Study › Runes & Norse › Freyr and Gerd
From Odin's high seat Freyr saw the giantess Gerd, and fell sick with love. His servant Skirnir won her for him, and the price was Freyr's sword, which he will miss at Ragnarok.
Freyr sees Gerd
One day Freyr sat in Odin's high seat, from which all the worlds can be seen, and looked into Jotunheim. There he saw the giantess Gerd walking to her father's hall, and her arms shone so brightly that sky and sea glowed with their light. Freyr fell into a sickness of longing and would neither eat, drink nor speak.
Skirnir's errand
His servant Skirnir agreed to win her for him, but asked for Freyr's horse and his sword, the sword that fights on its own. In the poem Skírnismál, Skirnir offers Gerd golden apples and the ring Draupnir, and she refuses them all. Then he threatens her with a terrible curse carved in runes, and she agrees to meet Freyr in the grove Barri after nine nights.
The price
The price was high. Without his sword Freyr later killed the giant Beli with a stag's antler, and at Ragnarok he will face the fire giant Surtr unarmed, and fall. It is the gods' clearest tale of love that costs everything.
Read about Freyr, the sword of Freyr and Surtr.
Questions
Who is Gerd?
A giantess, daughter of Gymir, who became Freyr's wife.
What is Skírnismál?
The Eddic poem of Skirnir's errand to win Gerd for Freyr.