Gods Of Iceland: Mímir, Ásgarður’s Reddit User

Strengths: Astonishingly clever, very portable

Weaknesses: Lack of body, being a bit of a pushover, being not smart enough to avoid weird prison exchanges

Modern Analogue: That guy on Reddit who knows everything about everything, has 10 PhD’s but still gets roasted by everyone in the comments.

Upon receiving the task of writing about one of the many Gods of Iceland, I was tempted to be as basic as basic can be in selecting my deity. Þór would have been an easy one, same with someone like Loki.

But no, that’s not how I roll.

In all of my wisdom (of which there is little), I went out of my way to pick a God that doesn’t have its own movie or upcoming TV show. So I bring to you Mímir, the god of wisdom and Asgard’s true 200IQ Reddit user.

u/MímirKnowsBest

Mímir was a water spirit who resided by a well at the bottom of the Yggdrasil, better known as the Tree of Life. He was known as the wisest of all the Æsir, so it was here that many of the Gods would turn up for advice on which realm to screw over next and which random mortal needed knocking up.

It was during the war between Æsir and Vanir—which would make a great movie or TV show—that Mimir’s fate was revealed. Tiring of endless war, the two races of Gods decided to establish a truce and hostages were exchanged between the two sides; Njörðr and his son Freyr were given to the Æsir, while the Vanir received Mímir and Hœnir.

Upon their arrival in the Vanir homeworld of Vanaheimr, Mímir was appointed to give counsel due to the fact that Óðinn told the Vanir that he was the smartest of all the Gods. However, Mimir didn’t fancy giving lots of advice to his divine and often, when asked for his advice, would respond with “Let others decide.”

This spelled certain doom for our man Mímir, as the Vanir thought that Óðinn had duped them by not sending the smartest man in all the realms, but merely giving them a careless old dude with seemingly nothing left to live for. And who could blame them? They were dealing with Óðinn, notorious master of betrayal, after all.

The Vanir subsequently took it upon themselves to seize Mímir, cut off his head and send it to Óðinn. So you could say that Mímir would not beheading back to Vanaheimr any time soon.

Well ackshually…

For most people, this would be where the story ends. However, we are dealing with immortal gods who are capable of using black magic to bend the universe to their will. So upon receiving Mímir’s head, Óðinn used some magical herbs and sang to Mímir to bring him (or rather, his head) back from the dead. Wonder what song he sang… “Staying Alive” perhaps? “Get’Cha Head In The Game”?

Over the next aeons, Óðinn kept Mímir’s head close by, seeking counsel from him as he used to back when Mimir had two legs to stand on. The great and mighty Óðinn would even go on to put his own eye in Mímir’s aforementioned well-home, believing that the waters would give him divine knowledge. That’s one way to keep an eye on all of Asgard.

Well, here’s a heads up now because I’m afraid we are heading to the end of Mímir’s story, as very little is known about what happened to him after he became Odin’s magic eight-ball of sorts. So perhaps it’s best if I stop writing here before I get… ahead of myself. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.