Salutations. I come before you because like many fans of fantasy, dwarves are... Nordic and follow Nordic gods, for whatever reason. Made me think, however, I've never really thought about the differences between say, Paladins of Odin, Heimdall, and Tyr (NG, LG, and LN). Any thoughts from the board? What sort of Paladin Codes would the three have?
Odin is a peculiar deity because of how many things he seems to represent simultaneously, but from a warrior standpoint maybe the best concept is 'divine rapture'. He's patron of Berserkergang (going berserk), but it's not blind rage. In a way, it's a sort of 'going mad with insight of the inconceivable divine', which has lost meaning to our world.
Heimdall is untiring, unmoving vigilance. It sounds kind of simple, but again, most modern people don't really understand how profound the idea is because it's just not a part of our world anymore. The idea of the monk is as fitting as the warrior, since only the devotion and asceticism of the monk can really represent that kind of commitment.
Tyr is War in its most primal form. Note that Tyr *isn't* the patron of Berserkergang. Berserkers were though of as invulnerable and mystical, while the usual face of war was chaotic, unreasoning, vulnerable to death and often seemingly senseless. It's surprisingly similar to Ares and Athena in Greek mythology, where Ares is a powerful, violent brute and Athena is a wise and skilled war-chief. Of course, that's partly because Athens had better propagandists; maybe the same can be said for Tyr.
Really though, Odin is just unique. In myth, Odin supposedly hung himself from the world-tree as a sacrifice *to himself* for greater knowledge, and claimed that after hanging 'dead' for like a week in screaming agony he grasped magical knowledge and pulled himself back to reality carrying it with him. He also sacrificed an eye into the well of Fate to try to see the future. The guy was goal-oriented.