Frigg

Queen of Asgard

Frigg is the highest of the Aesir goddesses and wife of Odin, queen of Asgard and patron of marriage, motherhood, and the home. In the poem Grímnismál she sits beside Odin on his high seat Hlidskjalf, from which all the worlds can be seen. Though she knows the fates of all things, she keeps her foreknowledge silent.

Her name comes from Proto-Germanic Frijjō, "beloved" or "wife," from a root meaning "to love." That same root gives Friday — "Frigg's day" — though the goddess is sometimes confused with Freya in the historical record.

Frigg's defining myth is one of grief. When her son Baldr is troubled by dreams of his own death, she travels the world extracting an oath from every thing — fire, water, metal, stone, beast, and plant — never to harm him. She overlooks only the mistletoe, thinking it too young to swear, and through that small omission Baldr is slain. Her tears for him are among the most sorrowful images in Norse myth.

Frigg's cunning shows in the poem Grímnismál, where she and Odin quarrel over which of two foster-sons, the boy-kings Agnar and Geirröd, has turned out the better ruler. Frigg accuses Geirröd of stinginess toward guests and, through a trick, has him seize and torture a disguised Odin — a rare myth in which the queen of Asgard outmaneuvers the Allfather himself.

Titles & Attendants

• Fensalir — her hall, whose name means roughly "sea-halls" or "fen-halls."
• Fulla — her handmaiden, keeper of her jewelry casket and shoes.
• Gná — her messenger, who rides the horse Hófvarpnir through sky and sea.
• Eir — a goddess of healing counted among her attendants.
• Hlidskjalf — Odin's high seat, where Frigg sits beside him in Grímnismál.
• Frigg's day — the origin of the English weekday Friday.

Common Questions