Ótr
Norse · numen · mythic prehistoric · Recorded classification
He does nothing and is killed by accident in the first scene, and the entire Völsung tragedy is the bill for it. That is the mechanism the Norse cycle runs on — wergild, compensation paid for a killing — and the story is a demonstration of what happens when the price is met exactly and the object handed over is cursed.
Parentage
- parent: Hreiðmarr
Domains
- shapeshifting
Relations
- sibling: FáfnirReference treatment of the three sons of Hreiðmarr. (secondary)
- killed by: LokiThe treatments name all three gods; the edge is written to Loki because the corpus holds him and because the ransom is his to pay.Reference treatment: Odin, Loki and Hœnir killed Otr in his otter shape. (secondary)
Sources
- Ótr is a son of Hreiðmarr who fished in the shape of an otter and was killed, skinned and eaten by Odin, Loki and Hœnir, his skin becoming the measure of the ransom.: Reference treatments of Ótr and the otter's ransom. (secondary)