Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes, page 19
Fýrisvellir, a valley, or town within that valley, in the vicinity of Uppsala. As King Hrólf and his champions ride out of Uppsala in chapter 45, King Hrólf strews his path through the valley with gold to slow down the pursuing Swedes. [45]
Galterus, a “teacher” alluded to by the narrator in chapter 52 when he castigates King Hrólf and his men for failing to know about the Christian God. As this is a Latinized form of the name Walter, the specific medieval Christian writer alluded to is uncertain. [52]
{151} Götaland (Gautland), a region of modern Sweden that was once politically distinct from Sweden proper; in Old English its people were called “Geats” (Bēowulf, famously, was a Geat). Götaland is the Swedish spelling that can be found on modern maps. [29]
Gram (Gramr), the dog of King Hrólf. [43]
Gullinhjalti, a sword of King Hrólf’s that he gives to Hjalti, and the source of Hjalti’s name (Hjalti means “hilt”; Gullinhjalti, “golden hilt”). [36]
Hábrók, the hawk of King Hrólf. He kills the hawks of Ađils during the battle in chapter 44. [40]
Haki the Brave (Haki inn frǿkni), one of King Hrólf’s champions, named only during Hrólf’s final fight. Possibly to be identified with an equally obscure Haki named as a champion in chapter 25 of The Saga of the Volsungs. [49]
Haklang (Haklangr), one of King Hrólf’s champions, named only during Hrólf’s final fight. [49]
Hálfdan, an early Danish king, brother of Fróđi (in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, though never in the saga, their father is identified as Friđleif). He is the father of Hróar, Helgi, and Signý. He is killed in an invasion by his brother Fróđi. [1]
Ham (Hamr), false name assumed by Helgi when he and his brother seek protection from Sævil. [3]
Harđrefil (Harðrefill), one of King Hrólf’s champions, named only during Hrólf’s final fight. [49]
Heiđ (Heiðr), a seeress or witch (Old Norse vǫlva) who attends a feast hosted by Fróđi for Sævil. She hints that Hróar and Helgi are still alive. [3]
Hel, the underworld to which most people are committed for the afterlife. According to the classic understanding of Norse mythology, men who die in battle go to Valhalla instead, but in fact the Norse conception of the afterlife seems to have been very vague. Especially in archaic poems, Hel may also mean simply “the grave.” [5]
Helgi, son of Hálfdan. After his father’s murder by Fróđi, he escapes to Vífil’s island with his brother Hróar and later to the home of his brother-in-law Sævil, eventually burning his uncle Fróđi’s hall down during a feast. As an adult he becomes king of Denmark, rapes Queen Ólof of Saxony after she refuses to marry him, producing his daughter Yrsa, and he has a son, Hrólf, with Yrsa before he knows she is his daughter. After Yrsa leaves him {152} and marries King Ađils of Sweden, Helgi visits her there and is killed in an ambush by Ađils’s men. [4]
Hjalti, name assumed by Hott after he drinks a monster’s blood and becomes a champion of King Hrólf’s. The name, which means “hilt,” is based on the name of the sword King Hrólf gives him, Gullinhjalti (“golden hilt”). He is nicknamed “Hjalti the Righteous” (Hjalti inn hugprúði) by King Hrólf because as a hero of his court he does not avenge the harms done to him as a child by the senior warriors there. [36]
Hjorvarđ (Hjǫrvarðr), a king married to King Hrólf’s half-sister Skuld. Hrólf treats him as a subordinate ruler, which frustrates him into rebellion. [23]
Hó, one of Vífil’s dogs. Hróar and Helgi take the dogs’ names when they are hiding from Fróđi on Vífil’s island. [1]
Hopp (Hoppr), one of Vífil’s dogs. Hróar and Helgi take the dogs’ names when they are hiding from Fróđi on Vífil’s island. [1]
Hott (Hǫttr), original name of Hjalti before Bođvar makes him drink a monster’s blood and he becomes more courageous. [33]
Hrani (1), false name assumed by Hróar when he and his brother seek protection from Sævil. [3]
Hrani (2), false name assumed by Óđin when he hosts King Hrólf and his army three times on their expedition to Uppsala. [39]
Hring (Hringr), the king of Uppdalir. [24]
Hróar (Hróarr), son of Hálfdan. After his father’s murder by Fróđi, he escapes to Vífil’s island with his brother Helgi and later to the home of his brother-in-law Sævil, eventually burning Fróđi’s hall down during a feast. He later becomes King of Northumberland in England. [1]
Hrók (Hrókr), son of Sævil. He kills Hróar after Hróar cuts his feet off for throwing a ring into the ocean. [6]
Hrólf (Hrólfr), son of King Helgi and his daughter Yrsa. He becomes King of Denmark after the death of his father Helgi. [12]
Hrólf Fast-hand (Hrólfr skjóthendi), one of King Hrólf’s champions, named only during Hrólf’s final fight. [49]
Hrómund the Hard (Hrómundr harði), one of King Hrólf’s champions, named only during Hrólf’s final fight. [49]
Hvít, daughter of Ingibjorg and the unnamed king of the Sámi. She marries Hring and unsuccessfully tries to seduce his son Bjorn before cursing him to turn into a bear. [24]
{153} Hvítserk the Bold (Hvítserkr inn hvati), oldest son of Svip (and brother of Svipdag). He assists his brother Svipdag in the battle in which Svipdag is maimed fighting for King Ađils of Sweden, and then follows Svipdag when he joins the champions of King Hrólf of Denmark. [18]
Ingibjorg (Ingibjǫrg), mother of Hvít. [24]
Jarl, Norse title for a powerful nobleman. [1]
Lejre (Hleiðargarðr), capital of King Hrólf of Denmark. Lejre is the site’s name in Modern Danish. [23]
Lund (Lundr), a city that lies today in extreme southern Sweden, but historically was a major city and sometime capital of the Kingdom of Denmark (in pre-modern times when that kingdom extended into the Scandinavian peninsula and claimed the southernmost part of what is now Sweden). [3]
Moose-Fróđi (Elg-Fróði), oldest of the three sons of Bjorn and Bera (curiously, Bjorn foretells in ch. 26 that Elg-Fróđi will be their second-born). His top half is that of a man, but he is a moose from the navel down. In his adulthood he becomes a fearsome road agent, but remains loyal to his brothers. It is unclear if he is to be pictured as centaur-like (with a moose-like figure and four moose-legs) or satyr-like (with a humanoid figure, but with two legs that resemble a moose’s). The first element in his name in Old Norse, elg-, is related to the English word “elk,” but this means “moose” in Scandinavia (as well as in British English). [26]
Naming-gift (nafnfestr), a gift given along with a name. It was traditional in Norse society for a father to give a newborn a gift when he named it, and in the sagas men also often demand a gift from someone who gives them a nickname, perhaps with tongue in cheek. [42]
Norđri (Norðri), king “over a certain part of England” (later identified as Northumberland) and father of Ogn. [6]
Norn, one of the female beings who determine the fate of gods and mortals. [48]
Northlands, translation used in this volume for Old Norse Norðrlǫnd (literally, “Northlands”; translated as “Scandinavia” in The Saga of the Volsungs with the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok). [7]
Norway (Noregr), roughly coterminous with the modern country, but it is a region of small independent chiefdoms, rather than a unified nation, in the early Middle Ages. [24]
{154} Ogn (Ǫgn), daughter of Norđri and wife of Hróar. [6]
Óđin (Óðinn), a god associated with poetry and war. He is often portrayed as a shrewd figure pursuing his own selfish interests, including the dispatching of human warriors so that they may join his army in Valhalla (the “hall of the slain” where his Valkyries bring dead warriors). Óđin is very frequently seen in disguise and takes many names, but even in disguise he is usually recognizable to the reader as an old man with one eye, often dressed in a gray or blue cloak and a wide-brimmed hat. [46]
Ólof (Ólǫf), warlike queen of Saxony. She is raped by Helgi after she refuses to marry him, and their daughter is Yrsa. [7]
Regin (Reginn), foster-father of Helgi and Hróar who helps them escape from King Fróđi after the death of their father, Hálfdan. He later helps them escape from Fróđi’s hall during the feast for Sævil in which the seeress Heiđ hints that they are alive. [1]
Sævil (Sævill), a jarl, and husband of Signý. [1]
Sámi (Finnar), indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, unrelated by customs or language to the Norse-speaking (or later Norwegian- and Swedish-speaking) peoples. In Old Norse literature they are often portrayed as masters of magic. [24]
Saxony (Saxland), a region and former independent kingdom in Germany, corresponding to the northern rather than eastern region with that name today. [7]
Seiðhjallr, “scaffold” for seiðr (dark magic), a tool used by a vǫlva or sorceress here and in other sagas. [3]
Seiðr, Old Norse term for a type of magic, always regarded as evil when practiced by men, and often when practiced by women. Seiðr magic seems especially concerned with seeing the future and with causing indirect harm to others. [51]
Signý, daughter of Hálfdan, and wife of Sævil. [1]
Sigríđ (Sigríðr), the mother of Helgi and Hróar and by implication Hálfdan’s wife, though she is only mentioned by name when she burns to death along with Fróđi. [5]
Skjoldungs (Skjǫldungar), the legendary dynasty of Danish kings to which Hálfdan, Helgi, Hrólf, etc. belong. They are named for Skjold, the grandfather of Hálfdan and Fróđi (who is nowhere named in the saga, but whose name is known from e.g., Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda). [3]
{155} Skofnung (Skǫfnungr), the sword of King Hrólf. [45]
Skuld, a witch, daughter of King Helgi and an unnamed “elf-woman.” She marries Hjorvarđ and encourages his rebellion against her brother, King Hrólf. [15]
Skúr, daughter of King Hrólf of Denmark. She is mentioned alongside Drífa when they are both introduced in ch. 22, but Skúr is never mentioned again, and in ch. 37 Drífa is called “the king’s only daughter.” [22]
Sleep-thorn (svefnþorn), a never-described magical item that seems to be, quite simply, some kind of thorn that causes sleep when it pricks a person. A “sleep-thorn” is mentioned in the Volsungs legends as well, as when Óđin stings his Valkyrie Brynhild with one before imprisoning her in her burning ring of fire. [7]
Starólf (Starólfr), one of King Hrólf’s champions, named only during Hrólf’s final fight. [49]
Svíagrís (Svíagríss), a ring especially prized by King Ađils, later given by his wife Yrsa to her son King Hrólf. [44]
Svip (Svipr), a Swedish farmer. [18]
Svipdag (Svipdagr), a son of Svip. After killing four of the berserkers of King Ađils, he takes their place as an elite war leader at Ađils’s court but quits this position when Ađils fails to come to his aid in a great battle where he is severely maimed. He later goes into the service of King Hrólf. [18]
The Tale of Moose-Fróđi (Elg-Fróða þáttr), apparently a “sequel” of sorts in which the story of Moose-Fróđi taking vengeance for his brother Bođvar was told. The story is lost. [52]
Thórir Dog-foot (Þórir hundsfótr), second of the three sons of Bjorn and Bera (curiously, Bjorn foretells in ch. 26 that Thórir will be their first-born). He has a generally human figure but his feet look like those of a dog. In his adulthood he becomes king of Götaland. [26]
Troll (Old Norse troll or trǫll), vague term for a threatening humanoid being, sometimes simply a human with magical powers, an ugly appearance, or an evil disposition, but more often a threatening non-human monster. [35]
Uppdalir, historical (mythical?) region of uncertain location in Norway. [24]
Uppsala (Uppsalir), medieval capital of Sweden. [14]
Valhalla (Valhǫll), hall of Óđin, where men who die in battle are said to reside. [51]
{156} Valsleit (Valsleitr), a jarl in Uppdalir who marries Bera after her sons are grown. [30]
Var (Varr), the name of both of the skilled craftsmen who work for Fróđi. [5]
Vífil (Vífill), a friend of Hálfdan who lives on his own small island where he hides Hálfdan’s sons Helgi and Hróar after Hálfdan’s death. [1]
Vogg (Vǫggr), a low-ranking servant of Queen Yrsa who inadvertently gives King Hrólf his nickname (kraki or “pole-ladder” from the shape of his face), and then pledges to avenge the king in exchange for his gift of a golden ring. [42]
Volund (Vǫlundr), identified as an elf, a mythical smith of great talent. Fróđi’s great craftsmen are compared to him in talent. [5]
Volva (vǫlva), “seeress” or “witch,” the practitioner of seiðr magic. [3]
Vott (Vǫttr), one of King Hrólf’s champions, named only during Hrólf’s final fight. [49]
Yrsa, daughter of Helgi and Ólof. She is despised by her mother because of her origin (she is the result of Helgi’s raping of Ólof), and thus grows up among poor farmers and is assigned to do menial tasks such as sheepherding. However, Helgi falls in love with her (not realizing she is his daughter) and marries her. [9]
Yule, translation used in this volume for Old Norse jól, a holiday held at approximately the winter solstice. [15]
Jackson Crawford, Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes
