In Norse mythology, Njord (Old Norse: Njörðr) is the Vanir god of the sea and the wind. He is the father of Frey and Freya, and the husband of the giantess Skadi.
Njord lives among the gods in Asgard, but he was not born there. He came to them as a hostage after a war, and even his wife was chosen for him. And when the world comes to an end, he will go back home to the Vanir.
What Is Njord the God Of?
Njord rules over the wind, and he can calm both the sea and fire. That is why people pray to him when they go out sailing or fishing. He is also very rich, so rich that he can give land and money to those who ask him for it.
He lives in Asgard in a house named Nóatún (Enclosure for Ships), which is right next to the sea. This is most likely his favorite place. He can listen to the waves all day and night, and enjoy the fresh, salty wind from the sea.
The skalds called him the giving god and the god of wagons. They also called him a descendant of the Vanir, and that is where his story begins.
How Did Njord Come to Asgard?
Few gods in Norse mythology came to Asgard the way Njord did. He grew up in Vanaheim, the home of the Vanir. When the Aesir and the Vanir made peace after their war, Snorri says that they traded hostages. The Vanir sent Njord to Asgard, and the Aesir sent the god Hoenir to the Vanir.
The trade helped keep the peace, and Njord stayed in Asgard. In time, he was counted among the Aesir. He is even one of the twelve gods who sit as judges when the sea giant Aegir comes to visit.
But he will not stay there forever. In the poem Vafþrúðnismál, Odin asks the giant Vafthrudnir where Njord comes from, since he has so many temples but was not born among the gods. The giant answers that the Vanir gave him as a hostage, and that he will go home to the Vanir at the end of the world.
Njord and Skadi: Chosen by His Feet
Njord is married to the jötunn Skadi, but he did not choose her. She chose him. When the gods killed her father, Thiazi, Skadi came to Asgard to get compensation, and she was allowed to pick a husband among the gods. There was one catch. She could only see their feet. She picked the most beautiful pair, sure that they belonged to Baldur, but they were Njord’s.
Because they could not agree on where to live, they tried both places, nine nights in each. Njord hated the mountains, where the howling of the wolves sounded ugly next to the song of the swans. Skadi could not sleep by the sea, because the gulls woke her every morning. In the end, they decided to live separately, and his wife went back to her father’s home, Thrymheim in the mountains. You can read the whole story in my article about Skadi in Norse mythology.
Who Are Njord’s Children?
He has two children, Freya and Frey, but Skadi is not their mother. Their mother seems to have been Njord’s own sister, from the time when he still lived among the Vanir. Her name is never mentioned.
Most of what is known about her comes from Loki. In the poem Lokasenna, he mocks Njord for having Frey with his sister. Ynglinga saga also says that Njord was married to his sister among the Vanir. Snorri leaves her out of his Edda and only says that Njord had the two children after he married Skadi.
Either way, the children became two of the best-known gods in Norse mythology. Snorri calls Frey the most splendid of the gods, and Freya the most splendid of the goddesses.
What Loki Said About Njord
The sister was not the only thing Loki brought up. At Aegir’s feast in the poem Lokasenna, Loki insulted all the gods one by one, and Njord got one of the worst insults. Loki reminded everyone that Njord had been sent away as a hostage. Then he said that the daughters of the giant Hymir had used Njord’s mouth as a chamber pot.
For a hostage, that was a big insult. The scholar John Lindow explains that hostages were normally treated well, so being treated like that would mean a complete loss of honor. Njord did not answer the insult itself. Instead, he reminded Loki that he was the father of Frey.
Njord and Nerthus
Njord may be much older than the Viking Age. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote the book Germania approximately 100 years after the birth of Christ. In it, he describes a Germanic fertility goddess named Nerthus, whom he calls Mother Earth.
He writes that they have a ritual where they use a wagon pulled by cows. The wagon is covered with blankets, and here sits Nerthus.
She drives around and visits the people, and in this period there is holy peace. At the end of the procession, the wagon, blankets, and the goddess are washed in a hidden lake. This service is performed by slaves, who at the end of the ritual are swallowed by the lake.
It is possible that Nerthus is the female counterpart of Njord, because the two deities have many similarities. Even the names match. Lindow explains that Nerthus is what the name Njord would have looked like in Tacitus’ time, only as a woman’s name. Some think the god changed from female to male over time. Lindow thinks it is more likely that there was once a pair, just like Frey and Freya.
If he is right, Njord may have Danish roots. The scholar Kemp Malone placed the cult of Nerthus near the Limfjord in northern Jutland. Others believe that the worship of Njord started in southern Jutland.
Was Njord Worshipped?
Njord has been a very important deity throughout Scandinavia, and many areas and towns have been named after him. For instance, the suburban district Nærum north of Copenhagen was written Niartharum in 1186, which is read as “Njord’s home”.
That makes Njord a bit of a puzzle. The place names show that he was worshipped in many places, sometimes together with the god Ullr. Yet he plays only a small part in the stories of Norse mythology that survive. Even the poem Vafþrúðnismál says that he has many temples, so the old poets knew that he was once a big god.
Quick Answers About Njord in Norse Mythology
Who is Njord in Norse mythology? Njord is the Vanir god of the sea, the wind, seafaring, fishing and wealth in Norse mythology. He came to Asgard as a hostage and is the father of Frey and Freya.
Is Njord Aesir or Vanir? Njord is a Vanir god by birth. He was sent to the Aesir as a hostage after their war, so he lives in Asgard and is counted among the Aesir too.
Who is Njord’s wife? Njord’s wife is the giantess Skadi, who chose him by looking only at his feet. Before that, he seems to have had his children with his own sister among the Vanir.
Who are Njord’s children? Njord’s children are the god Frey and the goddess Freya. Their mother seems to have been Njord’s unnamed sister, since Lokasenna and Ynglinga saga both tie him to a marriage with his sister.
Where does Njord live? Njord lives at Nóatún, which means “Enclosure for Ships”, a home by the sea in Asgard.
What is Njord’s symbol? Njord has no fixed symbol in the old texts. He is tied to ships and the sea through his home Nóatún, and the skalds called him the god of wagons.
What happens to Njord at Ragnarok? Njord does not die at Ragnarok in the sources. The poem Vafþrúðnismál says that at the end of the world he will return home to the Vanir.
Sources:
Den Store Danske (lex.dk): Nærum
