Aesir Royal Family

Aesir Royal Family The Aesir family

This article contains lore based on real-life sources from Norse mythology as introduced from the God of War Norse era.

The Aesir Royal Family was the ruling dynasty of Aesir gods who formerly resided in Asgard.

Its most notable members were Odin, the Allfather, his younger brothers, Vili and Vé, and his sons, Thor and Baldur, whom Odin constantly sends on missions throughout the Nine Realms.

It is not known whether Bragi or Hodr are members of the Aesir Royal Family, as there is not much evidence of their relationship with Odin, for example.

History[]

All members of the Aesir Royal Family are descendants of the Primordial Jötunn, Ymir, the first sentient being to exist. The first of Ymir's descendants was Búri, who was followed by his son Borr and then by his grandsons, Odin, Vili and Vé.

Unlike Ymir, Odin felt that the Aesir were superior and were fit to be the supreme rulers of the Nine Realms. As a result, he along with his brothers Vili and Vé slew Ymir, spilling his blood in the process, drowning all of the Jötnar, sans Bergelmir and his wife, who managed to survive. With Ymir out of the way, Odin himself took the place of the "All-Father", after that, and would then create the realm of Midgard from Ymir's torn flesh before creating Ask and Embla; the first two humans.

The slaying of Ymir caused a tear in reality to be created, which got Odin's attention. After suffering a bout of existentialism, he came to realize that there is much more to them than the Nine Realms. With this realization, he began doing lots of research to discover the Rift's secrets, which caused Odin to develop an obsession/thirst for knowledge. Around this time, he built the realm of Asgard and declared himself King of the Aesir. He even cemented this with The Great Lodge that he built above the Rift and a research complex underneath the Great Lodge where he would began gathering more wisdom across the Nine Realms.

Seeing the need to expand Asgard's forces, Odin seized control of Valhalla and the Valkyries who oversaw it. He would go on to use Valhalla's endless supply of deceased individuals to create an endless supply of superhuman soldiers for the Asgardian military. This was part of his future plans to try and thwart Ragnarök, a prophesied catastrophic event that he had learned of earlier from the Jötunn seeress Gróa. To prepare for this impending threat, Odin would permit only the greatest warriors who had died in battle to enter Valhalla to one day serve as his own personal army: the Valkyries served as his recruiters and trainers in that respect. Everyone else he relegated to the icy wasteland known as Helheim.

One time, Odin performed a ritual by impaling himself with his own spear and hanging himself from Yggdrasil's branches, and bleeding down into the Well of Destiny. He spent nine days as a dead god, roaming the realm of the dead and plundering the secrets of the World Tree. Until it hit it's limit, sending Odin back to the land of the living, causing him to go 'barking mad'.

At some point, Mimir came to Odin with Mimisbrunnr, a "Mystic Well of Knowledge" but it was really a well laced with enough magic mushrooms to give even a God as powerful as him hallucinogenic visions. Odin was initially so impressed with this well that whatever he saw in his hallucinations made him start to tear out both of his eyes. Fortunately, he was stopped by Mimir from finishing the job and was convinced by Mimir that he had sacrificed his eye for knowledge. However, Odin instantly figured out that Mimir had fooled him but allowed him to become his adviser due to his immense intelligence. After he imprisoned his adviser, Odin removed one of Mimir's eyes and tortured him on a daily basis. Odin also searched for Brok and Sindri to construct a Statue of Thor within which to hide Mimir's severed eye. The two Dwarves refused, however, and Odin found different Dwarves to finish its construction in their place.

Around this time, Odin also began marrying women and expanding his family, hoping to gain strong children. At some point during this quest, he sought out the Giant Skaði's hand in marriage, but when she rejected his affections, Odin tricked her into killing her own father out of pettiness, which inadvertently led to her succumbing to her fate. Odin ended up married the giantess Fjörgyn, with whom he had Thor. Sometime after Thor's birth, Fjörgyn mysteriously died, leaving Odin heartbroken and alone for many years.

The All-father at one point met the stone giant Hrungnir and was so amused by the latter's gullible nature that, rather than immediately kill him, he invited him to Asgard, where he made Hrungnir drunk and goaded him into all manners of boasts and antics, even taking the threat of Hrungnir killing all the Aesir and taking all the women of Asgard back to Jötunheim as a joke. However, it came to an end after another fit of laughter upon Thor killing the stone giant and being crushed by his corpse, Odin ordered all his men to remove the stone giant's body from Thor, but none of the Aesir were strong enough to do so and Thor himself was too drunk to remove the stone giant off himself until Odin's grandchildren Magni and Modi came and freed their father.

After cementing his rule as the "All-Father," Odin continued to wage war against the other realms, defeating and subduing Svartalfheim and Niflheim; Muspelheim and Jötunheim remained beyond his reach. The All-Father did not encounter any real difficulties until he and the Aesir encountered the Vanir, an opposing tribe of Gods native to the realm of Vanaheim; the two forces fought endlessly until they finally reached a stalemate. At this point, both sides had suffered heavy casualties, and Odin eventually agreed to marry Freya, queen of the Vanir, to end the war, and so that he may learn her magic in secrecy. Together, Odin and Freya produced Baldur, the youngest of Odin's sons. For a time, the couple appeared to have a strong relationship for one another, with Mimir noting that it seemed to echo Odin's relationship with Fjörgyn, as he treated her in a loving manner and conceded to most of her wishes, giving the Valkyries some freedom when she wished it.

However, Odin revealed to Freya his true nature and demanded that he give her the same protection spell that she bestowed on her son. When this was refused, this angered the All-Father greatly and he proceeded to trash her room, causing Freya to leave him. Odin then cursed her to remain imprisoned in Midgard and to never harm another living thing, even in self-defense, out of petty revenge. To ensure that she could never leave Midgard, Odin proceeded to bind together several roots of Yggdrasil into a knot using his magic, as he knew that the dragon Níðhögg, the caretaker of the world tree, would protect its roots and prevent anyone from undoing the curse.

Odin had sought the secrets of Jötunheim and the Giants, as they possess the ability to see into the future. His son Týr, the Norse God of War, attempted to open relations between them by inviting Odin to a summit with the Giants, but Odin only agreed so he could steal the secrets of Jötunheim. The giants caught Odin doing just that and expelled him from Jötunheim, cursing him to never return. In retaliation, Odin furiously began a genocidal campaign to slaughter any Jötunn the Aesir could find. This proved too much for Týr, who turned against Odin to help the giants cut Jötunheim off from the other realms. For this betrayal, Odin had Týr imprisoned and spread rumours that he was dead, all in the hopes that having a secret war god would prove to be of use someday.