Reddit reviews A Dictionary of Northern Mythology

At a minimum, I think everyone should have a copy of his Dictionary of Northern Mythology on their shelf. It's a great quick reference and a quality leaping off point for research. It's not exhaustive, but high quality none-the-less.

Huh, cool concept!

Wikipedia's actually not that bad on this stuff - depends how far you want to take it! A handy little reference book is Simek's Dictionary, if you want something a bit more reliable - though maybe check it out on Google Books or something first to see if it's what you're after.

If you want a nice example of Óðinn mixing himself up in the doings of a family of famous warrior-kings, the first dozen or so chapters of Völsunga saga ('The Saga of the Volsungs', but translated titles differ) are fun and not that long, and there's plenty of out-of-copyright translations available online. (That's also where Tolkien lifted the broken-sword motif from!)

Descriptions of Valhǫll are mostly preserved in Snorra Edda - again, older translations are preserved online for free now they're out of copyright - and the poem Grímnismál, which is preserved in the medieval codex The Poetic Edda.

As for some sort of token or artefact, Óðinn's got all sort of toys: a spear called Gungnir, ravens called Huginn and Muninn (perhaps a magic artefact for scrying inscribed with ravens?), a pair of wolves (whose names escape me right now), and a "high seat" (basically a throne) called Hliðskjálf that lets him see into all the worlds (perhaps a helmet with the same name that lets the wearer see clearly - whatever that might mean?). Or maybe something based on the motif that Óðinn doesn't eat food, and only needs wine to survive? An arm ring that allows the wearer to survive on alcoholic drink alone, without the need for food? This is without even considering an eight-legged horse...

Sorry if I've gone overboard here, this is a blast to consider!