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The völva of Baldrs draumar

Also called: Vegtamskviða seeress
Folklore and mythUndeadBarely movesSorceryMiddle Ages

In the Eddic poem Baldrs draumar the god Odin wakes a dead prophetess from her grave to learn his son's fate. She tells him what he asks and sends him away once she realises who he is. The poem shows Odin as a god who can raise the dead. It presents the buried corpse as a store of knowledge that the living can force open.1

⚔️ Battle it
First recorded
950
The Eddic poem Baldrs draumar, dated by Bellows to about the mid-10th century and preserved in the manuscript AM 748 I 4to
Origin
Norse
Iceland, Norway
What causes it
Sorcery
Odin raises her from her grave to answer his questions.
How you become one
A seeress long buried, called up by the god's necromancy.
How it moves
Barely moves
She is raised from her grave in Hel's realm and made to speak.
Intelligence
Clever

When did it first appear?

Ancient world
Middle Ages
1500 to 1899
1900 to 1967
1968 to 1999
2000 to 2009
2010 to today
950

The Eddic poem Baldrs draumar, dated by Bellows to about the mid-10th century and preserved in the manuscript AM 748 I 4to

field notes

What the sources say

1

Odin rides to Hel because his son Baldr is having dreams of death1

2

He conceals his identity while questioning her1

3

She foretells Baldr's death1

4

When a final question gives him away she tells him to ride home1

5

The poem is also known as Vegtamskviða1

Sources

  1. Baldrs draumar - Wikipedia

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Folklore from the same lands

DraugrNorse, 1250GlámrNorse (Icelandic saga), 1300AsvithNorse (Danish chronicle and Icelandic saga), 1200Deacon of MyrkáIcelandic, 1860GjengangerScandinavianHaugbúiNorse, 1250

Same era: Middle Ages

VetalaHindu (Indian), 1070Revenant (medieval England)Medieval English, 1100UpiórSlavic, 1100Berwick revenantMedieval English / Scottish borders, 1198Buckinghamshire revenantMedieval English, 1198Byland Abbey revenantsMedieval English, 1400