The tale of Óðinn and Rindr is a complex one, but in its version found in the
early thirteenth-century Gesta Danorum, we can see how Óðinn’s gender fluidity
has become simplified into transvestism. From a being capable of changing
gender, Óðinn now simply adopts the disguise of a woman. With this disguise,
Óðinn rapes the woman Rindr in order fulfil a prophecy. Thomas Hill found
that this version of events has a parallel in Scotland: the story of Prince Ewen
and St Thaney. Ewen similarly uses transvestism to gain access to an otherwise
unwilling woman in order to rape her.
This article will compare the two narratives to each other and to the
broader figure of the male transvestite as found in the medieval period. What
similarities are there? And what brought the writers of these tales to utilise this
narrative trope? This article will firstly argue that Óðinn’s gender identity is
simplified in the Christianised version of the Óðinn and Rindr narrative found
in the Gesta Danroum. Secondly, it will take into account issues surrounding
Thaney’s believed virginity, which caused the writer of the mid–twelfth century
Vita Kentegerni Imperfecta to adopt the Óðinn and Rindr narrative, male
transvestite rapist included. Finally, it will note that these stories show far more
about their writer’s perceptions of transvestism, rather than having any basis in
reality.