He is one of the best-known “unknown” gods: everyone who studies the mythology knows his name – and yet Ullr scarcely appears in a myth of his own. And once he was of enormous importance: the glorious archer on skis, to whom more places were dedicated in Scandinavia than to almost any other god. A look at a very old figure who has withdrawn into the half-dark.
The name Ullr goes back to Gothic vulþus, “glory” – Ullr is “the glorious one”, and Snorri too calls him fair of face. Snorri sums him up briefly in Gylfaginning: a son of Sif and stepson of Thor, so good an archer and skier that none can match him, and a good warrior to call on in single combat. His dwelling in the Edda is called Ýdalir, “yew-dales” – and the yew yields the tough wood for the best bows. An archer-god who lives in the yew-dales: it fits perfectly.
“Ullr is the name of a god, son of Sif and stepson of Thor. He is so good an archer and skier that none can match him.” Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 30 (public domain)
That Ullr is ancient is betrayed by the place-names. North of the Oslofjord and across much of Sweden, the number of places bearing his name is greater than that of any other god – while in Denmark and Skåne they are wholly absent. Names like Ulleråker (“Ullr's field”) or Ullevi (“Ullr's sanctuary”) show where he was worshipped; forms like Ullinleik (“Ullr's games”) even point to contests held in his honour. Older still is the Torsberg chape from the 3rd century with the runic inscription owlþuþewaR – “servant of Ullr”.
Striking: although the Edda counts him among the Æsir, in the place-names Ullr often stands beside Wanic gods like Freyr and Njörd. In old times there must have been a special bond between him and the growth-gods – a hint of how deep his roots reach.
Around Ullr lies a fine play on words. Old Norse skíð means both “ski/snowshoe” and “board” – and so the shield is called too. In the poets' tongue the shield is named “Ullr's ship”. A full myth for this is lost; one thinks of the Cimbri, who slid down the snowy Alpine slopes on their shields. For a hunting-god in winter the shield was perhaps as much a means of travel as a weapon.
And something else attaches to him: the ring. On old shields a rim was painted that was called a “ring” – and a holy ring was the symbol of binding and oath. In the Atli-lay one swears expressly by “Ullr's ring”, beside the sun and the holy mountain. Ullr is thus also a god of the oath – a trait that brings him close to the law-god Tyr.
Saxo Grammaticus tells of “Ollerus” (Ullr), who ruled during a temporary exile of Odin and was driven out on his return. Behind it may lie a struggle between an older Ullr-worship (Sweden) and a rising position of Odin (Denmark) – not for nothing are Ullr place-names absent precisely in Denmark. Whether Ullr was a kind of “winter Odin” remains speculation. What is certain: he belongs to the very old gods, and whoever wishes to sense him should try it in winter.
Ullr is attested in Grímnismál 5 (Ýdalir), in Snorri's Gylfaginning 30 (archer/skier, Sif's son) and in Skáldskaparmál (kennings: ski-god, bow-god, shield-god); in Atlakviða 30 one swears by Ullr's ring. His great age is shown by the many theophoric place-names in Norway and Sweden and by the Torsberg chape (3rd c., “owlþuþewaR”). The link to Wanic gods is attested through paired place-names.
There is no myth in which Ullr himself plays the lead – only the late, euhemerised Ollerus account in Saxo. The “winter Odin” is an interpretation, not evidence. The equation shield = ski, too, rests above all on the ambiguity of the word skíð and the Cimbri anecdote. What is certain is Ullr's great, old importance; much else remains deliberately open – the god has, like Tyr, withdrawn into the half-dark of history.
Thor · Njörðr – god of the sea · Freyr – god of fertility · Sköll & Hati · The old year's cycle up close.