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Mimir( 1) Mimir was a nature spirit and the guardian and owner of the well of wisdom and knowledge, which was known as Mimir’ s Well. Mimir drinks mead daily from the well, using the Gjallarhorn as a cup. The well and Mimir’ s abode lie beneath a root of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and Mimir fed Yggdrasil daily on the waters from this well.
Odin became the one-eyed god by giving an eye to Mimir to put in the well. The loss of one eye was the price Odin paid for the wisdom and foresight for which he was famous. This act led to expressions in poetry associating Mimir and his well with the one-eyed god.
This version of Mimir is often mentioned in the poems of the Poetic Edda, particularly in phrases referring to wisdom, but the water spirit’ s name is also used in reference to a wise god and member of the Aesir( see Mimir [ 2 ]), leading to questions by translators and scholars as to which Mimir each poet may have been referring to.
Mimir( 2) A wise god, sent as a peace hostage by the Aesir to the Vanir as part of a pact to end the Aesir / Vanir War. The god Hoenir, stout and handsome but rather slow-witted and a brother of the great god Odin, went with Mimir in this peace trade.( Frey, Freya, and Kvasir( 2) were the Vanir gods sent to the Aesir.)
The Vanir made Hoenir a chief, but he never spoke for himself, always trusting to Mimir’ s advice. The Vanir grew suspicious of the truce between the gods and, thinking they had been tricked, beheaded Mimir and sent his head back to Odin and the Aesir.
Odin used his magic to preserve Mimir’ s head and often consulted the beheaded god for advice and wisdom.
This story is told only in Snorri Sturluson’ s Ynglinga Saga, the first part of Heimskringla, a history of the kings of Norway. Scholars suggest that Snorri either quoted poems that have not survived in the manuscripts or that he invented the story to explain such phrases in the work of the skalds as“ Mimir’ s head.”
Mimir’ s Well The well of wisdom under the second root of the tree Yggdrasil in Jotunheim. The head of Mimir( 2) resides beside the well. The god Odin visited the well seeking wisdom. Heimdall, the Watchman of the Gods, left his horn there until he needed it to announce Ragnarok, the end of the world.
mistletoe A European plant( Viscum album) that grows as a parasite on trees. In Norse mythology, it is known as the sprig that was hurled at the god Balder by his blind brother, Hodur. Because mistletoe has weak stems, some scholars suggest that the trickster god Loki used his magic arts on the mistletoe to make it strong and sharp enough to kill Balder.
Mjollnir The hammer of the god Thor. It was made by the dwarfs Brokk and Eitri. The hammer was a symbol of Thor’ s strength and of the thunderbolt he personified.
The hammer had a massive head and a short handle and was shaped somewhat like a cross. While Eitri was shaping the hammer in the foundry, Loki, who had changed himself into a gadfly, pestered Brokk, who worked the bellows for his brother. At a crucial point in the making of the hammer, Loki stung Brokk on his eyelid; the dwarf was distracted and let go of the bellows. The fire died and Eitri did not have enough heat to finish the handle.
For many centuries, Norsemen wore the hammer’ s likeness as an amulet. Many of these amulets have been discovered in archaeological digs in Scandinavia and Great Britain. Many ancient gravestones and rune stones also depict Thor’ s hammer.
Mistletoe plant growing in a tree. Hodur used a sprig of mistletoe to kill the god Balder.( Photo by David Monniaux / Used uder a Creative Commons license)