Freya

The tale of Freya

Freya is the most famous goddess of the North: goddess of love and beauty, of gold and of war, of fertility and of seiðr, the deep magic of seeing and shaping fate. She did not start among the Æsir of Asgard. She belongs to the Vanir, an older family of gods of nature and plenty. After a long war between the two families, peace was made with an exchange of hostages, and Freya came to Asgard with her father Njörd and her twin brother Freyr. She brought her magic with her, and she taught it to Odin himself.

She rides in a chariot pulled by two great cats, or on her golden-bristled boar Hildisvíni. She owns a cloak of falcon feathers that lets whoever wears it fly, and Loki borrows it more than once. Her husband Óðr wanders far away, and Freya searches the world for him, weeping tears of red gold.

Brísingamen

Her greatest treasure is the necklace Brísingamen, the "flame jewel". One telling says Freya found four dwarves forging it in a cave, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. They would not sell it for gold or silver. They asked for one night with the goddess each, and Freya agreed. Loki saw it all and told Odin, and Odin sent him to steal the necklace. Loki turned into a flea, crept into her locked bower and bit her cheek, and when she turned in her sleep he unhooked the clasp. Freya got it back, but only by agreeing to start a war between two kings that would last until the end of the world.

Half of the slain

When warriors fall in battle, not all of them go to Odin. The valkyries bring half of the slain to Valhalla, and Freya takes the other half to her own hall Fólkvangr, the "field of the people". She chooses first. As the game's Freya says, Odin may keep the ones who complain.

The giants want her more than any other goddess. One builds the wall of Asgard and asks for Freya as payment. Another steals Thor's hammer and asks for her as his bride. Each time the gods find a way out, and Freya stays.

Freya in Battle of Myths

Freya is a cost 3 Norse hero with two aspects. As the Seiðr Witch (mystic and mage) she casts Seiðr, healing the two most wounded allies and quickening their attacks. In her Falcon Cloak (hunter and mystic) she makes a Falcon Strike against the farthest enemy and attacks faster afterwards. Like every Norse hero, she grows stronger with Ragnarök the longer a fight lasts.

Did you know?

• Friday is often linked to her, though it may come from Frigg, Odin's wife. The two goddesses are easy to confuse.
• In Iceland and Scandinavia many plants and stars once carried her name, and the constellation of Orion's belt was called Frigg's or Freya's distaff.