Examples of Shape-shifting in Norse Mythology

Examples of Shape-shifting in Norse Mythology

Both Odin and Loki are shape shifters in Norse mythology. Both take on female forms, and Loki in the form of a mare that bore Sleipnir. The Lokasenna depicts the two of them taunting each other with it, as having been women through and through, having borne children (Any myths that depict Odin in female form have been lost, but the Lokasenna does contain references to many myths that are known to be believed).
In the Hyndluljóð, the goddess Freya transformed her protégé Óttar into a boar to conceal him. She also possessed a cloak of falcon feathers that allowed her to transform into a falcon, which Loki borrowed on occasion.
The Merchant's Sons is a Finnish story of two brothers, one of whom tries to win the hand of the tsar's wicked daughter. The girl does not like her suitor and endeavors to have him killed, but he turns her into a beautiful mare which he and his brother ride. In the end he turns her back into a girl and marries her.
The Volsunga saga contains many shape shifting characters. Siggeir's mother changed to a wolf to help torture his defeated brothers-in-law with slow and igmonious deaths. When one, Sigmund, survived, him and his nephew and son Sinfjötli killed men wearing wolf skins; when they donned the skins themselves, they were cursed to become werewolves.
The dwarf Andvari is described as being able to magically turn into a pike. Alberich, his counterpart in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, takes on many forms, including a giant serpent and a toad, in a failed attempt to impress or intimidate Loki and Odin/Wotan.
Fafnir was originally a dwarf, a giant or even a human, depending on the exact myth, but in all variants he transformed into a dragon—a symbol of greed—while guarding his ill-gotten hoard. His brother, Ótr, enjoys spending time as an otter, which leads to his accidental slaying by Loki.
In Scandinavia, there existed, for example, the famous race of she-werewolves known with a name of Maras. If a female at midnight stretches between four sticks the membrane which envelopes the foal when it is brought forth, and creeps through it, naked, she will bear children without pain; but all the boys will be shamans, and all the girls Maras. Women who took on the appearance of the night looking for huge monster half human and half wolf. The transformation was slow and subjects suffered from screaming, hair and nails grow, the woman's face stretched into that of a hungry wolf meat and leaving room for animal instinct. In fact, the Maras were almost all women from peasant and plebeian classes.