The ambiguous figure of Odin occupies one of the key places in Scandinavian mythology. A number of researchers argue that in one way or another, God Odin is involved not only in every epochal incident, but also in most small everyday episodes of the epic of the ancient Vikings: Odin adjusts events, is a participant in them, or directly or indirectly helps heroes, and often fixes obstacles for them .
The image of Odin is bright and colorful. The ancients endowed him with the features of an old man, but this does not give him weakness and wretchedness, but on the contrary emphasizes his wisdom. The wisdom of Odin, as they say, composed legends. Even his characteristic external feature - one-eyedness - he owes the desire to obtain secret knowledge: voluntarily sacrificing his left eye, the Scandinavian god Odin was able to drink from the magical source of knowledge of Mimir. No less expressive feature is a wide-brimmed pointed hat or hood, a half-shading face that gives mystery to the whole appearance. Odin is accompanied by sacred companions: two raven-scouts, two guard dogs and the faithful seven-legged horse Sleipnir.
However, Odin, with all his appearance as a priest, is the patron saint of a warrior. It is curious that he was endowed with this function relatively late, and initially the Vikings were solely led by Thor. But with the growth of Odin's popularity, the number of his admirers wishing to see the wise god as their patron also grew.
Ancient warriors believed that God Odin personally watches every battle and personally forwards the heroically fallen to Valhalla - a special place in the Scandinavian paradise, where brave men always feast with the gods and ancestors. However, this belief is not unique, having parallels in many other pagan religions of the world of those warlike times. For example, in Russia Perun was endowed with this function, and Perunitsa helped him collect the souls of fallen soldiers for sending to Irius.
God Odin also had a weapon - a spoken spear Gungnir, capable of smashing an enemy without a miss. But, despite the honorary title of patron saint of troops, the presence of their own artifact weapons and a magical snow-white horse, Odin does not take part in battles, does not lead troops behind him. He acts as an inspirer, guardian of military fortune, a guide of lost souls. But always in the first place he follows his interests: in the epic of the Scandinavians there are many examples of how Odin does not save the hero, but leads to certain death. The explanation is simple - in anticipation of the day of Ragnarok, when the gods and heroes will have to clash in a fierce battle with cruel giants, the wise Odin gathers the best of the best under his wing to enter his heavenly army. This belief is perfectly consistent with the philosophy of the Viking warriors of the time that military success is inconsistent, that death is not a tragedy, but one of the stages of the Path leading to the next life.
Helps Odin cope with the duties of Frigg, his wife. Judging by ancient legends, Odin's family is rather big: in addition to Frigg, he also has other, younger, wives and numerous children.
One, the god of mythology of the ancient Scandinavians, has not only many names by which he was known to other European cultures of his time, but also many “twin brothers” in the cults of many other peoples. The Germans called him Wodan or Wotan. In the mythology of the ancient Slavs , Odin does not have a unique double, but parallels can be drawn between him and Veles, Svarog, Perun. A number of researchers find some similarities between him and the Indian Shivva.