Baldr’s Death
Baldr is known primarily for the story of his death. His death is seen as the first in the chain of events which will ultimately lead to the destruction of the gods at Ragnarok. Baldr will be reborn in the new world.
He had a dream of his own death, and his mother had the same dreams. Since dreams were usually prophetic, this depressed him, so his mother Frigg made every object on earth vow never to hurt Baldr. All objects made this vow except mistletoe. Frigg had thought it too unimportant and nonthreatening to bother asking it to make the vow. When Loki, the mischief-maker and trickster, heard of this, he made a magical spear from this plant (in some later versions, he makes an arrow). He hurried to the place where the gods were indulging in their new pastime of hurling objects at Baldr, which would bounce off without harming him. Loki gave the spear to Baldr’s brother, the blind god Hod, who then inadvertently killed his brother with it (other versions suggest that Loki guided the arrow himself). For this act, Odin and the giantess Rindr gave birth to Vali who grew to adulthood within a day and slew Hod.
Baldr was ceremonially burnt upon his ship, Hringhorni, the largest of all ships. As he was carried to the ship, Odin whispered in his ear an unanswerable riddle.
The dwarf Litr was kicked by Thor into the funeral fire and burnt alive. Nanna, Baldr’s wife, also threw herself on the funeral fire to await Ragnarok when she would be reunited with her husband (some myths say, she died of grief). Baldr’s horse with all its trappings was also burned on the pyre. The ship was set to sea by Hyrrokin, a giantess, who came riding on a wolf and gave the ship such a push that fire flashed from the rollers and all the earth shook.
Upon Frigg’s entreaties, delivered through the messenger Hermod, Hel promised to release Baldr from the underworld if all objects alive and dead would weess Pokk had been Loki in disguise, they hunted him down and bound him to three rocks. Then they tied a serpent above him, the venom p for him. All did, except a giantess, Pokk often presumed to be the god Loki in disguise, who refused to mourn the slain god. Thus, Baldr had to remain in the underworld, not to emerge until after Ragnarok, when he and his brother Hod would be reconciled and rule the new earth together with Thor’s sons.
When the gods discovered that the gianteof which dripped onto his face. His wife Sigyn gathered the venom in a bowl, but from time to time she had to turn away to empty it, at which point the poison would drip onto Loki, who writhed in pain, thus causing earthquakes. He would free himself, however, in time to attack the gods at Ragnarok.
Source: The Prose and Poetic Eddas
