NAME: Ullr also Ull, Uller, Wuldor, Wulthur, Ollerus & Ullur (Iceland) SYMBOLS: Shield, which he could use as a boat, Bow & Arrow, Skis, the Yew tree, a ring on which oaths are sworn, a house made out of yew logs, Bone covered with runes which let him travel swiftly over water. USUAL IMAGE: He was said to be pale and beautiful to look at as well as having all the characteristics of a warrior. AREA OF INFLUENCE: Hunting, Winter, Archery, Skiing, Agriculture, Justice and Duels. HOLY BOOKS: While mentioned in such things the Edda and the Gesta Danorum he shows up so briefly that it would be hard to call them "his holy books." HOLY DAYS: Unknown RELATIVES: Sif (mother), father unknown though one disputed source says it was Egill Orvandil god of archery whom Ullr followed in the footsteps of, Thor (step-father), Skadi (wife), Hel (consort.) SYNODEITIES: All Gods of hunting. DETAILS: Some time after the end of the last Ice Age, before there where Vikings, before there was Rome, before perhaps there was even the wheel there was the god of brightness & glory called Ullr in the lands that would someday be Sweden & Norway. Little is known about this god who was thought of as glorious and bright or at least that would seem to be the case from his name having turned into the words for those things in the Gothic language. As time passed other people and other ideas came into those lands, the Norse gods took over from the lost gods & goddess of that pre-historic time, and in time they were supplanted by still other god forms from the middle-east. However while they may fade and change the old gods still stay around as best they can, adapting to working their way into whatever the latest thing may be. From what is left, mostly as leftovers clinging to the later better-known Norse religion & myths, he was a god of the hunt, winter, archery, the shield & skis. His name or variations of it are found as part of more place names in those regions than any other deity. (Though not in Denmark for some reason.) What were his myths? Who where his kit and kin? Unknown, in later times it was said he was the son of Golden haired Sif, a rather mysterious goddess herself, by an unknown father and therefore the stepson of Thor. Married to Skadi the giant goddess of winter who left her former husband Njord, the god of the winds, sea & fire for him, it was also said he spent only his winters with Skidi, while his summers were spent with Hel. Living in his castle Ydal (Yew Dales) Ullr hunted with his long bow made from yew, traveled using his shield that could become a boat, or wooden slats that would someday evolve into skis, dispensed justice and was the god to call on when in a dual. At least that's what little we are left with. Was there more? Almost certainly, however like so many other powerful gods and goddess of long ago it is ether lost or distorted beyond all hope of recovery. That he was once a god to reckon with is shown by such later tales as the one where, even though called a mere human wizard in the story, he spent 10 years standing in for Odin as chief of the gods, when Odin was sent into exile for un macho behavior (disguised himself as an old woman to gain knowledge.) Was Ullr one of the many gods who are born and die year after year in the Winter & Spring? Perhaps, but who can say? The only conclusion I will dare is that fame is fleeting, even for the Gods, and with time even the Lord of the Sky can end up the equivalent of a divine redheaded stepchild. What chance then do you or I have?

Two more views of Ullr