chrissabug

✨New Art//Death of Baldr

Added 2025-01-12 04:13:27 +0000 UTC

Baldr, son of Odin and Frigg, god of light, gentleness, and wisdom was the most beautiful and beloved of the norse gods. His mother demanded an oath from every creature and object in the world that they would not harm Baldr. One little innocent plant was missed, however. The harmless and insignificant mistletoe. Later, as a game, gods were shooting arrows at the "invincible" Baldr, thinking no harm would come to him. That is when Loki tricked Baldr's blind brother, Hodor, into shooting him with an arrow crafted of mistletoe, shocking Asgard by killing the most beloved and invincible of the gods.

I knew I wanted to draw Baldr again and because of the reference to mistletoe and the theme of death (particularly the death of the god of light), I always associate this myth with winter time and the winter solstice.

I'll fess up right now that while I did draw mistletoe on the arrow, most of it is made of holly. The spikey leaves of holly just look so much more threatening and energetic for a piece like this. I'm sure most wouldn't have noticed, but for those of you that did, that's why I chose to include holly rather than just mistletoe. 😅

Anyhoo! I started this piece last month but ran into lot of back and forth struggles on how I wanted to render it and the colors! I still don't know if I'm 100 percent happy with it, BUT it felt like time to move on. I would love to return to Baldr again eventually, and maybe revisit his meeting with Hel once he is in Helheim. But for now, I hope you enjoy this mythological piece!