As the wife of Odin, Frigg was considered the most important Norse goddess. But very little information is preserved about her in Norse mythology. Frigg was a goddess of the household and matronly duty, and she had three handmaidens. But the only story that survives about Frigg is actually about her son Balder.
Perhaps the reason that we know so little about Frigg is that she and the goddess Freyja were once a single goddess, and when they split, Freyja retained much of their shared mythology.
Frigg, The Beloved One
Frigg, or Frigga, means beloved in Old Norse and is probably a reference to her role as the consort of Odin, the leader of the Norse gods. As the wife of Odin, Frigg was responsible for serving mead in his great hall. This was an important role because negotiations always happened over a drink. Frigg could be called upon to help ensure smooth negotiations.
But despite being the consort of Odin, Frigg had her own wetlands hall called Fensalir. This may suggest that she had an association with springs, bogs, and swamps. But it was also here that Frigg would have performed her duties as a domestic goddess, such as spinning. According to one story, Frigg spun the clothing of all the gods from cloud sheep. Her symbols were the spinning wheel, mistletoe, and silver.
As a female goddess, Frigg was also associated with the needs of women and childbirth. According to one source, a barren king and queen prayed fervently for children, and it was Frigg who heard their prayers and interceded with Odin to bless the couple.
Several sources specifically refer to Frigg as the most important of the Norse goddesses. Her importance may be reflected in the fact that Friday is still named for Frigg in English, derived from Frigedaeg, which means ‘Frigg’s day’.
Divine Handmaidens
Frigg was served by a number of handmaidens, who were also numbered among the Norse gods. Her three principal handmaids were Fulla, Gna, and Hlin. The virgin Fulla attended to Frigg’s ashen box and footwear and was a favourite of the Asgard queen and knew all her secrets. Gna was Frigg’s most trusted messenger and ran errands for her across the nine worlds. Hlin, which means protector, was sent by Frigg to protect people on her behalf.
Advisor to Odin
Frigg often interceded with her husband on behalf of others, as she did with the barren couple. But Frigg also sometimes found herself in conflict with Odin, as described in the Grimnismal recorded in the Poetic Edda. The story begins with Agnar and Geirroth, two sons of a king from an unnamed region. The two decide to go fishing, but a great storm carries them out into the sea and wrecks their boat on a strange coast. There they are saved by an old peasant couple, who are Frigg and Odin in disguise.
They decide to foster the boys separately. Frigg takes charge of Agnar, who is ten years old and destined to follow his father as king. Odin fosters eight-year-old Geirroth and decides to teach him unspecified wisdom. The boys stay for one winter. When the sea calms, Odin makes a boat for the boys to send them home. But before the boys depart, Odin whispers a secret in Geirroth’s ear.
When the pair arrive back on the shores of their kingdom, Geirroth jumps out of the boat quickly. Using the wisdom he learned from the old man, he cursed his brother Agnar to go where evil dwells and pushed the boat back out to see. He returned to his kingdom only to find that his father had died over the winter, and he was proclaimed king.
Years later, Odin boasts that while Frigg’s protégé Agnar is currently living in a cave parenting children to a giantess like a savage, his protégé Geirroth is ruling the kingdom meant for his brother.
Frigg is not impressed by her husband’s bragging, so she points out that Geirroth is a miserly king, so terrible that he even ignores the rules of hospitality. Wanting to prove her wrong, Odin tells Frigg that he will visit Geirroth in disguise to prove that the king knows how to treat guests properly.
Wanting to ensure that things go as she anticipates, Frigg sends her maidservant Fula to Geirroth to warn him that a dangerous sorcerer is heading to his kingdom to bewitch him. She tells Geirroth that he will know that man because no dogs will bark when they see him. This is a characteristic of all the gods that Frigg uses to her advantage to complete her ruse.
Soon, Odin arrives appearing as a traveler in a blue cloak called Grimnir. When he arrives and asks to visit Geirroth, the guard dogs do not bark. Consequently, Geirroth has him seized and bound for questioning. When Grimnir does not reveal his purpose, Geirroth has him tortured by having him sit between two fires so hot that they burn off his cloak.
Grimnir is kept in this sorry state for eight days without food or drink, and refusing to speak. Eventually, Geirroth’s own son, whom he has named Agnar to honor the brother he betrayed, takes pity on the man and brings him a horn of mead.
It seems that this was the respite that Odin was waiting for. He spoke to the boy, telling him about the realms of the gods and the form of the universe. He also promised that boy that he would be rewarded for his mercy and kindness.
When Geirroth appeared to see what had happened, Odin revealed himself, rebuked Geirroth for his unkinglike behavior, and predicted his death. Geirroth was so terrified by this that he drew his sword, but he immediately stumbled, and the sword twisted in his hand. He fell on the blade and died.
Frigg the Seeress
The sources also suggest that Frigg was considered a powerful seeress. She could see the fates of all men but chose never to share what she saw. Aside from Odin himself, Frigg was the only Norse god permitted to sit on Odin’s special throne that allowed him to look out over all the worlds of the Norse cosmos.
It is interesting that Frigg is considered a seeress, because this is an art more often associated with the Vanir gods, and there is no evidence that she was considered one of them.
While Frigg never shared what she saw, it nevertheless left her preoccupied. She was often worried for her husband Odin and sent Hlin to protect him. Odin is sometimes called “Frigg’s Second Sorrow”, her first being her son Balder.
Balder, Frigg’s First Sorrow
While Odin had many children, including Thor, the only child he seems to have had with Frigg was Balder. He was the most handsome and beloved of the gods and shone with a divine glow.
Apparently, Frigg became concerned about her son after he had some prophetic dreams, perhaps suggesting that he inherited his mother’s gift. In order to protect her son, Frigg went around to all things in existence and secured promises from everything in existence that they would never hurt or assist in hurting her son. This made Balder invincible, and the gods would often amuse themselves by throwing weapons at Balder and watching them bounce off harmlessly.
But Loki soon became obsessed with learning whether Balder was truly invincible. He disguised himself as an old women and joined the retinue at Frigg’s hall. Once he won her trust, he asked Frigg if everything in existence had truly sworn to never help Balder. Thinking little of it, Frigg admitted that she may have forgotten to get the promise from the humble mistletoe plant.
Loki used this information to fashion a mistletoe dart. One day, when the gods were playing their game, he asked the blind god Hodr why he did not participate in the game. Hodr reminded Loki that he was blind and could not aim, so Loki said that he would help him. Loki directed Hodr to throw the dart at Balder, and he was killed.
Because Balder did not die in battle, Odin could not take his soul to Valhalla, his hall in Asgard. Instead, Balder found himself in Helheim. Hermodr was sent to Helheim, flying on Odin’s eight-legged steed Sleipnir, to ask Hel, the goddess of Hel, to return Balder. He told her that Balder was the most beloved being in existence and should be returned. Hel said that she would return him if they could prove that he was universally beloved and all things in existence wept for Balder. The gods immediately went around asking all things to weep, but one witch called Thokki. This was believed to be Loki in disguise, with the trickster ensuring that Balder could not return to Asgard.
The aftermath of Balder’s death was bloody. Odin had a son called Vali with the giantess Rindr, who grew to adulthood in a single day for the purpose of killing Hodr for his role in the death. Loki was left alone for a period, but was eventually captured by the gods and tried to a rock with a poisonous serpent hung over his head.
For this reason, the death of Balder is often called the trigger for Ragnarok since this is what cased the break between Loki and the gods.
Frigg and Freya
Considering how important Frigg was as a Norse goddess, it is a bit surprising that so little is known about her. One theory about this is that in pre-Viking times, Frigg and Freya were a single goddess and that they were split into two for some reason. This would explain the many similarities between the Norse goddesses Frigg and Freyja.
Freya was the Norse goddess of love and beauty. Freya’s name simply means ‘lady’ in Old Norse, which also places her as a kind of matron. Unlike Frigg, Freyja is not known outside Scandinavia, suggesting she was a later development in Norse religion.
Freya was also associated with ideas of fate, as she was considered a master of Seidr magic. Seidr was closely associated with divination, but Freya is never described as a seeress. Finally, Freya was closely linked with Odin, Frigg’s husband, whom she taught Seidr.
Also, just as Odin took the souls of fallen warriors to Valhalla, Freya took the souls of fallen warriors to her own hall. It is also said that Freya had a husband called Odr, who often abandoned Freya and wandered the earth, causing her much pain. Odin was also known for disguising himself and wandering the world.
If Frigg and Freya were originally one and the same, this would explain why the Norse goddess Frigg has so little backstory, as this was largely given to Freya.
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