We are descended from Odin through two different lines, one from Freya and one from Skadi. As applied to gods, the number of generations and birth and death dates may appear incomprehensible.

Odin - God

Odin is a god of war and death, but also the god of poetry and wisdom. He hung for nine days, pierced by his own spear, on the world tree. Here he learned nine powerful songs, and eighteen runes. Odin can make the dead speak to question the wisest amongst them. His hall in Asgaard is Valhalla, shelf of the slain, where his throne Hlidskjalf is located. From this throne he observes all that happens in the nine worlds. The tidings are brought to him by his two raven Huginn and Muninn. He also resides in Valhalla, where the slain warriors are taken.

Odin's attributes are the spear Gungnir, which never misses its target, the ring Draupnir, from which every ninth night eight new rings appear, and his eight-footed steed Sleipnir. He is accompanied by the wolves Freki and Geri, to whom he gives his food for he himself consumes nothing but wine. Odin has only one eye, which blazes like the sun. His other eye he traded for a drink from the Well of Wisdom, and gained immense knowledge. On the day of the final battle, Odin will be killed by the wolf Fenrir.

He married Frejya, the Goddess of Love, Fertility, Battle, and Death , daughter of Njord, the Sea God.

He is also called Othinn, Wodan and Wotan. Some of the aliases he uses to travel icognito among mortals are Vak and Valtam. Wednesday is named after him (Wodan).

Odin - Man

Odin, chief of the Aesir, was an actual man, later divinized by the Norse. He was of Asaland, or Asaheim, the country east of the Tanaquisl in Asia, and the chief city in that land was called Asgaard, and it was a great place for sacrifice.

He was a great and very far-travelled warrior, who conquered many kingdoms, and so successful was he that in every battle the victory was on his side.

He journeyed northward to Scandanavia, and on his journey he claimed to be a god, this was to win over the Scandanavians he conquered. He is said to have journeyed through many realms - Russia, Saxony, Denmark - passing himself off as Odin and making sons kings of all the lands where he traveled. Leaving his son Skjold to be king in Denmark, Sigge travelled on to Lake Malaren in Sweden, where he built a palace and temple, reigning over all the land.

He was near his death when he made himself be marked with the point of a spear, and said he was going to Godheim, and would give a welcome there to all his friends. Odin was buried in Swithiod (Mannheim), Sweden. Odin was burnt, and at his pile there was great splendour. It was their faith that the higher the smoke arose in the air, the higher he would be raised whose pile it was; and the richer he would be, the more property that was consumed with him.

Freya

Freya is one of the preeminent goddesses in Norse mythology. She’s a member of the Vanir tribe of deities, but became an honorary member of the Aesir gods after the Aesir-Vanir War. Her father is Njord. Her mother is unknown, but could be Nerthus. Freyr is her brother. Her husband is Odin.

Freya is famous for her fondness of love, fertility, beauty, and fine material possessions – and, because of these predilections, she’s considered to be something of the “party girl” of the Aesir. In one of the Eddic poems, for example, Loki accuses Freya of having slept with all of the gods and elves. She’s certainly a passionate seeker after pleasures and thrills, but she’s a lot more than only that. Freya is the archetype of the völva, a professional or semiprofessional practitioner of seidr, the most organized form of Norse magic. It was she who first brought this art to the gods, and, by extension, to humans as well. Given her expertise in controlling and manipulating the desires, health, and prosperity of others, she’s a being whose knowledge and power are almost without equal.

Freya presides over the afterlife realm Folkvang, whose inhabitants she selects from among the warriors slain in battle.

Skadi

Skadi is a giantess and goddess in Norse mythology. Her name is likely related to the name “Scandinavia”. The giants (or, to use a word that more properly translates their Old Norse name, the “devourers”) are predominantly forces of darkness, cold, and death. Skadi fits this pattern, and seems to have had particular associations with winter. Her status as a goddess by marriage, however, along with the frequency of her historical worship, seem to suggest that she has a more benevolent demeanor than most of her kin, perhaps in a capacity as a patroness of winter subsistence activities.

Skadi lived in the highest reaches of the mountains, where the snow never melts. She was an avid huntress, and her bow, snowshoes, and skis are her most often-mentioned attributes.

Skadi's father, Thiazi, was killed by the gods in a fight with Loki. Skadi then put on her war gear and went to Asgaard to seek vengeance, but the gods offered her atonement and compensation until she was placated. She was also given the hand of Njord in marriage, and as a further reparation Odin took Thiazi's eyes and placed them in the night sky as stars. Skadi also included in her terms of settlement that the gods must do something she thought impossible for them to do: make her laugh. To do so, Loki tied one end of a cord around the beard of a nanny goat and the other end around his testicles. The goat and Loki drew one another back and forth, both squealing loudly. Loki dropped into Skadi's lap, and Skadi laughed.

The marriage with Njord was a failure; Njord couldn’t stand the cold and dreariness of the mountains, and Skadi couldn’t stand the light and noise of Njord’s home by the seashore, so the two parted ways. Skadi later married Odin. They had many sons including Saeming, a king of Norway and our anscestor.