A Modern Interpretation of the Wooing of Gerðr

I find myself circling back time and time again to the story of the wooing of Gerðr. You are probably wondering why. It is true from a modern perspective that the story is extremely problematic. (And I will say right now that the subject matter of this post may be troubling to some and you may not want to read any further.) I am sure there are a lot of parts of the Lore that we all are often tempted to gloss over, and this is probably top of the list. That probably is exactly our problem in approaching it, however. Sometimes you can’t go into something with a modern mindset and take anything of value from it, and the importance of the story isn’t the story itself, but its value. 

Now what value can I possibly deriving from a story that seems to glorify rape culture and remove female agency? That is exactly where we get stuck with this story, is making assumptions based on modern understandings. There are quite a few scholars who try to pick apart whether or not Gerðr has feminine agency or whether the story represents the power of the patriarchy being forced upon women to remove their agency. It is all well and good in academia, but it leaves more questions than answers at the end of the day. How would the elder heathens have seen Gerðr? What role does the marriage and Freyr and Gerðr have in the Lore and in the broader heathen worldview?

Now, I am very openly a hard polytheist, but I like to take my Lore with a grain of salt. What I mean by this is that while I believe the gods are very real, the Lore amounts to the stories passed down by humans over hundreds if not thousands of years. Along the way those stories have shifted to reflect the times, and the intentions and biases of various skalds and storytellers in order to sway the audience to certain points of view. In short, the Lore is not an accurate reflection of the deeds of the gods, however, it is a window into an understanding of the nature of the gods and goddesses within it. So what is the nature of Gerðr? Is she Jötunn or Æsir? Is she a goddess? Is she worshipful? What is the nature of Freyr? Is he god or king? And who is Skírnir? What is the meaning of his intermediary role in the tale? What elements of this story are valuable to our understanding of the gods and of heathen worldview?

Now here is where I am going to take an unexpected branch and introduce a surprising element into my interpretation. I have recently been enjoying the podcast, Tales, on Spotify. They take fairytales and folktales and retell them based on original versions. I was listening most recently to the story of Beauty and the Beast and I cannot help but draw parallels in the two stories. Here we have nearly exactly the same scenario of a beautiful woman, whose social standing is viewed as different to her male counterpart. A story of wooing with intermediary forces in which the female character displays independent agency but in the end agrees to marry the suitor. By removing the element of divinity from the story is it easier to interpret the story’s intent? Yes, and no. As I have stated previously, I see the Lore as alluding to the nature of the gods. That said, the story itself isn’t about the gods, even if the gods are cast as the main characters. The story is about a heathen worldview and how people are expected to act in their positions within society in that historical time period. In this case, I would argue the story is talking about a specific type of union among the ruling class which would help cement peace between tribes. In these situations women played a vital role as peace-weavers and in building or breaking frith. While women were very strictly bound by these roles within the ruling class they also had a surprising amount of agency within their roles. A woman’s words could stop a war or as easily emasculate a king. A woman’s words were her power in much the same way as a man’s deeds were his power. A woman was, for the most part, expected not to act, so her words held a greater weight. 

So here we have two very distinct parts of the story, which are connected by the skalds in order to create change. There is the nature of the gods within the story, but also a lesson on the heathen worldview of the time. And I very specifically am saying the worldview of heathens at that time when the story was recorded, because that is exactly the hang up that causes trouble in the modern interpretation among heathens. By necessity the modern heathen worldview cannot be fully the same as the heathen worldview of the past. We live now and are influenced by modern realities and modern ideals. We cannot be carbon copies of the elder heathens, nor should we attempt to be. Times change, ideals change, and religion changes with them. The goal is to create the best heathen practice that we can right now, by borrowing what makes sense from the worldviews of the elder heathens and rebuilding what doesn’t within the frameworks of modern understandings. As such the story of the wooing of Gerðr is probably long overdue for a modern retelling, but before that can be accomplished we must parse the importance of the story in relaying the natures of the gods and in imparting heathen knowledge that translates into modern times. My goal will be to first use the story of Beauty and the Beast, which most modern people have some familiarity with, to parse the meaning of the story itself. Then I will try to allude to the natures of Freyr and Gerðr (and Skírnir) so that we can build a better understanding of them.

I am sure all of you are familiar with Beauty and the Beast, at least in the modern Disney retelling. The version I am using however is an older version of the story, La Belle et la Bête by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in 1740. It holds all the same elements as the Disney version but has darker themes and a lot more interference in the plotline by faeries. It does, however, seem to have a happier(?) ending than the story of the wooing of Gerðr. So let me give you a brief “Sparknotes” version of the plot so that we are on the same page here. In this story the Beast is in fact a prince whose father dies and the mother is forced ill-fatedly to take the offer of a faery, Belladonna, to raise her son while she is off at war protecting the kingdom. Belladonna falls in love with the prince and when he and his mother do not allow her to marry him then she curses the prince into the form of a beast. (Far more grotesque than the Beast in the Disney adaptation.) Another faery comes along and cannot reverse the curse but offers to aid in breaking the curse by turning all the courtiers to stone so they cannot tell of the prince’s misfortune, then surrounding the castle in a dense fog, so that only young girls who are willing suitors will enter, in hopes that a suitable match is found. The prince’s mother tries to find these young girls and send them to her son to woo. Meanwhile in a nearby kingdom a king falls in love with another faery without knowing it and they marry and have a daughter. When the faery queen learns of this union the mother is punished and the daughter is cursed to marry a beast. To protect the half-faery daughter (Belle) she is given to a merchant family as a changeling when their daughter dies of illness and a faery schemes to bring her together with the prince so that her curse of marrying a beast is fulfilled in the best possible way for everyone. The merchant’s wife dies and his business tanks. He tells Belle he will bring her back a rose from his travels if he is able. He gets lost in a snowstorm and ends up at the enchanted castle where he plucks a rose for Belle and incurs the wrath of the Beast. Belle feels guilty for causing this trouble for her father and agrees to take his place as the Beast’s prisoner, certain this will mean her demise. Instead the Beast/Prince tries to woo her but is bad at it. Through faery magic, however, he is able to appear to her in his true form in her dreams and she falls in love with him, without knowing he is in fact the Beast. He tries to warn her in the dreams that things are not as they appear at the castle but she grows more and more unhappy until he lets her go home to visit her family as long as she swears on his life that she will return in 2 months time. Belle waits until the last moment to return, as she has conflicting feelings but when she returns she finds the Beast ill from love-sickness thinking she would not return and professes at last that she has fallen in love with him and will marry him. They sleep in the same bed and she awakes to find the beautiful man from her dreams in the bed instead of the Beast. However, the prince’s mother does not approve of the union, thinking Belle is a commoner, until a faery reveals Belle’s true identity. They marry and the kingdom is returned to its former glory. 

As you can see the elements are very similar to the wooing of Gerðr. There is the love-struck male figure who is incapacitated by his love. There is an intermediary “other” force, whether it is Skírnir or faeries. There is the strong-willed female main character who does not allow herself to be wooed until the very end. And there is a lot of unpleasantness surrounding the conditions of the union, even if the Beauty and the Beast version is a softening compared to the wooing of Gerðr. The love-struck male also has to give something up to gain the woman he loves. Freyr gives up his sword. The Beast sets Belle free, believing she likely won’t return to him, thereby sacrificing his own health. Both give up their agency in order to bring the woman they desire to them. Both tales have absent parents for the female figure. Gerðr’s father is not there to negotiate terms of a union and there is no mention of her mother. Belle’s biological parents are unknown to her and her adoptive mother is dead, while she is using her agency to try to protect the rest of her adoptive family from their misfortunes. There is an offering of material gain as a bride price in both stories, and in both stories it is rejected. And both stories have characters of seemingly different social groupings who are to be parties in the union. Freyr is a god and Gerðr is Jötunn. The Beast is a human prince and Belle seems to be a commoner, but actually is half-faery royalty. With all of these elements we can see the common threads between the narratives and use interpretations of the Beauty and the Beast story to better understand the story of the wooing of Gerðr. 

In modern times we are tempted to read Beauty and the Beast as a feminist story of empowerment, and indeed the Disney version paints Belle as one of the most feminist of the original Disney princesses. The story originally however, was probably a tale of finding happiness below the surface in arranged marriages among the noble class. Everything is not how it appears on the surface. In the Tales podcast it is suggested that the Beast is representative of an older suitor that a young girl does not find physically attractive, but must find other ways to relate to that are more than skin deep to ensure her own happiness in the marriage. Obviously, in modern times this age gap would raise red flags, but we need to remove that modern lens for now in order to see clearly what the story is telling us. Beauty and the Beast is the story of falling in love with someone’s personality rather than their appearance, to build a lasting relationship that unites two groups of people. Does Belle have agency? Yes, some, but it is closely bound within the expectations of the society she is a part of. She cannot escape her fate, but she can influence those around her with her will and with her words. She can utilize her own personal power to make her situation better.

Does Gerðr also find herself in an arranged marriage? It is a bit unclear. What is clear is that the union of Freyr and Gerðr is a peace-bond between tribes. Gerðr, like Belle, must make the best of her situation because she too is unable to escape her fate. She also uses her will and her words to influence her situation. What is more difficult to parse in the story of the wooing of Gerðr is the dubious methods of wooing used by Skírnir. It does not seem like Skírnir is acting necessarily with the intentions of Freyr, but rather using his own agency to complete the task allotted to him in whatever fashion he thinks will be successful. Initially his attempts to woo Gerðr at least fit the prescribed pattern for the time. A bride-gift is offered in the form of Iðunn’s apples and Oðinn’s ring, Draupnir. These are valuable items that would be suitable as a bride-price, but there is the obvious problem as to the agency of Skírnir in being able to fulfill the promise of these gifts, which belong to neither him nor Freyr. In addition, these items falling into the hands of the Jötunn could spell disaster for the Æsir. Gerðr wisely rejects this offer. 

Next Skírnir turns to more dubious methods and threatens Gerðr. He says he will use Freyr’s sword against her. This is riddled with nuances depending on how you interpret it. Freyr gave Skírnir his sword in exchange for Skírnir aiding him in wooing Gerðr, but he gave it with this warning, “þat sverð, er siálft mun vegaz,/ ef sá er horskr, er hefir.” (This sword will fight by itself if the bearer is wise.) The suggestion is that only a wise bearer can wield it successfully, and it does not seem that Skírnir is acting with wisdom. He cannot gain victory through this method and Gerðr seems to be aware of this when she ignores his threat. Now, the sword is in itself problematic to the narrative and is often interpreted (not without reason) as a metaphor of Freyr’s masculinity, which he gives up by allowing Skírnir to woo Gerðr for him. As such the penis/sword threat may actually be a threat of sexual violence against Gerðr if she does not comply in marrying Freyr. This further cements the questionable character of Skírnir as he acts as an intermediary force within the union. 

Finally, Skírnir takes a step further, threatening Gerðr with magic if she does not comply. He threatens that she will become hideous, and be forced to live in the outlands among monsters, where she will have no choice but to satisfy her lust (caused by this curse) with these monsters. This finally scares Gerðr into agreeing to marry Freyr. It is a strange method of persuasion to be used by Skírnir. Who is Skírnir, to be capable of using this sort of magic? What is his intent in all of this? What is he getting from it? And can he even carry out this threat, when his other two attempts to get Gerðr to agree seem to have false elements? 

Now, I am going to side-step for a moment into the narrative of Beowulf, since I am more familiar with it and bring out a relevant element. In Beowulf, Grendel and his mother are monsters who live in the fen (the outlands) basically. The problem here is that in this time period everything outside of the community was considered the outlands and anyone who lived there was seen as other or as “monsters.” Mostly, these were outlaws or people who refused to conform to the laws of society. If we return to the wooing of Gerðr we must determine what community Skírnir is threatening to exclude Gerðr from so that she becomes a “monster.” To me it seems like he is saying if she doesn’t marry Freyr, then she won’t be Æsir, and therefore be an outlaw. But wait… Gerðr is not Æsir, she is Jötunn. Skírnir cannot be telling her she will be cast out of the Jötunn community as there seems to be no expectation in the story from the Jötunn that she will marry Freyr. So it seems that Skírnir’s threat is idle. If she doesn’t marry Freyr, then she won’t be Æsir, and thereby will be other or monstrous. Basically, things will remain as they are, because she is already an outsider to the Æsir tribe. The only real threat Skírnir can be making is that he can curse her to be lustful, but her lust with supposed “monsters” just seems to mean within the Jötunn community. It is an interesting element of nordic mythology that Jötunn men are described as monstrous and Jötunn are described as beautiful objects of desire, when both seem to just be a tribe that is other from the Æsir. We are further met with the complication that Freyr himself is only a tentative member of the Æsir tribe, as he came originally from the Vanir. It is no wonder that Gerðr is frightened and confused by this final threat. It by necessity must be the use of magic that frightens Gerðr, but it is uncertain whether Skírnir actually possesses the ability to act upon his threat. In the story within the Skírnismál, Gerðr does not like to take audience with suitors at all and that she grants Skírnir an audience at all seems already to be a huge concession. However, what Gerðr values most is her agency to choose any sexual partners or marriages, and it is this that Skírnir ultimately threatens her with, causing her to make a difficult concession. She doesn’t want to lose her agency to “monsters” and sees Freyr as a better option, but she fails to see through this final deceit by Skírnir. 

Gerðr reluctantly agrees to marry Freyr, but continues to use her agency as much as she believes she is able by slighting Freyr in saying she will not meet him for 9 days. In addition, Gerðr says, “Ánauð þola ek vil aldregi/ at mannzkis munom,” (I will not suffer oppression on account of anyone’s desires) suggesting she will still have the final word. This is indicative of how she continues to use her words as agency even within her union with Freyr, and allows for some balancing of power between the two parties. It also further emasculates Freyr, who has already given up much of his own agency by not personally wooing Gerðr and by giving up his sword. 

While the union of Freyr and Gerðr is a peace-bond between the Æsir and the Jötunn, it does not seem to be an arranged marriage in the same sense as in Beauty and Beast, where at least Belle’s adoptive father is aware of Belle being wooed at the Beast’s castle. In the wooing of Gerðr her Jötunn father is very noticeably absent. While this union will probably long-term benefit both tribes if it is successful, it does not seem to be planned. Rather Freyr is love-struck and must have Gerðr as a wife. All other factors are secondary to his desire. However, it seems unlikely that Freyr is aware of the callous methods used by Skírnir to cement the union. It makes me wonder, who is the clear winner in this? Freyr gets the woman of his dreams, but has to wait 9 days, and then it is never revealed whether or not the union is happy or successful. Gerðr maintains some small part of her agency, but ultimately is deceived. One would think the winner would be Skírnir, but other than a sword he doesn’t know how to wield, and a horse, it is not clear what he is getting from this either. And this is where we have to look more broadly at the elements of the narrative and their purpose. On one hand we are seeing a narrative about a union between tribes super-imposed on the story by the skald, a story of concessions by all parties to make such a union work. However, this is also a story of the gods and the other elements of the story must illuminate the natures of the gods. 

Is Skírnir a god? We know he is a servant of Freyr. He claims to have magic, so if he is a god it seems like he may be of the Vanir tribe. However, Skírnir himself claims to be neither Vanir nor Æsir, and also not Alfar, which would seem the next logical choice. Some scholars have argued that he is in fact a human servant of Freyr, but it seems strange to send a human on such an errand for a god. It would explain why Skírnir must resort to idle threats to convince Gerðr, as he would lack actual agency to influence her. Other scholars have suggested that Skírnir is a trickster figure who is an outsider and parallels Loki in the Lore. This could explain his questionable tactics as well. Although we cannot determine exactly who Skírnir is or what his intentions are, I think it is a fairly safe bet to say that he is not a god. At least, he does not seem worshipful. 

Moving on we should look at Freyr and Gerðr, and what the story illuminates about their natures. There are a lot of other stories with Freyr, but not so many about Gerðr. As such we will start with her, as we don’t have conflicting images of her from other sources to integrate. I like to start with the translation of her name, so that we don’t miss that in our interpretation. It is amazing how much can be missed if we don’t look at the names in their original languages in historical texts, and it is surprising how often even scholars neglect this. Gerðr means “an enclosure, or stronghold,” and indeed that is where we first find her in the story, within the enclosure of her own home in Jötunnheim. However, it seems likely that there are layers of meaning here. The woman was charged with the care of the home, and that was her domain. Further, the enclosure can, and probably does, take on a sexual meaning about the receptive nature of the feminine within the story, and while this energy is receptive in nature, it comes with its own agency. This seems especially likely since Gerðr is matched with Freyr suggesting the existence of a link with fertility. In the Skírnismál, Gerðr is said to be linked with the cornfields, (understanding that “corn” was originally a word used to represent grain in general,) and so she and Freyr both have obvious connections with agriculture. As such, it is fairly common in modern heathen practice to see the union of Freyr and Gerðr as a story about the changing of the seasons and the fertility of the land, much in the same way the hellenic story of Hades and Persephone is perceived. When Gerðr denies the advances towards her it is the barren winter season, but then with the union of Freyr and Gerðr the fertility of summer comes into being. On this level, the wooing of Gerðr is necessary because without the union of Freyr and Gerðr the earth remains barren. To me the image of a pregnant Gerðr is the perfect personification of a sowed field. She is the goddess of fertile soil, the goddess of the softness of the feminie nature, but also of the power and agency that women hold to influence the men in their lives and their communities. She is the power of the female voice to turn heads. She is beauty and grace, and the ability to work within our means to spark the changes we wish to create. She is the hope of a better future. She is the frith-weaver, but also the strife-maker, because both are necessary roles for women to play. She is the ability to hold her ground. To set boundaries. To protect the enclosure. And the enclosure can be herself, her family, her community, or the sacred. She is quiet strength. She is the power of the feminine to bind the family together even in hard times. She is the ability to temper the will of men when it requires tempering, and to empower men when they need empowering. She is a weaver, because all women are. They weave words, they weave frith, they weave fabrics literal and metaphorical. They bind their communities and families. They ensure the survival of their families and communities. They nurture and harvest the crops. They quietly allow seeds to fruit. There is an interesting tendency within the Lore for Jötunn women to become members of the Æsir through marriage, and that makes them worshipful. It seems to me one of those complicated things about femininity where their value is linked to their unions, and I think that was more true historically. It is a bit difficult to accept with a modern lens, but the bottom line is that Gerðr is a goddess and is worshipful. Her power is her agency, and she still has a lot to teach modern women about setting boundaries and personal power. We should not discount her because her story doesn’t fit with the modern feminist mold. If Gerðr’s story was set in modern times it would go quite differently, but she would have the same spunk and tenacity, and her underlying nature would be the same.

And of course, we must also look at Freyr’s role in all this and what the story illuminates about him. Gerðr balances him and stays his ego, but he is still the one who sows the seed. He sparks the life in the barren fields. He allows summer to return. He is the sun that warms the earth. Freyr sees what Skírnir misses. He knows how to wield the sword. He gives up the sword to balance the power between masculine and feminine, to give agency back to Gerðr. He relates to the feminine by getting in touch with his own feminine side, by allowing himself to be vulnerable. He dares to love, even though he is told that is not how to woo a woman. The sword can only be wielded by a wise bearer. He exercises prudence. He recognizes the need to be soft, and sensitive. He allows the sword to fight for itself, just like he allows Gerðr to speak for herself. Freyr is the Vanir’s influence over nature, combined with the Æsir’s influence over order. The result is order in nature, he personifies agriculture. He combines the elements of the sun and water and earth to create life. He understands the necessity of a steady hand. He is impatient with the desires of creating order, but sees the necessity of waiting for the correct time, of trusting in the power of union to bring seed to fruit. Nature fruits in her own time. Order can be created in nature, but is still subject to nature’s rules. The role of Freyr in this story is to create balance so that order can be achieved in nature. He suffers in winter so that summer can come again. He waits even when the waiting is unbearable. He does not seek to control what he cannot control, even when that makes him seem weak. It is actually his strength. 

So yeah, that is where I am at with the story currently. I always find more layers every time I go back to the Lore of course, but I think this sheds light on the story and allows us to reframe it in a modern context and derive value from it. Thanks if you stuck it out through the challenging parts to get to this point. I hope it at least provoked some new thoughts for you. 

Further Resources:

La Belle et la Bête by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve

“"Frá mínom véom oc vǫngom" - An Examination of Literary Representations of

the Mythological Figure of Skaði” by Sarah Welschbach

"Gefjun: goddess or giant?" https://earthandstarryheaven.com/2016/09/21/gefjuns-status/ 

Peace-Weavers & Shield-Maidens: Women in Early English Society by Kathleen Herbert

“Skírnismál” https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe07.htm 

Tales podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/2OIRaDoDPKx77wz1945ihy?si=vPkeSkrxSqqXyEEtr7JN0w&dl_branch=1

“The Whirling Wheel: The Male Construction of Empowered Female Identities in Old Norse Myth and Legend” by David Hugh Varley

Women in Old Norse Literature: Bodies, Words and Power by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir

Image Source:

“Gerd’s Bridal Gift” by cows-love-clover https://www.deviantart.com/cows-love-clover/art/Gerd-s-Bridal-Gift-350957702