Hodr is the God of darkness and winter, unlike his twin brother Baldur, the God of light and forgiveness. While Hodr was Baldur’s twin brother, he was the lesser liked child as well as the lesser popular God as compared to his radiant and charming brother, Baldur.

Hodr is blind and due to this trait, Loki took advantage of him and made him kill his brother with the mistletoe spear. In Norse Mythology, this holds a unique significance. Baldur’s unfortunate death due to Hodr’s inability to see through the facade that Loki had created, shows how ignorance can lead to damage including end of the world. This inability of seeing through the blindness is the blindness beyond his physical disability.

While Hodr killed Baldur unwittingly, despite being tricked by Loki, his act was not forgiven by the Gods. There was a mutual understanding that there should be a punishment for Hodr for this act. That is when, Odin tricked a giantess to conceive a child, who grew fast inside her womb, and become an adult in just one day after his birth. This half-brother of Hodr and Baldur was Vali who was born in Midguard and his sole purpose of birth was to avenge Baldur’s death. Vali travelled across the realms, reached Asgard, and killed Hodr with his arrow in a similar style that Baldur was killed.

There is one famous story of the love triangle between Hodr, Baldur and Nanna. Hodr silently loved Nanna which no one was aware of. Baldur and Nanna loved each other and hence Hodr never expressed his love for Nanna. It is also believed that, apart from the strikingly different personalities which made Hodr jealous of Baldur, the common love both had for Nanna was also a key reason for the silent tension and unintentional rivalry. This was also one of the reasons why Loki chose Hodr for his plan to get Baldur killed.

According to Norse Mythology, when the God’s gave the apocalypse called Ragnorok- which is end of the world and will result in the deaths of many Gods, it is believed that Hodr and Baldur will rise from the underworld and rule the world together. This would also serve as Hodr’s atonement or redemption as he would be back with his brother arm-in-arm. This makes him an icon in tragedy as well as in redemption.