Balder's death

The beautiful aesir Balder have terrible nightmares about his soon coming death so Odin rides down to the deathkingdom of Hel to find out if he has anything to worry about. He talked to a women in deathslumber and she told him that they were prepering the arrival of Balder. When Balder's mother Frigg heard this she forced everything to promise not to harm Balder. When he got invulnerable the gods often practiced their shooting skills at him. But Frigg forgot to take a promise of the mistletoe, and Loki get wind of that. Loki gives the blind Hodur, Balder's brother an arrow carved out of mistletoe and helps him to aim. Balder gets the arrow right in his heart and dies immediately. A big sorrow starts, because Balder wasn't only loved by the aesirs, but by every living thing. Odin send down the brave Hermod, on the horse Sleipnir to Hel to get Balder out of there. Hel says that she will let him go if every living thing in the world cries for him. So everybody starts to cry, except a giantess named Thokk. And she is, offcourse, a dressedup Loki.

When Balder is going to get buried his wife Nanna dies of sorrow and both of them gets sent out in the sea in a burning ship, Balder's own Ringhornir. Odin bents down over his son and whisper something in his ear. Then he puts the magic goldring, Draupnir, on Balder's chest. The gods have asked the strong giantess Hyrrokkin for help getting the boat into the sea. She arrives on a wolf with four snakes as reins. She throws the boat in the sea without caring about who's inside and Thor gets angry. He want to kill her, but the aesirs calms him down. Instead Thor takes out his anger on a small dwarf, Lit, who has been running around and irritating the gods all evening. Thor kicks him into the fire. Loki who suspects the gods revenge turn himself into a falcon, but when the gods gets suspicious he flies to Mimir's well and asks Mimir if he can't turn Odin's eye around so it doesn't see him. Mimir says he is not willing to do this. Then Loki turns himself into a salmon and jumps down in the rapid Frananger. But Loki won't get away. The gods ties him with a piece of his own son Narfi's intestines and Skadi puts a poisonsnake dripping ether over him. Loki's beloved Sigyn stands by his side with a plate to save him from the poisonous ether. When the plate is full and she has to empty it Loki jerks so powerfully that the earth shakes. Loki will not get free until Ragnarok.

Related Links: Balder Draupnir Frananger Frigg Hel Hermod Hodur Hyrrokkin Lit Loki Mimir Nanna Narfi Ringhornir Sigyn Thor