Baldur vs Höðr

The most beloved of all gods, son of Odin and Frigg. God of light, purity, and beauty. His death, orchestrated by Loki using mistletoe, is one of the great tragedies leading to Ragnarok.

Baldur was born to Odin, the Allfather, and Frigg, the Queen of Asgard. From his earliest days, he radiated such beauty and light that all who beheld him loved him instantly. He grew to become the most beloved of all the Aesir, admired by gods and mortals alike. He married the goddess Nanna, and together they lived in his hall Breidablik, the most splendid dwelling in Asgard, where nothing unclean could enter. His twin brother was Hodr, the blind god, with whom his fate would become tragically intertwined.

Baldur is the son of Odin and Frigg, so beautiful and bright that light shines from him. He is the wisest, most eloquent, and most gracious of the Aesir.

A blind son of Odin who, in Snorri Sturluson's telling, unknowingly kills his brother Baldr with a mistletoe dart at Loki's instigation. Saxo Grammaticus preserves a very different, non-mythological account of the same figure as a rival human prince.

Höðr was a blind son of Odin. When Loki discovered that the mistletoe alone had never sworn an oath to spare Baldr from harm, he fashioned a dart from it and guided the blind Höðr's hand to throw it at Baldr during the gods' game of hurling weapons at him, killing Baldr instantly and unintentionally making Höðr his brother's killer.

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.