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What is Wyrd?

Wyrd (Weird) is an ancient pagan concept which is reflected in the runes. It has some superficial resemblance to Karma but works through a surprisingly sophisticated mechanism. Essentially it ensure that one will receive the consequences of ones actions, whether good or bad.

Every deed which one does flows into the Well of Wyrd which lies under the roots of Yggdrasil and is watched over by the Norns. Because it is a well, anything dropped into it sinks into its waters and vanishes from sight. The waters of the well then are not nice self contained layers but constantly being churned up as new deeds enter and as fresh water flows into the well from the spring feeding it replacing that which is taken out.

Each day the Norns fill a container from the well collecting in the process a random sample of the deeds within it. This water is then poured onto Yggdrasil to nourish and protect it. Thus the deeds of the past from the well are brought up and poured onto Yggdrasil, representing the presence, where they accordingly influence the events of the future.

No person though is subject solely to their own Wyrd since the deeds of others also affect their fate. The Wyrd of their family and clan then also plays its part. Wyrd then can function as a form of judgement as represented by the Tiwaz (Tir) rune for example. To modern eyes it may seem incongruous to have both Justice and War represented by the same god, but to the ancients these things were closely linked. In the Old English poem Beowulf the eponimus hero indicates that it is Wyrd which will decide whether he or the monster Grendel survive a fight.