Idun

Idun is a Norse goddess. Keeper of the apples of youth, she doles out the fruits that keep the gods vigorous and healthy. She is married to Bragi, the bard and poet of the gods. Her origins are a bit fuzzy, but some say she is the daughter of the dwarf Ivaldi and the elf Hildegrun.

The most famous story involving Idun is that of her kidnapping. It begins with an adventure in which Odin, Loki, and Honir were traveling about in Midgard. One night as they cooked an ox for their dinner, an eagle came to rest in the tree above them. It declared itself hungry and asked the gods for some of their meat. They agreed, but the eagle ate so much that Loki became angry and seized up a wooden staff to impale the creature.

At that moment it became clear the eagle was not an ordinary bird but the Jotun, Thiazi. Thiazi took flight, and Loki found his hands stuck fast to the staff so that he could not free himself. Thiazi then in his eagle-form took Loki on a merry ride, bashing him against rocks and scraping him along tree branches until Loki begged for mercy. Thiazi said he would let him go, but at a price: Loki must fetch Idun and her apples out of Asgard. Battered and exhausted, Loki agreed.


Loki returned to Asgard and told Idun he had seen a tree in Midgard with apples like hers. Idun, curious, agreed to bring some of her own apples to compare them, and accompanied Loki over the Bifrost to Midgard. Thiazi was waiting, and swooped Idun up in his eagle form, whisking her away to his fortress in Jotunheim.



Idun's absence was noted immediately; before long, the gods began to succumb to the process of aging. Suspicion fell upon Loki, who soon admitted his role in her disappearance and, on pain of death, agreed to arrange her rescue. He borrowed Freyja's falcon skin and flew off to Thrymheim, Thiazi's fortress, in the form of that fast flyer. Finding Idun, he transformed her into a nut and grasped her in his falcon's talons to take her back to Asgard.

It wasn't long before Thiazi realized what had happened, and he took off after Loki at full speed. With his head start Loki was just barely able to outpace Thiazi in his eagle form, swooping and diving as he closed in on the walls of Asgard, Thiazi hot on his heels. The gods were waiting. As Loki crossed into the city, the gods set fire to a large bundle of wood they had piled up outside the walls. Thiazi's wings were burned in the flames and he fell to the ground, where the gods killed him.

So was Idun snatched away and returned.