Odin the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into the underworld. Odin is the son of Bestla and Borr and has two brothers, Vili and Vé. Odin is attested as having many sons, most famously the gods Thor (with ) and (with ), and is known by hundreds of names. In these texts, he frequently seeks greater knowledge, at times in disguise (most famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry), makes wagers with his wife Frigg over the outcome of exploits, and takes part in both the creation of the world by way of slaying the primordial being and
Odin and other trees exist in Norse mythology, the tree is near universally accepted as the cosmic tree , and if the tree is , then the name (Old Norse 'Ygg's steed') directly relates to this story. Odin is associated with hanging and gallows; John Lindow comments that "the hanged 'ride' the gallows". In the prose introduction to the poem , the hero Sigurd rides up to and heads south towards "the land of the Franks". On the mountain sees a great light, "as if fire were burning, which blazed up to the sky". approaches it, and there he sees a