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Skadi, the Goddess of Winter


Giants

Njord

Baldur



A giantess, called the 'snow-shoe goddess', and the embodiment of winter. She is the wife of the god Njord. When her father Thiazi was slain by the gods, Skadi wanted to take revenge. The gods thought it wiser to reconciliate and offered her a marriage with one of them. She was free to marry any god, but while she made her choice she was only allowed to see the feet of the potential candidates. She noticed a very elegant pair and, convinced that their owner was the fair god Balder, she choose them. Unfortunately for her, those feet belonged to the older god Njord.

The marriage between Njord and Skadi was not a happy one. She wanted to live where her father had lived, in Thrymheim in the mountains, and Njord wanted to live in Noatun, his palace by the sea. So they agreed to spend the first nine days in the mountains and the following nine days by the sea. This arrangement did not work out very well, and they separated. Eventually, Skadi left Njord for the god Ull.