Vanir
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".
Why this wins its question: 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.
Key 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).
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
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).
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).
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).
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).
"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.