my 2 cents, as someone who has dealt w/ the Aesir & Vanir for several years:
Willem, I think you’re spot on to point out the progression. Both the Aesir & Vanir have changed; they’ve changed since the Viking Age to now, and I see no reason to think that they hadn’t changed prior. Obviously, this can make it a little difficult to make broad sweeping statements about them.
I’ve never understand why a duality of Order vs Chaos has been drawn over the Aesir/Jotun relationship either. In my experience, no such relationship exists*.
As for the entire concept of “god(dess) of _____”, i’m no anthropologist, obviously, but I suspect that’s a very recent view spread from too many poorly designed & written role-playing games
Again, based on my experience, neither the Aesir nor the Vanir work like that. They have their own personalities and “feel”, which at times can lead to a superficial resemblance to “god(dess) of ____”, but that resemblance doesn’t go very deep.
However, I don’t see how I could dispute that Norse paganism, at least in the Viking Age, was a farmer’s religion. Even in the sense that it was also a king’s religion and a warrior’s religion and a trader’s religion, all of that ultimately and increasingly rested upon agriculture.
Myself, I find it more useful to ask, what can I learn from these relationships and beings? Granted, the Aesir & Vanir may want to teach me different lessons than the ones I actually learn from them, but… I’m fine with that. ;D
*Just to clarify, I very much see the trends of hierarchy in Norse paganism, however, I don’t necessarily see hierarchy as “Order”, neither do I necessarily see anarchy as “Chaos”.