to Midgard himself, disguised as an old man in a distinctive blue cloak and wide-brimmed hat. He scouts the battlefields of men, looking for the fiercest warriors to claim as his own. Indeed, Lokasenna echoes a sentiment among men that Odin often judges battles unfairly, giving victory to the weaker side just so he can harvest the stronger fighters. Still, it is a great honor to be selected by Odin's valkyries, who escort the souls of fallen warriors to his grand hall, Valhǫll (often rendered as "Valhalla" in modern English). Here, Odin's wife Freyja gets a selection of half the dead, while the other half become Odin's einherjar, elite soldiers who spend every hour drinking and fighting, having their wounds reset at the start of every day. Their express purpose is to train for the final battle at the end of time, Ragnarök, as Odin still clings to the idea that he can avert his fate.

You see, Odin is obsessed with the future, enthralled with the possibility of cheating death at any cost. He stole the Mead of Poetry from the jötunn Suttungr to become the master skald, and sacrificed himself to himself by hanging on the World Tree for nine days to gain knowledge. This is why the Tree is called "Yggdrasil" afterall: the name translates to "Odin's Horse", referring to how he "rode" the tree on the noose. It's quite literally gallows humor. Most famously, Odin also sacrificed his eye into the Well of Mímir to gain secret wisdom, ironically rendering him half-blind in the process. Odin is also a practitioner of seiðr, a word which probably best matches the English word "witchcraft" but the more nuanced conception is that it was a form of sorcery which Viking society expected only women should perform. Of course, Odin is hardly one to be held down by societal taboos if it means securing power and information. He even resurrected a dead völva (priestess) to learn the forbidden knowledge of the future known only to Norns, and it is she who told him of the prophecy of Ragnarök, where he will be eaten by the wolf Fenrir. This is why Odin chained Fenrir up in unbreakable bonds and jammed a sword between his jaws, despite the wolf committing no crime to be punished for. Still, it is prophesied that Fenrir will eventually escape at the end of time and seek revenge on the gods who betrayed him. Odin, in all his paranoia, has set in motion the very prophecy he sought to side step, and he has little friends that will justify taking his side after all he's done at everyone's expense. To a modern Heathen, Odin is a very powerful god who is to be either revered or avoided at all costs. He may take you as his einherjar, but he will not let you go.

Design notes, I actually mostly made this one up whole cloth based more on literary descriptions of his get up than anything else. I did, however, base his cape on an 1830 statue by Swedish sculptor Bengt Erland Fogelberg. That is one hell of a name, my dude. I also threw in a few bits and bobs from various renditions of 19th century costumes designed for Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner is responsible for a lot of modern misconceptions about Viking culture and mythology… and inspired even less savory characters who a few decades later would look at Wagner's weird Norse mythology fanfiction and go "hey, misinformation about German heritage is pretty cool!" So typically, I avoid any material that can be traced to Wagner specifically. His costume designer did a bang up job with their illustrations however, so I'm at least willing to take inspiration from those reference sheets in that regard. His helmet meanwhile is a sort of mixture between the Sutton Hoo helmet and various icons of Odin found in archaeological contexts in and around Sweden. They have him in this weird circular headdress thing which I'm pretty sure is meant to be symbolic of his ravens. Not entirely sure, but I think it looks cool. I have a separate reference sheet for Odin in disguise, so this one is definitely more Odin as the king of Asgard who charges into battle at Ragnarök. I may try to avoid practice with Odin myself, but I still think he'd be pleased with this regal figure I cut for him.

Description
Odin (or "Oðinn" as Old Norse has it) is perhaps the only Norse god who can match the popularity of his son Thor in today's media. He is the chief god of the Æsir, lord of the dead and arbiter of battles, whom every Viking worth their salt would look to for exaltation. He is clearly a very ancient god, being attested as far back as Tacitus's 1st century work Germania, though his exact origins are a bit obscure. The etymology of his name is pretty straight forward, at least. The oldest occurrence of his name is found on a 5th century pendant from Vindelev in Denmark, on which the words "iz wōðnas weraz" ("he is Wōðnaz's man") are inscribed. This matches pretty well to what we'd anticipate the Proto-Germanic form of this god's name would've been: Wōdanaz or Wōðunaz. In Old English, this name mutates into "Wēden", hence why our modern word "Wednesday" is named after this variant. All of these ultimately translate to something along the lines of "the Mad One", which in Old Norse can mean either crazy or angry as it does in English. Either way, though, it is an apt descriptor of Odin's character in our surviving myths. As we'll see, Odin is a powerful god, and he is one who will break all the rules to hold onto that power.

Both the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda have it that Odin was the son of obscure figures named Borr and Bestla. Together with his brothers, Vili and Vé, Odin slew the primordial giant Ymir and dismantled his body to create the universe. The first humans, Ask and Embla, were given vitality by Odin and his brothers, whom Snorri cites as also being Vili and Vé, but the Völuspá says instead Odin teamed up with Lóðurr and Hœnir to accomplish this. The exact identities of Odin's brothers are the kind of thing you can spend hours arguing over and still not get a clear answer on, but there is one relationship that is more clear: Odin is blood brother with the trickster Loki. This means that at some point in their past they mixed their blood and swore fraternity to each other. In Lokasenna Loki specifically claims that he and Odin swore to be drinking buddies, that one could not drink without the other. As Odin is explicitly stated to survive on mead and mead alone, that sure is a tall order, but hey we all say crazy things when we're plastered. I'm sure it won't come back to bite either of them on the ass. I mean come on, Loki's antics aren't that bad. It even resulted in Odin getting his magic spear Gungnir, which never misses and flies back to his hand, crafted by the dwarves that Loki pissed off. Win win.

As chief of the Æsir, Odin presides over all of Asgard, literally. Situated at the pinnacle of Odin's hall Valaskjálf is the lofty throne called Hlidskjalf, from which Odin can survey everything in creation. From here, he sends out his two ravens, Huginn ("thought") and Muninn ("memory") to collect information, though Grímnismál tells us he dreads the possibility that one or the other may not return to him. Sometimes he will travel to Midgard himself, disguised as an old man in a distinctive blue cloak and wide-brimmed hat. He scouts the battlefields of men, looking for the fiercest warriors to claim as his own. Indeed, Lokasenna echoes a sentiment among men that Odin often judges battles unfairly, giving victory to the weaker side just so he can harvest the stronger fighters. Still, it is a great honor to be selected by Odin's valkyries, who escort the souls of fallen warriors to his grand hall, Valhǫll (often rendered as "Valhalla" in modern English). Here, Odin's wife Freyja gets a selection of half the dead, while the other half become Odin's einherjar, elite soldiers who spend every hour drinking and fighting, having their wounds reset at the start of every day. Their express purpose is to train for the final battle at the end of time, Ragnarök, as Odin still clings to the idea that he can avert his fate.

You see, Odin is obsessed with the future, enthralled with the possibility of cheating death at any cost. He stole the Mead of Poetry from the jötunn Suttungr to become the master skald, and sacrificed himself to himself by hanging on the World Tree for nine days to gain knowledge. This is why the Tree is called "Yggdrasil" afterall: the name translates to "Odin's Horse", referring to how he "rode" the tree on the noose. It's quite literally gallows humor. Most famously, Odin also sacrificed his eye into the Well of Mímir to gain secret wisdom, ironically rendering him half-blind in the process. Odin is also a practitioner of seiðr, a word which probably best matches the English word "witchcraft" but the more nuanced conception is that it was a form of sorcery which Viking society expected only women should perform. Of course, Odin is hardly one to be held down by societal taboos if it means securing power and information. He even resurrected a dead völva (priestess) to learn the forbidden knowledge of the future known only to Norns, and it is she who told him of the prophecy of Ragnarök, where he will be eaten by the wolf Fenrir. This is why Odin chained Fenrir up in unbreakable bonds and jammed a sword between his jaws, despite the wolf committing no crime to be punished for. Still, it is prophesied that Fenrir will eventually escape at the end of time and seek revenge on the gods who betrayed him. Odin, in all his paranoia, has set in motion the very prophecy he sought to side step, and he has little friends that will justify taking his side after all he's done at everyone's expense. To a modern Heathen, Odin is a very powerful god who is to be either revered or avoided at all costs. He may take you as his einherjar, but he will not let you go.

Design notes, I actually mostly made this one up whole cloth based more on literary descriptions of his get up than anything else. I did, however, base his cape on an 1830 statue by Swedish sculptor Bengt Erland Fogelberg. That is one hell of a name, my dude. I also threw in a few bits and bobs from various renditions of 19th century costumes designed for Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner is responsible for a lot of modern misconceptions about Viking culture and mythology… and inspired even less savory characters who a few decades later would look at Wagner's weird Norse mythology fanfiction and go "hey, misinformation about German heritage is pretty cool!" So typically, I avoid any material that can be traced to Wagner specifically. His costume designer did a bang up job with their illustrations however, so I'm at least willing to take inspiration from those reference sheets in that regard. His helmet meanwhile is a sort of mixture between the Sutton Hoo helmet and various icons of Odin found in archaeological contexts in and around Sweden. They have him in this weird circular headdress thing which I'm pretty sure is meant to be symbolic of his ravens. Not entirely sure, but I think it looks cool. I have a separate reference sheet for Odin in disguise, so this one is definitely more Odin as the king of Asgard who charges into battle at Ragnarök. I may try to avoid practice with Odin myself, but I still think he'd be pleased with this regal figure I cut for him.