What's up with Odin? According to traditional PIE religion, Thor should be the boss god because he's the most associated with the sky, shouldn't he? How did Odin displace him, and is there any analogue for him in other religions?
Were the Romans right in associating him with Mercury? They also called the Celtic god Lugh Mercury, but Lugh seems closer to Loki and Prometheus than he does to Odin.
>>863098
The Norse didn't have a single unified mythology
https://m.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1hvfdi/introdution_of_thor_and_odin_into_the_germanic/
Found this?
Odin is the God of Wisdom. While Thor is mostly occupied with warfare, Odin is mostly occupied with postponing the Ragnarok, an event that takes place anyway, destroying the world and then ushering in a new world. He's basically a tragic hero, who is fully aware that he's stuck in an infinite loop of creation and destruction, but tries to postpone Ragnarok anyway, because why not
>>863098
Some historians theorize he was an early germanic chief who was deified
And in PIE the sky God and weather God were most likely separate gods. Dyeus Pater and Perkwunos.
In the primitive Germanic pantheon Tyr was actually the chief God (reflex of Dyeus PaTER) and over time Odin took his place as top God.
Odin has far more similarities with Lugh and Mercury/Hermes than Loki/Prometheus.
Odin is notably a psychopomp, trickster, associated with ravens, a God of commerce/deals, poetry, and the arts in general. Like Lugh and Mercury-Hermes.
>>863098
>Were the Romans right in associating him with Mercury?
Odin's association with mercury stems from the following facts:
Both are psychopomps that travel between the worlds of mortals and divine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp
Thoth, Hermes and Mercury and Odin all share similarities as being guide of the dead.
Metaphysically, Mercury is the archetype of both the messenger and the magician.
>>863098
Check out Mitra-Varuna: An Essay on Two Indo-European Representations of Sovereignty by Georges Dumézil
Basically the Indo-Europeans had two gods representing sovereignty, one reflecting the religious aspect, and one reflecting the legal aspect. This was Odin and Tyr, respectively, in the Norse religion. The sky-father probably wasn't that important in the original Indo-European, and his merging with the thunder god may only be a Mediterranean innovation.
