Aesir-Vanir War

The Aesir-Vanir War, also called the First Great War or the Long War, was the conflict fought between the Aesir and the Vanir gods long before Kratos and Atreus came to the Norse realms. The militaristic Aesir of Asgard fought with weapons and brute force, while the Vanir of Vanaheim answered with subtle magic, and for centuries neither tribe could overcome the other. It was Mimir who finally brokered peace, through a marriage between Odin and the Vanir goddess Freya, though that peace would not last. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

Prelude to war#

After years of simmering tension between the two tribes, the Vanir god Freyr attempted an act of diplomacy. He traveled across the realms to Asgard and taught the Aesir the techniques of Vanir magic that could improve their harvests and feed the whole of Asgard. The Aesir were taken by his charm and delighted with their new powers, but they were impatient and ill-disciplined in the spellcraft, and their attempts went wrong. Rather than blame themselves, the hot-headed Aesir accused Freyr of sabotage, tied him up, and burned him alive. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

Freyr survived and fled back to Vanaheim, but the ordeal changed him, replacing his carefree nature with fear, paranoia, and fits of rage for a time. Though he eventually became himself again, he never forgot being burned, and his hatred of the Aesir and of Odin never faded. His family was incredulous with anger at what had been done to him, and the Vanir swore revenge against Asgard. So began the first and most barbarous war between the gods. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

The war of the gods#

After a series of skirmishes, Odin, the proudest of the Aesir, assembled the largest army ever seen and marched it toward Vanaheim. The King of the Gods had never lost a battle, and the Aesir host dominated at first through brute force and Odin's leadership. But the Vanir countered with Seidr magic cast by countless gods at once, something the merciless Aesir soldiers had never encountered, and they were repelled. During one battle the Aesir demigods Magni and Modi together defeated and killed the Vanir goddess Nerthus. With colossal damage done on both sides, the Aesir eventually retreated, and the two tribes found themselves locked in a stalemate. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

The brokered peace#

With both Asgard and Vanaheim ravaged and no end in sight, Odin's advisor Mimir, a brilliant negotiator, was appointed as the sole arbiter between the warring gods. He settled on an unthinkable solution: Freya, Freyr's sister and the other leader of the Vanir, would marry Odin, uniting the two tribes as one. Struck by her beauty, Odin readily agreed, but Freya despised the idea, for Odin had tried to destroy her home, her family, and her brother. Still, she would not let the chance for peace pass, and she consented to the union. (God of War (2018))

The Vanir wished to welcome Odin into their culture, but the All-Father tricked them into believing Freya had abandoned them, so that her people came to see the marriage as a betrayal and a cowardly escape from judgment. At the wedding, held at a Vanir shrine, they wrote the word "Traitor" to denounce her. Despite the celebration, many sensed that the peace was fragile and that the war would one day resume. (God of War Ragnarök)

The breaking of the peace#

Though she missed her home, Freya found a measure of happiness in Asgard. She taught her husband Vanir spells and found new purpose in the birth of their son Baldur, and she was made Queen of the Valkyries. But Odin grew obsessed with the prophecy of Ragnarok, convinced that the Jotnar were behind it. After being banished from Jotunheim for trying to steal the giants' foreknowledge, he ordered Thor to use Mjolnir to slaughter the giants across the realms, and Freya came to loathe the Aesir for the genocide. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

When Odin's true nature finally showed and Freya refused to give him the protection spell she had cast on Baldur, his wrath was terrible. He stripped her of her Valkyrie wings and her warrior spirit, leaving her unable to raise a hand even in her own defense, and he banished her from Asgard, trapping her forever in Midgard. The gates to Vanaheim and Asgard were locked to all but the Vanir and the Aesir respectively. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

The resumption of the war#

With the marriage ended, the Aesir re-invaded Vanaheim. Without Freya's leadership the Vanir were overwhelmed by Aesir numbers and tactics, and most settlements were obliterated, their ruins occupied by Einherjar. In the northern crater the river was blocked, bringing drought, and most of the Vanir there were killed in a battle between the giant Laufey and Thor. The surviving Vanir either retreated into the jungle to fight on under Freyr's leadership, or, if they could not fight, concealed themselves with magic, leaving Vanaheim scarred by a war that had never truly ended. Its place among the older Norse conflicts, from Ymir onward, is set out on the God of War timeline. (God of War Ragnarök)