The Old Norse theonym Baldr ('brave, defiant' 'lord, prince') and its various Germanic cognates – including Old English Bældæg and Old High German Balder (or Palter) – probably stems from Proto-Germanic *Balðraz ('Hero, Prince' cf. Baldr had the greatest ship ever built, Hringhorni, and there is no place more beautiful than his hall, Breidablik. Compiled in Iceland during the 13th century, but based on older Old Norse poetry, the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda contain numerous references to the death of Baldr as both a great tragedy to the Æsir and a harbinger of Ragnarök.Īccording to Gylfaginning, a book of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Baldr's wife is Nanna and their son is Forseti. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was known in Old English as Bældæg, and in Old High German as Balder, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym * Balðraz ('Hero', or 'Prince').ĭuring the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story. In Norse mythology, Baldr is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology.

Balder the brave norse mythology