Saga of King Hrolf Kraki Völkerwanderung375-550 Viking age begins793 Settlement of Iceland870-930 Viking Age in Iceland870-1050 Conversion of Iceland1000

Saga of King Hrolf Kraki

• Völkerwanderung 375-550• Viking age begins 793• Settlement of Iceland 870-930• Viking Age in Iceland 870-1050• Conversion of Iceland 1000• Saga Age in Iceland 1170-1350• Hrolfssaga spans this entire period. The legendary king

“lived” during the Völkerwanderung, though his story was not written down until near the end of the Saga age.

Interlaced human figures, 8th century.


• Sagas are a prose literature unique to Iceland, unlike anything else written in the middle ages.

• Sagas are modeled after the Icelandic traditions of storytelling: Formal introductions, little description, lots of action and dialogue.

• Many different kinds of sagas were written.• Hrolfs saga kraka is one of the legendary sagas,

or fornaldar sagas, sometimes called “lying sagas” because of their fantastical nature.


• Hrolfssaga was written in prose around 1400 CE in Iceland, but is based on poetry that is much older. Bjarkamál dates from around 1000.

• The saga represents events said to have taken place in the fifth- or sixth-century Denmark, during the late Völkerwanderung.

• Hrolfssaga has close affinities to the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, written in England sometime before the 10th century CE.

Beowulf

• Beowulf describes the adventures of a great warrior of the sixth century and is the oldest surviving epic in English literature.

• Beowulf exists in only one manuscript. This copy survived both the destruction of religious artifacts during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII and a fire which destroyed the library.

• The poem still bears the scars of the fire. The manuscript is now housed in the British Library, London.

Beowulf

The first page of theBeowulf manuscript.Damage by the fire can beseen in the upper lefthand corner.

Beowulf

• Beowulf and Hrolfssaga descend independently from a tradition of storytelling in England and Scandinavia, and reflect the shared oral traditions of these areas in the early medieval period.

• Both epics recount events that take place in the Danish kingdom of the Skjoldungs (Old English Scyldinga).

• Both epics describe a voyage from Gautland in Sweden to Denmark and the exploits of a great, bear-like hero – Bjarki and Beowulf.

Beowulf

Extremely Simplified Plot of Beowulf:•Hrothgar son of Healfdan rules Denmark from a great hall called Heorot.•A sinister creature called Grendel comes from a nearby fen and attacks Hrothgar’s men while they are sleeping in the hall, killing 30 men, whom he carries off and devours.•Grendel returns in subsequent nights, killing and feasting on Hrothgar’s men; no one can stand against the monstrously strong beast.

Hrothgar the friend of Beowulf and king of Sjælland (Zealand) belonged to the royal house founded by Scyld Scefing. The royal house was known as the Scyldings. Hrothgar was the son of Healfdene and grandson of Beow.

Beowulf

• Beowulf of the Geats in Southern Sweden hears of the monster Grendel and decides to slay the beast for his own glory.

• Beowulf takes a select party of 14 men to Hrothgar’s hall, makes a grand entrance, boasts of previous adventures, makes friends and enemies.

• Since Grendel fights with bare arms, Beowulf declares that he too will fight the demon without a weapon – in bear-like fashion?

Beowulf

• Grendel attacks that night, killing one of Beowulf’s men, but Beowulf seizes him and begins a desperate fight.

• Beowulf manages to tear one of Grendel’s arms from his body, mortally wounding the monster. Grendel flees in agony back to his lair beneath a lake.

• Beowulf has Grendel’s arm to prove his victory, and there is great rejoicing in Heorot.

Beowulf

• A bard (Anglo-Saxon Scop) sings a poem praising Beowulf’s great deed, comparing him to the great Germanic hero Siegemund (Sigmund).

• Sigmund and his adventures are recorded in the Norse Volsungasaga, and were later reworked by Richard Wagner in his Ring-Cycle operas.

• The Sigmund legend was combined in the Volsungasaga and the German Nibelungenlied with material from the Völkerwanderung, Theoderic of Verona and Attila the Hun.

Beowulf

• Beowulf is rewarded with precious treasures for his bravery in slaying Grendel.

• The poem hints that King Hrothgar’s nephew, Hrothulf (Norse Hrolf Kraki) will one day betray his uncle and take his throne (this reference is somewhat controversial).

• While the men sleep, Grendel’s mother, uglier and meaner than her son, makes a surprise appearance, kills one of Hrothgar’s men in vengeance then leaves for her watery lair.

Beowulf

• Beowulf vows to kill Grendel’s mother; he tracks her to a lake and dives in, finding a vaulted chamber beneath the lake.

• He fights with Grendel’s mother, but his weapon is useless; he seizes a sword crafted by a giant and slices off her head.

• Beowulf locates the deceased Grendel and cuts off his head. He returns to the surface with Grendel’s head as a trophy.

• Beowulf has successfully slain both Grendel and mother, and avenged the death of one of his men.

Beowulf

• Back in Heorot there is rejoicing and celebration.

• Beowulf announces his departure and is given more gifts from King Hrothgar and his wife.

• Beowulf returns to Geatland, where, after many of his relatives have died, he is made King of the Geats.

• Beowulf rules Southern Sweden for 50 years as a wise and powerful king.

• His epic ends with the story of his glorious death.

Beowulf

• At the end of Beowulf’s reign, a slave finds a dragon’s hoard in a cave by the sea; he steals a cup while the dragon sleeps – a motif used by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Hobbit (Tolkien was a well-known Beowulf scholar).

• The dragon awakes, smells the man and notices the missing cup, and in a rage he flies over the land breathing fire on towns and villages.

• Dragons usually wingless in Norse legends; original term related flying/fire-breathing beasts to lightning in the sky. Common mythical beast.

Beowulf

• Old Beowulf insists on single combat with the monster, takes a select band of warriors with him to act as “witnesses” of his heroism.

• Beowulf advances against dragon, but his sword is useless and his shield is barely enough to protect him from the dragon’s fire.

• All his men flee, except young Wiglaf, who rushes to Beowulf’s aid. Together they attack.

• Wiglaf plunges his sword through the dragon’s belly and Beowulf draws his dagger and finishes off the beast.

Beowulf

• Sadly, the dragon had pierced Beowulf’s coat of mail with his teeth, biting him in the neck and shoulder. As the dragon’s poison takes effect, Beowulf realizes he is doomed.

• He asks Wiglaf to show him the dragon’s treasure. He bestows a gold collar on the young hero and then expires.

• Wiglaf mourns the dead Beowulf and rebukes the cowardly warriors who had fled earlier.

• Wiglaf throws the dragon in the sea, burns Beowulf on a great pyre and buries the treasure.

Beowulf

Beowulf

Beowulf

Beowulf

Beowulf and The 13th Warrior

• Michael Crichton’s primary addition (in Eaters of the Dead) is combining the character of Ibn Fadlan to a rationalized account of the Beowulf legend.

• Ibn Fadlan was an Arab chronicler sent in 921 CE by the Caliph of Baghdad to the Bulgars of the Middle Volga. His Risala is an account of his journey with the embassy.

• Ibn Fadlan's Risala is our principal source for the history and culture of the tribes who populated Inner Asia at this time.


• Ibn Fadlan’s Risala is of great value as a history, though some inaccuracies and prejudices have slanted his account.

• His description of the Volga Rus (Swedish Vikings who traded in Russia south to the Black Sea) is one of the few outside accounts of these people.

• Although Ibn Fadlan did not join a Viking warrior party, several of the scenes in the movie are taken from his account of the Rus:

The 13th Warrior and Ibn Fadlan

• Tall and strong, blond or red-headed• Weapons include sword, battle-axe and knife• Viking hygiene• Sexual practices (not shown in the film!)• Cremation of a Chieftain• The “angel of death”• Intoxicating beverages• Sacrifice of slave girl with dead chieftain, quote

about being reunited with ancestors.


• The book and film versions “rationalize” the fantasy elements of the epic:

• Grendel is a stone-age tribe with a bear cult.• Grendel’s mother is a sorceress (or the statue of a

fertility goddess served by the sorceress).• The dragon is a “fire-worm” or “glow-worm”

(fire-snake, fire-serpent) composed of a dense cavalry formation carrying torches.

• The lair beneath the lake is a cave fed by an underground stream.


• The film keeps the central plot elements, but rearranges them, placing them into different contexts or different sequences:

• The “monsters” take the heads of the warriors as trophies, cannibalism practiced.

• A seeress directs them to “Grendel’s mother” in a cave, with a connection to the sea.

• The hero is bitten in the shoulder by a serpent, dies of poison – here poisoned by the sorceress, dies after defeating his final enemy.


• The bear connection:• Both Beowulf and Bothvar Bjarki have important

associations with bears – bears as their fetch? • A “berserkr” was a kind of warrior who fought in a

state of frenzy without armor–meaning disputed: “bare-shirt” or “bear-shirt”– the latter more likely.

• A berserkr would adopt the mantle of a bear, a shamanistic ritual in which wearing a bear skin (shirt) imparts the strength and ferocity of a bear.

• Evidence suggests that berserkrs belonged to a warrior cult worshipping Odin. Battle magic.


A few scattered comments about the film:• The landscape has mountains and fjords, not like

Denmark, but Norway or British Columbia.• Court intrigues mentioned in Beowulf are recast

somewhat differently.• One of the warriors cites Havamal in the evening

before the monsters attack.• Odd reversal: that the hero was concerned about having

his story recorded in writing by a foreigner, since he came from a culture with a very well developed tradition of oral narration!

Beowulf and Hrolf Kraki

Hrolf’s Saga Skjöldunga Saga Gesta Danorum BeowulfAðils Adillus Athislus EadgilsBöðvarr Bjarki Bodvarus Biarco Beowulf* Froði Frodo Frotho FrodaHalfdan Halfdanus Haldanus HealfdeneHelgi Helgo Helgo HalgaHroarr Roas Roe HroðgarHrolfr Kraki Rolfo Krake Roluo Krake HroðulfSkjöldr Skioldus Skioldus Sculd

ScefingYrsa Yrsa Vrsa Yrse**probable associations

Hrolfs saga kraka

• Written down in Iceland around 400 years after Beowulf, it contains many of the same elements, which are also known from other sources.

• Icelanders venerated their heathen past more (and more openly) than any other country in Scandinavia; they had a reputation as master poets and story tellers, and were often guests at royal courts in England and Norway.

• Matter-of-fact style of Icelandic sagas is often at odds with the fabulous or mythical subject matter of Hrolfssaga.

Hrolfs saga kraka

• This saga is a collection of smaller tales compiled around the central figure of King Hrolf Kraki in Denmark.

• Like King Arthur or Charlemagne, Hrolf plays a relatively minor role in most of the adventures, compared with the exploits of his warriors and kinsmen.

• The saga contains elements of European romance as well as elements of Norse mythology.

Hrolfs saga kraka

• Transformation of oral poetry and history into written, literary prose.

• One source poem, Bjarkamál, a heroic lay from the mid 10th century, is cited by Snorri in his Edda and by Saxo (translated into Latin) in his Danish History.

• Saint Olaf’s Saga states that King Olaf’s bard recited this poem on the morning of the Battle of Stikelstad in 1030 CE (p. xiv).

• Inspirational power of the poem tapped at a decisive moment in Norwegian history!

Hrolfs saga kraka

• The saga can be divided into 5 separate tales:1. (chapters 1-4) the legendary and divine ancestry

of Hrolf Kraki.2. (chapters 5-13) the adventures of Helgi and

Hroar, Hrolf’s father and uncle; the adventures of his parents.

3. (chapters 14-16) Hrolf’s champion Svipdag4. (chapters 16-24) the tale of Bjorn the Man-Bear5. (chapters 24-34) Hrolf’s own struggles with his

adversary, King Adils of Sweden.

History and Hrolfs saga kraka

• Frodi, Halfdan, Helgi and others preserve the memory of Danish chieftains in the lat Migration Period, 5th to 6th century CE.

• They belonged to the dynasty of the Skjoldungs, which was founded by Skjold (“Shield”) or Scyld Scefing in Beowulf.

• According to the Saga of the Skjoldungs, Skjold was descended from Odinus or Othinus – divine origin such as for the Volsungs in Norway or the Ynglings (Freyr) in Sweden.

• Euhemerism with Odin, or attribution to Dan.

History and Hrolfs saga kraka

• Was there really a center of Danish power at Hleidargard (Hrolfs saga) or at Heorot (Beowulf)?

• Danish historians since the late middle ages associate the village of Lejre on the island of Sjælland with the great hall mentioned in the sagas.

• Archaeologists have found two great halls on the island, one dating to Viking times (850 CE) and one to an earlier period (660 CE).

Hrolfs saga kraka

• A rambling tale of the early Norse world, from Denmark and Sweden to Norway and the far north, where Saami and Finns live.

• Tales of cruelty, vengeance, rape, incest, betrayal and slaughter. Something for everyone.

• Magical spells, witches and sorceresses, visitations by gods, transformations and mythical beings, elves, berserkers and man-beasts.

• A great and noble king, his loyal champions and their glorious exploits, culminating in a great battle between good and evil.

Hrolfs saga kraka 1

• The ancestry of Hrolf Kraki is portrayed in the opening chapters.

• Two brothers, easy-going Halfdan and greedy Frodi, who was jealous and invaded Halfdan’s kingdom in Denmark.

• Frodi burned everything and killed his brother, but his two nephews Helgi and Hroar escaped.

• Brothers were hidden on an island with trusted freeman Vifil, who keeps them underground.

• King Frodi is afraid of vengeance, calls on witches and wizards to locate the boys.

Hrolfs saga kraka 2

• Sorcerers think the boys are on the island; Vilfil feels the magic, tells the boys to hide.

• Frodi’s men search the island twice, but find no sign of the boys.

• Frodi decides to search personally the third time; Vifil warns the boys that calling to his dogs is a warning to hide underground.

• King Frodi is displeased with Vifil, but cannot find the boys and leaves.

Hrolfs saga kraka 3

• Hroar is 12 and Helgi is 10 when they leave the island, calling themselves Ham and Hrani.

• They stay with Jarl Saevil, their father’s friend and in-law, but do not reveal their identity and keep cloaks over their heads; people think them beggars.

• Once while riding unruly horses, their cloaks fall down and Signy, the Jarl’s wife, recognizes her lost brothers.

• They all attend a feast at King Frodi’s hall, where he brings a seeress in to locate the boys.

Hrolfs saga kraka 3

• The seeress, named Heid, practices Seiðr, a shamanistic form of magic, to find the boys (see introduction p. 6f.).

• Signy throws a gold ring to the seeress, who loses her concentration and lies to the king (in order to keep the ring).

• The king threatens Heid, who continues with her trance. She knows where the boys are, but warns them and then flees from the hall herself (7).

• The boys hide in the woods outside the hall, but plot vengeance on Frodi.

Hrolfs saga kraka 3

• Frodi searches briefly, then spends the night drinking, because he believes the boys will be too concerned with flight to threaten him.

• Regin, the boys’ foster-father, gets the men in the hall drunk, then rides to the woods and through a charade encourages the boys to attack the hall – he cannot say anything out loud because he has been forced to swear allegiance to the new king.

• Jarl Saevil and his friends escaped the hall, then the boys set fire to it.

Hrolfs saga kraka 4

• King Frodi has an ominous dream, awakes to find his hall aflame.

• Frodi offers a truce with the boys, saying “it goes against nature’s order that among us kinsmen each man should want to be the killer of the other” (10).

• The boys do not trust him, prevent him escaping, and he and all his men are burned.

• Sigrid, the mother of the boys Helgi and Hroar, chooses not to leave the hall and she dies too.

Hrolfs saga kraka 5,6

• King Helgi rules Denmark, while King Hroar travels to England and marries Ogn.

• First affair: Helgi hears of the warrior queen Olof in Saxland (northern Germany)–beautiful, yet arrogant–and determines to marry her.

• Helgi invades the country and “invites” Queen Olof to provide him a feast; she cannot refuse.

• At the feast, Helgi makes a quick marriage proposal (12f.). That night, things do not go as planned. Helgi leaves in disgrace.

Hrolfs saga kraka 7

• Helgi is outraged at his humiliation by Queen Olof and is determined to get vengeance.

• He arrives secretly in Saxland with a large force, hides a treasure in the woods.

• He pretends to be a beggar who has found the treasure, promises to deliver it to the greedy queen if she will come get it secretly.

• The queen arrives alone and is captured by Helgi who now has no intention of marrying. He keeps her on his ship for many nights… and then lets her return home.

Hrolfs saga kraka 7

• Queen Olof gives birth to a daughter, Yrsa, whom she treats with neglect. The pretty girl is sent to herd animals when she is 12, and is not told of her true parentage because Queen Olof wants to hide her shame.

• Second Affair: Helgi returns to Saxland out of curiosity when Yrsa is 13, is struck by the beauty of the young shepherdess, captures her, takes her home, and marries her!

• Queen Olof savors this odd turn of events, since it will shame Helgi.

Hrolfs saga kraka 7,8

• Meanwhile, Helgi’s brother Hroar appears, asks for a ring of their father’s, and departs with it on friendly terms.

• Jarl Saevil dies and his evil son Hrok assumes control of his lands. Hrok goes to Helgi and demands the ring.

• Hrok goes to Hroar, who will not part with the ring, but lets Hrok take a look at it. Hrok throws the ring into the sea. Enmity ensues.

• Hrok invades Hroar’s lands, attacks and kills him.

Hrolfs saga kraka 8

• Evil Hrok wants to marry Ogn, Hroar’s wife in England. Legitimation of rule.

• She manages to stall the wedding, because she is pregnant with dead Hroar’s child – she sends word to King Helgi that she is being forced to marry Hrok but will not do so because of her pregnancy.

• Helgi plots to avenge his dead brother Hroar.• Hrok suspects nothing.

Hrolfs saga kraka 9

• Helgi defeats Hrok, but instead of killing him, he breaks his legs and arms and leaves him utterly ruined.

• Queen Ogn gives birth to Hroar’s child, Agnar, who becomes a great warrior. He dives into the fjord where evil Hrok threw his father’s ring and pulls it up from the bottom. Recovers legacy.

• Meanwhile, King Helgi continues his incestuous relationship with his daughter Yrsa and has a son with her named Hrolf.

Hrolfs saga kraka 10-11

• Warrior Queen Olof is displeased to hear that Yrsa and Helgi are happy together; she travels to Yrsa and tells her the truth about her parentage (20).

• Yrsa cannot live with the shame and leaves Helgi, who mourns the loss of his wife/daughter.

• King Adils of Sweden asks for Yrsa’s hand in marriage. She is not eager, but he carries her off and marries her.

• King Helgi hears about the wedding and mopes.

Hrolfs saga kraka 11

• Third Affair: King Helgi is visited at Yuletide by a girl in rags who asks to sleep near his bed – he is repelled by her appearance but thinks it is his duty to offer hospitality.

• Filthy elf-girl is released from spell by his generosity; she wants to leave but he wants her. They sleep together that night (22).

• The elf-girl later brings their daughter back to the king, she is named Skuld (guilt or debt). She shows a vicious temperament.


• King Helgi brings an army to visit his daughter/ex-wife Yrsa now married to King Adils, who invites him to a feast.

• King Adils has berserkers ambush King Helgi after the feast – he fights valiantly but is slain. “Here ends the tale of King Helgi” (24).

• Ambush of in-laws a common motif in Germanic heroic epics.

• King Adils becomes boastful and arrogant after his victory, but Yrsa plots vengeance.


• A young hero, Svipdag, decides to leave his dismal home in the mountains and make a name for himself. Wisdom and advice (25f.).

• Svipdag arrives in King Adils’s hall, challenges the resident berserkrs, killing 4 of them.

• Queen Yrsa is thrilled.• After another defeat, the king is so disappointed

in his berserkrs that he outlaws them (28).• The berserkrs raid the king’s territory; Svipdag is

sent to kill them. He wins the first battle, but they gather more forces for a second battle.


• Svipdag is outnumbered, but his brothers come to his aid and they defeat the berserkrs.

• Svipdag is insulted that King Adils did not support him in the battle and he decides to serve a more worthy monarch (30).

• Svipdag’s father advises him and his brothers to join King Hrolf in Denmark (31).

• King Hrolf accepts Svipdag and his brothers.• King Hrolf intends to get his inheritance from his

mother, Queen Yrsa in Sweden.


• Widowed King Hring of Norway wants a wife, so he sends his men to the far north, where they find a beautiful Lapp (Saami) woman (Hvit=White) in hiding (34f.).

• They propose marriage to King Hring; she agrees.• Hvit becomes overbearing, rules the land while her

aged husband is absent. • Hvit lusts after young Bjorn (who loves a farmer’s

daughter Bera). Bjorn scorns Hvit’s advances, and she curses him to live as a bear (36f.)!


• Bjorn is transformed into a bear, begins killing the king’s cattle.

• Bera recognizes Bjorn in the bear’s eyes, follows him to a cave where he assumes his human shape at night.

• Hvit urges the king to hunt and kill the bear.• Bjorn knows he will die, tells Bera that she is

pregnant, that she should get his treasure, but that she should not eat any of the bear meat! (38).

• Queen Hvit forces Bera to eat the bear meat. A difficult pregnancy is followed by odd triplets:


1. Elk-Frodi, half man and half elk (moose–40).2. Thorir Hound’s Foot (with the feet of a dog).3. Bodvar, without blemish, loved most by Bera.• Eating the (bestial) flesh of her husband caused

some sort of mutation in the developing boys.• Elk-Frodi is unhappy at court, Bera takes him to

his father’s cave, where he gets his inheritance, a seax. He becomes a bandit (40f.).

• Thorir gets his inheritance, a battle-axe. He visits Frodi, but leaves to be king of the Gauts.


• Bodvar, the third brother, asks his mother Bera about his father – she tells him the truth and he plots vengeance against Hvit the witch.

• Bodvar bursts into Hvit’s chamber, covers her head in a leather bag (so she cannot cast spells), beats her and drags her until dead (44).

• Bodvar becomes king, but is dissatisfied, marries off his mother to a Yarl, and leaves for new adventures.

• He takes his inheritance, a magic sword.


• Bodvar visits Elk-Frodi, and the two wrestle before Frodi recognizes his brother.

• Bodvar does not wish to stay in the mountains as a robber-baron, so Frodi advises him to serve with King Hrolf’s champions.

• Frodi makes Bodvar drink some blood from his own body – it makes Bodvar incredibly strong and courageous (46).

• Frodi stamps his foot into stone, tells Bodvar the mark will reveal his death – earth for sickness, water for drowning, blood for battle (46).


• Bodvar visits Thorir-Hound’s Foot, but is mistaken for his brother and put to bed with the queen! They behave honorably. Brother Thorir arrives and has misgivings, but says nothing.

• Bodvar continues to Hrolf’s hall at Hleidargard, spends a night with parents of the miserable Hott, who is a mealtime bone target (47f.).

• Bodvar pulls Hott from his bone pile, washes him, seats him at the bench. A Viking food fight ensues. Bones fly, killing one of the king’s men.


• Bodvar becomes Hrolf’s man, but insists Hott be seated in an honorable place on the bench.

• Hott tells Bodvar of a beast that arrives every Yuletide and causes much damage. Weapons are useless against the “greatest of trolls” (50).

• Bodvar takes the cowardly Hott to fight the beast, and kills it with his magic sword (51).

• Bodvar insists that Hott drink the beast’s blood and eat its heart – after that they fight for some time, and it is clear Hott has gained strength and courage from the beast.


• Bodvar and Hott prop up the beast to make it appear alive.

• The next morning, Bodvar volunteers the “cowardly” Hott for the task of “killing” the beast.

• Hott so impresses the king that he gives him a new name, Hjalti, named after the king’s own sword, Golden Hilt (52).

• “And so ends this tale of Bodvar and his brothers.”


• Bodvar confronts the berserkrs much as Svipdag had done earlier (ch. 15), but with greater confidence, challenging all of them (54).

• King Hrolf reconciles the two groups.• Hjalti earns the title of “the Magnanimous”

because he refuses to taunt or kill those who previously threw bones at him.

• Bodvar is the greatest of all the heroes, marries Hrolfs daughter Drifa.


• Final chapters (24-34) focus on Hrolf’s conflict with brother-in-law/step-father King Adils of Sweden and his illegitimate elf-daughter Skuld.

• Bodvar reminds King Hrolf that only one thing diminishes his honor – the fact that Adils has withheld his father’s inheritance (55).

• Hrolf fears the black magic of Adils, but agrees to the undertaking.

• Their company comes to a farmstead owned by Hrani, where they spend the night. Hrani is one the names often assumed by Odin.


• Hrani tests the company three nights in a row:• first with cold (57)• then with thirst (57)• finally with fire and heat (57)

• Each time Hrani suggests that they send home the warriors who cannot tolerate the tests placed before them. King Hrolf is left with only his 12 greatest champions.

• The “chivalrous knights” make a grand entrance in Sweden – obvious insertion from continental tradition of medieval romance.


• King Adils, upset at their arrogance, humiliates his guests by mutilating their horses (58).

• Svipdag, who briefly served Adils, enters first, careful to protect the identity of King Hrolf.

• Svipdag asks for safe-conduct for the warriors with him, and King Adils “agrees.”

• The reception was a trap – armed men emerge from behind tapestries and attack Hrolf’s men.

• Hrolf’s champions cut down Adils’s men “like dogs” and Adils calls an end to the fight (60).


• Parallels to Volsungasaga – treacherous reception of visiting in-laws, battle in a hall. Queen between the two parties, opposing one.

• King Adils builds a huge fire in the hall to find out which one is weakest, probably King Hrolf.

• Hrolf endures the heat with his men, does not let himself be recognized.

• Svipdag, Bodvar and Hjalti begin tossing Adils’s servants into the fire (61f.).

• Adils is afraid, uses sorcery to escape the hall.


• Queen Yrsa belittles her husband and his conduct. Sends a servant, Vogg, to serve Hrolf.

• Vogg gives Hrolf the nickname Kraki (bean stalk) and in return is given a golden arm-ring – Vogg swears to avenge Hrolf (if necessary) out of gratitude for the gift.

• Vogg warns the champions that Adils is a pagan sorcerer who is summoning a troll-boar to attack Hrolf and his men (63).

• The boar attacks, but Hrolf’s hound Gram bites off its ears and it flees. Boar a symbol of Freyr.


• Adils realizes he cannot defeat Hrolf’s champions in open warfare, so he sets fire to his own hall with them trapped inside.

• Hrolf and his men break through the walls and kill many before Adils’s men beg for mercy.

• Hrolf’s hawk returns, having killed Adils’s hawks.• Hjalti discovers that their horses are mutilated.• Queen Yrsa gives her son Hrolf his inheritance and

much of King Adils’s gold. They take Adils’s horses and arms, and depart.


• King Hrolf and his champions race out of Sweden, barely ahead of hordes of soldiers.

• The king scatters gold over the road behind him; the Swedes stop to fight each other for the gold and thus let the Danes escape.

• Hrolf taunts King Adils: “I have made the greatest of the Swedes stoop like a swine” (67).

• “Kraki’s seed”–a kenning for gold. Hrolf sowed the gold like seed on the ground. One must know the legend of Hrolf Kraki to grasp the kenning.


• Adils attacks Hrolf one last time, but has both his buttocks sliced off down to the bone; he will have to endure the shame (68f.).

• Hrolf and his champions arrive back at Hrani’s (Odin’s) farm: Hrani offers the king weapons, but the king refuses, causing offense.

• They leave, but realize the danger in offending Odin; they return, but the farmstead has vanished.

• Hrolf says: “Fate rules each man’s life and not that foul spirit” (69). Negative opinion of Odin on the part of the scribe of the saga!


• Odin will no longer grant King Hrolf victory.• Hrolf and his champions live in peace and glory for

a time after their adventure in Sweden.• Then Queen Skuld (illegitimate, half-elf daughter of

King Helgi) plots to avoid paying tribute to Hrolf.• Skuld upbraids her husband for cowardace and

goads him into action against the king – typical plot device in Icelandic sagas.

• Queen Skuld and her husband King Hjorvard secretly raise an army to battle King Hrolf.


• Hrolf and his men are busy celebrating Yule and do not see the enemy approaching outside.

• Interjections about the “non-pagan” beliefs of Hrolf and his champions (71).

• Hjalti (busy with his mistress) overlooks the enemy – he later bites off her nose (for distracting him or for infidelity? See p. 71f.)

• Hjalti the Magnanimous rouses the King and the troops with a magnificent speech (list on p. 72).

• Hrolf offers his final speech (73).


• The Great Battle begins; Hrolf and his Champions slaughter the enemy mightily.

• Bodvar Bjarki is absent, though a great bear fights with unnatural savagery and strength (74).

• Hjalti finds Bodvar asleep in Hrolf’s chamber–Hjalti rouses him from his trance, thereby undoing the shamanistic magic (75). The savage bear disappears from the battle.

• Queen Skuld now works her own magic, sending a hideous boar against Hrolf’s forces; worse yet, she animates fallen corpses to continue the fight (76).


• Sensing that Skuld’s magic is too much to overcome, Bodvar and Hjalti pledge to die honorably and be reunited in Valhall (76f.).

• Bodvar concludes his speech by denouncing Odin and wishing he could find “the unfaithful son of the evil one” and squeeze the life from “that vile, poisonous creature” (77)!

• Hrolf falls, the editor claims, because he had no knowledge of Christ to counter the vile magic that Skuld brought to bear in the battle (78).


• King Hrolf and the Champions perish in the Great Battle–compare to King Arthur’s battle with his fiendish relative Mordred).

• As foretold, Elk-Frodi sees his brother Bodvar’s death in the footprint he had made; he attacks Skuld with an army composed of his men and those of Queen Yrsa, led by Vogg.

• They counter Skuld’s witchcraft and torture and kill her as a punishment for her crimes.

• They build a mound for Hrolf Kraki and bury his famous sword Skofnung with him. Landnamabok xvii!

Documents

Saga of King Hrolf Kraki Völkerwanderung375-550 Viking age begins793 Settlement of Iceland870-930 Viking Age in Iceland870-1050 Conversion of Iceland1000