Skadi

In Norse mythology, Skadi, is a Giant and the daughter of Thiassi.  She is known as the ‘Snow-shoe Goddess’ and is the embodiment of winter and dwelled high in the snow-covered mountains in her home of Thrymheim.

Skadi’s father, Thiassi, kidnapped the Goddess Idunn who was the keeper of the God’s apples of immortality he was killed by the Aesir.  Skadi sought revenge for her father’s murder.  She put on a full coat of armour and headed for Asgaard.  Upon her arrival, she demanded two things of the Aesir: that they make her laugh and that she should be allowed to choose a mate from among them.  Odin agreed.

The first condition was met by Loki when he tied his testicles to the beard of a bill goat.  It ended with a lot of screeching and the rope snapping – leaving Loki to land, screaming in pain.  Skadi laughed.

Next all the Aesir lined up, all faceless and covered showing only their feet.  She found the strongest looking legs and thought them to belong to Balder, Odin’s beloved son and flung off her mask and discovered she had picked the sea god Njord.

As further payment, Odin took the eyes of Thiassi and thrust them into the heavens where they became two bright stars.

Chosen by Skadi, Njord took her to his sea-side home of Noatun, but as a famous eddic poem recounts, “I couldn’t sleep a wink,” Skadi says, “on the bed of the sea, for the calling of gulls and mews.”  The couple then moved to Thrymheim, but Njord became depressed among the cold and desolation surrounded by howling wolves and cold winds.  They decided to spend equal amounts of time in one location at a time, but eventually, Skadi began spending more and more time in Thrymheim and Njord began to see her less and less until they dissolved the marriage.

After their separation, Skadi had several sons with the god Odin.