Gullveig

"Gold-draught." A mysterious figure solely attested in a single stanza of Völuspá, before the war between the Æsir and the Vanir.

She that war remembers,
the first on earth,
when Gullveig they
with lances pierced,
and in the high one's hall
her burnt,
thrice burnt,
thrice brought her forth,
oft not seldom;
yet she still lives.

Gullveig is occasionally held to be a personification of gold, purified through repeated smelting, and its corrupting power. Gullveig may also be one of the Vanir who was attacked but could not be killed and which resulted in the war. It could also be another name for Freyja, who is of the Vanir and who is associated with gold, and linked to a form of magic called seið, which she taught the Æsir.

The High One (Hárr) in the stanza is Odin. See also Heiðr.

❧