An Ohio conservation group invested $2.8 million to protect nearly 2,000 acres near Beckley, saying West Virginia's forests are national tre
Update! Five of the eight parcels up for sale along the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve have been purchased at auction by the Arc of Appalachia and its conservation partners for permanent protection. These were considered the highest priority tracts along Stretcher Neck and the Piney Creek Gorge. Tremendous work by all involved to save these lands from development.
God of Light, Radiance, Joy, Purity, Peace, and Forgiveness (Deceased)
Appearance: Baldr had fair skin, long blond hair, and purple eyes, bearing a strong resemblance to his mother. Odin only really showed in the shape of his eyes. He was considered the most attractive of the Aesir.
Relationships: As Frigg’s eldest, Baldr was expected to take over diplomatic duties for the Aesir at some point, and was well known and connected outside the pantheon. Baldr was well-liked by the Aesir, particularly by Odin’s men. He was also close with his brothers (born to Frigg); however, he spent less time with them as he grew older. He was very close with his maternal family, especially his uncle Freyr, who had taken an interest in helping him learn about diplomacy and his powers from a young age, as his powers were more similar to the Vanir than the Aesir.
Personality: Baldr had an easy-going personality. As a diplomat, he was expected to get along with others, but he never really had to agree to anything, as that was Odin’s job. He was extremely good at making others feel at ease and leading a conversation. However, he was less good at spotting others manipulating him, even with Loki taking him for a ride more than once when he was young. In private, he could be a bit vain and obstinate, according to his brothers.
Powers: Baldr was an okay fighter. At a young age, his mother received promises from everything except mistletoe to never harm him, and he relied heavily on these promises in his combat. Such as tanking hits that he could dodge just because he could. As such, he was something of an amusement on the training grounds for Odin’s men and a headache for the man himself. Odin attempted to train him to weaponize his domains; however, Baldr had little interest in Odin’s lessons and instead learned from teachers sent to his mother by his distant uncle Freyr, to both his parents’ displeasure. Odin theorized that Baldr’s light domain could be used to attack, that his radiance domain could reflect attacks, and his purity domain could cause something similar to illness in the unprepared; however, the truth of this was never discovered.
History: Baldr was the first child born of Odin and Frigg’s union. His birth was supposed to put the animosity between the Aesir and Vanir to rest; however, it soon erupted again with Mímir’s death. This led to many of Baldr’s Vanir relatives warning him that Odin would eventually forsake him and his mother. Instead, they had another baby (Hermóðr), and Vili continued to be a somewhat crappy leader to the Vanir while Freyr and Njord continued their extended stay with the Aesir.
When the pantheons combined in Valhalla (and Odin was “temporarily detained”), Thor, supported by Ullr, was the publicly facing leader of the Vanir to the other gods. At the same time, Vili returned to the Aesir while Freyr returned to leading the Vanir. Since Baldr was mostly working as a diplomat to make peace with the gods that the Norse had just been fighting against, he spent a lot of time working with his Uncle, Freyr. As such, he soon met and fell in love with another foster daughter of Freyr and member of the Vanir, Nanna. Frigg blessed the union, and the two married when Odin returned.
Shortly after Nanna became pregnant, rumors started about Baldr’s inheritance as the first son of Odin’s “principal wife”. Odin made no move to change his heir from Thor despite urging from some of Baldr’s friends, and made it clear he did not appreciate those who were not Aesir poking their noses into his family’s matters. Shortly after Baldr withdrew from public life, and only reemerged following the birth of his son. At this point, Baldr was Odin’s only child with a son born to his wife, and rumors quickly re-emerged about his inheritance, much to Odin’s displeasure.
Baldr’s death occurred during a unity games organized to reaffirm peace between the Aesir and Vanir. Baldr joined in what had been a shooting contest but had turned into launching projectiles at Baldr and watching them veer off course. This was one of Baldr’s popular party tricks, and soon Loki offered to assist Höðr, Baldr’s blind little brother, in joining the fun. With Loki’s help, Höðr fired three arrows, the first two of which veered off course as expected, and the third, made of mistletoe, which landed deep in Baldr’s eye, killing him instantly. In the chaotic aftermath, Loki disappeared, with Odin claiming he was later imprisoned (though where was never revealed). Baldr’s younger brothers were also put on house arrest, and a funeral was quickly organized.
In the days that followed, Frigg sent Hermóðr to Hel with Sleipnir to beg for the return of Baldr’s divinity. Hel responded that if everyone truly mourned her deceased Uncle, she would do so. At the funeral, Nanna passed from grief-associated illness, having been fading for several days and leaving her son an orphan. Her body was added to the funeral pyre. This added to the grief of the affair, and all attendees wept except for a jötuness named Þökk, whom Hel pointed out and then left, refusing to return Baldr’s divinity. Soon after, Frigg fell into depression and was not seen for years.
Þökk was later speculated to be Loki, and the whole promise was a play put on by the father and daughter; however, Odin has also stated that Loki was imprisoned for the duration of the funeral and for a period after. As a result, her identity, what became of Baldr’s remains, and the cause of several mysterious accidents among the Vanir and other pantheons, which seemed to be similar to Loki’s style, remain unsolved.
Trivia: The remains of Baldr’s divinity sank to Helheim after his death, where it was caught by Hel, and only Odin knows what became of them. Unrelated, it is well known that one of the marvels of Éljúðnir is that when Hel decides to venture from behind her high walls, the ghostly lights carried by her entourage light up Helheim’s primordial swamp for miles.
