Vidar (Víðarr)

Vidar, the son of Odin and the jotun-woman Grid, is called “the silent god”; his name may mean “the wide-ruling one”. Snorri tells us that he is almost as strong as Thor and that the gods rely on his help in all difficult situations (Gylfaginning 29). Yet in the surviving myths, he never helps the gods, except once: he is fated to slay Fenrir after Fenrir has devoured Odin. According to Grímnismál 17, “Brush grows, and high grass, in Vidar’s land, Viði (“Wide”); yet there the kinsman shall leap from horseback, bold, to avenge his father.” Vǫluspá 53 states that Vidar will kill Fenrir by stabbing him in the heart with a sword, but Snorri tells a different story in Gylfaginning 51:

Vidar wears a strong shoe made of discarded scraps of leather. After Fenrir has swallowed Odin, Vidar will step with his shoe on the Wolf ’s lower jaw, grip its upper jaw, and rip the Wolf asunder.

This scene may be depicted on the 10th century Gosforth Cross in northern England, which shows a man holding open a monster’s mouth while stepping on its lower jaw (Berg, “The Gosforth Cross,” pp. 38-39).

It’s not clear whether Vidar had his own cult. If he did, it was restricted to southern Norway near present-day Oslo, where a few place-names may refer to him: Vidarshov and Virso or Virsu (possibly from Víðarshaugr, “Vidar’s Mound”) and Viskjøl (possibly from Víðarsskjálf, “Víðarr’s Crag”). Other interpretations of these names are possible, however (Brink, “How Uniform was the Old Norse Religion?,” p. 122; Simek, Dictionary, p. 359).

Yet although Vidar plays a minor role in the myths, he may have roots traceable to Proto-Indo-European religion. Georges Dumézil (“Le Dieu Scandinave Víðarr”) has compared Vidar with the Indian god Vishnu as described in the Vedic era (who is somewhat different from the great god of later Hinduism). Vishnu’s name may also mean “wide,” and in the Rig-Veda (1.154.1-2; transl. Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, vol. 1, p. 207), he takes great steps in order to define and preserve the universe:

I will declare the mighty deeds of Vishṇu, of him who measured out the earthly regions, Who propped the highest place of congregation, thrice setting down his footstep, widely striding.

For this his mighty deed is Vishṇu lauded, like some wild beast, dread, prowling, mountain-roaming; He within whose three wide-extended paces all living creatures have their habitation.

In another Rig-Veda hymn (8.89.12-13; transl. Griffith, vol. 2, p. 252), Vishnu takes a wide stride in order to help kill the cosmic demon Vrtra:

Step forth with wider stride, my comrade Visṇu; make room, Dyaus, for the leaping of the lightning.  Let us slay Vṛitra, let us free the rivers, let them flow loosed at the command of Indra.

This seems similar to Vidar’s role in the Prose Edda. Dumézil sees Vidar as a cosmic figure who defines the boundaries of space, both horizontally (by his step to kill Fenrir) and vertically (by stretching the Wolf ’s jaws). If this is accurate, it would imply that Vidar goes back to a Proto- Indo-European concept, and perhaps he once played a larger role than we can see in the available lore.

In Vidar’s home, hrísi vex ok háu grasi, “bushes grow, and high grass” (Grimnismál 17); Hávamál 119 uses the same phrase to describe an abandoned path that no one walks, like a path between the homes of friends who no longer visit each other. This might suggest that Vidar stands alone, mapart from the other gods and goddesses, waiting to do the deed that he was born to do. Yet Snorri mentions one way to offer to him (Gylfaginning 51):

Vidar’s great shoe, which will allow him to step on Fenrir’s lower jaw, is said to be made from the scraps of leather that people trim from their own shoes.

Anyone who wants to help the Æsir at Ragnarok, Snorri says, should throw those scraps of leather away, giving the god what he will need most. There is no reason not to do this today. Scrap leather, or even intact leather goods that are no longer useful and need to be disposed of, might be burned, cast into bogs, or left in holy places outdoors, as an offering to Vidar.

Vali (Váli)

Vali is the son of Odin and the jotun-maid Rind. (One of Loki’s sons is named Vali, but is not the same as Odin’s son Vali.) “Vali” was also a human name; two people with that name appear in Landnámabók (S72/ H50, S334/H293). The name may come from Proto-Germanic *Waihala, “Little Warrior” (Nordenstreng, “Guden Váli,” p. 393).

In the surviving myths, Vali’s only role is Balder’s avenger. Odin fathers him on Rind, and he grows so fast that he slays Hodr when he is only one day old (Vǫluspá 32-33).

Vali and Oaths

According to Vǫluspá 33, Vali did not wash his hands or comb his hair until he had killed Hodr and seen him brought to his pyre.

The custom of not grooming hair until some great deed is accomplished is well documented in both Scandinavia and continental Germanic sources:

• Harald Halfdanarson supposedly took an oath not to cut nor comb his hair until he had brought all Norway under his rule; since this took him ten years, he became known as Haraldr lúfa (“Matted Hair”) until he finally fulfilled his oath and became known as Haraldr hárfagri (“Beautiful Hair”; see Haralds saga ins hárfagra 4).
• Tacitus told how young Chatti warriors would not cut their hair until they had killed an enemy (Germania 31), and how the Batavian rebel leader Julius Civilis swore an oath to dye his hair red and not cut it until he had defeated the Roman legions, which he did in the year 69 (Histories IV.61, transl. Moore, pp. 116-117).
• In 574 CE, six thousand Saxons vowed not to cut their hair or beards until they had taken vengeance on the Suebi (Paul the Deacon, History of the Lombards III.7, transl. Foulke, p. 100; Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks V.15, transl. Thorpe, p. 273).

Although this is never openly stated in the old lore, some modern Heathens feel that Vidar’s silence is the result of a similar oath.

In Saxo Grammaticus’s history, a slightly different version of Váli’s origin is told. Odin begets a son by trickery and rape on Rinda, a “Ruthenian” (Ukrainian) princess. The son is named Bo (Latin Bous); he slays Hother, the human hero who has killed Balder, but is himself mortally wounded and dies the next day (History of the Danes III.82; transl. Fisher, p. 79).

The name Bous is thought to be a Latinized version of the Old Norse name Búi, itself meaning something like “dweller; settler”; it is not related to the name “Váli”. Saxo may well have mixed up who was who: Bo kills someone and dies the next day, which is more like Hodr’s fate than Vali’s actions in the Eddic version of the story (Lindow, Norse Mythology, p. 84).

Nonetheless, for our purposes, it’s probably simplest to regard these as two names for the same deity. Vafþrúðnismál 51 tells us that “Vidar and Vali shall dwell in the gods’ wih-stead when Surtr’s fire is slaked.” There is not much evidence that Vali was worshiped, but the place-name Valaskioll in Norway may be derived from Válaskjálf, “Vali’s Crag” (de Vries, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte §515, p. 278).

In the early days of American Ásatrú, February 14th was sometimes observed as the Feast of Vali, on the assumption that “St. Valentine” was a Christianization of Váli, “the god of vengeance, and thus of rebirth” (Edred Thorsson, A Book of Troth, p. 179).

This is almost certainly not historically accurate. Still, there’s nothing really wrong with honoring Vali on that day, if you feel the need to.