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| “ | Dying is what we Aesir live for. | „ |
| ~ Odin to Kratos. |
| “ | The Gods of these realm don't take kindly to outsiders, trust me, I know. When they find you, and they will, they’ll make things difficult. | „ |
| ~ Freya to Kratos. |
The Aesir gods are the main antagonists of the Norse Era of the God of War franchise. Ruled by the vicious Odin and led by the mighty Thor, the Aesir are a family of proud warriors fiercely loyal to each other. They are part of the Aesir Royal Family, ruling as a tyrannical dynasty over the Norse Pantheon.
Fed by Odin to have absolute right of rule upon all the others, the Aesir threatened and eradicated all those who dared to oppose them. They murdered nearly all the Jötnar across the Nine Realms and unsuccessfully sought to subdue their rivals the Vanir gods in what became known as the Great Aesir-Vanir War.
Characteristics[]
With the exception of a few, most of the members of the Aesir are cruel, barbaric, and war-loving gods as they love to spread conflict and chaos in the nine realms simply for their own amusement or to eliminate anyone else who they believe posed a threat to their reign. Týr is the best-known Aesir who wasn't corrupted like his family as he believed in peace and unity, but sadly this led to his presumed death at the hands of his own father Odin who suspected him of plotting with the giants to overthrow him and disapproved of his method to stave off Ragnarök. Because of this they're feared and hated by many inhabitants of the Nine Realms.
According to Freya, the Aesir gods don't take kindly to the gods from other lands that included the gods of Olympus as they will find the outsider gods and make things difficult for them by capturing or killing them. According to Laufey and Atreus, the Aesir gods are the worst of gods as well as Thor who is the worst of all Aesir gods.
History[]
Centuries Before the Main Event God of War (2018)[]
The First Gods[]
The first Aesir God to ever exist is Búri who was one of Ymir, the primordial giant's many creations. Búri would later sire a son named Borr who was later followed by his grandsons Odin, Vili and Vé. Not long after their creation the Aesir believed that they were more superior than any races that Ymir ever created, and that they should hold dominion over all creation. The strongest among them, Odin, raised arms with his brothers against Ymir and slew, eventually leaving the Realms at the mercy of Asgard.
Plan To Eradicate the Giants[]
Due to Odin's action, almost every giant born from Ymir drowned his flood, leaving Bergelmir and his wife Nal as the only survivors of the disaster. It also caused their descendants to have always held bitter resentment to Odin and the Aesir, with the Allfather always looking for ways to eliminate their race completely. Both envious and paranoid of their innate affinity with foresight, as well as their strange connection to his own death, Odin eventually made the decision to kill all the giants using his now extended Aesir tribe/family, especially his son Thor, who started a campaign to kill all the giants he could find in Midgard.
Aesir-Vanir Conflict[]
Besides the Giants, the Aesir had simmering tensions between their rival tribe, the pacifist Vanir. One of the Vanir leaders, the Vanir God Freyr, tried an act of diplomacy, teaching the Aesir the way of the harvest, but these spells had such a downside, the Aesir weren't to blame themselves, when things went wrong, they blamed Freyr, and tortured and tried to burn him After the Vanir's failed attempts at diplomacy, the two fractions of gods finally broke out in war. Though contests of raw power were easily won, the Vanir proved to be their equal and delivered serious damage to the Aesir. Their battles raged on for centuries until both sides finally put an end to the senseless conflict, having no choice but to compromise in order to achieve peace.
Mimir served as the ambassador of the two tribes, proposing that Odin should marry one of the leaders of the Vanir, Freya. The proposal finally brought peace to both the Aesir and Vanir. Odin was, at the time, distraught over the death of his beloved Fjörgyn, though Freya's presence brought him comfort. Freya soon bore him a son.
Odin's Increased Paranoia[]
Odin didn't give up on his quest of finding a way to Jötunheim and to eliminate any giants he could find. At some points Odin and the Aesir bounded Fenrir with unbreakable chains due to Odin's paranoia over the colossal wolf and took his sons Sköll and Hati to raise and later used them to keep the sun and moon moving after they grew mutinous due to an unknown reason (possibly due to Helios death at the hands of Kratos in God of War III).
The Dead Stone Mason[]
At some time, the Jötunn Thamur was trying to build a massive wall in Jötunheim for his people to be saved for the campaign of destruction of Thor, but finishing it alone was nigh impossible, so he called his son, the Jötunn Hrimthur, and asked him for help, but the boy had a heart of a warrior, not a builder.
Thamur didn't like his son attitude, and they had a fight, with it ending with Thamur screaming loudly at Hrimthur, who was scared of his father's attitude, and ran for Midgard, Thamur was ashamed of what he had done, and tried to follow his son, screaming for him, but the screams never found the boy, instead, another enemy, Thor. The battle between the two was fierce, but it ended quickly, as Thor struck and broke Thamur's hammer, causing him to fall on his own chisel in his, and his dying breath froze the village that worshipped the Vanir god Njörd, Thor always took credit for doing this, but the truth is that he just got lucky.
Attempt of Peace[]
Odin tried an "attempt of peace" organized by the diplomatic God of War Tyr, (who was unwittingly used by Odin as he tried to steal secrets from Jötunheim); in exchange of the hammer Mjolnir, after that, Odin was only wanting to see the giant's prophecy about Ragnarök, he saw a white man, from another land, and his young son. The giants noticed that, and tried to pick Odin, who turned into a small eagle and escaped for Midgard, where he turned to his normal form with a wicked smile on his face.
After all that happened, the Allfather utilized the strength of his son Thor to continue the Giant slaughter across Midgard, though several Jötnar Shrines depict that Thor was not the only god involving themselves in this brutality.
At some points later after Tyr successfully sealed away any possible travel to Jötunheim to save the giants from his brethren's brutality, he was imprisoned away by his father, who spread rumors across all the realms that he had died.
Construction of Asgard's Walls[]
Hrimthur was angry with the death of his father Thamur, but from what happened, he had more intelligence, and would not go to fight Thor. But Hrimthur noticed that Asgard's walls were "half-built and shoddy", thus, he adopted the guise of a mortal and made a purpose with Odin, he would build Asgard's walls within 2 years, if he could do this, he would have a meeting with the goddess Freya, if he did not, he would receive nothing.
Odin agreed, thinking of this as an impossible thing to do, but much to Odin's frustration, with the help of a magic stallion and lessons taught by his father, Hrimthur could build the walls, but agreed with the bargain and sent Freya to speak to Hrimthur. Surprisingly, the guised jötunn just wanted to speak something in her ears, who is presumably some kind of weakness in Asgard's walls that Hrimthur put.
As he was walking to Midgard, he saw Thor in the gates, waiting for him, Hrimthur realized he was double-crossed and Odin discovered his true identity, but he did not care, as his plan was complete, and he had put a weakness on the Asgard's wall, for the preparation of the downfall of the Aesir in Ragnarök at the hands of the fire giant Surtr.
The Separation of Freya[]
Freya was ashamed of her husband obsession for Ragnarök and the giants, and tried to reason for him to stop, to just leave their people alone, unfortunately, it was too late, and Odin's insanity and obsession took him, Odin used the Seidr magic he learned from Freya, to take out her Valkyrie wings, her spirit of warrior and locked her in the realm of Midgard, unable to harm a single thing, even in self-defense, she felt strange, before collapsing in Midgard
Now, war was sure to return, with the Aesir with the masterwork hammer in their hands, the end of her marriage may be the end of her people, her only hope is that, sometime, some brave soul finish what she could not, and restore balance in the Norse Realms.
God of War (2018)[]
'More stories to be added soon.'
Powers and Abilities[]
The Aesir have always been a powerful tribe that values strength above all else, always remaining unchallenged until they met their match against the Vanir.
However, Mimir notices that while they were an unstoppable force, they lacked strategy, coordination and planning. Also, most of the Aesir look down on the practice of magic, relying solely on their skills in brute combat.
All Aesir seen so far can use elemental power to enhance their physical abilities and weaponry; Baldur can imbue his attacks with light and later with ice and fire, and likewise, Thor and his sons can imbue their weapons with lightning. All Aesir seen so far can be identified by their clean, strong blue eyes.
Known Aesir[]
Featured in the series[]
Odin is the King of the Aesir and the effective ruler of the Norse Pantheon. God of Magic, Wisdom, Poetry, Frenzy and War, he is renowned for collecting prophecies and his obsession for control. Pulling the strings from behind the scenes, the All-Father dedicated his life to finding the source of ultimate knowledge, hoping to prevent his demise comes Ragnarök. Outstanding magician blessed with exceptional intelligence, he was willing to sacrifice anyone and everything to achieve his goal.
Thor is the legendary God of Thunder and the Champion of the Aesir, second only to Odin in terms of prevalence. Heading a family of deities fiercely loyal to each other, Thor is widely considered to be the most powerful of the Aesir, feared by all. Particularly brutish and ruthless, he made a name for himself for the death and destruction he brought upon the Giants, his hammer Mjölnir becoming the symbol of the Aesir barbary and cruelty.
Heimdall is the God of Foresight and the Watchman of the Aesir. Nearly perfect tool who has been personally entrusted with Gjallarhorn by Odin himself, Heimdall is a die hard fanatic of the All-Father, protecting Asgard from intruders and destined to unite the Asgardians comes Ragnarök. The Herald of Gjallarhorn ensures that Odin's authority remains unchallenged, personally punishing with sadistic cruelty any offenders.
Týr is the fallen God of War of the Norse realms. Having deliberately renied his godly functions, he dedicated his life in favour of peace instead, working tirelessly to unite the people of the Nine Realms and risking his own life to protect the Giants from Odin and Thor's wrath. Týr ultimately paid the price for his benevolent actions, for his legacy was destroyed and his memory desecrated by the All-Father.
Sif is the Goddess of Wheat, Harvest and Family as well as Thor's wife. Having been granted the rank of diplomat by Odin, she is first and foremost a powerful goddess fiercely loyal to her family. Sif is among the very few Aesir who came to see Odin for what he really is, although the later's influence upon Thor is such that her only hope of making her family one again rests on Thrúd.
Baldur is the God of Light as well as the son of Odin and Frigg. Driven completely insane by a curse cast upon him by his mother, Baldur eventually lost himself due to his unability to feel pain and his sheer invulnerability. The All-Father filled his head with lies and deluded him into false promises of cure, making his son his personal tracker and closer. Baldur proved to be a formidable hand-to-hand fighter and one of Odin's best assets.
Thrúd is the daughter of Thor and Sif as well as the younger sister of Magni and Modi. Valkyrie in training, she is a brave warrior seeking to gain Odin's approval just as much as she wants to make her parents proud. Living in the shadow of her sadistic brothers, Thrúd proved to be very different from the other Aesir because of her caring nature.
Magni & Modi are the mighty sons of Thor. Although deemed to be lesser Aesir gods, they are a force to be reckoned with when fighting together. In competiton with each other for gaining Thor's favours, Magni and Modi are destined to inherit Mjölnir following the demise of their father during Ragnarök.
Mimir worked his way up to Odin thanks to his brillance and wisdom, two characteristics that the other Aesir lacked cruelly. Although not himself an Aesir god, Mimir eventually became Odin's closest adviser and partner-in-crime. His opportunism earned him the inimity of his peers and would backfire at him when the All-Father came to regard the Smartest Man Alive as a potential threat to his rule.
Mentioned only[]
- Forseti: God of Justice.
- Nanna: Goddess of Peace and Devotion.
- Búri: The first Aesir God to ever exist. †
- Borr: Son of Búri and the father of Odin, Vili, and Vé. †
- Bragi: Bard of Valhalla, the God of Poetry.
- Idunn: The wife of Bragi, Goddess of Youth.
- Höðr: The blind son of Odin, God of Darkness and Winter.
- Hœnir: An obscure Aesir god.
- Vili and Vé: The younger brothers of Odin. †
- Ullr: The son of Sif, and stepson of Thor, God of Archery, Hunting, and Skiing.
Trivia[]
- The Aesir replace the Olympians as the main antagonist group of the series in God of War (2018).
- Baldur is the first Aesir met and fought by Kratos, while Magni is the first to die by his hands.
- Among the ten Aesir gods featured in the series, six are effectively evil.
- Despite the fact that their King, Odin, is a master of several mystic arts, including ancient magic and Seiðr, the Aesir still look down on the practice of magic, calling it unmanly and some even mocked the Allfather for learning them.
- Another mentioned Aesir is the Goddess Nanna, wife of Baldur in Norse mythology. However, she is referenced so briefly (in one of Brok's many sayings, no less) that it's unclear whether this would even be her role in God of War (2018).
- In the mythology, the pair has a son, the God of justice and reconciliation, Forseti. However, since Baldur's invulnerability enchantments prevent him from siring a child as stated in the novel, Forseti never existed in God of War universe.
- It is implied through several Lore Markers and Scrolls, as well as the odd bit of dialogue that the "traditional" role of the Aesir (or at least, the one they might have sloppily built for themselves) is that of Midgard's dependable defenders when times require action, not unlike their role in mythology. Unfortunately, at least by God of War (2018); mortal reliance upon Asgard for said duty seems to have entirely vanished.
- According to Mimir, while the Aesir are a powerful force, he considers them lacking in the strategy and thought department. This is where he functioned as Odin's adviser.
- Mimir also considers them not very perceptive, seeing as how they somehow can't tell the difference between Dwarves and Dark Elves, despite neither race looking even remotely alike.
- Apparently, the Aesir fear and despise anything they consider to be unpredictable and uncontrollable. This is among the reasons why most of them dislike magic and seek to establish total control over the Nine Realms.
- Cory Barlog compared the Aesir to the Hunter S. Thompson's depiction of the Hells Angels in his book "Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs": he described them as "hard drinking, proud-to-be-the-dirtiest-and-nastiest, down-to-fight and living every second of life".
- Given that Laufey used to tell tales of Ullr to her son Atreus and that the latter is fond of the God of Archery and Hunting, it's possible that Ullr, like Tyr, is one of the very few Aesir gods who is not as corrupt and warmongering as his family.
