Name: Freya. Also Freyja, Vanadís, Gefn, Valfreyja, Sýr, Mardöll, Skjálf and Hörn.

Symbols: The main symbol of Freyja was a necklace and her beauty.

Area Of Control: seiðr, prophecy, witchcraft, fertility, harvest, love, marriage, nature, war and death.

Usual Image: Freyja was thought of as a beautiful young woman.

Holy Books: The Edda, as well as poems and sagas.

Holy Days: Friday (Freya's Day).

Place Of Worship: Temples, forests and household altar.

Relatives: Njord (father), Odr (husband), and Gersemi and Hnoss (daughters).

Synodeities: Bastet (Egyptian), Ishtar (Babylonian), Laksmi (Indian), Aphrodite / Venus (Greek-Roman.)

Origin

Freya is a Norse goddess, child of Njord and Gaea (Nertha), and notable children of hers include Idunn, Sigyn and Nanna, she is of the Vanir. Freya is specifically the goddess of and associated with Love, Beauty, Fertility, Gold and Seid (a type of mystical power) Freya has also served as a Valkyrie, one of the chosen to ferry worthy dead to Valhalla. In modern times, the she may go by any of the names as follows. Frøya, Freya, Freja, Freyia, and Freia. Freya's beauty is valued by many, and known by many and she is known as being exceptionally beautiful at that and as such has impacted her life in various negative and positive ways, One of the more famous incidents being when the Asgardian gods were blackmailed by the giant Thrym, who had stolen Thor's mighty hammer Mjolnir, not willing to reveal its location unless Freya herself was offered up, and traded over to become Thyrms. Freya's stubborn refusal at such a trade despite a few pleas from various worried Asgardians fearing Asgards vulnerability without Thor with weapon in hand, thus causing Thor to have to dress as a women. Borrowing some of Freya's clothes, Thor goes about pretending to be the goddess of Fertility and Love himself. Thor dressed as Freya and Loki are both accepted into the giants stronghold. After various hours spent in the presence of the giants, Thrym, asserting himself as the victor of the deal, now that he has the beautiful goddess at his side, even despite her unusually voracious appetite and broad shoulders. In preparation for the wedding ceremony that would take place to make the trade off complete, the bride Freya (rather Thor dressed as her) was required to take hold of Thor's hammer. Finally with it within his grasp, Thor is able to reveal his true identity and lay waste to the highly surprised Frost giants. Freya was now definitely not required to be taken by the giants as a prize.

On another occasion the one known as the Cruel Striker or otherwise known as Rimthursar, preyed on Freya's perceived good nature of gullibility, deceiving her with a false story that Odin had died. This news causing Freya to weep, her tears actually being tears of gold. Rimthursar collected these tears for his own nefarious means. Eventually Thor was required to end his threat.

Creation

Freya is based on the goddess of the same name from Norse mythology, particularly those of the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda.

Major Story Arcs

Merging with Frigga

While the character Frigga has always been Odin's wife and Thor's mother in Marvel Comics, the breaking of the cycle of Ragnarok enabled subsequent writers to reinvent Frigga and Freyja as one-and-the-same, as they are so often attested to within the Norse myths. Upon being reintroduced in the pages of The Mighty Thor (2011), Freyja is now written as and considered to be the same character as Frigga, the All-Mother of Asgard and mother of Thor, Balder, Loki and Laussa.

Shattered Heroes

Upon the defeat of The Serpent, Odin returns to Old Asgard into the cosmos and, by destroying the rainbow bridge behind him, leaves the Asgardians on Midgard. In his absence the goddesses Freyja, Gaea and Idunn rule as the collective All Mother. Freyja addresses the refugees from across the realms, declaring that new rules must be made for the republic now called Asgardia. When the Mothers Three take meetings, Freyja is deeply committed to dismantling her husband's former structure of singular power, and urges the importance of devloping this new capital city with the people.

It is here were Loki, now a child must come before them and explain is actions during Fear Itself. Freyja black mails him into being the Vanir's spy and errand boy. Some time later when Loki shows up with a litter of puppies bred from Garm and the Hel Wolf, and Freyja demands that he find a home for each of them or dispose of them. Loki finds a home for all but one, counting giving one to Gaea which Freyja disappoves of. Loki can't make himself kill the ill tempered hound, and names it Thori, another act of which Freyja disapproves. Later when Loki gets in a fight with a bully in Broxton, Freyja orders that he apologize, after sending him to his room to think about what he has done. This leads Loki into making deals with the Fear Lords and this displeases Freyja even more, and punishes Loki with having to rake the Ruingarden.

War of the Realms

After the destruction of the Bifrost and the Mangog's defeat, the All-Mother moves to Midgard to help the mortals Agent Solomon and Jane Foster relocate refugees from across the realms in the Bronx, New York. She has not yet spoken to Odin, despite Thor's efforts, while Freyja asks her son Baldur and daughter Angela to watch over Thor, fearing the war is killing him by exhaustion. Freyja visits Thor herself after she has a vision of Vanaheim in flames, on the eve of Malekith's invasion of Earth. Her home realm has fallen to the Dark Elves, and she is able to show Thor his true worth as Midgard's champion.

Before the Invasion of Midgard begins, Malekith sends forth Dark Elf assassination squads to take out high priority targets, including Lady Freyja. She fights off the assassins with the aid of Spider-Man, before the Black Bifrost opens in Times Square and forces from across the realms lay siege to New York. As the combined armies of Svartalfheim, Muspelheim, Heven and Jotunheim sweep the city, Freyja leads the Asgardian forces in tandem with Earth's Avengers and street-level heroes in defence of the realm. Freyja discovers that her son Thor has been taken somewhere by Malekith, who teleports to Midgard with his Dark Cabal. The heroes are blindsided and Freyja is attacked by Laufey before Loki betrays his birth father and sacrifices himself to save her.

As the battle rages on, Freyja faces the Queen of Angels in viscious combat before her husband Odin All-Father arrives on Midgard with an army of Valkyrior, which manages to briefly turn the tide of battle. Eventually Malekith's War Witches are defeated, giving Doctor Strange the opportunity to cast a teleportation spell for the civilians of New York City. However, due to the dire circumstances and Malekith's forces overwhelming the heroes, the living spell transports every superhero to Avengers Mountain. Now severely outnumbered, Brunnhilde and her Valkyrior give their Asgardian gods the chance to tactically retreat by facing Malekith's army head-on, allowing Freyja to teleport with her injured husband. The Valkyrior are slaughtered on live television and, with Odin requiring medical attention, Freyja leads the resistance. She asks Captain America to lead a team into Jotunheim and bring back her son, while she commands a squad of her own into the depths of Svartalfheim to destroy the Black Bifrost.

Family Revalations

Following the breakdown of Freyja and Odin's "honeymoon," the All-Mother returns to her home of Vanaheim and resumes her duties to the realm as a Goddess of the Hunt. Freyja now resembles a closer approximation to her mythic self as a Vanir, with a feathered motif harkening to her cloak of falcon feathers and riding Trjegul, the large cat of myth that pulls her chariot along with Bygul. Following numerous failures within the realm of Asgard as a result of All-Father Thor inheriting Odin's secrets and mistakes, Freyja and her daughter Angela of Heven summon father and son to the forests of Vanaheim to a family reckoning. A house divided cannot stand, and the House of Tiwaz must reconcile their differences.

Freyja confides in Thor that when he faced problems as All-Father he turned to Odin for aid, which left her to doubt her place in his future. She is not Thor's birth mother, and while herself and Odin sat on Asgard's throne she knew her place as All-Mother, but now she does not know. Thor confides in Freyja his own concerns, reawakening her maternal instincts as she reasserts her position as Thor's true mother.

Death of Odin

When the Mother Storm is corrupted by the spiritual essence of the Mangog, Asgard's Master of War Beta Ray Bill calls on all allies of the realm to aid Thor and Odin in defeating the thunder itself. Freyja answers the call and charges into battle alongside the heroes of Midgard, but the Mother Storm-Mangog proves too powerful and decimates their forces. Thor calls upon Gaea to grant him power and creates a huge energy tornado, which Freyja alerts Earth's heroes is to protect his allies from the grand primordial struggle contained within. In the ensuing battle, an already weakened Odin is trapped beneath tonnes of rock. Struggling against the pain, Odin bestows his blessing upon Thor and transfers the last of the Odin Force to his son, ending his long life in the process. After the threat is ended, Freyja helps transport an unconscious Thor to Asgard where she greets him when he awakens. As Odin's body dispersed into godly energy there is no body to burn on a pyre, but Freyja returns to Asgard in her royal attire for the memorial service. There she reunites with Loki for the first time since the War of the Realms ended, and as Thor reads from the fabled Book of Kinds, Freyja learns of the depth of Odin's love and admiration for her.

Realms of X

When the former ruler of the Celtic Otherworld, Opal Luna Saturnyne, invades Vanaheim and wages war against its indigenous population, mutants of the X-Men enter the realm to defeat their foe. The realm was cut from Asgard's sight by Saturnyne while she enacted her plot, but when the veil is lifted and the all-seeing Lady Sif informs All-Father Thor of the invasion, he charges to Vanaheim's aid with Freyja at his side. Freyja commands the Asgardian forces against the army of Saturnyne while the mutant sorceress Magik uses the power of the Emberstone to heal the land of the Vanir. With Saturnyne defeated and the realm healing from her destruction of the land, Freyja thanks the Midgardian mutants for defending her home realm and grants them the use of the Bifrost to return to their own home.

Powers and Abilities

Like standard conventional Asgardian gods, Freya possesses super human statistics and attributes. Super human strength enabling her to lift over 20 tons, super human stamina, and durability.

As the Vanir goddess associated with the worship of seiðr, Freyja is known to be a powerful sorceress. Seiðr is known for "spinning charms," or "weaving spells," with connections to prophecy and natural magicks. Therefore Freyja has the powers of knowing, foresight and omens.

A resistance to disease and afflictions. Freya herself has an odd inherent ability in that her very tears are akin to gold and possessive of an undefined but mystical nature. Sought out specifically and used as an ingredient in a spell/sacrifice.

Freyja is also attested to possess a cloak made of falcon feathers, which grants her the ability to fly.

Other Media

Television

Avengers Assemble

Lady Freya appears in the 2012 animated show Avengers Assemble episode "Downgraded." After Hawkeye and Falcona are accidentally transported to Vanaheim, Freya saves the two heroes from the dreaded Shadow Nyc creatures, and the trio team-up to defend the source of Vanaheim's power from the darkness.

Freya was voiced by Jennifer Hale.

Video Games

Marvel: War of Heroes

Freyja appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:

• [All-Mother] Freyja