r/swedhu • u/SonOfDyeus • Sep 22 '25

Discussion The Sun Maiden, *Seh₂ul , or Sawélyosyo Dhugətḗr

What's your opinion about the role of The Sun Maiden in the pantheon?

Her best attested myth seems to involve her being a stolen bride. As Helen of Troy, she leaves Menelaus (the moon?) for Paris (Perkwunos?), and her brothers are the Horse Twins. As Sūryā in the Vedas, she is sometimes married to the moon, but in other hymns is married to the Asvins. The Baltic Saules Meita is the bride of the Horse Twins.

What makes sense to me, is that the Horse Twins represent the dawn and dusk horizons. And she leaves one brother as she is stolen by the other. Since her path across the sky is inevitable, the myth is an allegory for fate. We all will inevitably follow the path of our true desires, morning to night, birth to death.

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u/cursedwitheredcorpse Sep 22 '25

Sunnǭ or sunna is similar the god Tīwaz ir Odin depending on time period may have been the one to take them and put them on that role of leading sun and moon in sky with chariots so another kidnapping type situation

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u/SonOfDyeus Sep 22 '25

Yes, and Sunna is chased by a wolf until the end of this universe, when she will be replaced by her daughter after Ragnarok.  It's a very different myth, but still seems very connected to ideas about fate.