Talk:Odin

Eight legs

Regarding this edit (the citation does not work, but I expect that will be fixed soon so I will let that rest). I am a bit befuddled by the edit comment "Superfluous as it is common knowledge". Is it common knowledge that a bier or coffin is carried by four persons? My guess would have been that the number of men needed to carry such an object would vary depending on size. But my main problem is what this statement is that you fail to provide any explanation why this information is relevant, or who it is that have proposed an interpretation that Sleipnir symbolises four men carrying a bier. --Saddhiyama (talk) 16:41, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

As there has been no explanation I have reverted the changes. The citation was also spurious as it only mentioned authors last name, no title or anything else. --Saddhiyama (talk) 21:13, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

The reference was from within Wikipedia: perhaps I just didn't cut&paste correctly, although the link appeared to work when I tested it. It should be "* Ellis Davidson, H. R. (1990). Gods And Myths Of Northern Europe. Penguin. ISBN 0140136274". Certainly following the link to the Sleipnir entry would have provided an expansion of this interpretation as well as filling in omissions. As this is a communal pooling of information, perhaps editing would have been better than removing it, especially as not all of us can log on daily. Point taken about the number of pallbearers, however. I don't believe this interpretation is unique to Davidson, and it seems to be common knowledge, at least at the undergrad level. It is readily verifiable, both within the wiki and academically, so satisfies Wikipedia's criteria. The relevance is Odin's and Sleipnir's connection with death. The former's role as psychopomp had already been mentioned. I feel this needed emphasizing and certainly the description begs the question: why 8 legs? I would think further explanation would be more appropriate in the Sleipnir article. -Aikidoshi (talk) 18:12, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

• Okay, I can't edit the references for some reason. I will hold off on editing the section until I can figure that out. -Aikidoshi (talk) 18:45, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

"A Recurring Summon"

Final Fantasy is a high-profile series of computer games, and so I think it's a reasonable thing to link to here under the modern culture heading. But what does it mean that Odin is a "recurring summon" in the game? The noun is actually "a summons", but even so it doesn't make much sense. Could someone clarify with a few words what role Odin plays in the games? Can the player summon him? What for? Martin Rundkvist (talk) 20:33, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

whatever it means, I do not think its inclusion adds any value to this article. --dab (𒁳) 22:32, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

The role of Odin in the Final Fantasy series is to work as a mystical force, mainly called a summon. You can summon him in a fight to deal additional damage or even kill your enemies instantly. It depends on the number of the series what you can do. For example in FFVIII you can't summon Odin on command, it happens randomly but when it does, he kills instantly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.244.33.47 (talk) 17:19, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Needs a rewrite.

"In the compound Wednesday, the first member is cognate to the genitive Odin's."

Could someone rewrite the first paragraph so that it makes some sense. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.144.225.163 (talk) 18:53, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

I second this. This is vague at best and highly esoteric at worst. --DanielRenfro (talk) 04:03, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Mercury and Tacitus

The statements associating Odin and Mercury are confusing, and in particular the statement that Tacitus was likely referring to Odin when writing of Mercury is especially confusing. Is this claiming that Odin is based on/evolved out of the Roman god Mercury? And, it seems a bit odd to claim Tacitus was writing about Odin when he uses "Mercury." Does this mean to say that in discussing Germanic gods, Tacitus imposes the name "Mercury" on Odin because he interprets the similarities of the gods as being the result of the Germanic tribes worshiping Mercury under a different name? Otherwise, why would we suppose he is referring to Odin, when Mercury is a well-established Roman god in large part based on a Greek antecedent (Hermes)? I'm not (necessarily) doubting that good, scholarly sources have established (or at least argue) that there is a connection between Mercury and Odin, but this connection could be much more clearly established in the article. As is, it is so confusing and vague as to be unhelpful. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.191.217.208 (talk) 20:04, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Lengthy section under Prose Edda

The lengthy section under the heading Prose Edda before the heading "Prologue" appears to be misplaced. It's a broad description of Odin's attributes with little reference to the Prose Edda and some reference to other literary and archaeological sources. It either needs to be trimmed or moved. --Simon Peter Hughes (talk) 11:03, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Blot

It is interesting that slavery was practised in 9th century Sweden (and presumably elsewhere in Northern Europe at that time), and that male slaves were sacrificed on trees (compare this practice to the sacrifice of males and male slaves on trees in Benin http://www.edo-nation.net/expedition7.htm - although this Victorian photo describes the victim as a criminal, the method was also described by the Portuguese who made first contact in the 11th century. They observed males and slaves being sacrificed in the same manner.) However, my query relates to the phrase "Male slaves and males of each species were sacrificed and hung from the branches of the trees."

Could the author please clarify what is meant by 'males of each species'? Is this referring to men of the local tribe and the male slaves taken from other local tribes, or to males from aboriginals taken from the taiga (or elsewhere) as well?

In the Benin case, the sacrifices related to the use of blood and the offering of flesh to the air spirits of the Otherworld as a means for the priest-king (the Oba) to gain the power to communicate with the Otherworld and to then draw down power from it for the benefit of himself and his people. It seems likely that the practice initially obliged the sacrifice of tribal members, but later shifted to slaves and transgressors - much as was the case with South American tribes of the same period. I conjecture that in all these cases, the situation paralleled that of king Aun's sons. Once the priests had sacrificed a critical mass of tribesmen - who doubtless went willingly in a noble cause - they were stopped by the tribespeople and an alternative source of victims was sought. Slaves taken from neighbouring tribes was the solution - no need to expend members of the god's chosen/created people when non-chosen/created and therefore non-human people were on hand, and clearly put there in readiness for such a purpose. In the case of the blot, which I assume means blood, I was wondering if one of the neighbouring Swedish tribes also happened to be aboriginals. Furthering thought (talk) 07:23, 2 December 2011 (UTC)