Editing Víðarr (section)

==Theories==
[[Image:Vidar och Vale.jpg|thumb|A depiction of Víðarr and Váli by [[Axel Kulle]] (1846–1908), 1892]]
Theories have been proposed that Víðarr's silence may derive from a ritual silence or other abstentions which often accompany acts of vengeance, as for example in ''Völuspá'' and ''[[Baldrs draumar]]'' when Váli, conceived for the sole purpose of avenging [[Baldr]]'s death, abstains from washing his hands and combing his hair "until he brought Baldr's adversary to the funeral pyre".<ref name=LINDOW312-313>Lindow (2001:312—313).</ref> Parallels have been drawn between chapter 31 of [[Tacitus]]' 1st century [[Common Era|CE]] work ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'' where Tacitus describes that members of the [[Chatti]], a [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribe]], may not shave or groom before having first slain an enemy.<ref name=LINDOW311>Lindow (2001:311).</ref>

===Dumézil===
[[Georges Dumézil]] theorized that Víðarr represents a cosmic figure from an archetype derived from the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]].<ref name=LINDOW314>Lindow (2001:314) referencing Dumézil, Georges (1965). "Le dieu scandinave Víðarr" collected in ''Revue de l'histoire des religions'' 168, pages 1—13.</ref> Dumézil stated that he was aligned with both vertical space, due to his placement of his foot on the wolf's lower jaw and his hand on the wolf's upper jaw, and horizontal space, due to his wide step and strong shoe, and that, by killing the wolf, Víðarr keeps the wolf from destroying the cosmos, and the cosmos can thereafter be restored after the destruction resulting from [[Ragnarök]].<ref name=LINDOW314/>

Dumézil thus conceives of Víðarr as a spatial god.<!-- (per the hypothesized ''Víð-/[[wiktionary:wide|wide]]'' root - Old English ''wīd'', from Proto-Germanic [[wiktionary:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/wīdaz|*''wīdas'']]) --> Dumézil substantiates his claim with the text of the ''[[Lokasenna]]'', in which Víðarr, trying to mediate the dispute with Loki, urges the other Aesir to "grant Loki his space" at the feasting table. Dumézil argues that this play on Víðarr's spatiality would have been understood by an audience familiar with the god, an interpretation further warranted by his reading of the Lokasenna as being in significant part a book of puns and word plays about the different Aesir.

Dumézil also suggests that Víðarr's spatiality is seen in the Vishnu of the Vedic traditions, both etymologically (the ''Vi''- root) and mythologically, citing the story of [[Vamana|Bali and Vishnu]]. In this legend, [[Vishnu]] (in the form of [[Vamana]]) tricks the malevolent king Bali, who has secured dominion over the whole Earth, by making Bali promise to grant Vamana all the land he can cover in three paces. Vamana turns himself into a giant and strides across all of heaven and Earth, taking Bali's head and granting him immortality in lieu of taking the last pace.

Dumézil theorizes that these myths of Fenrir vs. Víðarr and Bali vs. Vishnu may have a common origin in an Indo-European god of spatiality, similar but distinct from the hypothetical framing or entry / exit god that spawned [[Janus]] and [[Heimdallr]].<ref name="LINDOW314"/>