Norse

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Norse

Váli

The Newborn Avenger

Domain: Vengeance & Relentless Justice
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Element: Air
Relics of Power: Bow of the Next Day

Speak with Váli

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Norse & Germanic peoples

Region

Scandinavia & northern Europe

Period

Viking Age, 8th–11th c.

The gods of Asgard were worshipped by the Norse peoples of Scandinavia and by the Germanic tribes, especially during the Viking Age. Warriors sought to die in battle to reach Odin's Valhalla, and the myths were preserved in the Icelandic Eddas. The cult declined with the region's Christianization around the year 1000.

The Norse celebrated blóts, seasonal sacrifices with feasts of meat and mead, such as the Yule of the winter solstice. The great temple at Uppsala, in Sweden, hosted every nine years one of the largest sacrificial festivals of the Viking world.

At a glance

Váli is the Norse god born to Odin and the giantess Rindr, and almost everything the sources say about him fits in one sentence: he was born to avenge Baldr. The prophecy of Baldrs draumar, the Völuspá, the poem Hyndluljóð and Snorri's Prose Edda agree on the central point, that he kills the blind Höðr, Baldr's brother, when he is only one night old, without washing his hands or combing his hair until he has carried the adversary to the pyre. After that he reappears only as a survivor of Ragnarök, beside Víðarr, on the new earth. Saxo Grammaticus, writing in Latin around 1200, tells a rationalised version in which the avenger is called Bous, and which carries a long story of seduction between Odin and Rinda. The sources describe no cult, temple or adventures of Váli, and this study keeps to what they allow us to state.

The ancient sources on this deity are scarce. This study gathers only what is on record.

12 min read · Reviewed on October 14, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

Bow and arrow, the dawn and the blood oath

Family

Parents

OdinRindr

Siblings

BaldurHöðr

Váli

Genealogy according to Baldrs draumar; Völuspá 32–34; Hyndluljóð 29; Snorri, Gylfaginning; Skáldskaparmál; Saxo, Gesta Danorum III

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Anônimo, Völuspá, texto em nórdico antigo. read
Anônimo, Vafþrúðnismál, texto em nórdico antigo. read
Anônimo, Baldrs draumar e Hyndluljóð, in The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson, trad. Benjamin Thorpe (Projeto Gutenberg). read
Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning (heimskringla.no). read
Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál (heimskringla.no). read
Saxo Grammaticus, The First Nine Books of the Danish History, trad. Oliver Elton (1905). read

Studies

A. Quak e Paula Vermeyden, Vali, em Van Ægir tot Ymir. 2000. open

Name and epithets

The name appears as Váli, and Snorri also records the variant Áli in the Gylfaginning. According to the entry by Quak and Vermeyden, the name has not yet been satisfactorily explained.

In the ancient sources

Völuspá, preserved in the Codex Regius (13th century); composition date debated. Speaks of Baldr's brother, born early, only one night old, who did not wash his hands or comb his hair before carrying Baldr's adversary t…

The myths

The birth of Baldr's avenger. In Baldrs draumar, Odin goes down to the realm of the dead, disguised as Vegtam, to raise a seeress and ask what Baldr's bad dreams mean.

Worship and archaeology

No source consulted describes a temple, feast or sacrifice dedicated to Váli. Quak and Vermeyden note that the Norwegian place name Valaskioll, in the south-east of the country, may derive from Valaskjálf, and that Grím…

How the god was depicted

No ancient image is known to be securely identified as Váli. Snorri describes him only as bold in battle and a skilled marksman, with no named bow and no personal emblem.

What scholars debate

The other Váli, son of Loki. The Völuspá, in stanza 34, says that Váli twists war-bonds made of entrails. The Gylfaginning tells that the Æsir seized Loki's sons, Váli and Nari or Narfi, turned Váli into a wolf and watc…

After antiquity

The modern image of Váli as a 'god of relentless justice' or of 'blind vengeance' goes beyond what the verses say. The ancient texts state whom he avenges, whom he kills and that he survives Ragnarök.

Did you know?

Snorri uses both Áli and Váli for the son of Odin and Rindr, and the same name Váli appears in the list of dwarves that Snorri cites and for a son of Loki.

Codex relic

Bow of the Next Day. A bow wielded by a god who grew to manhood in a single day to fulfill a divine vengeance.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

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