Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

confirmation, then we have it immediately at hand in the manner in which the word is
applied in the continuation of the paraphrase adapted to Hakon. A common paraphrase
for the shield is the sun with suitable adjectives, and thus rauðbrík is applied here. The
adjective phrase is here Hlakkar móts, "of the meeting of the war-goddess" (that is,
qualifying the red disk), whereby the red disk (= sun), which is an attribute of the mythic
rækir of the background, is changed to a shield, which becomes an attribute of the
historical rækir of the foreground, namely Hakon jarl, the mighty warrior. Accordingly,
rauðbríkar rækir of the mythology must be a masculine divinity standing in some
relation to the sun.
This sun-god must also have been upon the whole a god of peace. Had he not
been so, but like Hakon a war-loving shield-bearer, then the paraphrase hlakkar móts
rauðbríkar rækir would equally well designate him as Hakon, and thus it could not be
used to designate Hakon alone, as it then would contain neither a nota characteristica 12
for him nor a differentia specifica 13 to distinguish him from the mythic person, whose
epithet rauðbríkar rækir he has been allowed to borrow.
This peaceful sun-god must have descended to the lower world and there stood in
the most intimate relation with the ásmegir referred to the domain of Mimir, for he is
represented here as their chief and leader in the path of piety and the fear of the gods. The
myth must have mentioned a sacrificial feast or sacrificial feasts celebrated by the
ásmegir. From this or these sacrificial feasts, the peaceful sun-god must have derived
advantage and honor, and thereupon the earth must have regained a fertility, which before
had been more or less denied it.
From all this, it follows with certainty that rauðbríkar rækir of the mythology is
Baldur. The fact suggested by the Vellekla strophe analyzed above, namely, that Baldur,
physically interpreted, is a solar divinity, the mythological scholars are almost a unit in
assuming to be the case on account of the general character of the Baldur myth. Though
Baldur was celebrated for heroic deeds, he is substantially a god of peace and, after his
descent to the lower world, he is no longer connected with the feuds and dissensions of
the upper world. We have already seen that he was received in the lower world with great
pomp by the ásmegir, who impatiently awaited his arrival, and that they sacrifice to him
that bright mead of the lower world, whose wonderfully beneficial and bracing influence
shall be discussed below. Soon afterwards, he is visited by Hermod. Already before
Baldur's funeral pyre, Hermod upon the fastest of all steeds hastened to find him in the
lower world (Gylfaginning 49), and Hermod returns from him and Nanna with the ring
Draupnir for Odin, and with a veil for the goddess of earth, Fjörgyn-Frigg. The ring from
which other rings drop, and the veil which is to beautify the goddess of earth, are symbols
of fertility. Baldur, the sun-god, had for a long time before his death been languishing.
Now, in the lower world, he is strengthened with the bracing mead of Mimir's domain by
the ásmegir who gladly give offerings, and the earth regains her green fields.
12 a disinquishing characteristic.
13 a specific difference.