Primary Sources for Odin’s Wandering Beyond Norse Mythology

du-ich-jeder-deactivated2017071 asked:

Greetings friend,it is told That odin wanders among us. Do you have some source(s) That descripes those interactions? I know all the ones from the poetic and snorri edda, yet i am not satisfied. I love your blog and respect your knowledge a lot:)

---

It has indeed been told that Óðinn wanders far in his quest for knowledge, and that he wanders to test the hospitality of us all. I understand how you would feel unsatisfied by the Eddic material, because I do not think that it has much to say about his wanderings. I do know of a few sagas, though some of these are contained (in some form, whether a summary or a poetic edition) in the Eddas, so perhaps they won’t be completely new for you, in which case I do apologize for not being able to follow up on that request.

Óðinn’s wandering stories tend to involve him interacting with heroes under a different name. After all, he wanders to test their hospitality, but also to give them advice and test their ‘loyalty’ in certain cases. If they fail to treat him well, he denies the hero and his companions their victory. I was planning to summarize the sections from these stories for you by retelling them in a fun way, but I wouldn’t want to spoil anything if you would prefer to read it yourself first in context. So, I have just listed them instead. I have been able to provide more information this way, though, so that will prove even more helpful for you. I have also included links of where you can read these texts.

Óðins ferðir. (Odin’s Journeys.)*

* Of course, I am not going to be able to cover them all. How could anyone keep up and catalogue his vast wanderings? Needless to say, Óðinn often goes by many names, and thus it can be challenging to pick him out in the literature (and that is a considerable undertaking for just one man to make). So, this list should at least expose you (and other folk interested in the wandering one) to reading material beyond the Eddas. In other words it is a start, but not a complete list by any means.

• Ǫrvar-Oddr, or “Arrow-Odd”:
  • Chapters 19 through 23: Here Óðinn appears as Red-Beard.
• Gautreks saga, or “the Saga of King Gautrek”:
  • Chapters 1 through 2: It is not for certain (in fact just my own speculation), but I feel that the figure King Gauti might be Óðinn in this saga.
    • (In another saga called Bosi and Harraud, Óðinn is said to be his father. It is a bit complicated, but, whether actually Óðinn or not in this particular case, he is very similar to him and, in my opinion, that makes this worth reading in such a context).
  • Chapters 4 through 7: Here Óðinn appears as Grani Horsehair.
• Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, or “The Saga of Egil and Asmund”:
  • Chapter 13: Here Óðinn appears as the ‘Prince of Darkness’.
• Sögubrot:
  • Chapters 8 and 9: Here Óðinn appears as Bruni,
    • Although, I should point out that the translation I use does not explicitly make the connection known (Saxo’s History states this being the case, though). 
• Volsunga saga, or “The Saga of the Volsungs”:
  • Chapters 1 through 2: Here Óðinn appears as himself, as he guides his son Sigi from the ‘underworld’ and helps to begin the Volsung dynasty.
  • Chapter 3: Now he appears as an old man.
  • Chapter 10: Now he appears briefly as a mysterious man.
  • Chapter 11: He appears as a man in a black cloak, but in the midst of a battle with his spear.
  • Chapter 13: Óðinn appears now as an old man with a long beard.
  • Chapter 14: Óðinn appears as himself again. This should be familiar, because it is told in the Prose Edda(Skáldskaparmál).
  • Chapter 17: Here Óðinn appears as an old man again (Fjolnir, but also Feng and Hnikar).
  • Chapter 18: Óðinn returns as an old man with a long beard.
  • Chapter 21: He again appears as himself (as well as Hropt, aka Roftar) and speaks with Brynhildr.
  • Chapter 44: Óðinn briefly appears as a one-eyed man, tall and ancient.
• Hrólfs saga kraka, or “The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki”:
  • Chapter 26: Óðinn appears as a farmer named Hrani.
  • Chapter 30: Óðinn returns as Hrani.
• Ynglinga saga:
  • Chapters 2 through 9: This may not be what you are looking for exactly, but Óðinn appears here as playing a very earthly role. He appears as himself, but Snorri does not depict him as a god (at this point), but rather a very prominent figure of a distant historical past.
    • He is referred to again later, but he does not actually appear.
• Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar:
  • Chapter 64: Óðinn appears as a clever old man.
• Harðar saga og Hólmverja, or “The Saga of Hord and the People of Holm”:
  • Chapter 15: Óðinn appears as a man named Björn.
• Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss, “Bard’s Saga”:
  • Chapter 18: Óðinn briefly appears as a man named Raudgrani.

Other Appearances:

Óðinn plays a role in Ragnars saga Loðbrókar, at least in the AM 147 4to version, but that one is less complete than the NkS 1824b 4to version, which is used in the translation that I have. In that version, though, Óðinn appears disguised as an old man named Roftar (ON: Hroptr), and he healed Sigurd, Ragnar’s son, of a festering wound. To return the favor, Sigurd would dedicate all those he slays in battle to Óðinn. Also, it was Óðinn (in this version) who is responsible for Sigurd’s snake-like markings by sprinkling dust in his eyes, and that gave him his nickname Sigurd Snake-in-the-eye. 

Again, I wish to point out that I have definitely forgotten some of his wanderings in the list above. I have done my best, however, to provide the most that I could think of or locate, so I do hope that you and other find this post helpful! This post actually acts as a bit of a weak peak for a bigger project that I have been working on. Anyway, thank you kindly for asking! I do apologize for taking awhile to answer back, but it took me some time to gather the resources together.