The Vikings were a seafaring people, raiding, trading and exploring around Europe and the Atlantic. It makes sense that they would have had several gods of the sea. Njord was one of these gods.
Njord was one of the Vanir gods who lived in Asgard among the Norse gods and he was associated with seafaring and wealth, logically since the Vikings gained much of their wealth via the sea.
Njord was invoked by the Vikings before they set off on sea voyages, but also before hunting and fishing expeditions, suggesting a general association with venturing into the unknown. Njord was believed to have the ability to calm waters and quell fires. The deity Njord was also extremely wealthy and prosperous, and was able to grant wealth in the form of land and valuables.
But despite the importance of the sea, Njord seems to have been the only Norse god closely associated with the sea and sailing in Norse mythology. The other supernatural beings of the sea were giants, including Aegir, Ran, and Jormungandr. They were much less friendly and benevolent than Njord.
The Vanir God Njord
Njord, also written Njordr, was one of the Vanir gods. In Norse mythology, there were two races of gods. There were the Aesir, led by Odin the All-Father, who lived in Asgard. They were associated with the ordered social world, so things such as war, justice, and duty. The Vanir gods, living in Vanaheim, were similar to the Aesir but more closely associated with nature.
Near the beginning of time, the Aesir and the Vanir went to war. This seems to have been a culture war, as the Aesir did not approve of the Vanir’s more free-spirited lifestyle, which notably included the custom of brother marrying sister. They were also powerful magic workers,
There may also have been confusion over who was to receive veneration from the humans in Midgard. This may suggest that while the Aesir were descended from Odin, the Vanir were descended from one of Odin’s brothers, Vili and Ve. Together the three brothers killed the giant Ymir and used his body to create the realm of Midgard. Descent from one of the brothers would explain the Vanir claim to veneration.
Whatever the underlying reason for the war, it ended in a stalemate and a truce. After the war, hostages were exchanged. Njord was sent to live in Asgard with his twin children, Freyr and Freyja. The pair were married when they arrived in Asgard, but their marriage was annulled, suggesting that this practice was one of the reasons for the conflict. It seems that Njord was also married to his twin sister, Nerthus, when he arrived in Asgard, but that marriage too was annulled.
The Vanir gods were quickly accepted among the Aesir as their own. While the surviving sources preserve that these gods were Vanir, and therefore different in some way, they are not otherwise treated as different, and certainly not less than, the Aesir gods.
Mimir was one of the Aesir sent to live among the Vanir gods. Though it seems he may have been a giant. Read the story here.
Njord and Skadi
The most famous story from Norse mythology that involves Njord is the story of his marriage to the giantess Skadi.
The story starts with the giant Thjazi kidnapping Idun in order to gain control of the golden apples of youth that she tended. It was these fruits that maintained the strength and immortality of the gods. The gods managed to retrieve Idun, but Thjazi was killed in the process.
His daughter, Skadi, a giantess associated with winter, made her way to Asgard to seek vengeance for the death of her father. The gods did not want to kill her, so, as was customary, they offered to pay a price for the death of Thjazi. She was offered her choice of husband from among the Aesir gods, plus the completion of an impossible task and the gift of an impossible present.
Starting with the husband selection, Skadi was told that she could choose from among the gods, but that she was only allowed to look at their feet. Skadi was keen to marry the beautiful god Balder, who also seems to have been Odin’s heir. She chose the most beautiful feet, assuming they were his. But they turned out to belong to Njord.
This was a disappointment for Skadi, because, living by the sea, Njord’s good looks had been deteriorated by the wind and salt.
The impossible task was to make Skadi laugh. Many of the gods tried, but in the end, it required Loki to tie a rope to the horns of a goat and his testicles and engage in a slapstick tug of war. The impossible gift was placing Thjazi’s eyes in the sky as stars.
Keeping the word of the gods, Njord married Skadi, but the union did not last long. Skadi considered Njord’s seaside home called Noatun, which means ship haven, noisy and smelly, while Njord considered Skadi’s mountainous home cold and desolate. They spent time in each home, but neither could tolerate it. Njord and Skadi soon separated.
Some sources suggest that Njord and Skadi never consummated their marriage and that Skadi went on to become a mistress of Odin and give him sons. She certainly continued to be accepted among the Aesir. When they captured and imprisoned Loki for his role in the death of Balder, it was Skadi who hung the venomous serpent over Loki’s head.
While some sources suggest that Skadi and Njord were only together for nine days and nine nights, the number nine being a sacred number in Norse mythology, she is still described as being by Njord’s side in other stories.
Njord and Freyr in Norse Mythology
According to one story, Freyr, Njord’s son, was in Asgard when he sat on Odin’s throne which allowed him to look out over the cosmos. This was not allowed, and the story reveals why. From the throne, Freyr caught sight of a beautiful giantess called Gergr and fell in love with her. When he realized that he could not have her, he fell into a deep depression. His father became worried about him, and Njord tried to discover what was wrong with his son, with the help of his wife Skadi.
Eventually, they discovered the reason and Freyr’s servant Skirnir blackmailed the girl into marrying Freyr. The two seem to have lived happily ever after, but the events cost Freyr his magical sword, so he did not have it at Ragnarok and died at the hands of the fire giant Surtr.
It is unclear what happens to Njord in the final battle of Ragnarok. One source suggests that he will return to Vanaheim to protect his homeland.
Njord at the Dinner of the Norse Gods
Njord is also present at the dinner in which Loki insults all the gods, described in the Lokasenna in the Poetic Edda. This story reveals tidbits of information about many of the gods that are otherwise not explained, but it is assumed that they belong to stories that are now lost.
Njord enters the conversation with Loki when the trickster is insulting Freyja for being promiscuous. Njord interjects saying that there is nothing so bad about having lovers and that it is Loki who is the pervert since Loki himself has given birth when he shapeshifted into the form of a mare.
Loki then mentions that Njord was one of the Vanir gods sent east as a hostage to Asgard after the Aesir-Vanir war but then makes an inexplicable reference to the daughters of Hymir, a giant pissing in Njord’s mouth like a pisspot. The daughters of Hymir are thought to be the nine waves of the sea, so a connection seems reasonable. Loki’s description is probably not an accurate reflection of the myth since it is thrown as an insult.
Njord says that he has no shame living among the Aesir and that he is the father of a son, Freyr, who everyone loves and is considered a prince among the Aesir. Loki then tells him to be quiet or he will reveal Njord’s secret. He then implies that the secret is that Njord fathered Freyr on his sister, though this does not seem to be a secret.
The god Tyr then intervenes and the conversation moves on.
An Ancestor of the Swedes
In the Heimskringla, Njord is portrayed as an ancestor of the Swedish people, along with Odin. The record tells the history of the gods as though they were human ancestors. Njord is described as being chosen for the hostage exchange after the Aesir-Vanir war because of his wealth. He would become the high priest responsible for sacrifices.
After the death of Odin, Njord took over as the king of the Swedes. His reign was a time of great prosperity and he was praised for ensuring good crops each year. During his reign, most of the Aesir died, and their bodies were burned and sacrifices were made to them. This is perhaps meant to represent Ragnarok. Njord too eventually dies and is greatly mourned, but then replaced by his son Freyr.
Importance of Njord
While Njord is not often mentioned in the surviving literary sources for Norse mythology, it is clear that he was one of the most venerated of the Norse gods. According to the Poetic Edda, Njord was rich in temples in Viking times. This is probably why his name is preserved in so many Scandinavian place names in Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. These may have originally been the locations of his temples.
Later, Njord was one of three deities involved in the 14th-century Icelandic legal oath, sworn on a temple ring, along with Freyr and Ass (probably a name for Odin or Thor). He was still venerated in the 18th and 19th centuries as part of Norwegian folk practices in which Njord was thanked for a bountiful catch of fish. The prevalence of the cult of Njord in Scandinavia is also attested by accounts of its denunciation by an eleventh-century Christian convert who describes himself as forsaking the folly of Njord in favor of Christ.
Njord the Benevolent
In the Poetic Edda Njord is described as the prince of men and lacking malice in the Poetic Edda. This contrasts the sea god Njord with the other supernatural beings associated with the sea in Norse mythology. These include Aegir, a Norse giant sometimes called a god of the sea. He was considered dangerous and if sailors saw large waves approaching their ship, they would say that it was the work of Aegir. He was married to Ran, a giantess associated with the sea. The Vikings believed that she would catch nets and sink them to take their treasure, and those who died spent the afterlife in the sea with Ran.
The other Norse entity associated with the sea was, of course, Jormungandr, the mighty sea serpent that lives in the sea surrounding Midgard. The Vikings also believed that sailors who went too far out towards the edge of the world could be devoured by Jormungandr.
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