By Jackson Crawford, University of Colorado, Boulder
In Norse mythology, Odin is considered as terrifying. He is feared, a bringer of misfortune. He is the lord of war and death. And yet, there is little Odin does that is readily understandable to humankind. One such is the myth in which, for unknown reasons, Odin had to sacrifice himself to himself by being hanged and speared.
Odin: ‘The Mad One’
Odin has no known close parallels outside of the pantheons of the pre-Christian people who spoke Germanic languages. In Old Norse, he is Odin—in Old English, Woden or Weden. In Old High German, he is Wuotan or Wotan, the latter variant used as his name in the operas of Wagner.
Some have tried to explain the Odins’ meaning as connected with obscure roots for music or poetry, or with the thinking mind.
However, it is most likely that his name simply means what it seems to on the surface in Old Norse—‘the mad one’. This has the same ambiguity the word ‘mad’ has in English: potentially both crazy and angry.
The name fits him well, for, spurred on by the prophecy of his imminent death at Ragnarok, Odin seeks to build up the greatest army that he can in his hall of Valhalla to fight his enemies.
Valhalla, or in Old Norse really Valholl, means ‘hall of the men killed in battle’, and indeed the only way for a man to join Odin’s ranks is to fall, pierced by a weapon, in the world of the living.
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The Myth of Odin’s Hanging
Interestingly, Odin, harvester of the dead, has died on at least one occasion himself. In numerous poems, he is described as ‘the hanged god’, or given other titles hinting that this story was fairly widely known.
But we have nothing more than two terse and mysterious stanzas to attest to the details of the important myth of Odin’s hanging. Here are those two stanzas, narrated by Odin himself, from Hávamál of his wisdom:
I know that I hung
on a wind-battered tree
nine long nights,
pierced by a spear
and given to Odin,
myself to myself,
on that tree
whose roots grow in a place
no one has ever seen.
No one gave me food,
no one gave me drink.
At the end I peered down,
I took the runes—
screaming, I took them—
and then I fell.
Self-sacrifice
Now, why did the god hang himself? He offers a clue in the second stanza, saying “I took the runes”—so was this self-sacrifice necessary to learn those letters? Why? We never learn more.
Some have noted the resemblances between Odin’s ordeal and the ordeal of Christ. Both were pierced by a spear. Both hungered and felt thirst. Both hung from a tree or, in Christ’s case, a wooden cross resembling a tree.
Christ’s Hanging Inspired by Odin’s?
While the parallels are striking, there is no reason to suppose that either story is the source for the other. Some wilder-eyed enthusiasts have suggested that Christ’s hanging is inspired by Odin’s.
This suggestion is extremely improbable because there’s no reason to think that Germanic-speaking tribes had ever interacted with the people of ancient Judea by the first century AD.
The suggestion that Christ’s sacrifice influenced Odin’s is a little more plausible. The Norse had certainly encountered Christianity and some of its best-known lore long before any part of Hávamál was composed.
Pre-Christian Norse Beliefs
And yet Odin is so strongly associated with the hanging of men that it seems more than likely that the story of his own hanging has deep roots in pre-Christian Norse beliefs.
In a scene carved on a picture stone from Ardre on the Swedish island of Gotland, three men appear to hang from a gallows. A fourth man has already fallen to the ground with the noose around his neck. A fifth man stands to the side, apparently the hangman. To the right of the scene rides a bearded figure on an eight-legged horse.
Eight-legged Horse
No other individual in Norse lore besides Odin is associated with the eight-legged horse. So, it is hard to escape the conclusion that Odin is in some sense presiding over this hanging.
In conclusion, one can say that perhaps the sacrifice is made to him, or perhaps he is giving the orders to the hangman. Unfortunately the enigmatic picture stones of Gotland contain no text, whether in runes or otherwise.
Common Questions about Why Odin Is Called the ‘Hanged’ God in Norse Mythology
It is most likely that Odin‘s name simply means what it seems to on the surface in Old Norse—‘the mad one’. This has the same ambiguity the word ‘mad’ has in English: potentially both crazy and angry.
The suggestion that Christ’s sacrifice influenced Odin’s is a little more plausible. The Norse had certainly encountered Christianity and some of its best-known lore long before any part of Hávamál was composed.
Spurred on by the prophecy of his imminent death at Ragnarok, Odin seeks to build up the greatest army that he can in his hall of Valhalla to fight his enemies.
