Njord and Skadi

The marriage made in Asgard






Idun

“Gerhard Munthe, Kringla Heimsins, illustration for Ynglinga Saga"

Njord and Skadi

Timeline

This tale begins where The Kidnapping of Idun ends after Skirnir securees the fair Giantess Gerda as Frey's bride she comes along for teh wedding in Asgard

While the gods were celebrating their slaying of the giant Thjazi and the return of the youth-giving goddess Idun to their halls, an unannounced visitor stormed into their merrymaking.

This was the giantess Skadi, who had arrived with armor and weapons to avenge the death of Thjazi, her father. The gods were patient with her, and convinced her to accept reparations instead of seeking vengeance.

The Demands

These reparations came in three parts. First, Odin took Thjazi’s eyes and ceremoniously cast them into the night sky, where they became two stars.

Second, the gods were to make Skadi laugh. After many feats were tried, none succeeded in bringing a smile to the grim face of the giantess. At last, Loki tied one end of a rope to a goat and the other end around his testicles and began a game of tug of war with the goat. Each screeched and howled in turn, until at last Loki fell over into Skadi’s lap. The giantess couldn’t help but chuckle.

The Choosing

Third, Skadi was to be given a god of her choosing in marriage, but she was to select him by the sight of his legs and feet alone. She picked the fairest pair of legs she could see, thinking them to be those of Baldur. However, as it turned out, they were those of the sea-god Njord.

About Wolves and Seacreatures

After Skadi and Njord’s magnificent wedding, it came time for the couple to decide where to live. Njord’s home was Noatun (“The Place of Ships”), a bright, warm place on the beach. Skadi’s home couldn’t have been more different: it was Thrymheim (“Thunder-Home”), a dark, foreboding place in the highest mountain peaks where the snow never melts.(cfr. Iduna's apples)

The pair first spent nine nights in Thrymheim. When this time had passed and they made their way down from the mountains, Njord declared that, although brief, his time in Thrymheim had been loathsome. He had been particularly dismayed by the sounds of the wolves, to which he overwhelmingly preferred the songs of the swans to which he was accustomed.

After the two had slept for nine nights in Noatun, Skadi had similar opinions to express regarding the sunny home of Njord. The cries of the seabirds had been unbearably abrasive to her ears, and she had found it impossible to sleep. So she departed for the mountains, and the two parted ways.



Loath were the hills to me, | I was not long in them, Nights only nine; To me the wailing of | wolves seemed ill, After the song of swans.

Then Skadi sang this:

Sleep could I never | on the sea-beds, For the wailing of waterfowl; He wakens me, | who comes from the deep-- The sea-mew every morn.

Then Skadi went up onto the mountain, and dwelt in Thrymheimr. And she goes for the more part on snowshoes and with a bow and arrow, and shoots beasts; she is called Snowshoe-Goddess or Lady of the Snowshoes. So it is said:

Thrymheimr 't is called, | where Thjazi dwelt, He the hideous giant; But now Skadi abides, | pure bride of the gods, In her father's ancient freehold.

—GYLFAGINNING ch. XXII
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Sources

Gylfaginning:

has parts of the Skadi myth scattered around it. In the chapter on the god Njord, it tells what happened after the two married. They took turns living in each other other’s homes, but Skadi hated life by the sea, and Njord couldn’t stand the mountains, so they split up. (In fact, it seems that Skadi took the initiative, since it says she left him and went up to the mountains.) It goes on to tell us she was the “snow-shoe goddess” and she hunts game with a bow and arrows.

Ynglinga saga:

this saga repeats the story of Njord and Skadi’s marriage, and goes on to say that after she left Njord, she and Odin had many sons, including Saeming, the ancestor of the jarls of Hladir. (It quotes the poem Haleygjatal as its evidence for this. Like Haustlong, it only survives as quotes. However, the poem only mentions Saeming as a child of theirs, although Snorri gives them many sons. There may have been other traditions about Odin and Skadi, now lost to us.)