The silent and solitary god. He was a son of Odin
and a giantess, and had a twin brother
named Vali. He dwelled in Vidi. He was one of the strongest of the gods
and can be considered a god of vengeance. At Ragnarok he will avenge his
father by tearing the Fenris-wolf's jaw asunder. He is one of the Aesir who will survive the final
battle.
The Anglo-Saxon Wider or Wither is
believed by some scholars to be the cognate of Old Norse Vídar. Wider
is a son of Woden (Odin) by the giantess
Gridr or Grithr (whose name may be related to Old English grid
"true, sanctuary").
Snorri has little to say on Vidar in the Prose
Edda. He calls him silent and says he has a strong shoe. This shoe
the ancients believed was made of every discarded strip of shoe leather,
and is the one he uses to pry the Fenris-Wolf's jaws apart to kill it.
Snorri also says he is nearly as strong as Thor,
strength he would need to kill the monster that took Tyr's
hand.
Vídar's mother Gridr helped Thor in the Skaldskaparmal
by supplying the weaponless God with iron gloves, a girdle, and staff.
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