Who Was The Father of All?

To anyone who falls for the Vikings and the Norse mythology, the answer to the question Who Was the Father of All is instant. For sure, god Odin or the Allfather is the answer. But how much do we actually know about this big figure? 

Son of God and Giant

Long long ago, the very first god that was discovered was Buri. The son of Buri was Borr who later married a giantess known as Bestla. The couple gave birth to Odin, Ve, and Vili. Odin was the big brother, Vili was the middle, and Ve the youngest. The three brothers planned to kill the first giant Ymir and used his body to fashion the whole world. And there it was, the new world created from the body of a giant thanks to Odin's brothers. The very first humans were born at that time due to a spontaneous moment of three brothers. Maybe because of the special blood running in his veins (half god, half giant), Odin possessed an incredible power that anyone could hardly rival.  

Odin The Allfather

Aesir chief god of Asgard

Asgard was the land of the Aesir gods. This holy land was the dreamland of all creatures in the cosmos. Odin was the Asgard ruler and his most famous hall was the Valhalla which hosted the brave fallen human warriors. Odin had his Hliðskjálf the High Throne from which he sat and observed things in the cosmos.

Odin had some constant companions that always appeared alongside in nearly any depictions of him. A pair of ravens Huginn and Muninn he had. This pair of ravens helped Odin with knowledge and information. Every day they flew around the Nine World and would come back to tell Odin what they had learned in the day. Odin as the nonstop knowledge seeker would not refuse any piece of knowledge from any source. Other companions of Odin were a pair of wolves, Geki and Freki. Though the power of this pair was not mentioned in the myth, they presented the presence of Odin and his power. 

Odin used a spear in many battles. His spear was a treasure created by the dwarves. This spear also became the symbol of Odin as he used to throw his Gungnir spear toward his enemies before he started fighting. This gesture then became a Viking traditional practice. The Vikings once started their battle by hurling their spear into the enemies as a way to call for Odin and his help. 

Sleipnir was the name of Odin's horse. This steed was no an ordinary horse. Sleipnir was an eight-legged horse that no horse in the cosmos could beat it at running. He could gallop along the land, travel over the sea and through the wind. 

Never Stop Learning

Odin was not the wisest Norse character but he was one of the omniscient figures in Norse world. Indeed, he never stopped learning and bettering his knowledge. 

The most famous story about this must be How Odin Lost His Eye. He was willing to pay any price as long as he could get what he wanted. In this case, to get a drink of the holy water which would allow him to know anything in the world, he was required to take out his eye and trade it for the holy water. And he did. He traded his eye for the knowledge, trading one of his external views for the eternal internal knowledge. Moreover, he sacrificed physically to get the ability to decipher runes. He got stabbed in the chest by his Gungir spear, hanging himself on the branches of Yggdrasil, starving, and thirsting for nine days. 

Depiction about Odin never stop learning by Allinye

Multi-Power

Like Loki the Trickster, Odin could shapeshift himself into human or animal as long as he wanted. Odin could speak in poems and he got the talent of persuading other people. This all boiled down to the fact that Odin once tried the Mead of Poetry which gave him the ability to create poems and persuade people. Odin seldom joined the battles himself. But once he was in, he could make his enemies blind, deaf, or even horror-struck. As Odin learned the meanings of runes, he could see the fate of many creatures in the cosmos. He knew the past, present, and the upcoming future. He even knew Ragnarok looming large but he could do nothing to change it.