Aesir Royal Family: the Ruling Dynasty of Asgard

The Aesir Royal Family was the ruling dynasty of Aesir gods who reigned from Asgard over the Nine Realms. Its most prominent members were Odin the Allfather, his two younger brothers Vili and Ve, and his four sons Thor, Tyr, Heimdall, and Baldur, whom Odin constantly sent on missions throughout the realms. Whether other gods such as Hoenir, Bragi, Hodr, or Ullr belonged to the line was never made certain, for little was recorded of their kinship to Odin.

Origins in Ymir's line#

All members of the Aesir Royal Family descended from the primordial Jotunn Ymir, the first sentient being to exist. The first of Ymir's descendants was Buri, who was followed by his son Borr and then by Borr's three sons, Odin, Vili, and Ve. Unlike Ymir, Odin held that the Aesir were superior and fit to rule the Nine Realms. Together with his brothers he slew Ymir, and the spilled blood of the giant drowned nearly all the Jotnar, with only Bergelmir and his wife surviving. With Ymir dead, Odin took the title of Allfather, fashioned the realm of Midgard from Ymir's torn flesh, and created the first two humans, Ask and Embla.

The founding of Asgard#

The slaying of Ymir tore a rift in reality that drew Odin's attention. After a bout of existential dread he came to understand there was far more beyond the Nine Realms, and he fell into an obsession with uncovering the Rift's secrets. He built the realm of Asgard and declared himself King of the Aesir, raising the Great Lodge above the Rift and a research complex beneath it, where he gathered wisdom from across the realms. To expand Asgard's forces he seized control of Valhalla and the Valkyries who oversaw it, using its endless supply of the worthy dead to build an army of superhuman soldiers. This was part of his design to thwart Ragnarok, the prophesied catastrophe he had learned of from the Jotunn seeress Groa, and so only the greatest warriors fallen in battle were permitted into Valhalla, with all others cast into the icy waste of Helheim.

Odin's wives and children#

Seeking strong children, Odin married many women and expanded his family. He first married the giantess Fjorgyn, mother of Thor, and her death left him heartbroken for many years. He later married Hrodr, mother of Tyr, the God of War, though her fate went unrecorded. Odin also had a son named Heimdall, whom he called his left hand. To end the long war with the Vanir, Odin married their queen Freya, and together they produced Baldur, the youngest of his sons. For a time the couple seemed devoted, and Odin gave the Valkyries some freedom at Freya's wish. When he later demanded the protective magic Freya had placed on Baldur and she refused, his rage drove her away, and he cursed her to remain bound in Midgard, unable to harm any living thing even in her own defense.

Wars on the realms and the genocide of the giants#

After cementing his rule, Odin and the Aesir waged war on the other realms, subduing Svartalfheim and Niflheim while Muspelheim and Jotunheim remained beyond his reach. The Aesir met their match in the Vanir of Vanaheim, and the two tribes fought to a bloody stalemate that ended only with Odin's marriage to Freya. Odin long coveted the secrets of the giants, who could see into the future, and when his son Tyr arranged a summit with them, Odin used it as cover to steal those secrets. The giants caught him and expelled him from Jotunheim, cursing him never to return. In retaliation Odin launched a genocidal campaign against every Jotunn the Aesir could find. The slaughter proved too much for Tyr, who turned against his father to help cut Jotunheim off from the other realms. For this betrayal Odin had Tyr imprisoned and spread word that he was dead, keeping a secret war god in reserve for a day he might prove useful.