Misconceptions 22 and 23: Is Skirnismal about the Marriage of Freyr and Gerdr?
22. Skirnismal is about Freyr wooing Gerdr and marrying her.
This is another misconception frequently repeated by scholars and (Neo) Heathens alike. Perhaps at best it comes from a desire with those connected with Freyr to have some information about Freyr in the surviving mythology of the Aesir. Unfortunately it is based on a superficial reading of Skirnismal.
Skirnismal, the Lay of Skirnir, is hardly the “romantic love-myth” that Lee Hollander describes it to be. The poem is primarily about Skirnir going up against vilified Giants in Giant Land not Freyr’s love for Gerdr. Freyr plays a minor supporting role in relation to Skirnir. Gerdr, Skirnir’s antagonist, has more lines than Freyr in this story.
Yes, Freyr’s love/lust for Gerdr at the beginning of the poem sets the scene and gives us the motivation for Skirnir going forth to Giant Land for conquest and adventure. Yes, the poem comes to a close with Skirnir returning to Freyr from his adventure and conquest in Giant Land. But everything in between these two scenes that include Freyr is about Skirnir. Who is he?
Skirnir is sometimes called Freyr’s friend or servant. He is Freyr’s friend and servant in the same sense that prison guards sometimes “befriend” the prisoners they guard. Skirnir is not a Van. He is one of the Aesir or a human true to them. That he answers to Odin is made clear in the story of the binding of Fenriswolf in Snorri’s Edda, 34. There Odin sends Skirnir to Svartalfheim to have the so-called Dark Elves make the fetter Gleipner to bind Fenriswolf. The only two references to Skirnir in the myths are Skirnismal and the Edda, 34. That he answers to Odin is also made clear by how he acts in Skirnismal.
The methods Skirnir uses to “woo” Gerdr to marry Freyr are methods typical of the Aesir. They are methods of dominance, intimidation, violence and manipulative magic. First, Skirnir takes Freyr’s horse and mighty sword that according the Skirnir “swings itself against the tribe of trolls” and according to Freyr “swings itself, if wise he is who wields it.” Their different descriptions of Freyr’s sword are revealing. Skirnir sees a sword to hew giants. Freyr knows it takes wisdom to wield his sword. Note: There is no need to assume that Freyr has control over his horse and sword and actually gives them to Skirnir. Skirnir, Odin’s servant, can take Freyr’s horse and sword whether Freyr gives them or not.
Skirnir takes Freyr’s horse and sword and rides to Giant Land to Gymir’s home where Gerdr lives. He murders the shepherd he meets when he arrives. He gains entry into the courtyard and is welcomed into Gerdr’s home according to the customs of hospitality. Full of deception from the beginning, Skirnir offers Gerdr Idun’s apples which were not his to give. Continuing his deception, Skirnir offers Draupnir to Gerdr which was not his to give.
When Gerdr does not fall for Skirnir’s false promisies, he turms his “wooing” up a notch by pulling Freyr’s sword and threatening to cut off her head if she does not surrender to Freyr’s love for her. When Gerdr shows no fear of the blade (perhaps she discerns that he is not wise enough to use it against her) Skirnir threatens her with a magical wand. He says that he will bind her on the eagle-hill where she will sit confined forever. She will “drivel and dote and drag through life with a heavy heart.” Imps will nip at her all the long days. Weeping will be her pastime. She will either live with a three-headed thurs or waste away with lust as an unwed maid. When Skirnir begins to speak his Rune curse Gerdr stops him and agrees to meet Freyr in nine nights at Barri and become his wife.
23. Freyr gave his sword for Gerdr.
Skirnir then mounts Freyr’s horse, returns to Asgard and reports to Freyr to outcome of his adventure. It is significant that the story ends here. There is no mention that Freyr and Gerdr actually met at Barri and married. There is no mention that Freyr ever gave away his sword. The implication is that Skirnir kept Freyr’s sword. He never gave it back to Freyr after his adventure. He kept it for himself, something that a servant and friend would never do. Perhaps Skinir himself started the lie that Freyr gave his sword for Gerdr as a cover for his ignoble deed. Such a lie would fit his character.
That the important events of Freyr and Gerdr’s marriage and the return of Freyr’s sword are not mentioned reinforces the fact that the poem is not about Freyr and Gerdr. It is about Skirnir and his adventures and conquest in Giant Land. Skirnismal is the story of Skirnir’s claim to glory. It is a poem that recounts Skirnir’s mighty deeds in Giant Land. It has little to do Freyr and Gerdr.