The Druid's Well

10. Offerings – historical and UPG. Historically, we don’t really know what if anything was offered to Wayland. However, in modern folklore, a coin in payment for his smithing services at Wayland’s Smithy is still considered appropriate. When it comes to offerings of food and drink, Wayland does seem to…

9. Common mistakes about this deity. Hoo-boy. There are only a couple that I can think of, but they’re both doozies. #1: He is not a dwarf. Yes, there are many dwarven smiths in Norse and Germanic mythologies, Wayland is not one of them. Lore states that he is an…

8. Variations on this deity (aspects, regional forms, etc.). Since stumbling across that Rydberg-inspired article the other day, this topic just potentially became a lot more complicated. However, for sake of simplicity I’m going to stick to instances where Wayland is mentioned specifically by name, rather than putatively more speculative ones.…

  7. Names and epithets.    Ancient/Historical The Smith The Blacksmith The Master Smith The Fairy Smith Master of Elves Greatest of Elves Storm Watcher   Modern The Maker The Mender Son of Ivaldi and Volund-Rognir-Thjazi (not sure I buy this, as Rydberg is problematic to say the least, but it would explain…