Odin has only one eye because he sacrificed the other to gain wisdom.
In order for him to have the gift of this kind of knowledge, Odin had to venture to a well, guarded by Mimir, and drink the water from it.
Mimir, in Norse mythology, is the wisest of the gods of the tribe Aesir, whose knowledge of all things was virtually incomparable among the dwellers of the cosmos.
It was said that the water from his well would give one knowledge of the beginnings and origins of things — of humans, of life, of the worlds.
Odin, clothed in a dark blue cloak, went to Mimir's Well. When he arrived, he asked Mimir for a drink from the water.
The well’s guardian, knowing the value of such a drink, declined unless Odin offered an eye in return. Odin extorted one of his eyes and dropped it into the well. Having made the sacrifice that he asked for, Mimir dipped his horn into the well and let the now one-eyed god have a drink.
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