The overlooked exception
In Gylfaginning, Baldr’s disturbing dreams lead the gods to seek protection for him. His mother Frigg obtains promises from things that might harm him. Once the protection is established, the gods make a game of throwing weapons and other objects at Baldr, who remains unhurt.
Loki takes the form of a woman and questions Frigg. She reveals that a young mistletoe growing west of Valhalla was not asked for an oath. Loki obtains the plant and approaches Höðr, who stands aside because he is blind and has no weapon. Offering to help him join the game, Loki guides his throw. The mistletoe kills Baldr. The apparent guarantee of safety has made the gods unprepared for the one unprotected point.
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §50 in Anderson
A return that almost happens
Baldr’s body is placed on his ship for a funeral. Nanna dies of grief and is placed on the pyre with him. Meanwhile Hermóðr rides to Hel to ask for Baldr’s release. Hel sets a test: if everything, living and dead, mourns him, he may return. Messengers travel to gather that universal grief.
One figure refuses. A giantess called Þökk says she will shed no tears for Baldr. The prose account reports the belief that this figure was Loki in disguise. Because the condition is not met, Baldr remains among the dead. The attempted rescue fails through another exception, echoing the small omission that made his death possible. Later prophecy promises his return after the world’s destruction, rather than an immediate restoration.
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §§51–53; chapter XVII, §58 in Anderson
What the poems do and do not say
Völuspá gives a much shorter sequence: mistletoe becomes the fatal missile, Höðr shoots, Baldr’s brother avenges him, and Frigg mourns. It then shows a bound figure resembling Loki, but does not explicitly narrate Loki handing over the plant or guiding the shot. Baldrs draumar has Odin question a dead seeress about preparations in Hel; it names Höðr as the killer and Váli as the avenger.
Omitting an action is not the same as denying it. The graph therefore marks only relationships that each selected passage actually states. Snorri supplies a connected prose explanation where the poems rely on compressed allusion. The difference can arise from genre, selection, and the traditions available to a writer; it need not be resolved by declaring one witness authentic and the other worthless.
Sources: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation); The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Völuspá 32–35, 62; Baldrs draumar 1–14; Gylfaginning, chapter XV
One story, different sources
Choose a textual witness. The summary, diagram, and cited connections below change together. This is a selective map of claims, not a complete family tree.
Völuspá · brief poetic sequence
The poem names the missile, shooter, avenger, and mourning mother. It does not narrate Loki directing the shot; its following image of a bound Loki-like figure should not be silently expanded into the prose scene.
Source: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation) · Völuspá 32–35
Cited connections 3
Höðr shoots fatal mistletoe Baldr
Source: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation) · Völuspá 32–33
Baldr’s avenging brother avenges Baldr on Höðr
Source: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation) · Völuspá 33–34
Frigg mourns Baldr
Source: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation) · Völuspá 34
Gylfaginning · connected prose account
Loki discovers the exception and guides Höðr. Frigg’s protective oaths and Hermóðr’s unsuccessful embassy are narrated explicitly.
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §§50–53
Cited connections 5
Frigg seeks protective oaths for Baldr
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §50
Loki arms and guides Höðr
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §50
Höðr shoots mistletoe at Baldr
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §50
Hermóðr requests Baldr’s release Hel
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §§51–53
Hel retains after mourning test fails Baldr
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §53
See what differs across the witnesses
Völuspá · brief poetic sequence
The poem names the missile, shooter, avenger, and mourning mother. It does not narrate Loki directing the shot; its following image of a bound Loki-like figure should not be silently expanded into the prose scene.
Source: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation) · Völuspá 32–35
Gylfaginning · connected prose account
Loki discovers the exception and guides Höðr. Frigg’s protective oaths and Hermóðr’s unsuccessful embassy are narrated explicitly.
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter XV, §§50–53
- Period / witness
- Poetic Edda witnesses chiefly thirteenth century CE; Prose Edda composed c.1220 and preserved in later copies. Mythic events are undated.
- Recording context
- Icelandic manuscript tradition: Völuspá in Codex Regius and Hauksbók; Baldrs draumar in AM 748 I 4to; the Prose Edda in several manuscript versions. These are witnesses, not proven origins.
A recording location is not necessarily a story’s origin. Dates of texts, copies, and translations answer different questions.
Explore time & place →Read the sources
These references support the explanation above. Rights and edition notes are recorded individually.
The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) ↗
Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241); translated by Rasmus B. Anderson (1846–1936) · 1901 printing of Anderson’s translation (copyright 1879); medieval work composed in Iceland around the 1220s
Edition & rights noteThe Poetic Edda (1923 translation) ↗
Anonymous Old Norse poets; translated by Henry Adams Bellows (1885–1939) · 1923 translation; medieval poems preserved principally in manuscripts of the thirteenth century
Edition & rights note