Towards the Baldur Myth - Germanic Mythology

Svava‘s father is called Eylimi. In the first volume of this work (nos. 91 and 123),
I have already given reasons why Eylimi is an epithet of Nanna‘s father. In Saxo, one
Olimarus (a Latinization of Eylimi) fights with Hithinus (a Latinization of Heðinn), and
the conflict between them has its explanation in the myth where Hödur would wed Nanna
by force.
In that poem, Svava possesses features that belong to Nanna as a moon-dis. Svava
rides with the valkyries through the atmosphere and over the sea and watches the coastal
harbors at night (reð hafnir skoða fyrri nótt, v. 26). She is margullin mær, ―the maid with
the glittering horse.‖ 68
Helgi has a comrade, Atli. In Saxo, Nanna has a foster brother, Atislus. Atislus is
a Latinization of Atli.
Helgi and Atli wage a battle against the giant, Hati. In the myth, the wolf-giant
Hati is the moon‘s pursuer, therefore Nanna‘s enemy and thereby also Baldur‘s.
Thus the entire surroundings in which we meet Helgi Hjörvardsson: his birthplace
Glasislundr, the realm he is destined to rule Röðulsvellir, his brother‘s name, his lover‘s
name and her appearing as a valkyrie riding in the atmosphere at night on a glittering
horse, his comrade, and his battle with the moon‘s foe Hati—all this refers in the most
unmistakable manner to his prototype, Baldur, as does Helgi‘s character. So too the
episode itself that the song about Helgi Hjörvardsson gathered from the myth, namely
Hedin‘s love for his brother‘s wife inflamed by a sorceress, the complications that arise,
and the resolution which follows.
Helgi is described with an idealism that has no parallel in any other Germanic
people‘s heroic sagas, although they do not lack ideal figures. It pains him to hear uncivil
talk. He does justice to even his enemies‘ good qualities. Although he is a warrior, he
regrets all feuds that do not have valid causes. He smoothes over and forgives what
others do to him, and dying, he bids Svava to give her love to Hedin, who attempted to
take her from him by force.
Helgi is tall and handsome like Baldur. Long was he þögull, taciturn. The same
might have been said of Baldur. In a verse in Bjarkamál, þögull is used as an epithet of
Baldur in the formulaic expression: varði hann Baldr þögli: ―Save him, Baldur the
silent!‖ 69 Hedin, like his prototype Hödur, is a hunter. During a hunt, he meets a sorceress
who solicits him, but is rejected. For revenge, she inspires the evil thought in him to
possess his brother‘s wife. That such a meeting was also spoken of in the myth about
Baldur and Hödur is corroborated by what Saxo says of Hotherus, of what Hávamál
relates in circumstances that shall be presented below, by what Sörla Þáttr says about
Hedin‘s meeting with Gandul, and by the myth about Hödur‘s Indo-European prototype,
Keresaspa (see above).
Hedin is gripped by regret and goes into voluntary exile. In Saxo, Hotherus-Hödur
proceeds to the Finns and the Bjarms, who in the Danish historical documents are the
historical equivalents of the giants, and he, in his conflict with Baldur and the other Aesir,
gets an advisor whom Saxo calls Helgo of Halogaland. This can be none other than
68 The text of Codex Regius indeed reads margullin. (Sæmundar Edda hins fróða, Sophus Bugge, p. 175).
The modern emended form is marggullin, meaning ―much-golden.‖ However, this is a conjectured form,
not attested to in other texts (Glossary to the Poetic Edda, LaFarge/Tucker).
69 Skáldskaparmál 45.