Odin walked. He had been walking for a long time. He knew now, what he hadn’t wanted to believe. From his throne he had seen it, both with the eye he still had, and the one floating in Mimir’s well. His two ravens, Hugin and Munin had whispered it in his ears for centuries. He had to go there, he had to see it up close.
He had walked between humans, wandered among them. He had travelled through the whole of Midgard, asked, investigated. It was just as bad as he had feared.
His name was still there. Some old tales, some poems from lost times. Some people named their children after him, others abused his name in their fight for power, in their struggle for their right to repress others. There had been a time when he would have enjoyed that, maybe even feel honoured, but now he didn’t care. They did’t believe. To them he was nothing but another word. Just another dead god in history, a symbol from past times.
-Well, at least I will have less to worry about, Odin thought. -The world of men is no longer my concern.
It would feel good to come home. Now all he had to do was to drink wine until Ragnarok arrived. At least that would be something to look forward to.
https://writingontangents.com/2017/04/17/review-norse-mythology-by-neil-gaiman/
Fictionspawn 
I appreciate the sense of futility and finality in this piece. It’s frlt really novel to go along with Odin from the throne, to the streets, back to Asgard where he awaits destruction and death. He is already dead in a way and something about that feels comforting maybe?
Anyway, nice work.
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Thank you. I guess so, he’s really out of business anyway, so why not just relax and wait for the end. It’s supposed to be spectacular, according to the prophecy 🙂
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I’m imagining him sitting in his hall drinking mead as the sky falls…
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He’ll going to have to put up quite a fight, though, for the prophecies to come true. And I’ve actually learned in the research process that he’s extremely fond of wine. I’ve read he never drank or ate anything else. Quite a lifestyle. Thanks, Draliman! Happy you stopped by.
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I love this! What becomes of our old gods, huh? I guess now we know!
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Haha! Or maybe each have their own story… 😉
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You might like Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. And he’s got a recent one out Norse Mythology.
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Thanks. I haven’t read American Gods, but the illustration here was born reading Norse Mythology. I put on a link below to a review of the last one, on one of the best flash fiction blogs I know, absolutely worth checking out, the review, the rest of the blog and the book 😉
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Good rendering of “the decline of the old gods” theme. Reminds me a little of “The Twilight of the Grey Gods,” a fantasy short story written by Robert E Howard and posthumously published in 1962. It was adapted for issue three of the “Conan the Barbarian” comic book by Roy Thomas in 1971.
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Thanks, James! Sounds interesting. Lost gods is always an interesting subject.
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Love this and the painting is crazy amazing!!!! 🙂
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Thank you, Forresting! He’s quite an interesting and complex character, Odin 🙂
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He really is. I don’t know as much about Norse Mythology as I’d like….we had a book when my son was small and I don’t remember much. But I do remember he was interesting and Your depiction is wonderful! 🙂
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Sounds like Odin is suffering from the type of depression associated with advanced old age.
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So it seems. He is indeed getting old 😀
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The old Gods are not dead, we are so blind. Excellent short story, magnificent illustration.
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Thanks for stopping by, Andrea! I’m working on one about Thor now, coming out next week…Norse gods are always fun to work with.
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Oh! I like that culture! I’ll be waiting for your next story and illustration (:
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