Vé (god)

In the Scandinavian Mythology, Vé ( Véi , IngwaR , Hoenir , Freyr : crowned, sanctuary, in old man-norrois) and his brother Vili (will) are gods, wire of Bur and the giantess Bestla, and brothers of Odin. The seniority of the triad of the three Ases (Odin, Vili and Vé) is attested by the alliteration of the three names W odan (another name of Odin)/ V ili/ V E. These divinities succeeded Tuisto and Jord and are one of the first evolutions in the development of the Scandinavian Pantheon.

Vili and Vé appear in three myths.

The creation of the world

It is by killing the giant Ymir that Odin, Vili and Vé is at the origin of the creation of the world ( Edda de Snorri, Gylfaginning , 7), making its flesh ground, of its blood sea and lakes, of its cranium sky, its bones mountains…

The creation of the man

According to Snorri Sturluson, Odin, Vili and Vé are also at the origin of the creation of the man ( Gylfaginning , 8). Having found two tree trunks along the shore of the sea, they worked them to form two human beings. Odin gave them the breath and the life, Vili the intelligence and the movement, Vé appearance, the word, hearing and the sight. They gave them also clothing, and named them Ask and Embla.

However, in the Völuspa (17,18), poem of the poetic Edda , it is a different triad of gods which creates the first human beings: if Odin always forms part of it, Vili and Vé are replaced by Hœnir and Lóðurr.

The banishment of Odin

Apart from this myth of the origins, Vili and Vé appear then only in that known under the name of " Banishment of Odin " , and still only in the version told by Snorri in its Ynglingasaga (3). It is known as there that Odin having left for very a long voyage, the Ases believed that it would not return. Vili and Vé divided its heritage then, like his wife Frigg.

It is referred to this episode in the Lokasenna (26), poem of the poetic Edda , when Loki reproach in Frigg to have misled Odin with the brothers of this one.

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