Idun

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Iðunn was an Isu who was later revered as the goddess of youth and rejuvenation in Norse mythology. According to the Poetic Edda, she was the caretaker of the orchard of the golden apples, fruit which ensured the gods' vigor and immortality.

Name

Iðunn's name is sometimes anglicized as Idun, Idunn, or Iduna. Some of her epithets include "Bride of Spring" and "Queen of Birth".

Mythology

As goddess of youth, Iðunn was often associated with apples. She was the wife of Bragi and was said to grand eternal youth to the other gods. Attested to in both the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, one story from the Skaldskaparmal in the Prose Edda entitled the "Abduction of Idun" involved Iðunn's kidnapping by the Jötunn Þjazi after the god of mischief Loki had tricked her and who promised that he had found some apple worth keeping. Upon being led into a forest, Þjazi kidnapped the goddess and escaped to his homeland of Thrymheim. Without Iðunn's apples, the gods quickly grew old and weary. After Odin threatened Loki with torture, he rescued Iðunn and the gods regained their youth.

Biography

Iðunn created the silver rings that encircled the Nine Realms, and her apples amplified the hugr on all creatures.

In Asgard, Havi stumbled across a letter addressed to Iðunn on an altar adorned with apples, saying Tricksters would try to steal her Gift of Youth. Behind the altar, Havi found a small house overlooking a cliff where many apples lay alongside a letter to Loki, indicating that he indeed had stolen the apples.

The Æsir witnessing the Great Catastrophe

As the Great Catastrophe approached, Iðunn and the other eight Norse Isu uploaded their DNA data into Yggdrasil to be later redistributed into the human gene pool. Millennia later, Iðunn was successfully reincarnated as Gull.

Legacy and influence

In the 9th century, the Vikings Eivor Varinsdottir, Dag Nithisson, and Tora Auzoux launched a counter-attack against Kjotve the Cruel's forces who were raiding the settlement of Rygjafylke. After fighting off the raiders, Eivor investigated a sound coming from inside a building and was attacked by the tattooed slave Gull. Amidst her wild ramblings, Gull mentioned that she was a "slave to Sökkvabekkr, Sága, and Idun's bounty."

Also during this time period, Iðunn had a totem named after her in the popular dice game Orlog. The piece "Idun's Rejuvination" would heal the player's life points by a percentage. The piece was in the possession of a Norse woman in Rygjafylke, who after being defeated gifted the piece to Eivor.

In 1890, the Irish painter James Doyle Penrose completed his work Idun and the Apples, taken from the story "Abduction of Idun" from the Skaldskaparmal, part of the Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson.

In 2012, Clay Kaczmarek included Penrose's painting in a set of puzzles he'd hidden within the Animus for Desmond Miles to find. In Clay's puzzle, it was suggested that Iðunn's golden apples were in truth Apples of Eden.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (Glyphs only)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Song of Glory (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)

Gallery

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  Idun's Rejuvenation piece for Orlog