Baldr, a central figure in Norse mythology, is revered as the beloved son of Odin and Frigg, whose untimely death symbolizes the fragility of balance in the cosmos. Authors such as Snorri Sturluson describe his near-invincibility, a promise made by all creation except mistletoe, a critical lapse that led to his murder by Höðr.
Matthew Arnold emphasized Baldr’s tragic resonance in English literature, while Conrad Hjalmar Nordby observed his lasting appeal as a symbol of youthful sacrifice. The theme merges mythological storytelling with broader reflections on loss, as seen in accounts of his burial and the profound sorrow of both gods and nature. This convergence highlights Baldr’s role as both a mythic archetype and a spark for deeper existential thought in literary tradition.
Baron John Francis Arundell Arundell of Wardour, Tradition, Principally with Reference to Mythology and the Law of Nations
“ Baldr, in the Scandinavian Edda, the divine prototype of Sigurd and Sigrit, is beloved by the whole world. Gods and men, the whole of nature, all that grows and lives, had sworn to his mother not to hurt the bright hero. The mistletoe alone, that does not grow on the earth, but on trees, had been forgotten, and with it Baldr was killed at the winter solstice.... ”
Charles Hardwick, Traditions, Superstitions and Folk-lore
“ Baldr. Longfellow says,—"Now the glad, leafy Midsummer, full of blossoms and songs of nightingales is come! Saint John has taken the flowers and festival of heathen Balder." It appears that Freyja, in exacting an oath from all created things never to harm this "whitest and most beloved of the gods," inadvertently overlooked one of the lightning plants. It was an arrow formed from the branch of the mistletoe, flung by the hand of the blind Hodr or Helder, with which Baldr was struck dead. Baldr, says the legend, was buried in the true Scandinavian fashion. ”
Snorri Sturluson,
The Prose Edda
(1916)
“ At morn Hermódr prayed Hel that Baldr might ride home with him, and told her how great weeping was among the Æsir. But Hel said that in this wise it should be put to the test, whether Baldr were so all-beloved as had been said: 'If all things in the world, quick and dead, weep for him, then he shall go back to the Æsir; but he shall remain with Hel if any gainsay it or will not weep.' Then Hermódr arose; but Baldr led him out of the hall, and took the ring Draupnir and sent it to Odin for a remembrance. And Nanna sent Frigg a linen smock, and yet more gifts, and to Fulla a golden finger-ring. ”
