Stephanie Marie Uhranowsky In Norse mythology, the Jötunn are a race of giants who are generally seen as malevolent and vicious and who represent the primary adversaries of the gods, deities divided into two groups - the Aesir and Vanir. The distinction between Aesir and Vanir is relative, for the two are said to have made peace, exchanged hostages, intermarried, and reigned together after a prolonged war.
Skaði is a Giantess, a Jötunn, from the Norse Pantheon. Sometimes referred to as Snowshoe-Goddess or Lady of the Snowshoes. She is the daughter of the Giant Þjazi (Thiazi,Thjazi) and wife of God Njord. Depending on the source, the length of their marriage was debatable. In some sources, it is suggested that the two ultimately separated and that Skadi returned to Thrymheim. In others, Skaði and Njord continued their union until the twilight of the gods.
Despite being a Giantess, she was accepted by the Gods of Asgard after marrying Njord. Goddess by marriage, Skadi was traditionally counted among the Æsir, as evidenced by poetic kennings that describe her as a goddess and by various lists of Ásynjur (female Aesir) throughout Skáldskaparmál that include her name.
Skaði was best known in conjunction with her husband (Njord) and her step-children (Freyr and Freyja) <- Explanation further down. However, her attested affiliation with hunting and hunters suggests that she may, at one time, have been a more important figure than the surviving literature suggests.
Skaði resides in her father’s grand hall - Thrymheim. Odin once described this home as the “ancient court” and Skaði as the shining bride of the Gods. She is of the wilderness, living and hunting in the highest reaches of the mountains, where the snow never melts. She’s an avid huntress, and her bow, snowshoes, and skis are her most often-mentioned attributes. Skadi is seen to be more benevolent than the rest of her Giant kin. She is considered a mysterious figure, with a masculine name and similarities to the God Ullr.
Thrymheim the sixth is named,
where Thiassi dwelt,
that all-powerful Jötun;
but Skadi now inhabits,
the bright bride of the gods,
her father’s ancient home.
Edda Saemundar
WHERE CAN SHE BE FOUND?
Mention of Skaði can be found in the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, in Heimskringla (a collection of sagas about Swedish and Norwegian kings written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson c. 1230), and in the works of the skaldic poets.
In addition to the accounts above, Skaði plays a small role in other important tales. For example, she figures into some versions of the Skírnismál, which describes Freyr's yearning for the giantess Gerd. In it, Skadi prompts the god's servant (Skirnir) to involve himself in assuaging his master's heart-sickness. More significantly, Skadi is also involved in the events following Balder's death. After Loki orchestrates the murder of the beloved god, he is punished by being bound to a rock beneath the world with the entrails of his son. Skaði’s other great appearance in the lore happens around the subduing and binding of Loki. The giantess had never forgotten how Loki caused the death of her father, and in retribution, she is the one who places the venomous snake above his head, where it is intended to drip poison onto his face for eternity.
THE MARRIAGE OF NJORD AND SKAÐI
This tale begins where the kidnapping of Idun (Idunn, Iduna) ends. Idun is the goddess of spring and rejuvenation (immortality), wife of Bragi, the god of poetry. She was the keeper of the magic apples of immortality, which the gods ate to preserve their youth.
Loki had tricked Þjazi into kidnapping the goddess Iðunn, and in winning her back, the mighty giant was slain, leaving his only heir, Skaði in charge of his domain. Skadi was furious and determined to avenge the death of her father. She took her weapons and stormed the citadel of Asgard demanding either revenge or compensation. The gods were aware of Skadi's ferociousness. Taken aback at her brazen courage, the gods confer and decide her request is just.
Skaði’s reparations come in three parts. The first is for Óðin to place the eyes of her father in the night sky as two stars to commemorate the giant's death. It is said that Odin "took Thjazi's eyes and cast them up into the heavens, and made of them two stars," ensuring that part of him would live forever. Second, the gods must make her laugh as she was broken-hearted from the death of her father and thought that she would never laugh again. After many feats were tried, none succeeded in bringing a smile to the grim face of the Giantess. At last, Loki tied one end of a rope to a goat's beard and the other end around his testicles and began a game of tug of war with the goat. Each screeched and howled in turn, until at last Loki fell over into Skadi’s lap. The Giantess couldn’t help but chuckle.
Third, she refuses to consider anything less than marriage to one of the gods as fair compensation, and the gods agree – but with one condition: she must choose her husband from among the gods by his feet alone. The terms are odd, but Skaði accepts. Her true goal was marriage to the god of beauty, Baldr, and she figured that it would be easy enough to just choose the most beautiful set of feet; however, after making her choice, Skaði looks up to find that she has instead chosen Njörðr, the god of the sea. Her initial reaction is the typical jötunn reaction – anger. She soon realizes, however, that Njörðr is a kind man, with vast wealth and a respectable realm, and Skaði accepts the match. The marriage takes place with no further argument.
Though the two attempted to make the best of their union, their differences made this difficult. Skadi's mountain homeland was too cold, bleak, and desolate for this seafaring God. Njord declared that his time in Thrymheim had been loathsome. He had been particularly dismayed by the sounds of the wolves, to which he overwhelmingly preferred the songs of the swans to which he was accustomed. And Njord's coastal abode was way too noisy, bright, and damp for his Giantess bride. The cries of the seabirds had been unbearably abrasive to her ears and she had found it impossible to sleep. As a compromise, they decided to alternate, first spending nine days in Nóatún (ship-enclosure, the place of ships), followed by nine in Thrymheim.
Snorri's Gylfaginning describes the response of the couple to this arrangement:
But when Njordr came down from the mountain back to Nóatún, he sang this lay:
Loath were the hills to me, I was not long in them,
Nights only nine;
To me the wailing of wolves seemed ill,
After the song of swans.
Then Skaði sang this:
Sleep could I never on the sea-beds,
For the wailing of waterfowl;
He wakens me, who comes from the deep
The sea-mew every morn.
Snorri Sturluson
IF SKADI SEPARATES FROM NJORD
Some lore accounts that Njord and Skadi’s marriage didn’t last long. With neither being content in one another's home, they elected to get a divorce. There are different myths as to whom Skadi ended up afterwards. Some say she got together with Ullr, others account that she married Odin and gave birth to many sons with him. Ullr is a God to whom Skaði is often married off to by modern Heathens. This is probably because both have very similar characteristics and realms – but Ullr is never attested as having a wife, and Skaði’s attested marriage to Njörðr and/or Óðin makes this an uncertain pairing without reference in the lore. In other stories, most notably the Poetic Edda, Skaði and Njörðr are still together right up until the twilight of the gods.
The euhemeristic account in the Ynglinga saga expands upon the suggestion that Njord and Skadi separated, stating that after leaving Njord (a royal hostage), she married Odin (the king). In this relationship, she bore him many sons, some of whom would allegedly go on to found a Scandinavian royal dynasty. These noble offspring were immortalized in many heroic odes, one of which is quoted in the saga itself:
"To Asa's son Queen Skade bore Saeming, who dyed his shield in gore,— The giant-queen of rock and snow, Who loves to dwell on earth below, The iron pine-tree's daughter, she Sprung from the rocks that rib the sea, To Odin bore full many a son, Heroes of many a battle won.
ASSOCIATIONS, SIGNS AND SYMBOLS
•Skis*
•Snowshoes*
•Bow and arrows/Archery
•Hunting symbols
•Goddess of the Winter season
•Harsh winter landscapes
•Darkness, cold, and death (that winter often brings in its harshness)
•Snow
•Ice
•Wild game
•Frost
•She-wolves
•Huntresses and female fighters
•The colors white and brown
•Vodka
•The rune Isa
•Justice
•Independence
•Revenge
*Skadi may not have even had snow-shoes. Some believe that the translation for snow-shoes is actually supposed to be skis.
Skadi is the personification of strength, courage, and endurance. She is renowned for her devotion to her murdered father. She is a bold and courageous character in the Norse epics. Passionate in her pursuits, especially in the pursuit of justice, Skadi is determined to live how she wants and not be told how by the gods of Asgard. She is esteemed as a huntress and is known as the "Snowshoe Goddess" for her connection to the frozen wilderness. Because of her association with winter, she may also be tied to darkness, cold, and death. The frequency within her historical worship seems to suggest that she has a more benevolent demeanor than most of her kin (other giants), perhaps in a capacity as a patroness of winter subsistence activities.
SKAÐI MUSINGS
Skaði is a goddess associated with independence and self reliance – especially for women. Do you love the wilderness? Are you fond of solitude? Enjoy outdoor/winter recreation? Then Skaði may resonate well with you.
All relationships are a constant negotiation and adjustment and Skaði’s marriage to Njörðr provides an example for humans to follow. Not everyone is made for homemaking and sappy romances. Skaði’s love story is one of compromise and independence. Both partners spend time in one another’s realms, and also alone doing their own things. Rather than being a cause for doubt and jealousy, this arrangement seems to keep the couple together (in the lore that supports their ongoing marriage).
Skaði is also part of a symbolic, seasonal relationship. Her husband is a god of prosperity, commerce, and the trade that occurs within a sea harbour. Most sea-fairing vessels wouldn’t have made Winter voyages, due to the ice and storms, and so Skaði represents the closing down of trade for the season in which harbour water’s freeze over, and switching to other concerns.
In a "gender-bending" move, the giantess took it upon herself to visit Asgard and demand vengeance for her father's death. Furthermore, she was affiliated with stereotypically male pursuits of tracking and hunting. She stands on a level playing field with her male counterparts. She doesn’t back down when it comes time to getting what she is owed.
It is believed by some mythologists that in the early days of Norse mythology, Skaði was venerated as a goddess of the hunt, and rivaled the goddesses Frigg and Freyja in terms of significance and popularity. However, she seems to have faded into the background during the progression of Scandinavian beliefs, and little of her memory survives in lore or artifacts. Despite this fact, it is noted that:
Skaði is made to boast [in the mythic corpus] of her temples and sanctuaries. A number of place names, particularly in eastern Sweden, are believed to represent an original Skađavé (Skadi's temple), Skađalundr (Skadi's grove) and the like.
Both of these factors provide support for the theory of Skadi's importance.
CONCLUSION
If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed this lesson on Skaði, Giantress turned Goddess, Lady of Winter, Ruler of the Mountains, Devoted Daughter, Justice Seeker, and all-around BAD ASS.