They could be carved into runestones to commemorate ancestors and mark the graves of heroes. Instead, runes were originally for inscriptions of great importance.
However, they did not use this writing the way we do now, or even the way Mediterranean and other neighboring cultures did then. The Norse and other Germanic peoples wrote with runes since at least the first century.
So, we see from this story how the Vikings thought of runes not merely as letters but as having potent virtues within themselves of a metaphysical or even magical nature. Odin made his sacrifice at great anguish and risk to himself because he knew that the runes conveyed deep meaning, and if he could understand their meaning he would gain profound wisdom and power.
In Norse lore, the god, Odin, impaled his heart with his own spear and hung on the world tree, Yggdrasil, for nine days and nights all to perceive the meaning of the runes. The runes were symbols that sprang from the Well of Urd – the source of fate.
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