Skadi’s Winter Gaze

After staying with Skadi in her snowy mountain home, her husband Njord, the sea-god said:

“Loath were the hills to me, I was not long in them,
Nights only nine;
To me the wailing of, wolves seemed ill,
After the song of swans.”

Skaði responded:

“Sleep could I never, on the sea-beds,
For the wailing of waterfowl;
He wakens me, who comes from the deep--
The sea-mew every morn.”

“Then Skadi went up onto the mountain, and dwelt in Thrymheimr [her mountain home].”

-Gylfaginning Chapter 23, Brodeur translation

Skadi is a Viking goddess of winter, snow shoes, hunting, and the mountains. Her husband hated the call of wolves, so we must assume that in contrast she loved them. She is a free spirit, and one that many modern women identify with. She famously placed the serpent above Loki’s head during his punishment; and there is an implication that the two of them were involved romantically in some way. Later sources also mention that she had children with Odin.

The original viking art painting was done in oil and measures 18” x 24”