Höðr

## The Blind God

In Snorri Sturluson's *Prose Edda*, Höðr is a son of Odin described simply as blind, but immensely strong. He plays the tragic, unwitting instrument in the death of his brother Baldr, the best-loved of the gods.

### The Death of Baldr

When Baldr began having dreams foretelling his death, his mother Frigg extracted an oath from every thing in the world — fire, water, iron, stones, trees, diseases, beasts, birds, and poisons — never to harm him, deeming the young mistletoe plant too insignificant to bother asking. The gods amused themselves by throwing weapons at the now-invulnerable Baldr, all of which glanced off harmlessly. Loki, discovering the mistletoe's exemption, fashioned a dart from it and, since Höðr could not join the game due to his blindness, guided Höðr's hand to throw it at Baldr. The dart killed Baldr instantly.

### Vengeance and Ragnarok

The god Vali, a son fathered by Odin specifically for this purpose, killed Höðr the following night in vengeance. According to the *Voluspa*, both Baldr and Höðr are prophesied to return together after Ragnarok, reconciled, to dwell among the surviving gods in the renewed world.

### A Different Höðr in Saxo Grammaticus

The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, writing in Latin around 1200 CE in his *Gesta Danorum*, tells an entirely different and heavily euhemerized version of this story. His Hotherus (Höðr) is a human prince and skilled warrior, not blind and not divine, who rivals the demigod Balderus (Baldr) for the love of the princess Nanna. After a series of battles, Hotherus obtains a magic sword and kills Balderus in combat, later dying himself in a subsequent war of revenge. Saxo's rationalized, saga-like account shares only the core names and the outcome — Höðr as Baldr's killer — with Snorri's mythic tragedy, and the two versions should be read as distinct literary traditions rather than a single consistent story.