Similarities between Odin and Jesus: Why Icelanders Would Accept a Foreign God

  It is odd that the Vikings, who worshiped a pantheon of mostly war gods would convert to a religion based on forgiveness and peace, but there is a surprising amount of overlap between the myths of the Aesir and the story of Christ. First, there is a heavy emphasis on martyrdom and self-sacrifice. Odin sacrifices one of his eyes to gain knowledge of the future so he can avert Ragnarok, and Tyr loses one of his hands to imprison the wolf Fenrir. Jesus creates wine and bread for the poor out of his blood and body, respectively. Next, both Odin and Jesus achieve apotheosis by sacrificing their own lives. Odin hangs himself on the world tree Yggdrasil for 9 full days, and gains knowledge about magic runes, charms, and information about the other gods. He then shares his magic and wisdom with mankind. After dying on the cross, Jesus resurrects and ascends to Heaven. In addition, they are both impaled in some way. Odin has his side pierced with his own spear, and Jesus by the infamous Spear of Destiny, as well as the nails and the crown of thorns. What they were martyred on is also important. There is a concept called the axis mundi, a “world pillar” that is the center of the planet and connects heaven and earth. The world tree Yggdrasil is a clear example. Trees are rooted in the ground and reach towards the sky. In the case of Jesus, his body on the wooden cross is the axis, acting as the bridge connecting God to humanity.

  There are elements of folk hero tales in their mythologies as well. Odin had a habit of disguising himself as a mortal human, as seen in the poem of Harbard. He would often travel around and dispense wisdom to the common people, and taught humans writing, rune magic, and poetry. This wanderer persona was the primary inspiration for Gandalf from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Jesus is obviously famous for the many miracles he performed, and for the lessons he taught to his disciples. Most of the miracles performed by Jesus were healings, exorcisms, or forgiveness of sins.

  Considering that the sagas were written after Christianization, I think the reason Iceland was open to conversion at this time was that the country was in the middle of a decades-long blood feud which affected nearly every family. Lots of people were being killed for petty offenses, which probably had nothing to do with them and were committed long ago. I think the idea of a god of atonement who forgave people and wiped away their sins would have been very attractive to Icelanders. Especially since they were phasing out of the Viking raider mindset and were settling down as farmers. Getting into Valhalla through bravery on the battlefield was not as likely at that point.