Because of prophecies that Balder’s death would help trigger the coming of Ragnarok, the destruction of Asgard and its inhabitants, Odin, ruler of Asgard, commanded his wife Frigga to make Balder invulnerable to harm. Frigga cast spells that would protect Balder from harm by any living or inanimate thing while he was in the Asgardian dimension. (The legends describe her as extracting promises from all of these things not to harm Balder, as if they were all sentient and capable of speech.) The sole exception was mistletoe. This omission was probably not due to forgetfulness on Frigga’s part, since she has not made him invulnerable to harm from mistletoe since his vulnerability to it became known. It is more likely that his vulnerability to mistletoe is a necessary side effect of the spell making him invulnerable to harm from other things.

Loki, the god of mischief, learned of the prophecies tying Balder’s death to the coming of Ragnarok, and also learned of Balder’s vulnerability to mistletoe. Seeking to bring about Ragnarok, Loki tricked the blind god Hoder into firing an arrow tipped with mistletoe wood at Balder. Balder was fatally wounded, but Odin’s power prevented him from actually dying and kept him in a state resembling suspended animation. Nevertheless, Balder’s spirit journeyed to Hel, one of the Asgardian realms of the dead. There Balder was appalled at seeing the horrors endured by the spirits of so many of those whom he had slain in battle.

Odin finally restored Balder fully to life, but Balder’s hair turned white as a result of his experiences in Hel. His beloved, Nanna, sacrificed her life to save him from entrapment in mar riage by Karnilla, and Balder was so distraught that he has resolved nev- er to speak of this incident or of her again. Anguished by Nanna’s death and by what he had seen in the land of the dead, Balder forswore the life of a warrior, attempted unsuccessfully to forget his misery through eating, gaining considerable weight in the process, and finally rode out into the desert, hoping to die there. Instead, Balder encountered the Norns, the three goddesses who oversee the workings of destiny. The Norns gave Balder a vision that restored his faith in the value of life and in the need for him to continue living. Balder rode back to Asgard and was sent by Odin to Karnilla to seek her aid in the Asgardians’ battle against Surtur and the legions of Muspelheim. Balder was successful in his mission, and his relationship appears to have changed in the process. Balder has also returned to his normal weight through vigorous exercise.

After Odin’s departure from Asgard, Balder became regent of Asgard.