Who wants to hear about Freyja as a bisexual chaos goblin?

I know—pretty intuitive, right? But why don’t we delve into the details a little and see what we can find.
 
There’s only one surviving poem with Freyja as a main character: the “Hyndluljóð,” or the “Song of Hyndla.”
 
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Hyndluljóð (Flateyjarbók): Heimdallr was brought forth by nine giantesses.

Völuspá: "In aldna" ("the old one," giantess/hag) gives birth to wolves (Fenris kindir) in Járnviðr.

Gylfaginning: Repeats the same story as Völuspá.

The ability of virgin birth differentiates giantesses from goddesses.

Jarnsaxa is known as the lover of Thor and the mother of Magni, one of his sons. In the poem Hyndluljóð, she is listed as one of Heimdall’s nine mothers, making her the daughter of Ægir and Rán, the powerful sea deities.
#jarnsaxa #norsegoddess #norsemyth #ellenartistic #norsegoddesses

Check out Journal of English and Germanic Philology 123.3 (on @projectmuse.bsky.social ), featuring articles on Icelandic courtly romances, stanza 2 of "Hyndluljóð," Wrath in "Piers Plowman," gifts in Ælfric's homilies, + the Franks Casket. cc: @ndiscenza1.bsky.social https://buff.ly/49rYvmK

A harrow he made me, laden with stones (now it's rubble that's become glass), that he reddened with new cattle blood. Ever did Óttarr believe in the Ásynjur.

#heathen #pagan #fornsidr #asatru #vanatru #hyndluljóð

No, wait, hold on. The Hyndluljóð was contemporaneous with Snorri. I can't do math.

My theory yet survives!

The ability of giantesses to give birth without having had a sexual partner is specifically mentioned in Hyndluljóð and alluded to in Völuspá and Gylfaginning.

For that matter, Ymir created living beings from his armpit and thigh/foot in Vafþrúðnismál.

Mighty Freyja threatens the dead seeress Hyndla, when she threatens Freyja’s follower Ottar.

“Around the volva flames shall I raise,
So that forth unburned thou mayst not fare."

- Hyndluljóð

Volva - Germanic Seeress

FREYJA
Mitología nórdica.  
La diosa, montando su jabalí Hildisvíni, escogiendo su parte de los muertos.
Según se relata en Hyndluljóð, en la Edda poética, Freyja montaba a Hildisvíni cuando no utilizaba su carro tirado por gatos.
La ilustración es de Seb Mckinnon @SebMcKinnon

aw, dang. My Freyja theory just went up in smoke. Ah, well.

(the Hyndluljóð, in which Freyja flirts with a female giant, predates Snorri)

Mighty Lady!

The Seeress Spake:
“Bring then to Ottar the draught of beer,
Of venom full for an evil fate."

Freyja spake:
“Thine evil words shall work no ill,
Though, Seeress, bitter thy baleful threats;
A drink full fair shall Ottar find.”

- Hyndluljóð