Who is Frigga, the Queen of the Norse Gods?

Frigga, or Frigg, is the queen of the gods in Norse mythology. The wife (or primary wife according to some legends) of the All-Father Odin, Frigg was the mother of the beloved Balder and Hod, and some legends claim she was also the mother of the war god Tyr. Frigga was a seer, a weaver of fate and a goddess of mature beauty, the household and of marriage. However, she was also so much more than that.

Frigga's youth isn't spoken of in the Viking mythology, but it does mention that Frigga is first among Odin's wives and she is considered his equal and opposite in many ways even though they are both gods of the sky and the clouds. Frigga is the goddess of Viking wives, and of the household represented by the keys she keeps at her belt. Frigga is the only other divinity allowed to sit on Odin's throne Hlidskialf, one of the great treasures of the Norse gods, which allows the person sitting on it to look down onto the nine worlds and see everything. Frigga's sister Jord, an earth giantess, is the mother of the thunder god Thor, but this is also a part of her youth that isn't spoken of. She becomes a major part of the heathen mythology around the time that her son Balder is born.

Balder was the most beloved god in the pagan faith. The god of the sun, of creativity and light, Balder was considered to be the new resurrection and the coming of spring after the long winter. Balder's brother Hod, who was blind and in some versions of the myth evil, was the god of winter. When he was born Frigga had a vision of her beloved boy being murdered, and so she went from thing to thing in all the world and extracted promises that none of them would hurt the beloved Balder. All things agreed, except for the mistletoe, which was too young and inoffensive to ever do harm. Of course the malicious trickster god Loki ferreted this information out, and brought the prophecy to truth by tricking Hod into throwing a small spear made of mistletoe to pierce Balder's heart.

Like the goddess Freya, Frigga was a goddess of love and strength. While she was not seen as a warrior though, Frigga was accorded much respect and a free hand, which is something of a statement as to Asatru's views of women as equals to men in many respects. Frigga was one of the governing voices among the councils of the gods, though she often chose to remain in her own hall and spin the clouds and the weave of fate. Activities that were simultaneously domestic and intensely important in keeping the cosmology of the world together and in balance.

All in all, Frigga is just one more example of the way in which life in the Viking North operated. She was a woman of beauty and station, but neither of those precluded her from governing or from taking part in the councils of the gods. She was a goddess of feminine magic and fate, but she was accorded great respect by her husband and allowed to share in a large part of his own power. A representation of the bond of marriage, Frigga was invoked as a blessing alongside Odin and Thor, two of the most powerful gods in the pantheon. Lastly, Frigga was a reminder that not everything in life was war, battle and great honor... someone had to sweep the stoop, cook dinner and dictate the policy of the household which would then be applied to everyone, thralls and warriors alike.

"Frigga: Norse Goddess of Love and Marriage," by Anonymous at Goddess Gift
"Frigga: Queen of the Gods," by Anonymous at Holy Nation of Odin