Titled the Allfather, Odin’s reputation supported this designation. Often pictured with his wife Frigga, the seer who knew the fates of men, when investigating all the myths, it is clear that Odin the god of all creation and time, had several wives who lived with him at different times or all together. In fact, there was some mention of goddesses that were both his daughter and his wife at the same time. Officially Odin was married to Frigga the goddess of the sky, fertility, motherhood, love, and the arts. Of Odin’s offspring, his children with Frigga were Baldur, the god of peace and love, Hodr the blind archer, and Hermod the brave. Odin and Frigga’s offspring were the most tragic, as only one of their three children lived. Tricked by Loki, their blind elder son Hodr accidentally killed their beloved Baldur, and their youngest and bravest Hermod was sent to retrieve Baldur’s body from the underworld, a mission that failed as Frigga could not get the world to weep together to bring him back.
Odin’s most famous concubine was the Venir Freyja, the goddess of lust, music, spring, and flowers. A long-distance relationship, the Allfather rarely saw her. Because of this unrequited love, Freyja cried tears of amber and gold and she was known to seduce dwarfs and night elves to hold loneliness at bay. Odin and Freyja begat the twin girls Hnoss and Gersemi. Desired by all, these two deities became the goddesses of desire and riches. The legends tell that Odin married Jord the earth goddess who happened to be his daughter and his wife. With Jord, he begat Thor and the giantess Grid who became the mother of Vidar. Odin also wed the sorceress Gulveig as a concubine, a Siedr witch who’s love for gold condemned her to be thrown into a fire only to be reborn three times. Odin was famous for getting all he desired, even resorting to force–the deity whom Odin did not marry but raped, was the frost giantess Rindr, the goddess of women’s protections. They had an illegitimate child and inevitably his son by Frigg Hodr is killed by Vali, the child of Rindr. Of course, like any great god of myth and legend, out of wedlock he lay with many human women and begat heroes.
In the sagas Valkyries sometimes appear as the daughters of Odin or the daughters of royalty, but often they are merely servants. Virgin warrior women, the Valkyries were immortal messengers for Odin. These messengers carried the celestial responsibility for choosing who lived and died in battle. Their shining armor could be seen in the night sky, for the vivid streaks of the northern ‘aurora borealis’ were harbingers of their travels. Mounted on horseback, wearing helmets of gold, and carrying long spears, they collected the bravest of the slain from the battlefield and escorted their souls to Valhalla.