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What ended the war between the Aesir and the Vanir?

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Germanic religion and mythology Battle scenes and ships depicted on a memorial stone from Gotland, Sweden, late 8th century. In the third panel from the top, a warrior is being hanged in a tree as a sacrifice to Odin, whose cult is represented by an eagle and a twisted knot.

The war between the Aesir and the Vanir concluded when both sides realized that neither could achieve a decisive victory, leading them to negotiate a peace agreement.1

To formalize this truce, the two tribes exchanged hostages. The Vanir sent the gods Njörd and Freyr to live among the Aesir, while the Aesir sent Hoenir and Mimir to the Vanir in return. This exchange allowed the fertility-focused Vanir gods to be integrated into the Aesir hierarchy. Additionally, the peace was sealed through a ritual in which the gods of both tribes mingled their saliva in a vessel, an act that resulted in the birth of the poet-god Kvasir.12