Gripla - 20.12.2015, Page 50

GRIPLA50
the narrative of Gylfaginning, Baldr’s death is caused by the unintentional
deed of the blind Höðr who by instigation of Loki hurls the mistletoe at
Baldr believing that it will not harm him.77 this version of the events is not
confirmed elsewhere in the eddic poems; Baldrs draumar does not mention
Loki in connection to Baldr’s death, but in Völuspá the imprisonment of
Loki immediately follows stanzas 31–33 and it can be read as a part of the
gods’ vengeance for Baldr’s death.78 In this case, the portrayal of Höðr’s
killing as unintentional and the subsequent punishment of Loki in stanzas
32–33 in Völuspá aligns its narrative with the narrative in Gylfaginning.
Final remarks
the history of the emendation himinjöðurr, the editorial choice of the read-
ing mær, and the successive scribal corrections vörðr – váða – vá encourage
us to question whether the scholarly transmission of the poem through
modern editorial practices obscures, rather than illuminates, complex ques-
tions by sweeping them to the foot of the page. the difficulty of the read-
ing vörðr should not prevent editors from considering it – at the point of
accepting or rejecting a correction, the editor is contrasting two readings,
weighing up their possibilities and coherence within the stanza and the
poem as a whole. It is in the interest of scholarship that neither these edi-
torial decisions, nor the full textual evidence upon which they are based,
are hidden from the reader. the choice between mær (mjór) and mér does
not need to lie in a footnote encrypted by editorial convention, and even if
himinjódyrr/himinjódýr sounds strange or ridiculous to our ears, it cannot
obscure the fact that the scribe wrote it down, ambiguity and all, and did
not change it after revising the text. Corrections made to the text by the
scribe(s) need to be disclosed and, ideally, discussed. We should revise our
77 see previous discussion about mær. this aspect of the myth of Baldr has attracted a great
deal of scholarly attention; see, e.g., Inger M. Boberg, ‘Baldr og misteltenen’, Årbogen for
nordisk oldkyndighed og historie (1943): 103–6; John Lindow, ‘the tears of the gods: A
Note on the death of Baldr in scandinavian mythology’, Journal of English and Germanic
Philology 101 (2002): 155–69; John Lindow, Murder and Vengeance among the Gods: Baldr
in Scandinavian Mythology, folklore fellows’ Communications, vol. 272 (Helsinki:
Suomalainen tiedeakatemia, 1997); see also Liberman, ‘Some Controversial Aspects’.
78 Völuspá, ed. nordal, 101–02 considers the two different kinds of understanding of Baldr’s
murder.
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