Slow Havamal: 110

In verse 110, it’s stated that apparently Odin swore an oath to the frost-giants, “But who can trust Odin?” He deceived Suttung and left Gunnlod in tears.

Havamal—the words of the high one—implies that this poem comes straight from Odin’s mouth, which makes it that much funnier when he states plainly, “But who can trust Odin?” This and the previous verse switch from the first-person narrative to an after-the-fact third-person perspective. I read this as a play on identity in the way I discussed last week. Odin’s conception of self may be less permanent and more open to change than we are accustomed to. In a sense, he might be winking at us with his one eye as he says these lines, but in another, he may intend to convey something more subtle.

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