"MIDTERM ENTRY, Rosemary Pescod"

Odin is the ruler of the Æsir, also known as the All-Father. He is the son of Borr and Bestla, brother of Vili and Ve. He is generally considered to be the opposite of Thor, meaning that he represents the mental and spiritual parts of war and the world while Thor takes the physical and emotional. Odin generally thinks things through before doing them, unlike Thor who fails at many things because of his fault of jumping into things without thinking. There are many stories in which Odin is involved, including his sacrificing his eye and hanging himself.

Odin has an eight-legged horse, named Sleipnir, who carries Odin to Hel and back along Yggdrasil. He has two ravens that are always with him, Hugin and Munin, who represent thought and memory. They tell him what goes on in the world when he is not on his throne, watching for himself. Odin also has a pair of wolves, named Geri and Freki (or the ravenous one and the greedy one), to whom he feeds any food he gets because all Odin ever has is wine. His main weapon is a spear, Gungnir, which is special because it never misses its target.

Odin's main residence is in Valhalla with the Valkyries and the soldiers who will fight at Ragnarok. He also has two other homes in Gladsheim and Valaskjálf; all three residences are located in Asgard. Gladsheim is supposedly a vast hall where Odin acts as a judge presiding over the world, and Valaskjálf is the "hill" where his throne, Hlidsjálf, is perched. From his throne, Odin can see everything that happens in the entire universe.

Because Odin wanted to not only see everything that happened in the universe but also to see everything that had ever and would ever happen, Odin sacrificed his eye to Mimir's spring, thus gaining the Wisdom of Ages. Also, Odin allowed himself to be hung from Yggdrasil for nine days, wounded by his own spear, in extreme pain and refusing any assistance. Because of this, he gained the ability to read runes.

Odin also played a very big part in The Creation of the world. He and his two brothers killed the evil giant, Ymir, and used his body to create the world and killed almost all of his evil offspring in the process. Odin and his two brothers shaped the world into what it is now and created animals and the first two humans, Ask and Embla, to whom Odin gave the gift of breath.

Odin had many children. With his wife, Frigg, he had Baldr and Hod. With Earth, he had Thor. With the giantess Gridr, he had Vidar, and with the giantess Rinda, he had Vali. Also, later generations of dynasties claimed to have direct descent from one of Odin's many sons.

On the eve of Ragnarok, Odin will fight with the wolf, Fenrir, and will be killed by him.

References:
Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Jesse L. Byock. New York: Penguin Books, 2005.

http://saxons.etrusia.co.uk/saxons_wednesday.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin