Gungnir
The spear of Odin in Norse myth. It never misses its mark, and Odin opens the first war in the world by throwing it over the enemy host.
Meaning
Store norske leksikon calls Gungnir one of Odin’s most characteristic attributes: he is seldom seen without it, it cannot be stopped in flight, and runes are carved on its point. The Danish encyclopedia Lex reads it as a sign of Odin’s rule and of his place as a god of war. In the Eddic poem Völuspá the gods’ war with the vanir begins when Odin hurls it at the enemy army, which Store norske leksikon calls the first war in the world. The Eddic poem Sigrdrífumál names Gungnir’s point among the places where runes of power are carved.
Origin and history
The spear had a place in battle custom as well as myth. According to Lex, Odin could dedicate his enemies to death by throwing Gungnir over them at the start of a fight, and warriors could give themselves to Odin as they died by scratching themselves with a spear. Bellows notes that Odin sometimes lent the spear to heroes to whom he granted victory. Images of Odin with a spear survive from before the Viking Age: Store norske leksikon shows a plate from the Vendel finds in Uppland, Sweden, with Odin on Sleipnir holding Gungnir, and a raven beside him.
Who made the spear
The sources disagree. Snorri’s Edda says Loki went to the dwarfs “that are called Ivald’s sons”, who made Sif’s golden hair, the ship Skidbladnir “and the spear that Odin owned and is called Gungner”; Store norske leksikon follows him. The Danish encyclopedia Lex gives the spear to the dwarf brothers Brokk and Sindri instead, who in Snorri’s telling made Thor’s hammer Mjölnir.
Read next
- Next in Norse and Viking symbolsSleipnirOdin’s eight-legged horse in Norse myth, grey and the best of all horses, able to cross between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
- In Norse gods and their symbolsOdinOdin was the chief of the Norse gods: god of kings, war and the dead, and of poetry and magic, who gave an eye for wisdom. His signs are the spear Gungnir, the ravens Huginn and Muninn, the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, the wolves Geri and Freki and the gold ring Draupnir.
See also
Mjölnir (Thor’s hammer), Huginn and Muninn, Yggdrasil, Valknut, Triple horn of Odin, Raven banner.
Sources
- Gungne (Store norske leksikon), Store norske leksikon
- Sleipne (Store norske leksikon), Store norske leksikon
- Gungner (Lex), Lex, Danmarks Nationalleksikon
- The Younger Edda (Anderson translation), Snorri Sturluson, trans. Rasmus B. Anderson, 1880, Project Gutenberg
- The Poetic Edda (Bellows translation), Henry Adams Bellows (trans.), 1923, American-Scandinavian Foundation (Project Gutenberg), Sigrdrifumol, stanza 17 and note
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from arrows or lines.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 26, 2026. How we research
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