Episode 329: Frigga
/She’s the Queen of the Asgard, highest ranking goddess of the Aesir, and overall badass lady, it’s Frigga! Learn about her squad of goddesses, her magic box, and her confusing glimpses of the future on our newest It’s Norse, Of Course.
Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of misogyny, death, war, conquering, torture, impaling, and bugs/infestation.
Housekeeping
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Transcript
AMANDA: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. Every week we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda.
JULIA: And I'm Julia.
AMANDA: And this is Episode 329, all about Frigga.
JULIA: Yeah. So Amanda, here's the thing. So far we've covered Odin, we've covered Balder, and we're leaning pretty heavily on the men of the Norse pantheon. But we're also premiering this during international women's month. So like, what about the ladies, you know, what about the ladies.
AMANDA: That's true. I would—I will say, Julia, this is not a podcast that overlooks women, as a pattern.
JULIA: Are you sure?
AMANDA: Yes. Even though a lot of our subject matter does cover ancient mythology and folklore, which, you know depending on where you're at, might be a little male-dominated. So I'm—I'm excited that we can make sure that we are covering Gods of all genders, but especially the women during this Women's History Month.
JULIA: Yeah. And that's why it seems fitting to focus this week on the queen of Asgard, the wife of Odin, and the highest-ranking Goddess of the Aesir, Frigga.
AMANDA: Let's do it.
JULIA: So you might recognize that name from previous episodes of It's Norse, Of Course. As I mentioned, she's the wife of Odin and also the mother of Balder and Hodor, she is the Goddess of motherhood and childbirth, marriage and love, which given the fact that she is kind of positioned as a mother and wife in Norse mythology, makes a lot of sense. Again, you know, obviously, women are more than wives and mothers, everyone out here. But you know, in terms of where she fits in the pantheon of Norse mythology, it makes a lot of sense for her dominion to be this kind of like motherhood, childbirth, marriage, and love.
AMANDA: You know, we are more than— than childbirth and love, but some of us are about childbirth and love. So like, you know that's—that's third-wave feminism, baby.
JULIA: Yeah, we can accept all the ways that people live, and that's fine. That's fine. Yeah, that's what it's about, ladies get to choose what their lives are.
AMANDA: Here's the thing, until your choices harm me, how—how can we show you do?
JULIA: Exactly, exactly, it's fine. So her name Amanda quite literally comes from the verb to love, which is Frigga, and we get our word Friday from her name, which is Friggs Day. And among the Norse people, it made Friday, a very popular day to get married as it would already like bless the union because it was done on the love and marriage Goddesses day.
AMANDA: That's pretty great. Julia, you recently went to a wedding on a Monday? How would you say that vibe blesses their union?
JULIA: It blesses their union because it was very intimate and nice, and there was only like 50 people. It was just like a very, like low-key scaled-down wedding, and I loved that for them. It was honestly like, besides your wedding, the best wedding I had been to in a long while, so.
AMANDA: Oh, thank you. I do think that saving money by booking a venue on a Monday, there's no better way to really start a marriage, if—if you ask me.
JULIA: The only problem that we had with that wedding was several of our friends have kids and they're like, no babysitters are available on Monday nights. So like one half of each couple kind of stayed home, which was a little bit like you're like, no, we missed them. But at the same time, we're like, I'm glad at least one of you got to come, you know?
AMANDA: I get it, I get it. But yeah, I had no idea that this is where Friday was from. Which I mean shouldn't shock me given that we have Bowden's day for Wednesday, but here we are.
JULIA: And Thursday for Thor's day. But we'll get to that eventually down the line. So it is worth noting just before we kind of get into the thick of the episode that sometimes in Norse mythology and studies, Frigga is confused with or synchronized with the Goddess Freyja, which is something we'll touch on more when we cover Freyja in the future. But I want to stress that they're not the same character even though they do share some of the same traits and may have been derived from the same Goddess which is the Germanic figure of Freyja, at the same time that is kind of contested by some scholars. Some scholars believe that might be the origin, some scholars are like no, no, they're different. So keep, you know, like a little bit of a grain of salt when it's coming to this episode being like, oh, you know, if you are familiar with Norse mythology and you hear something that you're like, that I think might be Freyjaa, not Frigga, it's because sometimes they're used interchangeably depending on the sources.
AMANDA: Interesting. So this isn't like a kind of Minerva, Athena, like one to one situation?
JULIA: Yes, because there are several stories that feature both Frigga and Freyja, which is interesting. Which you don't get with the kind of translation from Greek to Roman with Athena to Minerva and vice versa.
AMANDA: You know, people saw them in the same room once Julia, and that proves they're not secretly pulling a farce on us.
JULIA: That proves that it's true. And it's also you know, a lot of times it's a translation issue because again, the names are very similar, and they might have derived from the same Etymology and stuff like that. But it's important to know different characters have some of the same traits or similar traits, but entirely different in terms of where they fall within the Norse pantheon.
AMANDA: Make sense.
JULIA: Amanda, Frigga, is of course as Queen of Asgard, featured in many stories, both in Norse mythology and Germanic mythology as well. And that includes, of course, our Poetic and Prose Edda's, which we've talked about before. However, unlike Odin, she doesn't really have much of like an origin story. She's only really introduced in the Prose and Poetic Edda's, as the wife of Odin.
AMANDA: Sure.
JULIA: But that doesn't mean that she's like, just kind of fit into this role of oh, she's just the wife and nothing else. Like we kind of talked about Balder's wife, Nanna in the Balder episode, and she was like her one story is she's the wife of Balder and that's it, not the case with Frigga. She like her husband is clever and wise to the point where in some story, she's able to outwit Odin, the god of wisdom himself which is, I don't know about you, one of my personal favorite tropes, which is like when you have someone who is extremely intelligent and wise, but at the same time, their spouse is able to like outpace them, that is one of my favorite like tropes, especially when you meet the spouse later on. And you're like wow, that—that character is so smart and brilliant, and their spouse comes in, and they're just like, haha, you dummy.
AMANDA: I do really like that, especially when there are different kinds of wisdoms, and somebody might be, you know, really successful in the boardroom. And then their spouse knows much more about, you know, one of the many other areas of life that counts. And maybe that's what's going on with Odin and Frigga.
JULIA: Yeah, it's a real like, you know, street smarts versus book smarts situation that I really, really love then. Part of the reason that Frigga is able to keep up with the God of Wisdom is the fact that she is a Volvo, which we talked about in the Odin episode. That's a cirrus like someone who can see into the future, and is able to see the fate of all, Much like Odin is always in search of more knowledge, and it's kind of burdened by the knowledge of the future of the Aesir and the Vanir, and the coming of Ragnarok, Frigga is able to like see glimpses of the future as well. But she's not all seeing in the way that Odin kind of is. And we see a little bit of that featured in the story of Balder and his death, where she can see the outcome of Balder is maybe going to die, I can see that in my visions, or I can interpret that through the dreams that he is having. But she wasn't able to necessarily see how things were going to happen, or the ultimate end of those things.
AMANDA: Make sense.
JULIA: You're probably thinking to yourself, both Amanda and our conspirators who are listening to this episode. Julia Odin had to sacrifice a lot in order to see the future that he saw. He lost his eye, he hung from the World Tree, how is Frigga able to see these things without a similar sacrifice? A great question. Thank you for asking it, hypothetically.
AMANDA: You know, Julia, I can't take credit here because I didn't even wonder that at all.
JULIA: Well, in case our listeners were wondering as well, the reason is Frigga practices a magic called Seidr, which is basically an Old Norse magic that gives her some ability of divination. And with that power, she does her best to kind of influence events, which, you know, we've talked about this a lot in recent episodes, particularly when we were talking about the story of Oedipus. And the idea of like, can you change fate, knowing what the future is actually supposed to hold? And a lot of stories about Frigga kind of focus on those themes. So I think it's really interesting that you know, across all mythology, we have these ideas that oh, if you could see the future, would you be able to change things? And the answer is usually no.
AMANDA: Yeah, no, it's true especially because it sounds like Frigga only has a sort of vague idea of what's to come like it's some divination, it's some looking into the future and she does with that what she can. Versus Odin has a very clear idea as to what is going to happen and knows that nothing he can do can change it. So it's— it's interesting to have those two kinds of abilities and how prone they are to try to do something about it, almost like reversed.
JULIA: Yeah. And because they are such a good match in this mythology, I think it really does kind of show like the inevitability and the weight of Ragnarok is such a burden to Odin. And Frigga's burden is she knows little hints of the future, and when she tries to change it, it doesn't quite work out. So I love that these are like kind of the two instances and the two burdens of being able to see the future just colored differently. I'll talk a little bit more about this kind of divination power in a later episode because Freyja is actually one of the Norse gods as defined by the use of this magic, so we'll talk about it a little bit more when we feature Freyja in a later episode. But Frigga as the wisest of the Goddesses and the wife of Odin, she is the only other god that is allowed to climb onto the high throne of Odin, which is [10:15] where one can see and view the entire cosmos.
AMANDA: Wow.
JULIA: Isn't that so cool, like imagine that. Man, it's like, it's so high up that you can see all of the branches of the World Tree, you can see the entire cosmos itself. And there's a story later, where they're just like hanging out on the throne together and checking out what's going on in the cosmos.
AMANDA: That's really cute, and that is another trope too, in Rom-com, and then romance books where it's like, oh, don't go into his office, he's always so you know, standoffish. And then like this is the one sort of cinnamon roll who can go in there or go into a special car ride, or like see a special spot and make it actually work.
JULIA: I was thinking that you were gonna say something of the effect of in a lot of rom coms and romance novels, there's always like a moment where like, we're going to stare at the stars together and we're going to fall madly in love while we're under a starry sky.
AMANDA: I mean also that.
JULIA: Also that you know. Even though they don't have a romance in this like we don't see how they get together. I feel like they do have a bit of a like rom-com, not like enemies to-lovers situation, but rather like the–anything you can do, I can do better. Any Oakley situation, which I really, really like.
AMANDA: Totally Julia, we got a new dive bar in our neighborhood recently, which were both kind of [11:25]. This one has pickle juice on top and a Bloody Mary bar which is very exciting.
JULIA: Yes.
AMANDA: And like a self-serve salad bar for like garnishes.
JULIA: Incredible.
AMANDA: And the bathroom paper at any Oakleys. And I took a picture to send to you.
JULIA: Please— incredible, I love it so, so much. So speaking of one falling in love under the stars, and also the cosmos and the sky, Frigga is associated with the sky itself. And she's usually shown in artwork wearing a large blue cape that represents her connection to it, which style.
AMANDA: Tight.
JULIA: Love it. We love that style. As we've discussed, all the gods kind of have their own halls, and Frigga of course is no exception. Her home is called Fensalir, which is the hall of the marshlands, which honestly, I love that for her. All the other guides that we've seen so far are like oh the glimmering hall, oh all this like kind of gaudy stuff. But hers is just like so down-to-earth and chill, and I love that for her. Amanda, if you had a hall you know if you got to as—as the Goddess that you are if you got to have a hall that you could bring people to when they died or what have you, what would the like theme of your hall be?
AMANDA: Okay, I'm—first instinct here would be a great like Beauty and the Beast style library.
JULIA: Of course.
AMANDA: But I think that might be a little intimidating. and is honestly not where I feel most at home. I think the answer would be like greenhouse or like a sunroom. Something with like a beautiful kind of filtered light, lots of plants, maybe some wicker furniture, a nice like little pitcher of lemonade. And I'm like, come on, come on. Sit down, let's talk about it.
JULIA: That's incredible.
AMANDA: Thank you.
JULIA: I think for mine, I would want kind of like a— like a temple on a beach kind of situation with like a long big banquet hall. And then the one side of it opens up onto the water and it's like, you know, glimmering sunrises and sunsets across the water, and that would— that would be my perfect hall. I don't know what that would translate to into Old Norse, but I—I dig it.
AMANDA: I think it's a really nice question.
JULIA: Oh, thank you. Listeners, tell us what your hall would be. I want to hear about them.
AMANDA: Me too.
JULIA: So Frigga also is often shown besides her large beautiful blue capes, she's also shown holding a special ashes in like an ash tree box, that is called an eski. Though the contents of the box mysteriously unknown, we don't know. We just don't know what's in the box, but she always has the box.
AMANDA: That is pretty impressive. It feels like so rare that you wouldn't actually say that or somebody would make it up. I mean that's Pandora's box, right? Like—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: —there's human urge to open the box is almost overwhelming, so I think that's pretty dope.
JULIA: Yeah. And I'm not sure if that's like just a, you know, stories, we never got the translation of what was actually inside the box, or the stories of what's in the box were lost to us. Or if it was just like, the Norse people were like, something's in that box, we don't know. God stuff, I guess.
AMANDA: If it's that last scenario you described, mad respect because I am the kind of person who's like, aaah let's open it. Julia, what's in the box? [14:33]
JULIA: Oh Amanda, you and Pandora, best friends.
AMANDA: Listen, I know myself. I know myself well enough to know that I would be opening that box the moment I was left alone with it.
JULIA: There you go. One of the things that I love about Frigga as well, she has this like entourage of minor Goddesses that are her buddies and stuff, like of course she's associated with her two children, which are Balder and Hodor. And she is said to dote on them, and is a wonderful mother and of course, she is a loving wife. Though in some story, she's like a little bit like promiscuous and like it's not like exclusive to Odin which I'm just like, alright, girl, I see it. Shout out to like letting your Goddess of love and marriage and motherhood like you know, do what she wants to do.
AMANDA: Yeah, pretty, pretty atypical. Not my back, but like, go on enjoy yourself.
JULIA: Exactly, exactly. You know, like, I don't like to make a lot of comparisons to the Greeks when we're talking about entirely different pantheon. But if you look at like the separation between Aphrodite, and the separation between Hera who specifically marriage for Hera and love for Aphrodite, they couldn't be more different.
AMANDA: Right.
JULIA: But in the combination that is Frigga, you know, she is both a doting mother, a loving spouse, and also you know, does what's best for her.
AMANDA: Nice.
JULIA: And I love that for her.
AMANDA: It's good to have different examples in mythology.
JULIA: Exactly, exactly. So going back to her squad though her you know, entourage basically of minor Goddesses. The most important of these minor Goddesses is her waiting-made Fulla. Who Fulla is kind of defined by the fact that she wears this beautiful golden band. She is Frigga's chief confidant, you know, Frigga tells Fulla all of her secrets, and she is also the one that looks after Frigga's eski, the secret box. And so in any sort of art where they're both featured, Fulla is holding the box for Frigga being like, if you need it, here it is.
AMANDA: That's kind of the dream. I'm very much an over-prepared person. should surprise nobody listens to this podcast. So like in my bag at all times, I have you know, like Advil, Lactaid you know, a Sharpie, a pen, a phone charger, all this stuff. And it is truly the dream that I will be able to pack enough that I have literally anything I need at any given time, and I don't have to hold it so—
JULIA: Yeah.
AMANDA: I'm into it.
JULIA: Yeah. That might be what's in the eski, Amanda. I know we shouldn't like theorize within this super magical mystical box, but like, what if it's just like a bag of holding that has whatever you need at that moment?
AMANDA: Yeah, spare tunic, put spare sandals, a little snack, you know, pocket almonds, whatever you need.
JULIA: There is a note in the research where it was like, Fulla is in charge of the eski, and also Frigga's footwear. And I was like, Is there anything special about Frigga's footwear, and I couldn't find anything special about her footwear? So I'm just like, oh, she's just like in charge of the shoes. Okay. I love that. That's great.
AMANDA: Incredible. Incredible.
JULIA: There's also the Goddess Lochner, who is a gentle Goddess who was given the job by Frigga to arrange marriages between men and women that Frigga chose, like for them to become a couple, which I really liked. That's very sweet.
AMANDA: Cute.
JULIA: There is the messenger Goddess [17:36] who is a attendant to Frigga, and she rides a flying horse that she uses to travel between the worlds in order to do Frigga's bidding.
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: We love a messenger Goddess, obviously.
AMANDA: The hottest.
JULIA: Always the hottest, especially on a flying horse, Amanda, come on.
AMANDA: Come on. I mean, that's everything I wanted as a kid.
JULIA: Exactly. And then finally, there is [17:56] who is tasked with protecting all those who have attracted the attention and interest of the Queen of the Asgardians. So—
AMANDA: Okay, this is smart.
JULIA: Yes. And she's like a battle Goddess. So like, when we say protection, we're talking about, like the physical kind of protection, which I kind of love as well.
AMANDA: Dang, that's awesome.
JULIA: You're like, you're making sure that the people that I like get married, have good marriages, they— anything I need to send to them, they get and also they're protected from all harm because these are my babies.
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: We love a mom, even when it's not her biological children.
AMANDA: Yeah, they're just a really good friend. Like, hey, girl, I'll look out for you.
JULIA: Yeah, exactly. So now we're familiar with one of Frigga's most notable stories, which is the death of Balder, check our last episode for that. And just as like a quick reminder for our listeners, Frigga was Balder's mother, who through her own abilities and from deciphering the dreams of her son went out of her way to kind of solicit a promise of all things so that they would not harm Balder. But she was tricked by Loki to reveal that mistletoe was the one thing that could kill the God. And I really think just like, you know, we told the whole story from kind of the perspective of Balder and the gods as a whole, but from Frigga's perspective, this is the story of like a concerned mother going to literally the ends of the earth to ensure that her child will be safe, and that's kind of like one of the true tragedies of that story when you think about it.
AMANDA: Yeah, totally.
JULIA: Poor—poor Frigga, I'm sorry babe. But there are some other fantastic stories about Frigga in Norse mythology, and we'll get into those just as soon as we get back from our refill.
AMANDA: Let's do it.
[theme]
AMANDA: Hello, hello. Hello, welcome to the refill. Now we are recording this one a little bit in advance because Julia and I will have just spent the weekend at PAX Unplugged in Boston. Going to some of Julia's old haunts from college, and saying hello to a lot of video game nerds parenthesis (affectionate) up at PAX. So we will thank our newest patrons in the next episode, but as always, we have our supporting producer-level patrons to thank, Uhleeseeuh, Anne, Brittany, Froody Chick, Hannah, Jack Marie, Jane, Kneazlekins, Lily, Megan Moon, Nathan, Phil Fresh, Rikoelike, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Sarah, Scott, and Zazi. And our legend-level patrons, Arianna, Audra, Bex, Chibi Yokai, Clara, Ginger Spurs Boi, Morgan, Sarah, Schmitty, & Bea Me Up Scotty. What a wonderful mouthful, sounds a little bit odd. Thank you so much to those patrons for supporting us. And if you want to do something today to support Spirits, if you're like, hey, I've been meaning to support you guys for a long time. I love the podcast, I've been catching up. This cool person I know recommended it to me, etc, and you're looking for just a little bit of a—a boost, of a reason. Maybe it's that the spring equinox has just happened last week. And Julia has posted a new tarot vibe check for the host-level patrons and above. She did a tarot reading just for us, to tell us what is happening in a lovely multi-card spread. Giving us some intentions and themes and things to focus on for the season to come. These are some of my favorite moments of the year when we get to enjoy these as number three. So we will have done a whole year of these coming up pretty soon over the summer. So if you want to enjoy those and listen to this season, as well as past seasons, see how that you know mapped against what you did, then go ahead and join us at patreon.com/spiritspodcast. This week, I would like to make a recommendation which is to get coffee you like from somewhere near you and bring it with you on vacation. Now I really love cold brew iced coffee which can often come in like a growler or a pint size that you know a local coffee shop will sell it, so you can you know, put it in your fridge and like drink it at home. But I particularly love this one brand that makes cold brew bean bags. So it's like a giant tea bag basically, you can steep overnight and then have cold brew, you know in your fridge. And I find that when I go on vacation, I love to do lots of things. But I also want to keep somewhat of my routine. And so especially because we were on this trip for work, I wanted to make sure I had the thing I need to start my day right, which at this point in my life is cold brew. So now it is a new just sort of habit of mine to pack these beanbags and a thing of shelf-stable oat milk with me on vacation, especially when we're driving somewhere, it's much easier just like check something in the car. Then I always have the coffee I need to start my day off right. So that is my somewhat unorthodox recommendation for you this lovely refill. Now lots going on at Multitude as usual. And while it might be spring here on Earth, there's a lot happening up in the cosmos that I did not have any idea about until I started listening to Pale Blue Pod. This is of course an astronomy podcast for people who are overwhelmed by the universe but do want to be its friend. Where our friend and our advice from folklore expert Dr. Moiya McTier, joins her friend comedian Corinne Caputo who did get married on the Staten Island Ferry, she's the best. To demystify space, one topic at a time. By the end of each episode, which ranges from things about like how do we photograph stars, to like what's up with the moon? And how do we tell the distances between things? It's so amazing and really scratches that itch in my brain where I miss learning and I wish I had teachers as open-hearted, and lovely, and funny as Dr. Mctier and Corinne. So look for Pale Blue Pod in your podcast app right now, or go to palebluepod.space. There are new episodes every Monday. We are sponsored this week by the fabulous, the queer, the trans, Queer Candle Company. They of course make small batch soy wax candles hand-poured with love. And true story, yesterday I was burning a candle, I've had it for—I mean at this point four years, it's moved apartments with me. It was like a huge like pillar like column candle, and finally, it reached the end. And you know, I'm the kind of person who gets sentimental and sad over things like finishing a candle, it's been with me for a long time and two apartments. 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And I actually am recommended Shaker & Spoon to friend of mine who doesn't drink but does enjoy NA beverages, like they'll have you know non-alcoholic like aperitifs or beers or like you know make a mocktail at home. And I was like you know what you'd really enjoy Shaker & Spoon because they send you all kinds of very cool materials, and you know ingredients, and syrup's and also teach you techniques to make new kinds of drinks. So whether or not you're using an NA or a low alcohol spirit or maybe you're just you know, using their fancy like bergamot, you know, orange syrup with seltzer to make like a really tasty thing at home, they're an amazing business to support, and all their stuff is so high quality. But if you enjoy a cocktail like I do, you of course can also buy one bottle of that month's spirit because every box is themed around a particular spirit, and they send you all of the things you need to make 12 drinks at home. 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So I have like a little glass leaf, like a cute little Bulbasaur. You know, some like erasers in the shape of fruit and just stuff that I find really pleasant and charming and nice, because I didn't know that about myself, but I'm very impressionable and dream about the things I talked about before I fall asleep. And if those things are sad, then I'm going to be sad. So you know, listen, I'm 31 years old learning this about myself. Life is an amazing tapestry. And I learned about myself as well in therapy every dang week. And I really appreciate about BetterHelp, our sponsor this week, that if you want to do therapy online, if you need to do it in a virtual way, if you haven't tried it before, and you are like a little bit curious but need to do it in a way that's convenient. BetterHelp is there for you. You fill out a brief questionnaire and get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Discover your potential with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/spirits today to get 10% off your first month.That's betterHELP.com/spirits. And now let's get back to the show.
JULIA: So for Frigga, she is just like, you know, she's beautiful, I think of you know, fields and Marshlands under a big blue sky when I think of Frigga. We—also Amanda, this is a reminder, we have to think about what her title will be when we get to the end of this episode because—
AMANDA: Yes.
JULIA: Now we've included that and it's part of our things. So think about your Frigga alliterative title for the— the queen of the Asgardians.
AMANDA: I will, I will think about her.
JULIA: With that kind of in mind, I picked a cocktail that's called Here Comes the Sun, which is like rye whiskey, ginger syrup, lemon juice, and then like a wheat beer to kind of top it off. And I think that kind of really does encompass the imagery that I would choose for her if I was putting a cocktail together. So, Here Comes the Sun.
AMANDA: Beautiful. Yeah, she's surrounded by you know, golden fields of wheat and her lovely entourage and you know, sending favors and protection to those she loves. It sounds like a very cozy way to curl up next to her and be like, yep, I am basking in the light.
JULIA: Thank you mom, thank you Frigga, mom. Much like we talked about how Balder is associated with the Danish national origin story as you remember from that episode. Frigga is similarly associated with the origins of the Lombards, who were a Germanic people who ruled over the Italian peninsula from like the mid five hundreds to late seven hundreds. So like Lombardy in Italy is named after the Lombards, right?
AMANDA: That's the only place I have heard of them before.
JULIA: There you go. According to both the seventh century, Origo Gentis Langobardorum, or the Origin of the Tribe of the Lombards. And the work of the theologian Paul the deacon's writings from the eighth century. Frigga not only raised the Lombard tribe to their conquering status but also was responsible for naming them. And this is a really fun one because I think it kind of includes both interesting historical facts and melding it into mythology, which is absolutely my jam, my favorite thing in the world.
AMANDA: Totally.
JULIA: So according to the stories, the Lombards were originally a small Scandinavian tribe that were known as the Winnilli. The Winnilli were basically facing threats from the powerful tribe, the Vandals, which is where we get the word Vandal from.
AMANDA: No shit. I was gonna say, has there been a more on the notes name of tribes in—in ever?
JULIA: There you go. So the Vandals basically said okay, the Winnilli, you need to submit yourself as vassals and pay tribute, or otherwise, we're going to go to war with you, and we're going to conquer you.
AMANDA: Classic.
JULIA: Obviously, Winnilli not pleased with that, but also didn't take these threats lying down and told the Vandals that they would rather die free, then bend the knee to another tribe.
AMANDA: A classic hmm.
JULIA: Both tribes actually then appealed to Odin for victory in what was sure to be a bloody and long-fought war, because that's what you did back then. And the story goes that Odin gave his favor to the Vandals. But Frigga heard the call of the Winnilli and gave them her favor instead. In classic kind of Rom-com style, not wanting to start an argument with his wife, Odin said that instead of just being like, yeah, I'm gonna give my— my favor to the Vandals, he would instead give the victory to whichever army he saw first at dawn the next day, which he was sure would be the Vandals because they're like he— they're going to arrive at the battlefield first, I'll see them first. No big deal.
AMANDA: Oh, boy, oh boy.
JULIA: However, Amanda, there was a Cirrus among the Winnilli whose name was Gambara, and she was a fellow practitioner of the magical arts. So she appealed to Frigga to grant victory to her and her sons. And Frigga says, okay, here's the thing, Gambara. Odin is the one whose favor you need in order to win this war, right? But here's how you're going to get Odin's favor. You're going to return to your tribe, and have all of the women take down their hair and arrange it across their faces to look like beards and stand with their men in the field where Odin can see them first when he rises in the morning, and looks out onto the field of battle.
AMANDA: Wow, like expanding the—the footprint so he sees them first?
JULIA: Exactly. So Gambara of course, does what the Goddess asked her to do. And when the morning came the next day, all of the women of the Winnalli, stood in ranks with the men of their tribe, with their hair tied across their faces and braided to look like beards.
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: Odin looked out onto the battlefield, just as he said he would, and he asks his wife, who are these long beards? And Frigga said, rather smug away because she managed to once again outwit her husband, Odin, now that you've given them that their name, you have to give them the victory. And Odin agrees, and so the long beards became the Lombards, and they were able to defeat the Vandals and keep their freedom.
AMANDA: Incredible.
JULIA: I mean, it's such a good story, right? It's got— it's got wives tricking their husbands. It's got gender fuckery, it's got battles, it's got Gods favors, what's not to love about this story, right?
AMANDA: Nothing, dude. Love it. No notes.
JULIA: No notes, no notes whatsoever. Frigga, coming through at the end of the day being like, hey, what if these ladies looked like they were also men, had beards?
AMANDA: What if that hair that grow at the top of your head and the back of it, also grow the front.
JULIA: It's also like a thing that we still do to this day, like you know, like, you're in middle school and you're like look, I have a beard now. Oooh, I have a mustache, so.
AMANDA: Yeah, we're like dads with long hair or like, you know, their kids will like braid in front of the face, it's very funny.
JULIA: Amanda, I saw a man at the airport. I recently went down to Florida for— for listeners. And I was waiting in line at the Starbucks at JFK at 10 am in the morning, so it was like a half-hour long line.
AMANDA: Oh, yeah. Terminal five?
JULIA: Yes, Terminal five.
AMANDA: Yep.
JULIA: And there was a man who had a mask on so I couldn't see his— his whole face, obviously. But he had bald on the top of the head, like wings going back.
AMANDA: Yep, side hair.
JULIA: Yea—side hair, but he looked like a—he looked like Neil Patrick Harris playing [33:25]
AMANDA: Oh sure.
JULIA: In the Series of Unfortunate Events. And then from underneath the mask, a full like long like down to his chest braided, like rat tail beard.
AMANDA: That's a bold look.
JULIA: It was a look. And I was like, sir, who are you? What is your life? You chose this look, who are you?
AMANDA: You know, the fact that he was wearing a mask even after New York has been like what COVID, goodbye. I'm not— I'm not gonna have a word against the man.
JULIA: No, no, I just—I want to know his whole life story is my problem.
AMANDA: I do too. I notice he have like character art of himself, Like With that signature style as like his icon [34:00]
JULIA: Oh my gosh, I want it to be true.
AMANDA: Right?
JULIA: I want it to be true so bad.
AMANDA: You commit to a look that much, I think he got [34:05]
JULIA: That's like at the point where I'm just like, if I Googled you, would I be able to find a photo of you?
AMANDA: Maybe.
JULIA: Maybe besides the point, that man a modern Lombard in my opinion.
AMANDA: Indeed.
JULIA: I've got one more story of Frigga that I want to share, and this one comes from the Poetic Edda and is called the Lay of Grimnir.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: Great name, first off.
AMANDA: Yeah, it sounds like I'm muttering you know upset to myself, so I'm curious to see what the [34:31] story is.
JULIA: So one day Amanda, Odin, and Frigga are sitting on the high throne as I mentioned before, looking out onto the cosmos.
AMANDA: Classic.
JULIA: So it's so romantic, but what it leads to also romantic if that's your—your vibe and jam with your relationship.
AMANDA: Oh no.
JULIA: So while they're looking out into the cosmos, their eyes come across a king. The king's name is Geirroor, who along with his older brother Agnar, had been raised by Odin and Frigga. Odin had raised Gerirrorr, and Frigga had raised Agnar. So they had raised the two while disguised as a peasant and his wife, and taught the children their god-like wisdom while in disguise, right?
AMANDA: Okay, so they're like, oh yeah, our kids, what up?
JULIA: And they're like, oh, how they doing? And so they check in and Geirroor has returned to his father's kingdom, and he took over the crown when his father passed away. Meanwhile, Agnar has decided to spend his days with a giant test in a cave away from all other people.
AMANDA: Okay, relatable.
JULIA: Hmm, relatable. Odin on seeing how the two brothers were living, remarked to his wife, oh, well, look how good the son that I raised is doing so much better than his brother that you've raised, right?
AMANDA: That's not how raising kids works with [35:43].
JULIA: And of course, Frigga scoffs at this and she accuses King Greirroor of being a king that is so inhospitable, that he would be the kind of king that would torture his guests if he thought there were too many of them.
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: Which as we know from all mythology as a whole, and it's not just like it's a cultural thing as a whole is like, you do not break hospitality laws, right?
AMANDA: Yeah, that's really interesting. So if— if guests are oversaying their welcome if you are already filled with guests and more people come, you're kind of like, oh, God, like, what—what am I going to do here? Like turn down the water pressure? like what—how am I going to drive them out?
JULIA: Right, and but you wouldn't do that, especially as a king because you know, being hospitable is the best thing that a person can be, so—
AMANDA: Right.
JULIA: —Odin is offended by the statement that his wife has just made and disagrees, and the to decide to make a bet about just that. Where it's like, she's like, I bet If you were to go there, and you were to be a guest, he would treat you poorly.
AMANDA: Okay. Well, I bet I know what's gonna happen next.
JULIA: Before Odin can arrive in Greirroor's kingdom, Frigga sends her maid Fulla. We talked about keeper of the magic box, to get off kingdom and advises him that a magician would enter his court to enchant and bewitch him and that the king would be able to recognize him by the fact that no dog would be fierce enough to attack the magician.
AMANDA: Alright, you're—you're putting your thumb on the scale a little bit here, Frigga.
JULIA: Listen, no one said that she couldn't interfere with the—the bet here.
AMANDA: Yeah, that's—that's true.
JULIA: This, of course, was a load of nonsense. Obviously, there's no magician coming, but she does know that Odin is coming. So the king takes this false warning to heart. He tells his guards to capture any man that the dogs wouldn't attack, which they did. However, the person that they took into custody was Odin dressed up as an old man named Grimnir. So when they tried to question him and they were like, what are you doing here? What's— what's you know, Why are you here? Are you here to hurt our king? He was just like, my name is Grimnir and that's it, that's all he would say though.
AMANDA: Oh, no.
JULIA: Be like it doesn't matter who I am. I am a guest in your kingdom, my name is Grimnir.
AMANDA: Right.
JULIA: That's it.
AMANDA: What's your problem? Yeah.
JULIA: So in order to get more information from him, the king tried to have him tortured to force him to speak. Basically what he did was he lit two fires and put Odin as Grimnir in between those two fires, refuse to give him any food or water, or drink or anything like that. And forced him to do that for I believe eight nights. In a [38:16], it's a long time.
AMANDA: Hey, don't do that.
JULIA: Don't—don't do that.
AMANDA: Also. Yeah—uh god. I hate this loophole of like, well, I'm not refusing him hospitality and just treating him really badly, and torturing and detaining him, until I can like get satisfied that he's not here to kill me.
JULIA: That's being inhospitable, my guy.
AMANDA: Right. Yeah.
JULIA: Like, that's not even a loophole, you're just doing the bad thing.
AMANDA: Yeah. Like, why not just refuse him entry at that point?
JULIA: Yeah, but he was like, no, no, I must find out more information from you. So this goes on for eight nights. And then one night, the king son who's named Agnar, after his uncle, came and gave Odin, a horn to drink from saying that the king had no right to torture him, which is true. Agnar the lesser, Agnar the younger was correct in that sense. So Odin after this moment of hospitality, reveals himself to the boy and prophesizes that he will become Lord of the gods. It's not like you know, the fashion—
AMANDA: Yeah, yeah.
JULIA: Or cultural movement that the people, the gods. And so he tells the boy all about the cosmogeny of the world. It kind of goes into like some poetic monologuing as Odin is— is want to do about how great he is and everything that he's done for the nine realms and stuff like that. And so when the king comes to check on the prisoner, Odin reveals himself to him as well, and realizing his mistake, the king first bows down to Odin with his sword across his knee and then goes to free him, but as he goes to free him, he stumbles over the sword and impels himself with it.
AMANDA: Well, Julia that's a really bad day. It's a really bad day for this king.
JULIA: Yeah, he's— he's not having a good day, but you know, it's— it's a very classic mythological come up and it's right. So the son Agnar then rules in his father's place, and Odin vanishes, admitting defeat to Frigga because she truly had raised the better of the two brothers. And he had been proven wrong.
AMANDA: And then they ah hahaha, not caring, but like a kid they raised has died stupidly.
JULIA: Yeah, well, you know, sometimes you can do the best you can raising a child and they don't turn out the way that you anticipated, and then they torture you and accidentally impale themselves on their own sword.
AMANDA: You know, that happened at least once. I don't know if it's been repeated in the course of time, but that sure is a unique story.
JULIA: You know— you know, how would they say Amanda, everything happens at least twice.
AMANDA: [laughs] do they say that?
JULIA: I don't know. Maybe? So last, kind of before we decide on what title Frigga deserves here at the end of the episode, I wanted to share a little real-world example of Frigga's influence.
AMANDA: Ohh.
JULIA: There is a type of yellow bedstraw that grows through Europe and Asia, which is known as Friggs grass.
AMANDA: Hay.
JULIA: Yeah. In medieval times, it is use to stuff mattresses, because apparently, it's odor kills fleas.
AMANDA: Alright.
JULIA: Which as you can imagine, pretty big deal during medieval times.
AMANDA: I'll say.
JULIA: And it has a notable yellow flower which were used to coagulate milk in cheese making.
AMANDA: Hey, Julia huge for you.
JULIA: I know big for me. I love that. And I think that's very cool. And then its roots were also used to make red dye, and its flowers were used to make yellow dye which has some real throwback for you Amanda, Gathering Blue energy here.
AMANDA: Oh, hell yeah it does.
JULIA: If you've read the Gathering Blue, get at me in the comments. One of my favorite series of all time.
AMANDA: Yeah, we're here for you.
JULIA: And then the leaves can be used as a mild sedative, and it can be brewed into an alcoholic drink called—I believe, [41:49]
AMANDA: This plant has everything, Julia.
JULIA: It has everything. Much like Frigga, well spread out and well-rounded in many ways.
AMANDA: Exactly. You can stuff your bed, you can sedate your enemies, you can get a little bit drunk, you can make cheerful red and also yellow, and probably orange because of color theory like textiles and things. Love it.
JULIA: And cheese!
AMANDA: And most importantly, cheese.
JULIA: Always the most important. So Amanda, let's finish out this episode then brainstorming what we think Frigga's alliterative title should be. As you remember, we have Odin, the overwhelmed, I think that was it. We had Balder, the bright because this whole thing was like I'm bright and then I die.
AMANDA: Yep.
JULIA: And now what do we think for Frigga?
AMANDA: So I think if this was a, you know, typical Goddess of love, beauty, marriage, etc, I would go with like, Frigga the fair, right? Like, her beauty is not enriching and like bewitching of people. She's also decidedly unfair in her battles, and is not afraid—
JULIA: Yeah, true.
AMANDA: —to like get in there and get dirty. So a word that because I was raised in the 90s, I feel to be a little overused as feisty that— that I think is one that— that should be on the board. She's also like, surrounded by her entourage, she is all about that fair field of weeds. But again, the fairness, I'm not really for. I don't know if anything strike you.
JULIA: I think you can also go with like, Frigga the Familial?
AMANDA: Okay.
JULIA: In the sense that she— you know, is a mother to both her actual children, and also to like the people that fall under her favor. You could also like do Frigga the favored, I think it's kind of fun as well.
AMANDA: Oh, that's really good. I'm now just looking at adjectives of the word F.
JULIA: Do you like feisty, that does feel right for Frigga. She— like you know, it's funny because she has real like trickster energy, but not to the level of someone like Loki who is like the legit trickster of this pantheon. But she's not above doing a little you know, a little subterfuge, perhaps.
AMANDA: Julia, how about this one? What if we went with Frigga the free?
JULIA: Frigga the Free.
AMANDA: Because I think she is so much more than the bounds that the like motherhood and marriage Goddesses that I grew up with might imply. And she also is free to break promises, set up funny situations, and look after the people she favors just because she favors them.
JULIA: Hell yeah. You know what, I think that's our one. Let's lock it in, Frigga the Free.
AMANDA: Stamped. Frigga the Free.
JULIA: Stamp of approval, Frigga the Free.
AMANDA: Well, I am so excited to hear more about more in our It's Norse, Of Course, year-long series next time.
JULIA: Yeah. And I'm gonna give a little teaser. We've talked about him before. We've talked about him on the podcast. And while Frigga might be a bit of a trickster, the next one is the trickster.
AMANDA: Yay!
JULIA: So we will see you next time here listeners. And remember as you're free, stay creepy.
AMANDA: Stay cool.
[theme]
AMANDA: Spirits was created by Amanda McLoughlin, Julia Schifini, and Eric Schneider. With music by Kevin MacLeod and visual design by Alison Wakeman.
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JULIA: Thanks for listening to Spirits, we'll see you next week.
AMANDA: Bye.
Transcriptionist: KA
Editor: KM