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.