Freyja

Snorri Sturluson calls her “the most glorious of the goddesses.” She belonged to the Vanir, the older group of gods associated with fertility and the earth. After the first war between the Æsir and the Vanir, she came to Asgard as part of the peace exchange, along with her brother Freyr and her father Njord.

The Chooser of the Slain

Freyja had first claim on the battle-dead. Before Odin chose his warriors for Valhalla, Freyja selected half for her own hall, Sessrúmnir, in the field called Fólkvangr. Snorri records this without elaboration. The implication is that the most famous afterlife in Norse mythology, Valhalla, received only the leftovers.

Seiðr

Freyja taught the Æsir the practice of seiðr, a form of shamanic magic involving trance, prophecy, and the manipulation of fate. Snorri notes that seiðr was considered ergi (unmanly) when practiced by men, and that Odin’s use of it attracted mockery. The magic came from the Vanir through Freyja. She was its source and its master.

Brísingamen

The Sörla þáttr tells how Freyja obtained the necklace Brísingamen from four dwarves. The price was four nights, one with each dwarf. The necklace became her defining attribute. Loki stole it once; Heimdall recovered it. The story was old enough to appear in multiple sources across different centuries.

Golden Tears

Freyja’s husband Óðr wandered away and did not return. Freyja searched for him across the world, weeping tears that turned to gold on land and amber on the sea. The name Óðr is linguistically related to Óðinn (Odin), and some scholars read the searching goddess and the wandering god as fragments of a single older myth about a divine couple separated by the husband’s pursuit of wisdom.

Sources

Bibliography. The same list is held in the article’s frontmatter for the citation tools that read it programmatically.

• Snorri Sturluson, Prose Edda / Gylfaginning (c. 1220)
• Þrymskviða (Poetic Edda): Thor disguised as Freyja
• Lokasenna (Poetic Edda): Loki’s accusations against Freyja
• Sörla þáttr: the Brísingamen story