FREYA

Real Name: Freya (also Freia)

Identity/Class: Asgardian god

Occupation: Goddess of fertility, former Valkyrie

Group Membership: Gods of Asgard, Valkyries

Affiliations: Thor

Enemies: Loki

Known Relatives: Njord (father), Gaea (mother, alias Nertha), Nertha (aunt), Frey (brother), Ve (first husband, alias Lodur), Hnossa (daughter by Lodur), Idunn, Nanna, Syn, Sjofn, Sigyn, Lofn, Var, Snotra (daughters by Iwaldi), Odin (brother-in-law, deceased), Frigga (sister-in-law), Thor, Balder, Hermod, Hoder, Heimdall (nephews), Bragi (brother-in-law/son-in-law)

Aliases: Gondul

Base of Operations: Sessrumnir Hall at Folkvanger in Asgard

First Appearance: Marvel Super-Heroes III#15 (October, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: Freya possesses the conventional attributes of the Asgardian gods including superhuman strength (Class 25), stamina, longevity, vitality and resistance to harm. She also has several undefined powers mystical in nature that involves the rites of fertility and the growth of plants and living things.

History: (Norse-German myth)- Freya is the daughter of the sea-god, Njord and Gaea in her as the earth-goddess Nertha. Exceedingly beautiful, she was once married to Lodur, brother of Odin, but he left her for reasons unknown to explore Midgard (the Earth). She took a mortal named Ottar to be her lover, but to prove his worthiness to be near her, she introduced him to the goddess Hyndla, and revealed to her that Ottar was a descendant of the great German hero, Sigurd.

Freya, however, loved gold and had dwarves create her many treasures such as the necklace Brisingamen. To pay for their services, she gave herself to their father, Iwaldi, many times and had several daughters, among them Nanna, wife of Balder, Idunn, wife of Bragi, and Sigyn, wife of Loki. The dwarves also reputedly created for her Hildisvini, a great boar of solid gold whom she rode to show her way through the dark, who was very much like Gullinbursti, her brother’s mount.

Loki, meanwhile, heard about her indiscretions and told Odin who requested that he bring to him Freya and her Brisingamen. Loki meanwhile absconded with the necklace rather than bring it to Odin. When Freya reported its theft, Odin told her he could retrieve it only after she spent a certain time in servitude to him as one of his Valkyries claiming the souls of the slain. As the Valkyrie Gondul, Freya delivered the spirits of dead heroes to Valhalla as a part of her penance and Odin then sent Heimdall to retrieve Loki with the stolen necklace. After serving her penance, Freya retired to her home Sessrumnir outside Asgard.  

(Marvel Super-Heroes III#15/3)- After the giant Thrym stole Thor's hammer, he demanded that the Asgardians wed Freya to him for its return. However, Freya refused to be bartered away, and Thor was forced to dress himself in Freya's clothes in order to trick the giants.

(Thor I#321 (fb)) - In the modern era, a shapechanger (Rimthursar, who also used the alias of Farbauti) took on the form of a hawk, and in the Land of the Dwarves, found Freya (specifically named, but also described as a "waterfall maiden"). Rimthursar told Freya that Odin had died. This caused Freya to weep tears of gold. Changing to his true form, Rimthursar offered to dry Freya's eyes, pocketing the golden droplets for his own later use. Rimthursar then used the tears to create his Menagerie of humanoid beasts.

Comments: Adapted by Bill Mantlo and Don Heck.

    In the minor entry for Idunn under the Asgardians profile of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#1, Freya seems to have been mistakenly confused with her daughter, Idunn. Mythologically, this is incorrect.

Freya supposedly died during the Ragnarok in Thor II#85.

by Will U and Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Freya should not be confused with:

• Demeter, Olympian goddess of the harvest, @ Fantastic Four III#21
• Dumuzi, Mesopotamian god of grain and harvest (not seen in the MU)
• Enkimdu, Mesopotamian god of farming (not seen in the MU)
• Frey, Asgardian god of the harvest, @ Thor I#294
• Friday, Kymellian Smartship of Aelfyre Whitemane, @ Power Pack I#1
• Friday, Stark computer program with a feminine personality, @ Iron Man III#53
• Isis, Egyptian goddess of fertility, @ Thor I#240
• Neper, Egyptian god of grain (Not seen in the MU)
• Onatah, Native American goddess of grain (not seen in the MU)
• Orishako, African god of farming (Not seen in the MU)
• Pellervoinen, Finnish god of the harvest (Not seen in the MU)
• Philomelus, Vertumnus, Olympian god of farming (Not seen in the MU)
• Rauni, Russian goddess of the harvest and the earth (Not seen in the MU)
• Rongo, Oceanic god of the harvest (Not seen in the MU)
• Shen-Nung, Chinese god of farming and cattle (Not seen in the MU)

Lodur (Ve), husband of Freya, should not be confused with:

• Lodur, Asgardian god, @ Thor I#357

Freya's Cloak of Golden Feathers has the power to transform its wearer into a falcon. It was used by Loki to disguise Storm as a falcon so that the inhabitants of Asgard would not suspect that he had placed her under his spell.

--New Mutants Special Edition#1, Uncanny X-Men Annual#9

Images taken from:
Marvel Super-Heroes III#15, page 52, panel 6
New Mutants Special Edition#1, page 50, panel 2

Appearances:
Marvel Super-Heroes III#15 (October, 1993) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Don Heck (artist), Rob Tokar (editor)
Thor I#321 (July, 1982) - Doug Moench (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Chic Stone, etc. (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
New Mutants Special Edition#1 (1985) - Chris Claremont (writer), Arthur Adams (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)
Uncanny X-Men Annual#9 (1985) - Chris Claremont (writer), Arthur Adams (pencils), Alan Gordon, Mike Mignola & Art Adams (inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)

Last updated: 02/05/06

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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