Baldr and Jesus

The Norse myth about the death of Baldr is often compared with the Christian tradition of the death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. These comparisons can be found in Baldr’s lineage, characteristics, and storyline. Whether Baldr was based off of Jesus or not is a highly debated topic; the proof lies in the message. While some segments of Baldr’s life may have had Christian influences, the overall plot is fundamentally opposite.
When Snorri Sturluson began recording the story of Baldr, he based it on “traditional poems (some of which survived elsewhere) or in some cases perhaps on oral prose stories, though they are probably much changed from the form in which they would have been told in heathen times”. (Sturluson xi) The story of Baldr is, therefore, likely made up of remnants of an old Norse myth dating back to a pre-Christian era, as well as later renditions which may have either heretical or genuine Christian influences.
Lineage:
In the Poem Baldr’s Dream it says “and who’ll steal the life from Odin’s son?” (Larrington 244) Odin is also referred to as Baldr’s father in the Song of Hyndla, and in the Seeress’s Prophecy. (Larrington 257, 296, 8) In Loki’s Quarrel Frigg refers to Baldr as her son. (Larrington 89) These poems were copied down around 1270 AD, shortly after the Christianization of Scandinavia, however their original versions certainly predate this time. (Larrington xi) Snorri also refers to Baldr as being the son of Odin “Odin’s second son is Baldr, and there is good to be told of him.” (Sturluson 9) Odin was considered the high god above all others. “Odin is highest and most ancient of the Ǣsir. He rules all things, and mighty though the other gods are, yet they all submit to him like children to their father.” (Sturluson 21) Similarly, Jesus is also believed to be the son of the Most High God: “And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” (NKJV Bible Mark 5:7) Odin “lives throughout all ages and rules all his kingdom and governs all things great and small”. (Sturluson 9) It is said that he created the world “He made heaven and earth and the skies and everything in them”. (Sturluson 9) The same is said of Jesus’ Father, “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.” (NKJV Bible Acts 17:24) As Christianity and paganism began to intermix in the tenth and eleventh centuries, it is not surprising that connections between the gods were noticed. Over time, the pagan culture may have incorporated Christian ideas into their mythology. Noticing that Jesus was also the son of the Most High God made Baldr an easy target.
Odin and the father of Jesus had other things in common, which may or may not have been a Christianizing of the tale. The greatest creation of both of these gods is the creation of man. Of Odin it is said “but his greatest work is that he made man and gave him a soul that shall live and never perish though the body decay to dust or burn to ashes. And all men who are righteous shall live and dwell with him himself in the place called Gimle or Vingolf, but wicked men go to Hel and on to Niflhel; that is down in the ninth world”. (Sturluson 9) Of the father of Jesus it is said “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (NKJV Bible Genesis 2:7) And “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” (NKJV Bible Ecclesiastes 12:7) Also, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment… then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment”. (NKJV Bible 2 Peter 2:4, 9)
Characteristics:
The first characteristic to point out is in Baldr’s name. The name is believed to be connected with white, bright, shining, or resplendent. According to A.H. Krappe, author of The Myth of Baldr, the name either refers to Baldr being a sun god, daylight, or it could reference moral brightness or purity and goodness. Krappe said “In regard to the last of the three interpretations, it is safe to say that, however much it may have been possible at the time when old Norse paganism came to be replaced by Christianity, it certainly is not primitive. Primitive deities are neither moral nor immoral, they are amoral.” (Krappe 186) It is probable that Christians learning about the myth of Baldr connected his name with moral brightness, purity and goodness, therefore connecting him with Christ. Krappe went on to say “The conclusion cannot be avoided that Balder is a god of brightness and splendour”. (Krappe 187)
Baldr is described as “the best and all praise him. He is so fair in appearance and so bright that light shines from him, and there is a plant so white that it is called after Baldr’s eyelash. It is the whitest of all plants, and from this you can tell his beauty both of hair and body.” (Sturluson 23) From Sturluson’s description, it would seem that Baldr’s name is derived from his physically being bright like the sun. Jesus, on the other hand, was not fair in appearance. According to the early church father Irenæus, who lived around 120-202 AD, “the divine Scriptures do in both respects testify of Him: also, that He was a man without comeliness, and liable to suffering”. (Roberts 487) Irenæus was explaining the church’s belief that Isaiah was prophesying about Jesus when he said “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” (KJV Bible Isaiah 53:2) While Jesus was compared to a plant, it is believed that this verse means he didn’t have any features that made him stand out; he wasn’t handsome or uniquely built. The only time where Jesus is said to have shown was during his ‘transfiguration’. “And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” (KJV Bible Matthew 17:2) It is unlikely these two are connected however, as Baldr’s name itself describes brightness. It is also assuming too much to suggest that the name was a completely Christianized invention.
It is said that Baldr “is the wisest of the Ǣsir and most beautifully spoken and most merciful”. (Sturluson 23) The same was often said of Jesus. Even at twelve years old they believed him to be wiser than the average person.
Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. (NKJV Bible Luke 2:46-47)

When Jesus began his ministry, people began to flock to hear him. The crowds that came to hear Jesus teachings are testament to his being beautifully spoken. (KJV Bible Matthew 13:2) Calling Baldr the wisest among the Ǣsir however, is an unlikely scenario. Snorri has included this from an unknown source, which had unknown influences. The other poems about Baldr do not bring out this characteristic. The Norse version of wisdom is shown in poems describing contests between Odin and others. The one who is able to answer the most questions is considered the wisest. It is doubtful that Baldr was considered wiser than Odin. The quote describing Baldr as being merciful is also strange to Norse culture. It is clear from other Scandinavian poems that mercy is a weakness, not a virtue. Mercy is giving a second chance to someone who does not deserve it. It is a form of forgiveness, and that concept is countercultural to Scandinavian societies. Even other poems about Baldr suggest something other than merciful. In Loki’s Quarral it says “You know that if I had in here in Ǣgir’s hall a boy like my son Baldr, you wouldn’t get away from the sons of the Ǣsir; there’d be furious fighting against you.” (Larrington 89) These two accounts of Baldr’s character contradict each other. Mercy is however, a key characteristic of Christ. Unlike Baldr, Jesus was not a God of revenge. His death signified the very opposite of revenge- He died so that He could forgive anyone who asked. As Jesus was on the cross dying, He prayed for the people who were killing him “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do’.” (NKJV Bible Luke 23:34) Jesus forgave those who killed him, while Baldr’s family took revenge on Hod, the accidental killer of Baldr.
The contrast between mercy and revenge is a reason that this characteristic of Baldr may have been added at a different time than the core of the story. It was possibly added by pagans adapting their myths to include new ideals brought about during the Christianization period. It is also possible that a Christian like Snorri, studying the ancient myths, misunderstood a concept presented in the myths due to the influence of Christianity. This characteristic of Baldr, wherever it came from, is not essential to the plot of the story, or to its key themes.
One characteristic of Baldr which is different from Christ is found when the Edda says “but it is one of his characteristics that none of his decisions can be fulfilled.” (Sturluson 23) If Baldr were to Jesus, the way Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia is a depiction of Jesus, then Snorri Sturluson failed miserably. It would be more likely to believe that he wrote this sentence about Baldr for the very reason of making a distinction between Baldr and Christ. Jesus is quoted saying “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.”(NKJV Bible John 5:21) The “Son” refers to Jesus, and according to this scripture, the Son’s decisions as to whom He will give life, are always fulfilled. For orthodox believers, understanding that Jesus was fully God and fully man, meant that His will happened. This can also be seen in the miracles he performed, such as His determining that the sea would become calm. (Bible Mark 4:39)
The Storyline
Baldr began having bad dreams about his death “Baldr the Good dreamed great dreams boding peril to his life.” (Sturluson 48) When he told other gods about his dreams, they sent Odin, the only one who could travel between the world of the living and the dead, to ask a seeress in Hel what the dreams meant. (Larrington 243) The seeress prophesied that Baldr would die at the hand of his brother Hod. In contrast prophesies about the death of Christ were given by Jewish prophets like Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus was born.
While Jesus and Baldr both knew of their imminent deaths, they responded in opposite ways that were uniquely important to their respective stories. Baldr’s mother Frigg “received solemn promises so that Baldr should not be harmed by fire and water, iron and all kinds of metal stones, the earth, trees, diseases, the animals, the birds, poison, snakes.” (Sturluson 48) In this manner, Baldr tried to avert the prophecy. It is reminiscent of the story in Greek mythology where Achilles’ mother attempts to avert the prophecy of his death by dipping him in the pool of immorality. Like Frigg, Achilles’ mother forgets a very small thing- the heel. Frigg, leaves off the mistletoe. The lesson learned is that even the gods are unable to avert the fate foretold in the prophecies. Even though Jesus had the power to avert the prophecies about his death, he chose not to. He embraced them. Jesus went so far as to prevent other people from attempting to avert the prophecy:
And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. “Put away your sword," Jesus told him. "Those who use the sword will be killed by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" (NKJV Bible Matthew 26:51-4)

Jesus knew that he would die, and chose to follow through with it, which is the central point to the story of Jesus Christ, and a key difference between Him and Baldr.
When Baldr believed that he was safe from all harm, he began mocking the prophecy by allowing the other gods to attack him by throwing objects at him. It became almost a game among them. It was through this self assurance and pride that Loki was able to design his death. Jesus was given the chance to do a similar thing, and yet chose not to. The story goes that satan suggested to Jesus “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” (KJV Bible Matthew 4:6) Jesus responded “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God’.” (KJV Bible Matthew 4:7) Baldr was clearly tempting fate the way Jesus refused to tempt God.
Loki took a mistletoe branch and created from it a dart or spear and placed it into the hands of Hod, Baldr’s blind brother. (Sturluson 48) In this version of Baldr’s death, Loki uses Hod to murder Baldr, while in Saxo Grammaticus’ History of the Danes the ‘historical’ figures of Baldr and Hod are fighting over a woman, which leads to Hod slaying his brother. That version does not include any similarities to Christ, however Grammaticus’ reputation of humanizing Norse deities makes the story an unlikely starting point for the Baldr myth. Another theory is that Baldr’s death is based on an Irish legend regarding the death of Christ. “Baldr is slain by Höth's dart. It was a common belief in the Middle Ages, especially in England and Ireland, that Jesus did not die until pierced by the lance, and that it was the wound of the lance that caused His death.” (Bugge 4) This idea sounds beautiful as he describes the clear similarities between these beliefs and the myth. Other sources agree that neighboring countries of England and Ireland both had pictures of the cross which appear to suggest that Jesus was killed by the spear. A painting was found from the eighth century: “The Saviour, clothed in a long grayish-blue colobium, has his eyes open and appears to be alive, although the soldier (Longinus) has already pierced his side”. (Peebles 46) Bugge points out that Loki’s use of Hod to kill Boldr is similar to satan’s use of Pilate to kill Jesus or “Even as Loki by his counsel causes Baldr's death, so in the Cornish mystery, 'The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ,' Lucifer says that it is he who induced Pilate to slay Our Lord.” (Bugge 4) He takes it to further lengths when he explains:
In the west of England the superstition is current even now that the cross was made of mistletoe, which at the time of Christ was a fair tree in the forest, but which was cursed because of the evil use to which it had been put, and condemned to live ever afterwards as an insignificant plant. We may, therefore, suppose that the Norwegians who first told how Baldr was pierced by the mistletoe, and through whom the account heard by the author of Völuspá spread itself in tradition, lived in England, and fashioned that mythical incident under the influence of English superstitions about the mistletoe. (Bugge 4)

Another source however, counters that mistletoe was used in Sweden for a special celebration “For in Sweden on midsummer eve mistletoe is ‘diligently sought after, they believing it to be, in a high degree, possessed of mystic qualities’.” (Frazer 344) If this was the case, and Baldr is purposely and/or entirely based on an Irish version of the death of Christ, I would expect the death of Baldr to keep the three key points of the death of Christ: 1. Jesus chose to die 2. He died to redeem mankind. 3. He rose from the dead. As Paul said “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”. (NKJV 1 Corinthians 15:3-4) Instead, the story has factors common to Norse mythology: 1. pride and boasting 2. fate determined Baldr’s death 3. the death had to be avenged 4. the happy ending for Baldr was thwarted by Loki. These key points are fundamental differences in the stories, which indicate two separate tales that, while perhaps influencing each other, cannot be counted as a single story. A Christian scholar from England would not have written about Christ with a Norse worldview. The death of the Irish mythological Jesus, and the Norse mythological Baldr may have commonality, however the death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is still far removed from the Baldr accounts.
The fundamental difference between these two deaths goes even deeper than how or why it happened. The death of Jesus was the whole point of His life. According to scholar John Piper “The central issue of Jesus’ death is not the cause, but the purpose – the meaning”. (Piper 12) Baldr was an innocent god who died because Loki got annoyed. It was another game to Loki – find the one way Frigg forgot to protect Baldr. Baldr’s death was meaningless, senseless. The purpose of the death of Jesus was to redeem human beings “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’.” (Bible Galatians 3:13) “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” (Bible Romans 3:25) “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (Bible 1 John 4:10)
When Baldr died, Odin could not bring him back to life, and Baldr could not bring himself back to life. He was trapped under the authority of Hel itself, who tells Hermod “and if all things in the world, alive and dead, weep for him, then he shall go back to the Ǣsir, but be kept with Hel if any objects or refuses to weep. Because Loki alone refused to weep, Baldr was trapped in Hel. Loki controlled the fate of Baldr, but if Loki is a representation of satan, then he should have failed to keep Baldr bound. Jesus and Baldr were both buried, but after three days, only Jesus came back to life. Jesus said “I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (KJV Bible Revelations 1:18) The resurrection of Jesus is essential to the faith as Paul said “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty… And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Corinthians15:14, 17) When Jesus rose from the dead, He gave his followers several commands before telling them “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”. (Matthew 28:20) While Baldr is sitting in Hel, Jesus is in heaven, and claims to be on earth as well.
After Ragnarok, Baldr is supposed to return to live in peace with his brother Hod in a newly remade world. “Baldr will come back; Hod and Baldr, the gods of slaughter, will live happily together”. (Larrington 12) Similarly, after the ‘tribulation’, Jesus will come back again to rule on earth. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righeousness He doth judge and make war.” (Revelation 19:11) and “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth”. (Revelation 21:1) In the new heaven and new earth Jesus Christ will rule with the High God.
Summary
Baldr was innocent, but faced with death he tried to fight fate and lost. He died a pointless death at the hands of a jealous god. His family took revenge on Hod, whose involvement in Baldr’s death was unintentional. Baldr and Hod will remain dead until Ragnarok, after which they will return to the new earth and live in peace. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, which He lived so He could choose to die. Jesus let himself die as a sacrifice for the human race. He was dead for three days, and then came back to life. The fundamental differences between Jesus and Baldr prove that the stories originated independently.
Works Cited
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Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: Killing the god. Second ed. Vol. Iii. London: Macmillan and Co, 1900. Print.
Grammaticus, Saxo. History of the Danes. Ed. Hilda E. Davidson. Trans. Peter Fisher. English Text ed. Vol. 1. Cambridge [Eng.]: D.S. Brewer, Rowman and Littlefield, 1979. Print.
King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1976. Print.
Krappe, A. H. The Myth of Balder. A study in Comparative Mythology. 3rd ed. Vol. 34. Taylor & Francis Ltd, 1923. Print. Folklore.
Larrington, Carolyne, trans. The Poetic Edda. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1996. Print.
New King James Version. Thomas Nelson Inc., 1985. Print.
Peebles, Rose J. The legend of Longinus in ecclesiastical tradition and in English literature. Diss. Bryn Mawr College, 1910. Baltimore: J. H. Furst Company, 1911. Print.
Piper, John. Fifty Reasons why Jesus Came to Die. W H E A T O N: Good Knews, 2006. Print.
Roberts, Alexander and Donaldson, James, Eds. Against Heresies Book III Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 1. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, inc. copyright 2004 (chapter XIX)
Sturluson, Snorri. Edda (Everyman's Library). New York: Everyman Paperback Classics, 1995. Print.