{
  "id": "vanir",
  "type": "glossary",
  "name": "Vanir",
  "summary": "The second family of Norse gods — Njord, Freyr and Freyja — who fought the first war against the Aesir and were joined to them by hostages. Bellows translates the word as \"the Wanes\"; they are \"wise\", know the future, have their own names for things, and Njord \"at the fall of the world shall fare once more home to the Wanes\".",
  "locale": "en",
  "tags": [
    "norse",
    "glossary",
    "concepts",
    "vanir",
    "deities"
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "rel": "applies_to",
      "target": "njord"
    },
    {
      "rel": "applies_to",
      "target": "freyr"
    },
    {
      "rel": "applies_to",
      "target": "freyja"
    },
    {
      "rel": "contrasted_with",
      "target": "aesir"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "norse-gods-family-tree"
    }
  ],
  "questions": [
    "Who are the Vanir?",
    "What was the war between the Aesir and the Vanir?",
    "Why is Njord a hostage?",
    "Which gods are Vanir?"
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "c1",
      "text": "The Voluspo remembers \"the war … the first in the world\", begun when the gods \"with spears had smitten Gollveig\" and burned her three times (Voluspo 21); Odin hurled his spear, \"the wall that girdled the gods was broken, / And the field by the warlike Wanes was trodden\" (Voluspo 23), and the gods took council \"whether the gods should tribute give, / Or to all alike should worship belong\" (Voluspo 24).",
      "sources": [
        "poetic-edda-bellows"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.92
    },
    {
      "id": "c2",
      "text": "Njord is the Vanir hostage: asked \"whence came up Njorth to the kin of the gods … though of gods he was never begot\", Vafthruthnir answers \"In the home of the Wanes did the wise ones create him, / And gave him as pledge to the gods; / At the fall of the world shall he fare once more / Home to the Wanes so wise\" (Vafthruthnismol 38–39); Loki taunts him with it (Lokasenna 34–35).",
      "sources": [
        "poetic-edda-bellows"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.94
    },
    {
      "id": "c3",
      "text": "Freyr and Freyja are Njord's children and so Vanir by birth: Freyr is \"the noble son of Njorth\" (Grimnismol 43) and Freyja \"the daughter of Njorth out of Noatun\" (Thrymskvitha 22); Skirnir is asked whether he is \"of the elves or the offspring of gods, / Or of the wise Wanes\" and Gerth speaks of loving \"one of the Wanes\", meaning Freyr (Skirnismol 17–18, 38).",
      "sources": [
        "poetic-edda-bellows"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.92
    },
    {
      "id": "c4",
      "text": "The Wanes are a class beside gods, giants, elves and dwarfs with a vocabulary of their own — earth is \"'The Ways' … called by the Wanes\", heaven \"'The Weaver of Winds'\" (Alvissmol 10, 12, and on through 34) — and are credited with foresight: Heimdall \"like the Wanes … knew the future well\" (Thrymskvitha 14); some runes were sent \"for the Wanes so wise\" (Sigrdrifumol 18).",
      "sources": [
        "poetic-edda-bellows"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    {
      "id": "c5",
      "text": "\"Vanir\" (singular Vanr) is the Old Norse word; \"Wanes\" is Bellows's rendering, and the modern scholarly name is Vanir. The Poetic Edda never lists their members; the three named above are the ones the poems tie to Njord's house.",
      "sources": [
        "wikipedia-vanir",
        "poetic-edda-bellows"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.85
    }
  ],
  "takeaways": [
    "The Vanir are defined by the first war (Voluspo 21–24) and the hostage Njord (Vafthruthnismol 39), not by a list.",
    "Njord, Freyr and Freyja are the Vanir the poems name; Bellows calls them \"Wanes\".",
    "They are the wise ones who know the future and have their own words for things (Alvissmol)."
  ],
  "faqs": [],
  "evidence_tier": "derived",
  "evidence": {
    "level": "theoretical",
    "source_types": [
      "paper"
    ]
  },
  "moat_flag": false,
  "winning_edge": "Shows that \"Vanir\" in the Poetic Edda is a handful of stanzas about a war, a hostage and a way of speaking — and gives each one.",
  "confidence": 0.9,
  "last_verified": "2026-09-03",
  "media": [],
  "x": {
    "myth": {
      "pantheon": "norse",
      "kind": "concept",
      "group": "vanir",
      "wikidata": "Q184826"
    }
  },
  "canonical_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/vanir",
  "api_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/api/k/vanir.json",
  "jsonld": {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "name": "Vanir",
    "description": "The second family of Norse gods — Njord, Freyr and Freyja — who fought the first war against the Aesir and were joined to them by hostages. Bellows translates the word as \"the Wanes\"; they are \"wise\", know the future, have their own names for things, and Njord \"at the fall of the world shall fare once more home to the Wanes\".",
    "url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/vanir",
    "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html",
    "dateModified": "2026-09-03",
    "citation": [
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "The Poetic Edda — tr. Henry Adams Bellows (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923), XML edition by fjarri",
        "url": "https://github.com/fjarri/poetic_edda/tree/master/chapters"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Wikipedia — Vanir",
        "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanir"
      }
    ],
    "@type": "DefinedTerm"
  }
}