There the gods’ warder drinks,
In peaceful old halls,
Gladsome the good mead.”
Norse Mythology (R. B. Anderson).
Heimdall, always clad in resplendent white armor, was therefore called the bright god, as well as the light, innocent, and graceful god, all which titles he fully deserved, for he was as good as beautiful, and all the gods loved him. Connected on his mothers’ side with the sea, he was sometimes counted among the Vanas; and as the ancient Northerners, and especially the Icelanders, to whom the surrounding sea appeared the most important element, fancied that all things had risen out of it, they attributed to him a knowledge of all things and imagined him particularly wise.
“Then said Heimdall,
Of Æsir the brightest—
He well foresaw
Like other Vanir.”
Sæmund’s Edda (Thorpe’s tr.).