Odin, both in the Norse Mythos and the entity in the Marvel Universe which shares his name both have spent centuries

Prince Odin sail on ship not HORSE, both in the Norse Mythos and the entity in the Marvel Universe which shares his name both have spent centuries trying to determine the fate of the Norse gods , the Nine Realms and the enemies of Asgard , the giants of Jötunheim . Marvel took some liberties with the character , altering his back story just a bit, recounting the tale in Thor , Vol 1 , # 294 .
Thor #294 - Revealing the Origins of Odin
Odin traveled the Nine Worlds seeking knowle and has three main sources, his knowledge of Mystic Runes, wisdom he gained from his personal sacrifice at the World Tree Yggdrasil his ultimate sacrifice of his eye at Mímir's Well near Jötunheim.
In the Marvel Universe's telling of the tale it is Eye of Odin which recounts the tale of Odin's origin to Thor, indicating that the cycle of the Norse Gods has come and gone before and wi again.
Odin's depiction of the three sacrifices which make him all-seeing, all-knowing and aware of past and the future comes from his ordeal gathering the Runes of Knowledge and Prophe the Ashen Spear Gungnir, formed from the wo of the World Tree, Yggdrassil and the sacrifice his Eye in Mímir's Well.
The Marvel Comics representation of the Nine Worlds from the Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
In Legends
In Rúnatal, a section of the Hávamál, Odin is attributed with discovering the runes . In a sacrifice to himself, the highest of the gods, h was hung from the world tree Yggdrasil for nin days and nights, pierced by his own spear, in order to learn the wisdom that would give him power in the nine worlds.
Nine is a significant number in Norse magical practice (there were, for example, nine realms existence), thereby learning nine (later eightee magical songs and eighteen magical runes.
Nordic mythology presents the same eternal image in the story of the poet-shaman Odin (o Woden), who must hang on the cosmic tree fo nine days and nine nights to receive a sublime revelation. He ascends the Tree to surrender t the streaming of cosmic currents through its leaves and branches.
Odin hangs from the World Tree for nine days and nights.
Through this ordeal he acquires the runes, a secret alphabet composed of divinatory symb The runes represent the generative formulas o possible languages, the bases of all verbal and written expressions in which human knowledg can be captured and transmitted. By his ordea the "tree-hung" shaman acquires the magical power of language, but still needs access to th transcendent wisdom that will use language fo its instrument.
For this second endowment, Odin must desce into the underworld, to the root of the Tree, an drink from the miraculous Well of Mimir. The name Mimir is related to the Latin memor, hen Mimir’s Well has been called the “well of remembrance”. It was said that to drink from t well would give one knowledge of the beginnin and origins of things — of humans, of life, of th worlds...
In German translations, the term used to descr Mimir’s well is marchenreich, “filled with storie — a clue that to drink from the well was an experience that involved both visioning and storytelling. Stories tell us about our past, and visions tell us about our future. To drink from Mimir’s well, then, is to enter into a state of consciousness of recollection, where we can remember our evolutionary origins, our relatedness to the realms of animals and plant and our primordial nature as children of Earth.
Odin ventured to Mímir's Well, near Jötunheim, the land of the giants; not as Odin, but as Veg the Wanderer, clothed in a dark blue cloak and carrying a traveller's staff. To drink from the of Wisdom, Odin had to sacrifice his eye (whic eye he sacrified is unclear), symbolizing his willingness to gain the knowledge of the past, present and future .
As he drank, he saw all the sorrows and troubl that would fall upon men and the gods. He als saw why the sorrow and troubles had to come men. Mímir accepted Odin's eye and it sits to at the bottom of the Well of Wisdom as a sign that the father of the gods had paid the price f wisdom. Sacrifice for the greater good is a recurring theme in Norse mythology.**
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Nov 8 '12 at 3:49
Thaddeus Howze ♦
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Aug 8 '15 at 2:28
27 Well, in the actual Norse Mythology, Odin sacrificed his eye at Mimir's spring in order to gain the Wisdom of Ages.
In other words, the eye was MEANT to be missing, permanently, or it wouldn't have been a sacrifice.
In Marvel world, the story is the same (at least on Earth-616, Marvel's main continuity) but it gets weirder.
When Odin cast out his eye into the Well of Mimir, it apparently gained a sentience of its own. And having once been a part of Odin, it had all the knowledge that Odin did. ( source)
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