Váli is Odin’s son by the frost-giantess Rind. He is not to be confused with Loki and Sigyn’s son Vali, who was turned into a wolf and driven mad by Odin. Instead, Váli (sometimes called Ali or Bous) is a god of vengeance like his older half-brother Vidarr. 

When Baldur is slain inadvertently by Hoder, due to the interference of Loki, Odin decides that he needs another son to avenge Baldur. However, for some reason of wyrd, all of his living sons cannot do the deed. Odin forces himself on the frost-giantess Rind (in Saxo Grammaticus’s euhemerized version, Odin is a wandering rogue and Rind a teenage Russian princess), and she bears him Váli. In the myth, Váli grows to manhood in a single day, and refuses to wash his face or comb his hair until he has slain his brother’s killer. However, his understanding of the situation seems limited, for he flings himself onto the duped brother Hoder and slays him, while Loki gets away. (A more sophisticated version of the myth is recounted in the story Vengeance’s Son.)

Váli is also a God of Vengeance, but unlike silent Vidarr he is more aggressive, and more prone to go after something with fire in his eye. So which vengeance-god one calls upon may have more to do with one’s personality, and what draws the heart. To make an offering to him, give him a weapon – throw it into icy water, or a bog, or bury it in ice.

Artwork by Nessie Valkyria.

Photo at top of this section by Sabrina.

• Hymn to Váli by Raven Kaldera