Introduction
Kvasir is a being of extraordinary wisdom, created not born, formed when the Aesir and Vanir gods, sealing the truce that ended their war, each spat into a shared vessel; from this combined saliva, the gods shaped Kvasir, who could answer any question put to him.
Created from peace
Kvasir travelled the world sharing his wisdom freely, answering questions and teaching knowledge to all who asked, a living embodiment of the peace between the two families of gods from whose combined essence he had been made.
Murder and the Mead of Poetry
Two dwarves, Fjalar and Galar, invited Kvasir to a private meeting and killed him, draining his blood into three vessels. They mixed the blood with honey to brew the Mead of Poetry, a drink that grants the gift of poetry and scholarly wisdom to anyone who drinks it. The dwarves told the other gods that Kvasir had simply suffocated from too much knowledge, with no one wise enough to draw it out of him.
The mead's later theft
The Mead of Poetry passed through several more hands (the giant Suttung acquired it after the dwarves killed his parents), before Odin, in one of his most celebrated exploits, seduced Suttung's daughter Gunnlod, drank the entire mead in three great gulps, and, transformed into an eagle, flew back to Asgard with it, from where it has since been the source of poetic inspiration for gods and skilled human poets alike.