ODIN

BIOGRAPHY

PERSONAL DATA

Aliases: Othin, Wotan, Woden, Wodinaz, Allfather, Grim, The Death-Blinder, The High One, The Gallows-God, Gondlir the Wand-Bearer, Grimnir the Hooded One, The Terrible, The Wakeful, One-Eye, Battle-King, Glad-of-War, Veratyr, and many more aliases
Occupation: King of the Aesir, Norse god of battle, death, magic, wisdom and poetry
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Bor (father); Frigga (wife); Thor (son); Baldur (son, deceased); Loki (blood-brother);
Base of Operation: Gladsheim (his hall in Asgard)
Group Affiliation(s): Aesir (benevolent Norse Gods)
Gender: Male
Height: Variable
Weight: Variable
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Greyish white (in wanderer form), white or red (in warrior form)
Distinguishing Features: Odin is one-eyed
First Appearance: Comic Cavalcade #17 (October-November 1946)

"I am called Grim, the Death-Blinder, the High One, the Gallows-god. I am called Gondlir the Wand-Bearer, and I am Grimnir the Hooded One, the Terrible, the Wakeful. You know me; I am Odin, Bor's son" - Odin Quote taken from Sandman Vol. 2 #63 (September 1994)

OVERVIEW

Odin is the king of the Norse Gods and the god of battle, magic and death.

HISTORY

Odin is the one-eyed ruler of the Norse Gods – the Aesir – and the god of battle, death, magic, wisdom and poetry. The worship of Odin was widespread in northern Europe until Christianity replaced of the old gods and changed Scandinavia forever around 1,000 A.D. Odin is a very complex character, and it is easy to understand why he was just as feared as he was revered among the worshippers of the Aesir. On one hand, there is the noble allfather whose very words are poetry, but on the other hand, there is the wild, raging shaman, the master of black arts who talks to the dead.

There are many names describing Odin's powers and his character(s). As the "Allfather", Odin is the father of all the gods and of creation. As "Glad-of-War" and "Battle-King", Odin is the lord of battle who sends his shield maidens, the Valkyries, to the battlefield in order to bring the brave to their just reward in Valhalla. His physical form is then that of a bulky warrior in full armor.

But Odin is not always so easy to spot; he is also a shapeshifter who takes on many names and many forms. As "Grim" or "Grimnir", he disguises himself as a simple wanderer and travels the worlds incognito. This is one of his most frequent physical forms, and his appearance is that of a very thin man wearing a brimmed hat, a cape and carrying a walking stick.

When he does not travel the worlds himself, he resides in the murky hall of Gladsheim in the realm of Asgard and uses his ravens Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) to gather intelligence, although these ghostly ravens may not be separate entities but rather extensions or astral projections of Odin himself.

His wisdom is as great as his knowledge of the arcane arts. Odin is the shaman god who never sleeps ("The Wakeful") or eats (Odin is said to only drink mead and wine) and who inflicts great pain upon himself in order to achieve his goals. Odin is known as the "Gallows-God", because he can talk to the dead and once impaled himself with a spear on the world ash for nine days and nine nights – a sacrifice to himself in order to learn the secret of runic inscriptions. His most well-known sacrifice was his right eye ("One-Eye", "Death-Blinder"), which he gave to the giant Mimir as payment for drinking from Mimir's well of wisdom. As a problem-solver, he is known as "Gondlir". Like many shamen, Odin also has familiars; he is attended by the wolves Geri and Freki, the ravens Huginn and Muninn and the eight-legged horse Sleipnir.

In the days of his prime, Odin took an active part in human affairs and involved himself in the fates of Valoric the Viking Commando, Jon the Viking Prince and Arak Red-Hand.

Odin's greatest concern has always been to escape his foretold fate and Ragnarök, the twilight of the gods. This is why he has immersed himself in the quest for knowledge, why he created a simulation of Ragnarök (where the exiled Justice Society of America fought gods and monsters) and why he attempted to obtain they keys to Hell from Morpheus following Lucifer's abdication. It has also been hinted that Odin somehow tried to use Adolf Hitler as a pawn in order to alter the course of Ragnarök and to escape his foretold death. During Word War II, Norse deities were spotted fighting alongside the Nazis, and it would appear that not all of them were not under the thrall of Hitler's mystic weapon, the Spear of Destiny, but rather goaded on by the war god Odin. Ultimately, Hitler failed and the Nazis were defeated.

In modern times, Odin came to regard Hell as a possible new home and an escape from Ragnarök after Lucifer abandonned his infernal realm. Odin travelled to the Dreaming along with Loki and Thor, offering Morhpeus the trapped soul of the superhero Sandman (with whom Morhpeus shared a certain bond) in exchange for the keys to Hell. Ultimately, Morpheus declined this offer and surrendered the control of Hell to the angels of Heaven. [Sandman Vol. 2 #24-28, "Season of Mists"]

While in the Dreaming, Loki managed to escape and started plotting Morpheus' fall with Robin Godfellow, the Puck of the Faeries. Some suggest that this was also the intent of the weary Lord of Dreams. Odin and Thor eventually retrieved the badly wounded Loki from a castle in the realm of Svartalfheim and took him back to the underground cavern of suffering where Loki now awaits the day of Ragnarök, when he will break free of his bonds and his son Fenris the wolf will devour Odin. [Sandman Vol. 2 #57-69, "The Kindly Ones"]

Realizing that while he might not be able to stop Ragnarök, Odin might be able to alter its course so that he himself might survive and restore Asgard to its former glory. This move involved conditioning rockstar Adam Case since childhood, and contradicted Odin's later schemes to stop Ragnarök. Some 30 years ago, Odin took on the form of Case's dead grandfather, a German pagan and Nazi, so that Case would end the world and become the father of a new race in the future. Odin’s plot failed, however. [Mythos: The Final Tour #1-3]

Ever thirsty for knowledge and power, Odin recently turned his attentions towards the Source, and like so many before him, his attempt to penetrate the Source left him a powerless statue on the Source Wall. With the help of the New Gods of New Genesis, his son Thor was eventually able to free Odin from this predicament. At this point, it was also revealed to Odin that Darkseid, the dark new god who had usurped the powers of so many pantheons, had deliberately avoided the gods of Asgard because the Aesir shared some secret kinship with the Old Gods of the GodWorld. During the event known as "Genesis", Odin joined Highfather, Ares, Zeus and Jove in another attempt to penetrate the Source. Together, they formed a combined being known as Uni but were all betrayed by Ares, who temporarily managed to take control of the Source for his own purposes before being imprisoned on the Source Wall.

Even more recently, Odin was shown as a member of the new Interfaith Deity Council of Active Polytheistics, an organization devoted to finding better ways to promote the old pantheons in the modern world.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Odin is a shapeshifter and has taken on many forms and identities, but his two main forms are those of the thin wanderer and of the massive warrior king.

Odin is highly charismatic, a great leader, a skilled magician, and possesses great wisdom. Like many shamen, Odin also has familiars; he is attended by the wolves Geri and Freki, the ravens Huginn and Muninn and the eight-legged horse Sleipnir.

His weapon is the spear Gungnir.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Odin in chronological order click here