Njord
God of the Vanir, "Njorth", sent to the Aesir as a hostage after the war of the gods and fated to return to the Vanir at the world's end; father of Freyr and Freyja, dweller in Noatun, "The sinless ruler of men"; Skadi, the giant's daughter, is the god's bride who lives in her father's Thrymheim.
Why this wins its question: Gives the hostage exchange in the two poems that state it and separates it from the Skadi marriage story that only the Prose Edda tells.
Key takeaways
- The one god the poems explicitly call a Vanir hostage, and the one they say will go home at the end (Vafthruthnismol 39).
- Father of Freyr and Freyja by his own sister (Lokasenna 36) — a detail the poems state and the Prose Edda softens.
- His marriage to Skadi is not in the stanzas; Grimnismol 11 says only "the god's fair bride".
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Njord is a Vanir hostage among the gods: Odin asks whence Njord came "to the kin of the gods ... Though of gods he was never begot", and Vafthruthnir answers that "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" (Vafthruthnismol 38–39).
Njord's own account agrees: "thou wast eastward sent, / To the gods as a hostage given" says Loki, and Njord answers "Great was my gain, though long was I gone, / To the gods as a hostage given" (Lokasenna 34–35).
His hall is Noatun: "The eleventh is Noatun; there has Njorth / For himself a dwelling set; / The sinless ruler of men there sits / In his temple timbered high" (Grimnismol 16); Odin calls him "Rich in temples and shrines" (Vafthruthnismol 38).
His children are Freyr and Freyja: Freyr is "The noble son of Njorth" (Grimnismol 43) and Freyja "The daughter of Njorth out of Noatun" (Thrymskvitha 22); Loki says the son was got "With thy sister" (Lokasenna 36), and Njord does not deny it.
Skadi is linked to Njord only obliquely in the poems: Grimnismol says "Now Skathi abides, the god's fair bride, / In the home that her father had", Thrymheim (Grimnismol 11), without naming the god. The marriage to Njord is the Prose Edda's story.
Questions answered
- Why was Njord a hostage?
- Njord is a Vanir hostage among the gods: Odin asks whence Njord came "to the kin of the gods ... Though of gods he was never begot", and Vafthruthnir answers that "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" (Vafthruthnismol 38–39). source
- Where does Njord live?
- His hall is Noatun: "The eleventh is Noatun; there has Njorth / For himself a dwelling set; / The sinless ruler of men there sits / In his temple timbered high" (Grimnismol 16); Odin calls him "Rich in temples and shrines" (Vafthruthnismol 38). source
- Who are Njord's children?
- His children are Freyr and Freyja: Freyr is "The noble son of Njorth" (Grimnismol 43) and Freyja "The daughter of Njorth out of Noatun" (Thrymskvitha 22); Loki says the son was got "With thy sister" (Lokasenna 36), and Njord does not deny it. source
- Who is Njord's wife?
- Skadi is linked to Njord only obliquely in the poems: Grimnismol says "Now Skathi abides, the god's fair bride, / In the home that her father had", Thrymheim (Grimnismol 11), without naming the god. The marriage to Njord is the Prose Edda's story. source