He avenges his father in the final catastrophe, in Ragnarok; for when the Fenris-wolf has swallowed Odin, Vidar advances, and setting his foot on the monster’s lower jaw he seizes the other with his hand, and thus tears and rends him till he dies. It is now his shoe does him such excellent service. After the universe has been regenerated
There dwell Vidar and Vale
In the gods’ holy seats,
When the fire of Surt is slaked.
Vidar’s name (from viðr, a forest) indicates that he is the god of the primeval, impenetrable forest, where neither the sound of the ax nor the voice of man was ever heard; and hence he is also most fittingly surnamed the Silent God. Vidar is, then, imperishable and incorruptible nature represented as an immense indestructible forest, with the iron trunks of the trees rearing their dense and lofty tops toward the clouds. Who has ever entered a thick and pathless forest, wandered about in its huge shadows and lost himself in its solemn darkness, without feeling deeply sensible to the loftiness of the idea that underlies Vidar’s character. Vidar is the Greek Pan, the representative of incorruptible nature. He is not the ruler of the peaceful grove near the abode of the gods, where Idun dwells, but of the great and wild primeval forest, that man never yet entered. The idea of Vidar’s woods is imperishableness, while that of Idun’s grove is the constant renovation and rejuvenation of the life of the gods. The gods and all the work of their hands shall perish, and it is nowhere stated that Idun survives Ragnarok. Odin himself perishes, and with him all his labor and care for man; but nature does not perish. If that should be entirely destroyed, then it could not be regenerated. If matter should perish, where would then the spirit take its dwelling? If Vidar did not exist, where would Vale be? The glory of the world, the development that has taken place, and the spirit revealed in it, perish; but not Vidar, for he is the imperishable, wild, original nature, the eternal matter, which reveals its force to, but is not comprehended by, man; a force which man sees and reveres, without venturing an explanation; but when all the works of man are destroyed by consuming flames, this force of eternal matter will be revealed with increased splendor.
Thus we find the power and strength of the gods expressed in two myths, in Thor and in Vidar, both sons of Odin, who is, as the reader knows, the father of all the gods. Thor is the thundering, noisy, crushing, but withal beneficent, god; Vidar is silent, dwells far away from, and exercises no influence upon, the works of man, except as he inspires a profound awe and reverence. Thor is the visible, in their manifestations wonderful, constantly returning and all-preserving, workings of nature; Vidar is the quiet, secretly working, hidden and self-supporting imperishableness. Popularity, fame, position, influence, wealth,—all that makes so much stir and bustle in the world—shall perish; but the quiet working of the soul, the honest pursuit of knowledge, the careful secret development of the powers of the human mind, shall live forever. And Vidar and Vale (mind and knowledge) shall together inhabit the sacred dwellings of the gods, when the waves of time have ceased to roll: Vidar as the god of imperishable matter, Vale as the god of eternal light (spirit) that shines upon it.
CHAPTER VI.
THE VANS.
SECTION I. NJORD AND SKADE.
Two opposite elements in nature are united in order to produce life. The opposite elements are expressed in the mythology by the terms asas and vans. In our language and mode of expression that would mean the solid and the liquid, the masculine and the feminine. Water, the par excellence representative of liquids, may symbolize various ideas. It may typify sorrow; it then manifests itself in tears, and sorrow is fleeting as the flowing tears. Water may symbolize gladness, happiness, and blessings, that flow in gushing streams along the pathway of life; and it may also be used as the symbol of innocence, purity, and wealth. These ideas may be regarded as a general interpretation of the vans, and we find them reflected in the triune vana-deity; Njord with his children Frey and Freyja, who rise from the sea and unite themselves with the asa-divinity in heaven and on earth.
Njord is called Vanagod, and he dwells in the heavenly region called Noatun. He rules over the winds and checks the fury of the sea and of fire, and is therefore invoked by seafarers and fishermen. He is so wealthy that he can give possessions and treasures to those who call on him for them. Yet Njord is not of the lineage of the asas, for he was born and bred in Vanaheim. But the vans gave him as hostage to the asas, receiving from them in his stead Hœner. By this means peace was reëstablished between the asas and vans. (See [Part II, Chap. 1], Sec. 13.)