Where did Odin come from?

[Hindsight was 2020]

Something that always curious about is that when you look at the history of ancient religions and customs a lot of them have similar structures and concepts primarily that the most important deity is associated with either thunder, the sun, or sky. Zeus, Jupiter, Ra, Perkūnas, Dyaus, and all of them theorized to be rooted in the Dyēus mythology. Yet with Germanic/Norse mythology their chief deity shares none of these characteristics. Odin/Wodan is a god of war, death, wisdom, poetry, and hangings. Granted he is the father of the Thunder god Thor but he himself is not associated with Thunder or the sky. So why is that that Odin doesn’t share similar characteristics to other chief deities and if not rooted in Dyēus then where did he exactly come from?

[Hindsight was 2020]

Odin was a wanderer; he sought knowledge. He's not a creator.

But Odin according to the mythology created mankind from sticks he found on a beach leading to his name of “Allfather” so he definitely is the creator deity of Norse/Germanic mythology. Which again is weird that unlike practically every other creator deity he has no association with the sky, sun, or thunder. Also you brought up another point I wanted to touch on which is how weirdly contradicting Odin is. One hand he is depicted either as a war god all dressed up in armor or on the other hand as an old wanderer. It is such a weird clash of ideas and combined with lack of similarity to other creator deities it really is fascinating to think of why the  Germanic and Norse people developed him as such

[Hindsight was 2020]

People have been suggesting since the 1870s that Odin is a later addition to the Germanic pantheon. The late-Victorian view was that original supreme god was Thor, who of course is a thunder god, and that Odin was parachuted in later as part of some broader social shift. I'm not sure if that's still the received understanding now, though.

I have heard of that theory but the flaw I always found in that is that I can’t think of any recorded references to Thor that really predate any mention of Odin as well with previous mentioned Germania being one of the earliest known references and both are in it. Also Odin along with Thor was the most commonly worshiped deity across various Germanic tribes which shouldn’t be the case if he was a later add on

[Hindsight was 2020]

People have been suggesting since the 1870s that Odin is a later addition to the Germanic pantheon. The late-Victorian view was that original supreme god was Thor, who of course is a thunder god, and that Odin was parachuted in later as part of some broader social shift. I'm not sure if that's still the received understanding now, though.

I have heard of that theory but the flaw I always found in that is that I can’t think of any recorded references to Thor that really predate any mention of Odin as well with previous mentioned Germania being one of the earliest known references and both are in it. Also Odin along with Thor was the most commonly worshiped deity across various Germanic tribes which shouldn’t be the case if he was a later add on

The thing is, the Germanic tribes existed well before a recorded history of them did. They didn't really start leaving Scandinavia until the last quarter of the first millenium BC if I'm not wrong.

Being in a small space geographically and existing well before they enter history gave them more than enough time to innovate religiously before they enter the history books.

Oh I completely agree with that point and understand, the problem I’m bringing up is that there is just no way either written records wise to prove it because like you said the oldest known recording of Germanic religion happens well into their faiths having been established so their origins are a mystery and there is little physical evidence be it idols or cravings of Thor that massive predate any idols or cravings of Odin. So there is little evidence to suggest the theory Thor was originally the creator deity and Odin was a later add on