Wodens

Wodens is a term that appears infrequently in scholarship and popular writing, generally used to refer to multiple personifications or variants related to Woden, the Anglo-Saxon form of Odin. In standard usage the name is treated as singular, since Woden (or Odin) is a single chief deity in Germanic mythology. The form Woden is etymologically linked to other Germanic cognates such as the Old Norse Odin and the Continental Wodan/Wotan, with the modern English day Wednesday (Wōdnesdæg) named in his honor.

In myth and worship, Woden/Odin is a central figure associated with war, death, wisdom, magic, and poetry. He is often depicted as a wanderer who seeks knowledge, sacrifices aspects of himself to gain power—most famously sacrificing an eye for wisdom—and wields magic and prophetic runes. Iconography commonly linked to Odin includes the spear Gungnir, the two ravens Huginn and Muninn, and the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. In Anglo-Saxon England, Woden appears in literary and religious contexts alongside Christian imagery, illustrating the blending and transition between pagan and Christian traditions.

Culturally, the name and figure of Woden influenced later traditions and language. The English weekday name Wednesday preserves the memory of Woden, and Odin/Wodan/Wotan persists in Norse and continental Germanic lore. In modern times, Woden is a subject of study in historical anthropology and is also invoked in some neopagan and reconstructionist practices, where variations of Odin may be discussed as Wodens in plural or as multiple aspects of the same deity.

See also: Odin, Wodan, Wotan.