Baldur was everyone’s favorite, loved by both gods and mortals. Baldur was believed to be so impervious to injury was that, at banquets, guests used to amuse themselves by hurling objects at him. Yet the malicious trickster Loki discovered that the one thing that could kill Baldur was mistletoe. He tricked Hodur into throwing a sprig of mistletoe at Baldur, fatally wounding him.
The beautiful giantess Atla is the Norse goddess of water. She is the daughter of Aegir and Ran, god and goddess of the sea. Atla is one of the nine wave maidens who lives at the bottom of the sea, watching over the World Mill that continually turns with the seasons to bring the earth and its people fertility and harmony.
According to Norse legend, Alsvin is one of the two horses that pulls the sun across the sky in a chariot driven by Sol. The name Alsvin means “very swift.” The other horse is called Arvakr, whose name means “early riser.”
The daughter of Kjárr of Valland, Alruna (Ölrún in Old Norse) was one of three Valkyries spinning linen on the shore of Wolf Lake, when they were spotted by three brothers who lived nearby. Alruna and Egil, one of the brothers, lived together for seven winters, until Alruna flew off to battle, never to return.
In Norse mythology, Aegir is the giant god of the sea, and he personifies the power of the ocean. The Vikings were skilled sailors; they understood the beauty and the danger of the sea, and they both worshipped and feared Aegir.