Editing Geri and Freki (section)

==Theories==
[[Image:Bronsplåt pressbleck Öland vendeltid.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Vendel era]] bronze plate found on [[Öland]], [[Sweden]] depicting a wolf-pelt warrior drawing a sword beside a dancing figure.]]
''Freki'' is also a name applied to the monstrous wolf [[Fenrir]] in the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''[[Völuspá]]''. Folklorist [[John Lindow]] sees irony in the fact that Odin feeds one Freki at his dinner table and another—Fenrir—with his flesh during the events of [[Ragnarök]].<ref name=LINDOW120>Lindow (2001:120).</ref>

Historian Michael Spiedel connects Geri and Freki with archaeological finds depicting figures wearing wolf-pelts and frequently found wolf-related names among the [[Germanic peoples]], including Wulfhroc ("Wolf-Frock"), Wolfhetan ("Wolf-Hide"), Isangrim ("Grey-Mask"), Scrutolf ("Garb-Wolf"), Wolfram ("Wolf (and) [[Huginn and Muninn|Raven]]"), Wolfgang ("Wolf-Gait"), Wolfdregil ("Wolf-Runner"), and Vulfolaic ("Wolf-Dancer") and myths regarding wolf warriors from Norse mythology (such as the [[Úlfhéðnar]]). Michael Speidel believes this to point to the pan-Germanic wolf-warrior band cult centered on Odin that waned away after [[Christianization]].<ref name="SPEIDEL24-38">Speidel (2004:24—28).</ref>

Scholars have also noted [[Proto-Indo-European religion|Indo-European]] parallels to the wolves Geri and Freki as companions of a divinity. 19th century scholar [[Jacob Grimm]] observed a connection between this aspect of Odin's character and the Greek [[Apollo]], to whom both the wolf and the raven are sacred.<ref name=GRIMM147>Grimm (1882:147).</ref> Philologist [[Maurice Bloomfield]] further connected the pair with the [[Sharvara and Shyama|two dogs]] of [[Yama (Hinduism)|Yama]] in Vedic mythology, and saw them as a Germanic counterpart to a more general and widespread Indo-European "[[Cerberus]]"-theme.<ref name="OTHER-WOLVES">Bloomfield also mentions another Nordic pair in this connection: ''Geri'' "Greedy" and ''Gifr'' "Violent" are two dogs which guard the maiden Menglöð in the ''[[Fjölsvinnsmál]]''. See Bloomfeld (1908:316–318).</ref> Speidel finds similar parallels in the [[Vedic period|Vedic]] [[Rudra]] and the [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman]] [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]. Elaborating on the connection between wolves and figures of great power, he writes: "This is why Geri and Freki, the wolves at Woden's side, also glowered on the throne of the Anglo-Saxon kings. Wolf-warriors, like Geri and Freki, were not mere animals but mythical beings: as Woden's followers they bodied forth his might, and so did wolf-warriors."<ref name="SPEIDEL24-38"/>

[[Bernd Heinrich]] theorizes that Geri and Freki, along with Odin and his ravens [[Huginn and Muninn]], reflect a [[symbiosis]] observed in the natural world among ravens, wolves, and humans on the hunt:
<blockquote>
:In a biological symbiosis one organism typically shores up some weakness or deficiency of the other(s). As in such a symbiosis, Odin the father of all humans and gods, though in human form was imperfect by himself. As a separate entity he lacked depth perception (being one-eyed) and he was apparently also uninformed and forgetful. But his weaknesses were compensated by his ravens, Hugin (mind) and Munin (memory) who were part of him. They perched on his shoulders and reconnoitered to the ends of the earth each day to return in the evening and tell him the news. He also had two wolves at his side, and the man/god-raven-wolf association was like one single organism in which the ravens were the eyes, mind, and memory, and the wolves the providers of meat and nourishment. As god, Odin was the ethereal part—he only drank wine and spoke only in poetry. I wondered if the Odin myth was a metaphor that playfully and poetically encapsulates ancient knowledge of our prehistoric past as hunters in association with two allies to produce a powerful hunting alliance. It would reflect a past that we have long forgotten and whose meaning has been obscured and badly frayed as we abandoned our hunting cultures to become herders and agriculturists, to whom ravens act as competitors.<ref name="HEINRICH-2006-355">Heinrich (2006 [1999]: 355). For discussion of wolf and raven symbiosis, see for example Heinrich (2006 [1999]: 226–235). For discussion of wolf and human symbiosis, see for example Henrich (2006 [1999]: 236–244).</ref>
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