A sky-god who is the head of the pantheon. Modern interpretation of him varies. Some see him as a noble god who respect him for the theme of self-sacrifice and view his ruthless actions as necessary for preventing Ragnarok. Others see this as something of a Misaimed Fandom. They see him as being quite like Zeus- a philanderer and major-league jerk.
The Alcoholic: Apparently, he subsists upon naught but mead and wine. However, he's never really described as suffering from the negative effects of it.
Nice Hat: When wandering around in human guise, he wore a dang cool one.
Ravens and Crows: Had a pair of them that would circle the world every day and whisper in his ear the secrets they found at the end of the day. Evidentely they weren't perfect since Odin is portrayed as far from omnipotent and still gets tricked a few times.
Odin's son, who developed over time into the Purity Sue of the pantheon. He was immune to damage from anything except mistletoe, and Loki killed him by tricking his blind brother Hod into throwing it at him.
However, originally he was killed by a sword, the "mistletoe" only coming in the version recorded by Snorri Sturluson because of a confusion between the words used for "mistletoe" and "sword"
Killed Off for Real: Thanks to Loki, who both tricked his brother into killing him and made sure he couldn't be resurrected.
Light is Good: Though its exclusive to myths hijacked by Jesus; in some stories he wasn't so pleasant. In Gesta Danorum, he is outright villainous.
Thor
A thunder god and the favorite god of the average Norse person (Odin was only really liked by royalty). Carries the title "Friend of the humans" (or, possibly, "Man's Best Friend"). Also has the 4th day of the week named after him (literally "Thor's Day").
Awesome McCoolname: Well, to start with Thor means thunder. But also the literal translation of Mjolnir is crusher. Yes, apparantly Thor follows the same naming conventions as macho men with their dogs.
Protectorate: He is the Friend of Humans and Protector Of Midgard, titles he received for his role in defending Midgard, human world, from giants. He's also the god of order, in direct contrast to Odin.
Vidarr is the son of Odin by Gríðr, a Jötunn who aided the gods against Loki. During the events of the Ragnarök, while Thor fights Jörmungandr, Týr fights Garm, and Freyr fights Surtr, it falls to Víðarr to fight Fenrir. Rising to the challenge, he not only avenges his father, but survives both the battle and the Ragnarök. This earns him a reputation as a god of vengence.
Mostly a love/lust related goddess, but also is connected to bloodthirst, as Odin made her the commander of Valkyries. Also the patron of warrioresses.
Psychopomp: Lead the Valkyries to the battlefields to choose and lead the souls who would enter the Valhalla and reclaim that of women who go down fighting.
Really Gets Around: In a Never Live It Down moment, slept with several dwarf siblings in the course of a night in exchange for a necklace she wanted.
Tears To Jewel: Her tears would eventually turn to gold.
Freyr
Freya's brother; they were both part of the Vanir, the other group of gods opposing the Aesir, until they ended up being part of Odin's group alongside their father Njord. A god of fertility and sex, generally more benevolent than his sister, and ultimately dies in Ragnarok as he gave up his magic sword for the love of a giantess.
Alternate Mythology Equivalent: To Apollo; both are sun related gods associated with sexuality, and are not the only light realted deities in their pantheon (the situation of replacement in the written myths is actually inverse: Apollo pretty much replaced Helios as the sun god, while Baldr replaced Freyr as a light god).
Bi the Way: A common interpretation of his character. Not really surprising considering he was a god of sexuality.
Chekhov's Missing Sword: He give his sword to Skirnir so his shield man could help him to win Gerd's heart. It isn't until Ragnarok that this event has a huge impact - Freyr fails to stop Surt since he is without weapon, allowing Surt to burn the world.
Full Boar Action: Had a boar made of gold by the dwarves, so detailed it even was covered in fur!
Light 'Em Up: Often associated with the sun and light, though Balder seems to have replaced him as that in myths Hijacked By Jesus.
Our Elves Are Better: Lord of the realm of the elves, Alfleim, and overall they were supposed to be like him.
With This Herring: Fought and killed Gerd's brother with an antler after giving up his sword.
Heimdall
The Watchman of the Aesir, permanently guarding the Bifrost Bridge against any threat - a task made easier by the fact that he can see and hear everything that happens in the world, and never needs to sleep. Left his post once to outdo Loki in retrieving Freyja's necklace from some giants, and then again for their final (and mutually fatal) battle.
Covert Pervert: Guess whose idea it was to dress Thor in drag?
Has NINE Mommies: Has an unusual Origin Story, in some versions just appearing fully formed from the sea but in others being given birth to by each of the sea god's daughters, of which there were nine (one for each wave in a cycle).
Not actually a god in most telling, but the child of giants (the mortal enemies of the Norse pantheon). A Trickster Archetype who has been often turned into a Satan equivalent, he is something of an Ensemble Darkhorse to modern audiences. (Well, he's probably the only being in all mythology who tricked his way into being a God.)
Canon Foreigner: While most Norse gods have obvious Indo-European roots and equivalents in other Indo-European-derived religions (for example, Tyr is a distant cousin of Zeus) Loki doesn't even appear in other Germanic myths. He seems to be unique to Scandinavian traditions and nobody's entirely sure how he got there.
Cute Monster Guy: While admittedly, giantesses sometimes got the Cute Monster Girl treatment, Loki is a good-looking male giant, and notably, most of his kids (male and female) are hideous monsters.
Defector from Decadence: In the Lokasenna, the gods imprison and torture him not for Baldur's death, but for the brutally-honest "The Reason You Suck" Speech he delivers. Is it any wonder he fights against them at Ragnarok?
Face Heel Turn: When his pranks go too far and result in Baldur being Killed Off for Real, the gods imprison Loki in a cave with a serpent dripping venom into his face for eternity. When Loki breaks free, he will notbe happy.
Flaming Hair: Is sometimes depicted with this. Also, one of his kennings is actually "Flame-Hair."
Glasgow Grin: The result of having his lips sewn together by some vengeful dwarves.
Hijacked By Jesus: ...And turned into Satan. Though even in the more generous tales Loki is usually a trouble maker who causes the trouble he is forced by the gods to fix.
The Lancer: Take this role while he joins Thor to visit Utgard and when they retrieve stolen Mjollnir.
Light is Not Good: Over time, he acquired an association with fire (due to a Rouge Angles of Satin- Logi is the Norse for fire), and tends to be portrayed as a Bishounen much like Lucifer.
One of his origins was that he came out of a tree struck by lightning. He represents fire that harms.
Mr. Seahorse: Odin's steed Sleipnir was born when Loki assumed the form of a mare and let the stallion of a giant who was building Asgard's walls couple with "her" to sap his strength.
In some retellings, Loki gave birth to Hel himself by swallowing the heart of the monstrous lover upon whom he fathered Fenrir and Jormungandr.
Not so Different: Despite all his many MANY faults (including promiscuity), he was also quite a family man just like Odin and Thor. Notably he was said to have been raising his kids alone in secret after his first wife died. (Of course that was a BAD thing since they were monsters and Odin subsequently locked them away, but still.)
One Steve Limit: Played With rather hilariously in one story, where he and Thor meet two men called Utgard-Loki and Logi. Unsurprisingly, they're actually lying.
Loki's first son, sometimes also called Vanargandr. When the gods learn that he is fated to kill Odin, they bind and seal him when he's still young, with Tyr losing his arm in the process. When Ragnarok comes, he indeed kills Odin, but is killed by Odin's son in return.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: His final size is such that when he opens his mouth, the lower jaw rests on the ground and the upper jaw hits the sky.
It is also stated (in the Prose Edda) that, "he would gape yet more if there were room for it."
Dangerously Genre Savvy: The gods try 'playing' with him by binding him using incrementally thicker chains to no avail, with Fenrir boasting about it. When the gods decide to use thin, fabric-like magical rope, Fenrir quickly deduces the rope is unusual and refuses to play being bound, at least until Tyr gambles his arm so that Fenrir finally agrees to be bound.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Bound for as long as the Sun and the Moon remain in the sky. Depending on the versions of the myth, his sons, Skoll and Hati, may be trying to do something about that.
Loki's second son. When he is but a small snake, the gods toss him to the ocean. And then he grows big enough to circle the world. He has beefs with Thor, up to the Ragnarok, where the two face off and kill each other.
Kraken and Leviathan: The largest being in the ocean, dwarfing even the Kraken. As is the case with many of these beings, he more or less stays where he is until the end of days.
Mutual Kill: He and Thor. The Thunderer manages to kill Jormungandr, but the latter's breath poisons him and he only makes it nine steps before keeling over dead.
Ouroboros: Some texts describe him as biting his own tail after growing so big.
Daughter to Loki and the giantess Angrborda. Goddess of Death and ruler of Helheim*
sometime conflated with Niflheim in the myths, but it was actually supposed to be a separate place.
who welcomes the souls of those who died of old age, disease or by accident.
All of the Other Reindeer: She was mostly an outcast and generally not very well perceived among all the other Gods and mortals alike.
Dark Is Not Evil: Isn't a malevolent goddess per se, despite what people may think, and keeps her word when she gives it.
Egopolis: Hel is the ruler of Helheim, and -heim is basically norse for "home."
Face Revealing Turn: With her vertical asymmetry thing I'd expect she gets this a lot..
Hijacked By Jesus: Her realm was originally played as dreary, but not exactly a place of torture. (To the norse, not going to the warrior's afterlife was the big torture in itself.) Christianity turned into.. well, Helheim. And like it says above, she was orignally just patchwork coloured, which progressed to either half a skeleton/rotting corpse or half old woman.
The original myths actually state that there are three afterlives. Those who die in battle go to Valhalla to prepare for Ragnarok. Those who die of sickness or old age go to Helheim, which is dull and dreary, but not a bad place. Those who die after committing what the Norse regarded as sins (such as oathbreaking) are punished by being sent to Niflheim, which is described as a monstrous fortress, located somewhere in Helheim, woven from the poison-dripping skeletons of serpents, situated behind several deadly rivers, and where the damned wade through sucking blood and have nothing to drink but the urine supplied by a herd of foul-tempered black goats that roam the fortress.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Seldom seen in the myths, apart from Baldr's death, since she would interfere with the other Asgardians' plans only when it concerned her directly.
The Lord of the Fire Giants and King of Muspelheim, Surtr is destined to kill Freyr, and burn the world with the black sword Laveteinn at the peak of Ragnarok while his legions destroy the Bifrost.
One of the oldest beings in Norse myth, Níðhöggr is a dragon who has existed since creation. He sits beneath the entire World Tree Yggdrasill itself, gnawing at its roots. Basically he stays there until Ragnarok, and when he joins in - well, that's when things get really bad for the rest of creation.
Eldritch Abomination: Is typically described in these sorts of terms. The simple fact that he encompasses Yggdrasil's entire root system, and has the power to unmake creation is a bit of a tip off that we aren't dealing with anything normal here.
Götterdämmerung: Possibly the original Ragnarok's strongest player, which is generally not good for anyone else.
Omnicidal Maniac: He's trying to tear down Yggdrasill. He's this by definition. Unlike Jormungandr and Fenrir, who just seem to like killing things, or Surtr, who views the apocalypse in terms of the giant/god war, Nidhoggr honestly just seems to want the end of the world.
