Gullveig is a female figure in Norse mythology associated with the legendary conflict between the Æsir and Vanir. In the poem Völuspá, she came to the hall of Odin (Hár) where she is speared by the Æsir, burnt three times, and yet thrice reborn. Upon her third rebirth, she began practicing seiðr and took the name Heiðr. Gullveig/Heiðr is solely attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material. Scholars have variously proposed that Gullveig/Heiðr is the same figure as the goddess Freyja, that Gullveig’s death may have been connected to corruption by way of gold among the Æsir, and/or that Gullveig’s treatment by the Æsir may have led to the Æsir–Vanir War.
Appearance List Vǫluspá (c. 10th century) by Anonymous — appears in the Æsir–Vanir war passage; Poetic Edda (c. 1270 CE); The Elder or Poetic Edda (1908) [Internet Archive]; Teutonic Myths and Legends (1912) by Donald A. Mackenzie [Internet Archive]; Myths of the Norsemen from the Eddas and Sagas (1909) by H. A. Guerber; The Children of Odin (1920) by Padraic Colum [Internet Archive]; The Poetic Edda (1923) trans. Henry Adams Bellows; The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology (1954) trans. Jean I. Young.
Sample Read The Children Of Odin by Padraic Colum, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1920) [Internet Archive]
Description Gullveig is a female figure in Norse mythology associated with the legendary conflict between the Æsir and Vanir. In the poem Völuspá, she came to the hall of Odin (Hár) where she is speared by the Æsir, burnt three times, and yet thrice reborn. Upon her third rebirth, she began practicing seiðr and took the name Heiðr. Gullveig/Heiðr is solely attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material. Scholars have variously proposed that Gullveig/Heiðr is the same figure as the goddess Freyja, that Gullveig’s death may have been connected to corruption by way of gold among the Æsir, and/or that Gullveig’s treatment by the Æsir may have led to the Æsir–Vanir War.
