Odin (Old Norse Óðinn, Swedish Oden) is usually considered the supreme god of Germanic and Norse mythology. His role, like many of the Norse pantheon, is complex: he is god of both wisdom and war, roles not necessarily conceived of as being mutually sympathetic in contemporary society. West Germanic forms of the name are Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon Woden, Old Franconian Wodan, Alemannic Wuodan, German Wotan or Wothan Lombardic Godan.
His name, for the warlike Norsemen, was synonymous with battle and warfare, for it recurs throughout the myths as the bringer of victory. Odin was a shape-changer, able to change his skin and form in any way he liked. He was said to travel the world disguised as an old man with a staff, one-eyed, grey-bearded and wearing a wide-brimmed hat (called Gangleri – "the wanderer"). Odin sometimes traveled among mortals under aliases Vak and Valtam.
Snorri Sturluson's Edda depicts Odin as welcoming into his hall, Valholl, the courageous battle-slain. These fallen, the einherjar, will support Odin at the final battle of the end of the world, Ragnarok.
The Roman historian Tacitus refers to Odin as Mercury for the reason that, like Mercury, Odin was regarded as Psychopompos, "the leader of souls." Viktor Rydberg, in his work on Teutonic Mythology, draws a number of other parallels between Odin and Mercury, such as the fact that they were both responsible for bringing poetry to mortal man.
The god is believed to be manifest in a noisy, bellowing movement across the sky, leading a host of the slain, directly comparable to Vedic Rudra. It is unsurprising therefore to find Odin deeply associated with the concept of the Wild Hunt, called in Norse beliefs Asgardareid. Odin and Frigg participated in this together.
Odin appears in person in the Grimnismál, Hávamál, Lokasenna, Voluspa and other Eddic texts.