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Váli

Váli

Váli (Old Norse: [ˈwɑːle]) is a God and the son of the god Odin and the giantess Rindr. Váli has numerous brothers including Thor, Baldr, and Víðarr. He was born for the sole purpose of avenging Baldr, and does this by killing Höðr, who was an unwitting participant, and binding Loki with the entrails of his son Narfi. Váli grew to full adulthood within one day of his birth, and slew Höðr before going on to Loki. He is prophesied to survive Ragnarök. After Vali defeats Höðr he is passed off as a son of Odin to not discredit Odin's strength as the all father.

Possible translation error

Váli is referred to as the son of Loki, though this is argued by some historians to be an early transcription error. The mistake arises from a single passage in Gylfaginning containing the phrase "Then were taken Loki's sons, Váli and Nari". However, Gylfaginning describes Váli as the son of Odin in two other instances. All other documents found that date from this time refer to Váli only as Odin's son, with the exception of more recent copies of the potentially mistaken text.