Hod
Hod is a blind god of the Aesir, attested in the Prose Edda as "blind, but exceedingly strong" .
Hod is a blind god of the Aesir, attested in the Prose Edda as "blind, but exceedingly strong" (Prose Edda, Ch. VIII). Despite his strength, the gods wish his name never needed mentioning, "for the work of his hand will long be kept in memory both by gods and men" (Prose Edda, Ch. VIII). That deed is the killing of Balder: under Loke's guidance, Hod shot the mistletoe dart that "pierced him and he fell dead to the ground" (Prose Edda, Ch. XV).
The two Prose Edda passages frame Hod from opposite directions. The catalogue entry in Chapter VIII introduces him as powerful yet regrettable -- a god the other gods wish they could forget. The narrative in Chapter XV delivers the reason: Loke positioned the blind Hod to throw the one substance that could harm Balder, turning Hod's inability to see into the instrument of cosmic tragedy. The tension between Hod's physical strength and his blindness is what makes him exploitable; he is dangerous precisely because he cannot perceive what he does.
Appears in: Places, Entities in Prose Edda, Norse Tradition