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Seth Estlow

Dr. D. Tenenbaum

English 4800

22 April 2009

Wuotan, the Grim Gray God

When one looks at mythology, it can be viewed in many ways. From a literary

perspective, the most common school of criticism used is Archetypal: the various

characters and plot devices are viewed as reflections of archetypes, images that have

existed in man’s collective unconscious for eons. Viewing the gods and heroes of specific

mythologies as universal archetypes is one way of looking at this type of literature. At the

same time, gods, like words, have specific origins. As languages change with time and

travel, so do deities. Just as a word in modern English may no longer resemble the Anglo-

Saxon word it derives from, so a deity of Viking Scandinavia or tribal Germany would

not resemble a deity of the ancient Aryan warrior tribes, even if the more recent deity is

derived from the older one. Can both of these views be true? Can a Germanic god be both

derived from older gods or concepts, as well as a reflection of a timeless archetype

existing in man’s collective unconscious? Stranger things have indeed happened.

Odin is the Anglicized version of the Old Norse Óðinn. It is the most commonly

used name of the god Wuotan, which is the Old High German version. Vodans is the

Gothic version of the name, Wôdan the Old Low German and Woden the Anglo-Saxon.

They are all derived from Wôðanaz, the Proto-Germanic name, which means “Master of

Fury” (Óðindís). His multitude of other names all hint at his various aspects. Aside from

the master of fury, he was also called Grím, meaning “Masked One,” Sigföð, or “Father-
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of-battle,” Óski, “Fulfiller-of-desire” and Farmatýr, or “Cargo-god,” and numerous others

(Sturluson 49). Wuotan was usually depicted as a tall old man with one eye and a gray

beard, dressed in gray clothes, a wide hat or hood and a wide blue cloak. He carried the

magical spear Gungnir (Guerber 16-17). He had two ravens called Hugin and Munin who

acted as his spies, and two hungry wolves called Geri and Freki (17). He was the god of

battle and lord over Valhalla, the hall where the slain warriors called einherjar, gathered

from the battlefields by the valkyries, feasted and fought, training for the final battle of

Ragnarok (18-22). Wuotan, as lord of fury and the violent storm wind, was also leader of

the Wild Hunt, riding his gray, eight-legged horse Sleipnir across the skies at Yuletide

with his furious host of phantoms and ghostly hounds (23-26). Wuotan was the

psychopomp of the Northern nations, leading dead souls to the afterlife. In medieval

legend, he became the Pied Piper of Hamelin, leading the souls of the dead, in the form of

swarming rats, to the grave in a vast procession with his magical flute, representing the

wind (27-290). As psychopomp, Wuotan appears as a ferryman, similar to Charon of

Greek mythology, in the poem Harbarzljod (Poetic Edda 69-77) and in The Death of

Sinfiotli to take away the body of the dead hero Sinfiotli (142).

Wuotan constantly sought out magical wisdom. He sought out the mead of poetry,

Óðrörir, invading the hollow mountain of the giant Suttung to seduce his daughter

Gunlod and retrieve the magical liquid (Sturluson 102). He gave his eye to the giant

Mimir to drink from his well of wisdom (Poetic Edda 7). He hung himself on the world

tree Yggdrasil, pierced with his spear as a sacrifice to himself, to gain the secret of the

runes – a magical alphabet that gave him the ability to perform numerous powerful spells

(Poetic Edda 34-38). He carved these runes onto his spear Gungnir, and came to be
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known as the God of the Hanged (Guerber 34). He had numerous brides and paramours,

fathering many gods. For this reason he was called “All-Father”. He fathered Thor, of

Donar the Thunderer, upon the earth goddess Jord or Erda (38). On the goddess Frigga he

fathered Balder, god of light, Hermod the swift, and according to some, Tyr or Ziu, the

god of war (38). On the giantess Rinda he fathered Vali, and on Grid he fathered Vidar,

god of vengeance (38-39). He fathered Bragi, god of poetry, on Gunlod, and the vigilant

Heimdall on the nine wave maidens, daughters of Aegir and Ran (39). He also fathered

many mortal heroes, including Sigi, father of the Volsung dynasty (Sturluson 26).

As god of wisdom and progenitor of heroes, Wuotan often guides the lives of his

chosen champions. When the hero Sigurd, descendant of Sigi, goes out by ship to avenge

the death of his father Sigmund, a storm arises and an old man appears. Wuotan is god of

storms, and often appears on earth in the guise of an old wanderer. When asked who he

is, the disguised god says “Hnikar they called me, when young Volsung/ gladdened the

raven when there was fighting;/ now you may call the old man on the cliff/ Feng or

Fiolnir; I would like passage!” (Poetic Edda 155). The name Hnikar means “Thruster” or

“Shaker,” Feng means “Snatch,” or “Gain,” and Fiolnir means “Very-Wise” or

“Concealer” (Óðindís). These titles are appropriate as Hnikar may refer to thrusting or

shaking of one’s spear, symbolizing Wuotan’s war god aspect. Feng may refer to

snatching up the runes or wisdom, and Fiolnir alludes to Wuotan as both god of wisdom

and the mysterious masked god. These titles refer to Wuotan appearing in disguise, and

spreading his wisdom, which is what he does after Sigurd allows him on the ship. One

Wuotan gets on the ship, the storm clears and he sits with Sigurd and gives him a list of

good and bad omens to watch for (Poetic Edda 156).

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As wanderer, psychopomp and god of wisdom and death, Wuotan has been

known to travel not only to the worlds of giants and men, but also to the world of the

dead to seek out answers. In Balder’s Dreams Wuotan hears the horrible nightmares of

his son Balder and rides his horse to the underworld to seek out the soul of a long-dead

prophetess, whom he summons forth from her rest using a runic spell (Poetic Edda 243).

He asks the seeress a series of questions in the guise of Vegtam, eventually learning that

Balder, beloved god of light, is doomed to die (244). Eventually he asks a question which

no one knows the answer to but himself, revealing his true identity, and the seeress

returns to her rest, refusing to answer any more questions for him (244-245). This is

similar to Vafthrudnismal when he seeks out the wise giant Vafthrudnir in order to have a

wisdom contest in the guise of Gagnrad (Poetic Edda 40-41). They go back and forth

asking each other questions about the mythology, and they both answer each question

correctly, until finally Wuotan asks the giant what he whispered in Balder’s ear on his

funeral pyre. Vafthrudnir cannot answer, and concludes that his guest is in fact Wuotan

(48-49).

Wuotan can be compared to several Greco-Roman gods. According to Jakob

Grimm, “In the shape of a bearded old man Wodan appears like a water spirit or water

god and to do justice to the Latin name Neptune, which some older writers use of him.”

Wuotan can also be compared to Zeus in that they are both white-bearded, patriarchal

leaders of the respective pantheons, and Wuotan’s spear resembles Zeus’ lightning bolt

(Guerber 346). Also, they have both had numerous liasons with goddesses and mortal

women, producing a plethora of gods and heroes, and they both lead a council of twelve

deities (346). The god Wuotan is most compared to, however, is Mercury. According to
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Guerber “Odin, as leader of the dead, is the counterpart of Mercury Psychopompus, both

being personifications of the wind, on whose wings disembodied souls were thought to be

wafted from this mortal sphere” (350). According to Viktor Rydberg Wuotan and

Mercury were both gods of wisdom who introduced poetry and writing to man, would

use trickery and cunning to accomplish their goals. They both appeared as travelers, gods

of martial games and combat and gods of the merchant profession, Mercury being god of

messengers and Wuotan being god of cargoes (Rydberg). Jung compared Wuotan to

Dionysus because they are both deities of madness and fury, capable of driving men and

women into an utter frenzy.

Wuotan’s origins lie in the psyche of the Aryan people. Wuotan does not have an

predecessor among the Proto-Aryan gods, nor does the name Wodanaz have a cognate in

any other Aryan pantheon (Serith). The name, as stated above, means “Master of Fury”

or “Lord of Madness,” but it may mean, more precisely, “Master of those who are in the

state of spiritual madness,” and have arisen out of the practice of the wates, or shaman,

calling on Wuotan to bestow battle fury upon warriors (Þeedrich). This is better known

today as berserker fury. It seems Wuotan, arose out of a state or practice rather than an

earlier deity, unlike other gods like Jupiter, who came from the Aryan god Dyé:us Pté:r,

or Neptune who arose from the Aryan god Xákwo:m Népo:t (Serith).

Still, it is believed by students of Jung that gods and other mythological figures

have their origins in the timeless archetypes that exist in man’s collective unconscious.

This is part of the Archetypal Criticism that looks at mythology from a literary

perspective, and from this perspective, Wuotan can be seen as the “Wise Old Man”

archetype. Catharina Raudvere states that “Despite the fact that the god [Wuotan] is
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depicted as an old man (and therefore physically less able), his age is principally a token

of his legitimacy, confirming him as passing on ancient values, rather than an obstacle to

authority” (123). His role as the helper and teacher of heroes marks him as the “Wise Old

Man” – Snider quotes Jung as saying, “‘The old man knows what roads lead to the goal

and points them out to the hero” (21). Wuotan also resembles Merlin, another character

who fits this archetype, as Snider quotes Zimmer, saying “Merlin symbolizes ‘the

magician as teacher and guide of souls. He is comparable… to the guru” (39).

So, is Wuotan merely a reflection of a universal archetype, an avatar of the

universal “Wise Old Man”? Or is he the Lord of Spiritual Fury and Master of the

Berserkers? It is indeed possible that Wuotan is the god of madness, poetry, death, battle,

wisdom and the storm-wind as well as the “Wise Old Man”. Perhaps Wuotan is a force

which, even today, guides the development of man by overseeing the destinies of a few

select individuals, and only manifests in the form of the “Wise Old Man” in order to

communicate better to mankind through this understandable shape. A god does not

choose to be old and feeble. A deity has the power to take what form he will. His image

is merely a representation of his wisdom, a symbol of his true nature. Wuotan can choose

to take the form of an old man, a youth, a wild beast, a tall warrior, but they are all

merely reflections of his true nature: The god of blustering, furious, transcendent

spiritual madness!