Old Norse Baldr, variant Balder
One of the Aesir
Name Means: "The Glorious"
also called the God of Light, the God of tears, and the God of Beauty and the "white as"
son of Odin and Frigg
A hero god, the god who dies and rises again. Fair skinned, fair haired, wise and merciful, beloved of all
God of Peace, light, joy, purity, beauty, innocence, and reconciliation
champion of goodness, innocence and forgiveness
handsome and wise
wife was Nanna
son named Forseti
lived in Breidablik [The Broad-Gleaming] - nothing unclean could be and there were "fewest baneful runes" - a silver roof on golden pillars
Most Beautiful of the Gods, snowy brow and golden locks seem to radiate beams of sunshine which gladdens the hearts of gods and men, by whom he is equally beloved
Loki tricked Hoder into killing Balder, who had to be rescued from the underworld. According to the epic poem VOLUSKA, Balder will come to rule again after Ragnarok.
One night, Balder had a very foreboding dream. Odin rode to Hel’s realm to discover the meaning. He was told that balder would be killed by Hod, Balder’s twin brother. To prevent this, Frigg asked all things to swear not to hurt Balder. However, the mistletoe was too young. Loki, disguised as an old woman, visited Frigg and discovered this. Loki created a dart (or arrow) made from mistletoe. Soon after, the Gods were playing a game of throwing things at Balder. Loki went up to Balder’s brother Hod, who, while blind, never missed his mark., and gave him the dart. Hod threw the dart and killed his brother.
Hermod then rode to Hel’s realm to plead for Baldor’s return. Hel told him that if all would weep for Balder, he could return to the living. Loki, this time disguised as the giantess Thokk, would not weep.
Nanna died of a broken heart. She was burned beside her husband on his ship, Hringhorni. With them were Baldor’s horse and a dwarf that Thor threw in.
Sources: Various including: http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/norse-mythology.php?deity=BALDUR http://www.jackowitch.com/norseab.html http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~cherryne/myth.cgi/Balder.html
