Suttungr was a jotun in Norse mythology. He was the son of the jotun Gilling who (along with Suttungr’s mother) had been murdered by Fjalar and Galar. Suttungr’s mead is one of the names for the poetic drink. In Old Norse mythology, he is the brother of Baugi, son of Gilling and father of Gunnlöd. He owned the mead before Odin stole it.
The wise Kvasir
In the Younger Edda, Snorri tells that the poetic drink had its origin in a peace treaty in the divine world, specifically between the Æsir and the Vanir. As a symbol of peace, they agreed to mix saliva. The two warring factions spat into a common vessel, and to ensure that the saliva was not wasted, the Æsir created a man from it. He was named Kvasir. He was so wise that he had answers to everything. Kvasir traveled around the world sharing his knowledge.
Kvasir’s blood becomes poetic mead
Once Kvasir was a guest of the dwarves Fjalar and Galar, they betrayed and killed him. They collected his blood in three vessels, whether the vessels or three ingredients are called Odrøre, Bod, and Són, is not clear. In any case, honey was mixed with it;
“from this was made a mead that makes whoever drinks it, a skald or a learned man.”
The dwarves told the Æsir that Kvasir had been choked by his own wisdom. Later, the dwarves invited the jotun Gilling and his wife. They persuaded Gilling to go rowing with them and arranged it so that the jotun, who couldn’t swim, drowned. When they told the wife that Gilling was dead, she cried loudly. They persuaded her to go outside to find solace by looking out over the sea, and as soon as she crossed the threshold, Galar dropped a stone on her head and killed her. When Gilling’s son, Suttungr, found out about this, he stranded the two dwarves on a skerry. The dwarves begged for their lives and promised him the precious mead as compensation for the murder of his father. Suttungr agreed to this.
The poetic mead comes into Suttungr’s possession
Suttungr took the mead to Nitberg and tasked his daughter, Gunnlod, with guarding it.
“This is why poetry is called ‘Kvasir’s blood,’ ‘dwarven drink,’ or ‘dwarf’s delight,’ a kind of ‘brew from Odrøre or Bod or Són,’ or ‘dwarf vessel,’ since the mead saved them from the skerry, or ‘Suttungr’s mead’ or ‘Nitberg brew’.”
Odin steals the mead back to the Æsir
But the Æsir, who had created Kvasir, believed they had the right to the mead. Snorri tells a peculiar story of how Odin obtained it. Under the name Bolverk (Evil Worker), he eventually managed to reach Nitberg where he seduced Gunnlod and slept with her for three nights. He was then allowed to take three sips of the mead. In the first sip, he emptied one vessel, in the next, the second, and in the last, the third. He fled in eagle guise with all the mead inside him but was pursued by Suttungr, who had also donned an eagle guise.
“When the Æsir saw Odin flying, they put out their vessels in the yard; and when Odin passed by Ásgard, he spat the mead into these vessels.”
Suttungr was so close that Odin thought he would be caught and sent the rest of the mead out the back door:
“But the Æsir did not care for it, anyone who wanted could take it. We call it ‘the portion for climbing poets.’ (Climbing poet = rhymester, i.e., one who cheats in the trade. The Norse word means something along the lines of a ‘foolish poet’.)”
But Odin gave Suttungr’s mead to the Æsir and the people who can compose poetry. Therefore we call poetry “Odin’s acquisition” or “find” or “drink,” “gift” or “the drink of the Æsir.” (The quotes are taken from the section “The Origin of Poetry” in the Younger Edda by Snorri Sturlason, translated by Erik Eggen, ed. 1967, pp. 98-102.)
So Suttungr’s mead is the mead of poetry, inspiration, poetry, and wisdom.
Suttungr’s mead as a symbol in later literature
Several poets have written about “The poetic mead,” “Suttungr’s mead,” “The dwarves’ drink,” and “Gilling’s reconciliation compensation.”
Johan Sebastian Welhaven writes in this manner in the poem “Suttungr’s mead”:
The best drink at the feast of the gods,
in Odin’s hall, was Suttungr’s mead,
and the power of song in Bragi’s skill
flowed from this rich source.
Alfather himself fetched the mead,
where it stood in the depths’ wells,
and thereto he had necessary
his whole strength in Æsir courage.
He then mixed strong runes
in this precious liquid.
With sparks of his cleverness and knowledge
Odin gave the mead double power.
On flower and leaf in meadow and forest,
on wild and tame in every region,
on mountain, on cloud, on wild waves
stood secret runic signs.
But Odin loosened them all
from air, from earth, from the sea’s womb,
and blessed them, and let them fall
like pearl cloth in Suttungr’s mead.
Therefore all poets must empty
a cup of the rich drink,
and what was once wrapped in dreams,
stands now in splendor for their gaze.
Ibsen’s youth comedy
In Henrik Ibsen’s youth comedy “Midsummer Night,” a few drops of Suttungr’s mead seem to open people’s eyes to higher insight.
Suttungr becomes the name of a cultural work in Norway
Ingeborg Refling Hagen perceived “Suttungr’s Mead” as an expression of the inspirational force hidden in great poetry. Working to penetrate and acquire this could therefore be a path to self-development, understanding, and societal engagement. It is also said in mythology that whoever drinks Suttungr’s mead becomes either a poet or wise. Ingeborg Refling Hagen chose to link the name Suttungr to her cultural work as it took shape in 1947-48 and onwards.
Astronomy
Saturn’s twenty-third moon is named after him.