It’s like a fantasy author that wrote himself into a corner.
"Hmm, i can’t have Jesus and God be different people because i already said there was only one god, but i can’t have them be the same person because then he’ll be sacrificing himself to himself.
Hm… Demigod maybe? Nah, too cliché, i’ll just leave it really vague and let the fans come up with something, maybe add a third character to make it seem intentional" - Some charlatan, 0BC
because then he’ll be sacrificing himself to himself.
Erm. Only Odin can do that:
I ween that I hung | on the windy tree,
Hung there for nights full nine;
With the spear I was wounded, | and offered I was
To Othin, myself to myself,
On the tree that none | may ever know
What root beneath it runs.
None made me happy | with loaf or horn,
And there below I looked;
I took up the runes, | shrieking I took them,
And forthwith back I fell.
Nine mighty songs | I got from the son
Of Bolthorn, Bestla’s father;
And a drink I got | of the goodly mead
Poured out from Othrörir.
Then began I to thrive, | and wisdom to get,
I grew and well I was;
Each word led me on | to another word,
Each deed to another deed.
Runes shalt thou find, | and fateful signs,
That the king of singers colored,
And the mighty gods have made;
Full strong the signs, | full mighty the signs
That the ruler of gods doth write.
If you want a boring, materialist interpretation it’s a description of a psychological trial caused by the tree of life (the genome), with the result of gaining access to intuitive abilities from precisely there.
It’s like a fantasy author that wrote himself into a corner.
"Hmm, i can’t have Jesus and God be different people because i already said there was only one god, but i can’t have them be the same person because then he’ll be sacrificing himself to himself.
Hm… Demigod maybe? Nah, too cliché, i’ll just leave it really vague and let the fans come up with something, maybe add a third character to make it seem intentional" - Some charlatan, 0BC
Erm. Only Odin can do that:
Goes on for a bit with a description of skills attained etc. Havamal, stanzas 146ff. (The stanzas look that odd because Old Norse poetry is nuts and essentially untranslatable)
If you want a boring, materialist interpretation it’s a description of a psychological trial caused by the tree of life (the genome), with the result of gaining access to intuitive abilities from precisely there.