Citation: Fáfnir

Tags: Dragon

Description:

Fáfnir is a dragon in the Völsung legends, the collection of different stories, versions, and heroic traditions about the Völsung family. These principally revolve around Sigurðr's (or his father Sigmundr, in the version of the story that is retold in Beowulf) slaying of Fáfnir. Because of the widespread popularity and deep cultural significance of the Völsung cycle, Fáfnir is the most well known dragon in Old Norse literature, and was considered by Tolkien to be the only "true" dragon in the corpus (alongside his favored, nameless dragon from the end of Beowulf, on which he based Smaug in The Hobbit). There are, however, many dragons throughout Old Norse literature, but they all fall under Fáfnir's shadow. His story is attested in the Poetic Edda, (Reginsmál (LINK) and Fáfnismál (LINK)), the Prose Edda (Skáldskaparmál (LINK)), in Völsunga saga (LINK), in Norna-Gests þáttr (a þáttr is a prose tale that is either part of a larger cycle or is too short to be called a saga), Þiðreks saga (LINK)(a legendary retelling of the historical Ostrogothic king, Theodoric the Great) and in several poems. As mentioned above, this story is also retold with Sigurðr's father, Sigmundr, as the dragon slayer in the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, which is the oldest literary version of the story, and represents either a different version where Sigmundr kills a dragon, or it is an error made by the scribe of the poem. Although Fáfnir is not named in this version, it is generally considered to be a reference to the same dragon. According to the Norse version of the story (some details change across the sources, but generally this is what happens), Fáfnir was the son of a powerful wizard named Hreiðmarr, and he had two brothers, Reginn and Ótr. Ótr could shapeshift into his namesake, an otter, and enjoyed swimming and fishing in this form. One day, the gods Óðinn (LINK), Loki (LINK), and Hœnir (LINK) were traveling, and Loki saw Ótr resting on a rock in his otter shape, and quickly throws a stone and kills him and skins him, showing his companions his prize. Later, they seek shelter at Hreiðmarr's residence, and the remaining family recognize the otter skin and seize the gods, who in turn offer to pay ransom for the murder. Loki is then sent to get the requisite wergild (LINK), the blood payment, and finds the dwarf Andvari and extorts all of his gold from him. Andvari tries to withhold a single gold ring, but Loki refuses to let him keep anything, and so Andvari lays a curse upon the hoard so that whoever possesses it is doomed to die. Loki returns to Hreiðmarr and the other gods and they fill the otter skin with all the gold and place the gold ring on one whisker, and are freed after the debt is paid. Hreiðmarr either refuses to share the gold with his remaining sons or Fáfnir becomes particularly covetous of his father's treature, and he murders Hreiðmarr and takes all the treasure out to a place called Gnitaheiði. There he lies upon the hoard and transforms into an ormr, a "worm/wyrm," a wingless, serpentine dragon which spews poison. GREED