Ilmarinen

A weather god become smith

Agricola's list of 1551 says Ilmarinen 'made peace and weather and carried travelers forward', a role as a god of the air and winds that matches his name, from ilma, 'air, weather'. In the runo-songs he is above all the smith (seppo), the one 'who forged the sky, who hammered out the lid of the air', so skilled that no trace of hammer or tongs can be seen on his work.

In the Kalevala

Väinämöinen tricks him into going to Pohjola, where he forges the Sampo, after failed attempts that produce a crossbow, a boat, a cow, and a plough, each of which he throws back into the fire. Louhi does not give him her daughter until later, after he has ploughed a field of serpents, bridled the bear of Tuoni and the wolf of Manala, and caught the great pike of Tuonela. His wife is killed through Kullervo's revenge; grief-stricken, he forges a bride of gold and silver who stays cold in his bed, and Väinämöinen warns the young men against making such idols. He joins the raid on the Sampo and later forges a false sun and moon when Louhi hides the real ones.

Craft and power

The smith's knowledge in Finnish tradition is also magical: the charm of the origin of iron, sung in Rune 9, tells how iron was born and how the smith first tempered it, knowledge that gives power to heal wounds made by iron.