Mimir- Norse GodDeity"Guardian of the Well of Wisdom"

The Well Beneath the Root

Beneath one of Yggdrasil's three roots, the one reaching toward the frost giants, lies the well called Mímisbrunnr. Mímir guards it and drinks from it daily. In the Gylfaginning, Snorri calls him the wisest of all beings.

Odin came to the well and asked for a single drink. Mímir named his price: one of Odin's eyes. The god plucked it out, dropped it into the water, and drank. The Völuspá remembers: "I know where Odin's eye is hidden, deep in the wide-famed well of Mímir." The eye still lies there. Mímir drinks mead over it each morning.

The Hostage Exchange

When the Æsir-Vanir War ended in truce, the two sides exchanged hostages. The Vanir sent Njörðr, Freyr, and Freyja. The Æsir sent Hoenir, who was tall and handsome and looked like a leader, and Mímir, who was the wisdom behind him.

The Vanir made Hoenir a chieftain. It did not last. Whenever Mímir was absent and Hoenir was asked for counsel, he answered only: "Let others decide." The Vanir understood. They had received a figurehead propped up by another man's mind.

They cut off Mímir's head and sent it back to Odin.

The Severed Head

The Ynglinga saga records what Odin did next. He smeared the head with herbs to keep it from rotting, then spoke charms and galdr over it until it could speak again. From that point on, Mímir's head was Odin's most trusted counselor, telling him things hidden from every other being.

The Völuspá places their last conversation before Ragnarök. The world tree shudders, the old ash groans, and Odin turns to Mímir's head. What counsel the head gives is not recorded. The poem moves on to the wolf breaking free.