Goddess of Love and Fertility, Chooser of the Slain
Freyja is the daughter of the sea god Njord and twin sister of Freyr, born among the Vanir. After the war between the two divine tribes she came to the Aesir as a hostage of peace, and taught them the Vanir sorcery called seid. She drives a chariot drawn by two cats, owns a falcon-feather cloak that turns its wearer into a bird, and wears the necklace Brisingamen, bought from four dwarf smiths at the price of four nights.
The Grimnismal says the slain of every battlefield are divided between her and Odin: half ride to Valhalla, half to her meadow Folkvangr. Her husband Od wanders far from home, and as she searches for him her tears fall as red gold. Giants scheme endlessly to possess her, demanding her as a mason's wage or as ransom for Thor's stolen hammer, and each time the gods must trick their way out.
The Thrymskvida gives her its most famous moment of fury: told she is to be married off to a giant, she snorts with such rage that the halls of the Aesir shake and Brisingamen bursts from her neck. Place names across Scandinavia preserve her cult; the derivation of Friday is usually assigned to Frigg, though some have argued for Freyja.
