Part 4

The position which we have found Mundilfori to occupy indicates that, although not belonging to the powers dwelling in Asgard, he is one of the chief gods of the Teutonic mythology. All natural phenomena, which appear to depend on a fixed mechanical law and not on the initiative of any mighty will momentarily influencing the events of the world, seem to have been referred to his care. The mythology of the Teutons, like that of the Rigveda-Aryans, has had gods of both kinds - gods who particularly represent that order in the physical and moral world which became fixed in creation, and which, under normal conditions, remain entirely uniform, and gods who particularly represent the powerful temporary interference for the purpose of restoring this order when it has been disturbed, and for the purpose of giving protection and defence to their worshippers in times of trouble and danger. The latter are in their very nature war-gods always ready for battle, such as Vita and Indra in Rigveda, Odin and Thor-Indridi in the Eddas; and they have their proper abode in a group of fortified celestial citadels like Asgard, whence they have their out-look upon the world they have to protect - the atmosphere and Midgard. The former, on the other hand, have their natural abode in Jormungrund's outer zone and in the lower world, whence the world-tree grew, and where the fountains are found whose liquids penetrate creation, and where that wisdom had its source of which Odin only, by self-sacrifice, secured a part. Down there dwell, accordingly, Urd and Mimir, Nott and Dag, Mundilfori with the dises of the sun and the moon, Delling, the genius of the glow of dawn, and Billing, the genius of the blushing sunset. There dwell the smiths of antiquity who made the chariots of the sun and moon and smithied the treasures of vegetation. There dwell the nidjar who represent the moon's waxing and waning; there the seven sons of Mimir who represent the changing seasons (see No. 87). Mundilfori is the lord of the regular revolutions of the starry firmament, and of the regular rising and sinking of the sea in its ebb and flood. He is the father of the dises of the sun and moon, who make their celestial journeys according to established laws; and, finally, he is the origin of the holy fire; he is father of Heimdall, who introduced among men a systematic life in homes fixed and governed by laws. As the father of Heimdall, the Vana-god, Mundilfori is himself a Vana-god, belonging to the oldest branch of this race, and in all probability one of those "wise rulers" (vís regin) who, according to Vafþrúðnismál 39, "created Njord in Vanaheim and sent him as a hostage to the gods (the Asas)".

Whence came the clans of the Vans and the Elves? It should not have escaped the notice of the mythologists that the Teutonic theogony, as far as it is known, mentions only two progenitors of the mythological races - Ymir and Buri. From Ymir develop the two very different races of giants, the offspring of his arms and that of his feet (see No. 86) - in other words, the noble race to which the norns, Mimir and Bestla belong, and the ignoble, which begins with Þrúðgelmir. Buri gives birth to Burr (Bor), and the latter has three sons - Óðinn, Véi (Vé), and Vili (Vilir). Unless Buri had more sons, the Van- and Elf-clans have no other theogonic source than the same as the Asa-clan, namely, Burr. That the hierologists of the Teutonic mythology did not leave the origin of these clans unexplained we are assured by the very existence of a Teutonic theogony, together with the circumstance that the more thoroughly our mythology is studied the more clearly we see that this mythology has desired to answer every question which could reasonably be asked of it, and in the course of ages it developed into a systematic and epic whole with clear outlines sharply drawn in all details. To this must be added the important observation that Vei and Vili, though brothers of Odin, are never counted among the Asas proper, and had no abode in Asgard. It is manifest that Odin himself with his sons founds the Asa-race, that, in other words, he is a clan-founder in which this race has its chieftain, and that his brothers, for this very reason, could not be included in his clan. There is every reason to assume that they, like him, were clan-founders; and as we find besides the Asa-clan two other races of gods, this of itself makes it probable that Odin's two brothers were their progenitors and clan-chieftains.

Odin's brothers, like himself, had many names. When Völuspá says that Odin, in the creation of man, was assisted by Hoenir and Lodur, and when the Younger Edda (Gylfaginning 9) says that, on this occasion, he was attended by his brothers, who just before (Gylfaginning 6) are called Ve and Vili, then these are only different names of the same powers. Hoenir and Lodur are Ve and Vili. It is a mistake to believe that Odin's brothers were mythical ghosts without characteristic qualities, and without prominent parts in the mythological events after the creation of the world and of man, in which we know they took an active part (Völuspá 4, 17, 18). The assumption that this was the case depends simply upon the fact that they have not been found mentioned among the Asas, and that our records, when not investigated with proper thoroughness, and when the mythological synonymies have not been carefully examined, seem to have so little to say concerning them.

Danish genealogies, Saxo's included, which desire to go further back in the genealogy of the Skjoldungs than to Skjold, the eponym of the race, mention before him a King Lotherus. There is no doubt that Lotherus, like his descendants, Skjold, Halfdan, and Hadding, is taken from the mythology. But in our mythic records there is only one name of which Lotherus can be a Latinised form, and this name is, as Müller (Notæ ulterior ad Saxonis Hist.) has already pointed out, Lóðurr.

It has above been demonstrated (see Nos. 20, 21, 22) that the anthropomorphous Vana-god Heimdall was by Vana-gods sent as a child to the primeval Teutonic country, to give to the descendants of Ask and Embla the holy fire, tools, and implements, the runes, the laws of society, and the rules for religious worship. It has been demonstrated that, as an anthropomorphous god and first patriarch, he is identical with Scef-Rig, the Scyld of the Beowulf poem, that he becomes the father of the other original patriarch Skjold, and the grandfather of Halfdan. It has likewise been demonstrated (No. 82) that Heimdall, the personified sacred fire, is the son of the fire-producer (by friction) Mundilfori, in the same manner as Agni is the son of Mâtaricvan. From all this it follows that when the authors of mythic genealogies related as history wish to get further back in the Skjoldung genealogy than to the Beowulf Skjold, that is to say, further back than to the original patriarch Heimdall, then they must go to that mythic person who is Heimdall's father, that is to say, to Mundilfori, the fire-producer. Mundilfori is the one who appears in the Latinised name Lotherus. In other words, Mundilfori, the fire-producer, is Lóðurr. For the name Lóðurr there is no other rational explanation than that which Jacob Grimm, without knowing his position in the epic of mythology, has given, comparing the name with the verb lodern, "to blaze". Lóðurr is active in its signification, "he who causes or produces the blaze," and thus refers to the origin of fire, particularly of the friction-fire and of the bore-fire.

Further on (Nos. 90, 91, 92, 121, 123) I shall give an account of the ward of the atmosphere, Gevarr (Nökkvi, Næfr), and demonstrate that he is identical with Mundilfori, the revolver of the starry firmament. All that Saxo tells about Lotherus is explained by the character of the latter as the chieftain of a Vana-clan, and by his identity with Mundilfori-Gevarr. As a chieftain of the Vans he was their leader when the war broke out between the Asas on the one side, and the Vans and Elves on the other. The banishment of Odin and the Asas by the Vans causes Saxo to say that Lotherus banished from the realm persons who were his equals in noble birth (nobilitate pares), and whom he regarded as competitors in regard to the government. It is also stated that he took the power from an elder brother, but spared his life, although he robbed him of the sceptre. The brother here referred to is not, however, Odin, but Hænir (Véi). The character of the one deposed is gentle and without any greed for rule like that by which Hoenir is known. Saxo says of him that he so patiently bore the injustice done him that he seemed to be pleased therewith as with a kindness received (ceterum injuriæ tam patiens fuit, ut honoris damno tanquam beneficio gratulari crederetur). The reason why Hoenir, at the outbreak of the war with the Asas, is deposed from his dignity as the ruler of Vanaheim and is succeeded by Lodur, is explained by the fact that he, like Mimir, remained devoted to the cause of Odin. In spite of the confused manner in which the troubles between the Asas and Vans are presented in Heimskringla, it still appears that, before the war between the Asas amid Vans, Hoenir was the chief of the latter on account of an old agreement between the two god-clans; that he then always submitted to the counsels of the wise Mimir, Odin's friend; that Mimer lost his life in the service of Odin, and that the Vans sent his head to Odin; and, finally, that, at the outbreak of the feud with the Asas and after the death of Mimir, they looked upon Hoenir as unqualified to be their judge and leader. Thus Lodur becomes after Hoenir the ruler of Vanaheim and the chieftain of the Vans, while the Vans Njord, Frey, and the Elf Ull, who had already been adopted in Asgard, administer the affairs of the rest of the world. To the mythical circumstance, that Hoenir lost his throne and his power points also Völuspá, the poem restoring to the gentle and patient Vana-god, after the regeneration, the rights of which he had been robbed, þá kná Hænir hlautvið kjósa (str. 64). "Then Hoenir becomes able to choose the lot-wood," that is to say, he is permitted to determine and indicate the fortunes of those consulting the oracle; in other words, then he is again able to exercise the rights of a god. In the Eddas, Hoenir appears as Odin's companion on excursions from Asgard. Skáldskaparmál, which does not seem to be aware that Hoenir was Odin's brother, still is conscious that he was intimately connected with him and calls him his sessi, sinni, and máli (Skáldskaparmál 22). During the war between Asas and Vans, Frigg espoused the cause of the Vans (see No. 36); hence Loki's insulting words to her (Lokasenna 26), and the tradition in Heimskringla (Ynglingasaga 3), that Vilir and Vei took Frigg to themselves once when Odin was far away from Asgard.

Saxo makes Lotherus fall at the hands of conspirators. The explanation of this statement is to be sought in Mundilföri-Gevarr's fate, of which, see Nos. 91, 123.

Mundilfori's character seems at least in one respect to be the opposite of Hoenir's. Gylfaginning 11 speaks of his ofdramb, his pride, founded, according to this record, on the beauty of his children. Saxo mentions the insolentia of Lotherus, and one of his surnames was Dulsi, the proud. See No. 89, where a strophe is quoted, in which the founder of the Swedish Skilfing race (the Ynglings) is called Dulsa konr, Dulsi's descendant. As was shown above in the account of the myth about Scef, the Skjoldungs, too, are Skilfings. Both these branches of the race have a common origin; and as the genealogy of the Skjoldungs can be traced back to Heimdall, and beyond him to Mundilfori, it must be this personality who is mentioned for his ofdramb, that bears the surname Dulsi.

With Odin, Véi-Hænir and Vili-Lóðurr-Mundilföri have participated in the shaping of the world as well as in the creation of man. Of the part they took in the latter act, and of the importance they thereby acquired in the mythical anthropology, and especially in the conceptions concerning the continued creation of man by generation and birth, see No. 95.