In Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

, Gunnlöð (Old Norse "war-foam") is a giantess. Her name could be written as Gunnlod.

Mythology

She is daughter of the giant Suttungr, who was set guard by her father in the cavern where he housed the mead of poetry

Mead of poetry

In Norse mythology, the Poetic Mead or Mead of Poetry , also known as Mead of Suttungr , is a mythical beverage that whoever "drinks becomes a skald or scholar" to recite any information and solve any question. This myth was reported by Snorri Sturluson...

. Her grandfather was Giling. Gunnlöð was seduced by Odin

Odin

Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

, who according to the Prose Edda

Prose Edda

The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...

bargained three nights of sex for three sips of the mead and then tricked her, stealing all of it. However, the poem Hávamál

Hávamál

Hávamál is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, is largely gnomic, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom....

of the Poetic Edda

Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...

tells the story a bit differently:

Gunnlod sat me in the golden seat,

Poured me precious mead:

Ill reward she had from me for that,

For her proud and passionate heart,

Her brooding foreboding spirit.

What I won from her I have well used:

I have waxed in wisdom since I came back,

bringing to Asgard Odhroerir,

the sacred draught.

Hardly would I have come home alive

From the garth of the grim troll,

Had Gunnlod not helped me, the good woman,

Who wrapped her arms around me.

It would seem, from this version of the tale, that Gunnlöð helped Odin willingly, and that he thought well of her in return.