Baldur

Baldur, also known as Baldur Odinson and called the Stranger, was the Norse Aesir God of Light and Peace. The son of Odin and the Vanir goddess Freya, he was the younger half-brother of Thor, Tyr, and Heimdall, and the father of Forseti. Made invulnerable as an infant by a protection spell that also stripped him of all physical sensation, Baldur was driven to madness and a deep hatred of his mother. His relentless hunt at Odin's behest brought him into conflict with Kratos, and his death triggered the great winter that preceded Ragnarok.

The curse of protection#

Baldur was born to Odin and Freya, and at his birth his mother learned from the Norns that he would die a needless death. Determined to prevent it, Freya placed a spell on him that made him invulnerable to all threats, physical or magical, with a single weakness: mistletoe. To keep that weakness secret she cursed Mimir so he could never speak of it. The spell carried a terrible side effect: Baldur lost the ability to feel anything at all, unable to sense pain, pleasure, or even the temperature around him.

As a boy Baldur was kind and gentle, devoted to his father and close to his mother, to whom he gave gifts he had made himself. The curse changed everything. Years of total sensory deprivation drove him toward insanity, and his pleas to Freya to lift the spell went unanswered. Consumed by hatred, he once attempted to kill her, but spared her life and swore never to see her again, a choice he came to regard as cowardice. He spent a century in Asgard serving his father, who dangled the promise of a cure to keep him obedient.

The hunt in Midgard#

Odin sent Baldur to hunt the Jotunn Guardian, one of the last two giants in Midgard, believing the Guardian held the cure to his curse. When the protection over the Wildwoods vanished, Baldur investigated and found a cabin where the Guardian had lived. Mistaking the Guardian's husband, Kratos, for his quarry, Baldur confronted and provoked him into a brutal fight. Kratos eventually snapped Baldur's neck and threw him into a chasm, but the curse left him only incapacitated, and he soon revived.

Realizing he could not complete his mission alone, Baldur summoned his nephews Magni and Modi and interrogated the imprisoned Mimir, who could not help them. He later ambushed Kratos and Atreus again, goading the boy into a fight and dismissing Kratos as "just meat," before being sent tumbling into Helheim when Kratos altered the realm-travel destination. There Baldur confronted an illusion of the moment he had spared his mother, and Kratos and Atreus learned of his connection to Freya.

Death at Thamur's corpse#

Escaping Helheim, Baldur tracked the trio to the frozen corpse of the giant Thamur and met his mother in the flesh for the first time in years. Still consumed by hatred, he attacked her, and Kratos intervened, sparking another savage brawl. During the fight Baldur struck Atreus, only to be pierced in the hand by the mistletoe arrow that Kratos had strung onto the boy's quiver. The curse broke, and Baldur was flooded with sensation for the first time in a century, a manic euphoria that made him even more aggressive as he reveled in both giving and receiving pain.

Now vulnerable, Baldur was overwhelmed by Kratos and Atreus. Utterly defeated, he begged Kratos to kill him, but after Atreus and Freya intervened, Kratos spared him and warned him never to come after them or harm his mother again. Baldur turned on Freya regardless, and as she allowed her son to strangle her in penance, Kratos intervened a final time. Declaring that the cycle of vengeance must end, he snapped Baldur's neck. A snowflake landed on Baldur's cheek, and he acknowledged the sensation before dying.

Aftermath and legacy#

Freya was left devastated and enraged, swearing revenge upon Kratos as she carried her son's body away. Baldur's death triggered Fimbulwinter, the three-year winter that preceded Ragnarok, an event the Aesir had believed was still a century off. The giants, however, had always known that Baldur was meant to die by Kratos' hand. Years later, Kratos came to recognize that Baldur was never truly at fault for the attacks, placing the blame on Odin, who had given the command and lied about a cure he never possessed. Freya, too, eventually made peace with Kratos, though she never forgave him for Baldur's death.