The Asatru FAQ series is my answers to questions asked on my forum, the Asatru Facebook Forum. Frequently Asked Question: Was Odin human?

My answer:

That's a fairly common interpretation, but I personally don't think he was.

The logic of the interpretation of Odin as human who ascended to godhood goes like this: Tyr was the original Sky God and King. Odin appeared in the culture suddenly. Odin's myth includes a shamanic initiation, or possibly two-- the Tree and the Well. He was therefore a great mystic to ascended to godhood.

The problem with this interpretation is that Odin's myth also says he sculpted our world and humanity. If one is going to say that part of Odin's myth, the part about initiation as a magic user, is a literal history of an actual person, then how can we simply ignore another part of the same figure's myth? It makes more sense to say all parts of his myth are metaphorical and none are literal.

I personally interact with Odin in the form of the trinity of brothers who created the world and humans (Odin / Honir / Lodhur.) So, that part of his story is very important to me, and I don't want to just shrug it off.

Image: Gods of Asgard calligraphy by Erin Lale