Balder

God of Beauty

The son of Odin and Frigga, Balder (bald-er) was the favorite of the gods. Renowned for his beauty, Balder led an idyllic life until he became troubled by ominous dreams.

The gods so loved Balder that they sent Frigga to extract an oath from all things, animate and inanimate, that they would not harm him. She overlooked the mistletoe, thinking it too weak to harm anything. The gods delighted in Balder’s invulnerability and amused themselves by throwing things at him. Loki discovered his weakness and tricked Hod, Balder’s blind twin, into throwing a sharpened dart of mistletoe at Balder, guiding Hod’s hand so it aimed at his brother’s heart.

The dart killed the god of beauty, and Frigga suggested that someone journey to the underworld to ransom her son. Hermod, messenger of the gods, volunteered to go. Hel agreed to release Balder if all of Asgard shed a tear for him (some myths say that all creation had to cry). Loki refused to shed a tear, and Balder’s spirit remained in the underworld. When the gods placed his body on its funeral pyre, his wife Nanna joined her husband on the fire. Balder was prophesied to return after Ragnarok as one of the gods who would rule the new creation.