![]() Although the Aesir became the more dominant pantheon, the Vanir were originally much more popular. One of the best pieces of evidence for the importance of the Vanir gods in Norse culture comes from the story of how the two pantheons came to be.Īccording to legend, the Aesir and Vanir had once been entirely separated. Their different functions, origins, and fates may have made them better suited to individual worship than more dramatic stories. There are many theories as to why the Vanir are less often written about than the Aesir. While they are not as well-known from the poems and sagas of the era, their cults may have been just as strong as those of the Aesir. ![]() Even the Old Norse word for the gods, asa, refers specifically to the Aesir.īoth legend and historical evidence, however, suggests that the Vanir were powerful and popular in their own right. In contrast, the Vanir are much less well-attested. Their chief, Odin, was considered the head of all the gods, and his sons, specifically Thor and Baldur, were among the most renowned deities in the pantheon. The Aesir are the most well-known of the Norse gods. The Norse people believed there were two groups of gods – the Vanir and the Aesir. So how did the people of the Viking Age end up with two unique pantheons, and what made the Vanir important in Norse culture? The Vanir and Other Gods Although they lived among the Aesir, the Norse people recognized that they were of a different type. The Vanir deities who do feature in myths are largely those who were adopted into the Asgardian pantheon. The Vanir were as powerful and venerated as the Aesir, although they appear in fewer stories. The Norse people, however, believed that there was another race of gods altogether. Led by Odin, they were the residents of Asgard. Most of the well-known stories of Norse mythology focus on a group of gods known as the Aesir.
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