Freyja
Goddess of the Vanir, daughter of Njord and sister of Freyr, owner of the feather-dress and the Brisings' necklace; she rules Folkvang and takes half of the battle-dead, the other half going to Odin; the giant Thrym demands her as the price of Thor's hammer, and in Hyndluljoth she rides a golden boar to question a giantess.
Why this wins its question: Binds each attribute of Freyja to its stanza and shows that the well-known cats and tears of gold are absent from the Poetic Edda — what the poems give is Folkvang, the necklace, the feather-dress and the boar.
Key takeaways
- Half of the battle-dead are Freyja's, by Grimnismol 14 — she is a goddess of the slain before she is a goddess of love.
- Her two attributes in the poems are the feather-dress and the Brisings' necklace, both in Thrymskvitha.
- Daughter of Njord, sister of Freyr, lover of Oth — the family is stated in Thrymskvitha, Lokasenna and Hyndluljoth, not narrated.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Freyja is "The daughter of Njorth out of Noatun" (Thrymskvitha 22), and Loki's taunt that the gods caught her "In the arms of thy brother" (Lokasenna 32) follows his taunt to Njord about "so fair a son" (Lokasenna 36), so Freyr is her brother.
Freyja shares the slain with Odin: "The ninth is Folkvang, where Freyja decrees / Who shall have seats in the hall; / The half of the dead each day does she choose, / And half does Othin have" (Grimnismol 14).
Freyja owns a feather-dress, which Loki borrows to fly to Jotunheim (Thrymskvitha 3–4), and "the mighty Brisings' necklace", which bursts when she snorts in anger at being told to marry a giant (Thrymskvitha 12) and which Thor then wears in his bridal disguise (Thrymskvitha 14, 18).
Thrym hides Thor's hammer and will return it only "If Freyja I win not to be my wife" (Thrymskvitha 7, 10); Freyja refuses outright, "Most lustful indeed should I look to all / If I journeyed with thee to the giants' home" (Thrymskvitha 12).
In Hyndluljoth Freyja wakes the giantess Hyndla and rides with her to Valhall; her mount is a boar "with bristles of gold, / Hildisvini", made by the dwarfs Dain and Nabbi, and is in truth her protégé Ottar (Hyndluljoth 1–7). Hyndla names her lover Oth, "who loved thee ever" (Hyndluljoth 48).
Loki's charges against Freyja are that every god and elf present "as thy lover has lain" (Lokasenna 30) and that she is a "foulest witch" (Lokasenna 32); Njord's reply is that a woman's lovers do small harm (Lokasenna 33).
Questions answered
- Who are Freyja's parents?
- Freyja is "The daughter of Njorth out of Noatun" (Thrymskvitha 22), and Loki's taunt that the gods caught her "In the arms of thy brother" (Lokasenna 32) follows his taunt to Njord about "so fair a son" (Lokasenna 36), so Freyr is her brother. source
- Does Freyja receive the dead?
- Freyja shares the slain with Odin: "The ninth is Folkvang, where Freyja decrees / Who shall have seats in the hall; / The half of the dead each day does she choose, / And half does Othin have" (Grimnismol 14). source
- What is the Brisings' necklace?
- Freyja owns a feather-dress, which Loki borrows to fly to Jotunheim (Thrymskvitha 3–4), and "the mighty Brisings' necklace", which bursts when she snorts in anger at being told to marry a giant (Thrymskvitha 12) and which Thor then wears in his bridal disguise (Thrymskvitha 14, 18). source
- Why did Thrym want Freyja?
- Thrym hides Thor's hammer and will return it only "If Freyja I win not to be my wife" (Thrymskvitha 7, 10); Freyja refuses outright, "Most lustful indeed should I look to all / If I journeyed with thee to the giants' home" (Thrymskvitha 12). source
- Who is Freyja's husband?
- In Hyndluljoth Freyja wakes the giantess Hyndla and rides with her to Valhall; her mount is a boar "with bristles of gold, / Hildisvini", made by the dwarfs Dain and Nabbi, and is in truth her protégé Ottar (Hyndluljoth 1–7). Hyndla names her lover Oth, "who loved thee ever" (Hyndluljoth 48). source