gpderek09

I'm naming my child Odin, if it's a boy.

"Odin (Old Norse ??inn) is considered the chief god in Norse mythology and Norse paganism, like the Anglo-Saxon Woden it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodinaz or *Wodanaz.

His name is related to ??r, meaning "mind", "excitation," "fury" or "poetry," and his role, like many of the Norse pantheon, is complex: he is god of wisdom, war, battle, and death. He is also attested as being a god of magic, poetry, prophecy, victory, and the hunt.

Odin is an ambivalent deity. Old Norse (Viking Age) connotations of Odin lie with "poetry, inspiration" as well as with "fury, madness." Odin sacrificed one of his eyes at M?mir's spring in order to gain the wisdom of the ages. Odin gives to worthy poets the mead of inspiration, made by the dwarves, from the vessel ??-r?rir.

Odin is associated with the concept of the Wild Hunt, a noisy, bellowing movement across the sky, leading a host of slain warriors.

Consistent with this, Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda depicts Odin as welcoming the great dead warriors who have died in battle into his hall, Valhalla, which when literally interpreted, signifies the hall of the slain. These fallen, the einherjar, are assembled and entertained by Odin in order that they in return might fight for and support the gods in the final battle of the end of Earth, Ragnar?k.

He is also a god of war, appearing throughout Norse myth as the bringer of victory. In the Norse sagas, Odin sometimes acts as the instigator of wars, and is said to have been able to start wars by simply throwing down his javelin Gungnir, and/or sending his valkyries, to influence the battle toward the end that he desires. Valkyries are Odin's beautiful battle maidens that went out to the fields of war to select and collect the worthy men who died in battle to come and sit at Odin's table in Valhalla, feasting and battling until they had to fight in the final battle, Ragnar?k. Odin would also appear on the battle-field, sitting upon the leader of the Norse as two ravens on each shoulder and two wolves on each side.

Odin is also a shape-changer, able to alter his skin and form in any way he liked. He is said to travel Earth as an old man with a staff, one-eyed, grey-bearded, and wearing a wide-brimmed hat, with a blue traveling coat. Odin is said to be a healer, hinting at shamanistic origins, as he is god of magic and prophecy, common practices in cultures in which shamans are prominent."