Freya - Not Just Another Pretty Face

Who is Freya? Well, depending on which iteration of Norse mythology you believe, Freya (alternately Freyja, remember that Js sound like Ys in Scandinavian languages) is the Norse goddess of love. In the "mainland" faiths, that is to say, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, et al., Freya's aspects were merged with Frigga, the Norse Mother Goddess and Odin's wife. In Iceland primarily, Freya was her own separate and distinct deity. Freya/Frigga gives her name to Fridays (Freya's Day/Frigga's Day.)

Freya has an interesting background. The Norse gods are primarily, but not exclusively, known as Aesir, hailing from the realm of Asgard. At one point, they were embroiled in a long, fruitless war with another race of gods, the Vanir of Vanaheim. Eventually, the two formed a truce, and part of keeping that truce involved some Aesir going to live in Vanaheim, and some Vanir coming to Asgard. Freya was among them, with her father, Njordd, Norse god of the sea. Now, if I say "Norse Goddess of Love" and you think "Ursula Andress in a toga in Clash of the Titans (1980's version)," well. . . not really.

For me, Aphrodite has always seemed more of a Goddess of Lust than a Goddess of Love, more interested in couples getting together than staying together. And while Freya certainly lays claim to all the romance and sexuality of a proper Goddess of Love, she's much more complex than that. Freya was Queen of the Valkyries, beautiful warrior women who went among the slain after each battle, choosing half of them to go to Valhalla, Odin's personal afterlife. The other half they took to Folkvang, Freya's personal afterlife. Freya also welcomed into Folkvang all good women, so they could be reunited with their loves after death.Another plain difference between Freya and Aphrodite reminds me of a scene from the Iliad, the epic poem about the Battle of Troy. Aphrodite has sided with the Trojans, apparently because Helen and Paris just make such a darned cute couple, and descends upon the Greek forces with all her divine fury. Ares, who of course is partial to the Spartans and their King Agamemnon, drives Aphrodite from the field by stabbing her in the hand. Aphrodite flees back to Olympus and Zeus, and the tenor of her complaint is very much along the lines of "Daddy! Ares is bein' mean to me!"

Freya is Queen of the Valkyries, who are powerful warriors in their own right. And when the going gets tough, Freya straps a breastplate and sword over her flowing white dress and sallies forth to defend Asgard with the same power and fervor as Thor, Odin, or Tyr. Would Freya beat Tyr in battle? Well, Tyr is the Norse God of War, so Warfare is pretty much is thing, but, honestly, I think that's a bit like asking if the USS Enterprise could blow up the Battlestar Galactica, of if Han Solo could beat Malcolm Reynolds in a quick-draw duel. Impossible to say and not really relevant. Suffice it to say that Freya had her warrior aspect (like pretty much all the Norse gods did, Loki included), and was not afraid to get tough with the situation called for it.

In short, I feel that not only is Freya a compelling mythological character, but also a fantastic paradigm of femininity, and in my personal opinion the most uplifting and complete one there is. She is sexual without being a sex object, tough without being domineering, cooperative without being subservient, loving without being passive.

ERIK BJELKE