Hrolf Kraki's Saga
Encyclopedia
Hrolf Kraki's Saga is a fantasy
novel
by Poul Anderson
. It was first published by Ballantine Books
as the sixty-second volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
in October, 1973, and has been reprinted a number of times since. The novel was nominated for the British Fantasy Award in 1973.
The novel is a retelling of the story of the legendary 6th century Danish
king Hrolf Kraki, pulling together and reconciling narrative strands from such diverse traditional sources as the Danish historical chronicle Chronicon Lethrense
, Saxo Grammaticus
's Gesta Danorum
, Icelandic sagas Hrólfs saga kraka
, the Skjöldunga saga
and the Ynglinga saga
, Norse mythological poems Skáldskaparmál
and Gróttasöngr
, and Anglo-Saxon poems Beowulf
and Widsith
.
The Danish king Halfdan is murdered and his position usurped by his brother Frodhi. Halfdan's young sons Helgi
and Hroar
go into hiding to escape his fate, successfully eluding Frodhi until they reach adulthood and can take vengeance on their father's killer. On attaining the kingship themselves they rule together. Helgi, a warrior and sea-rover, visits the equally warlike queen of the Saxons, whom he woos overbearingly. Sent packing, he later returns and rapes her, a union resulting in a daughter, Yrsa, who years later becomes an instrument of vengeance when Helgi encounters and marries her. Only after they are wed does her mother reveal Yrsa's parentage. Haunted, Yrsa leaves Denmark to wed Adhils
, King of the Swedes, and Helgi is ultimately killed in battle attempting to win her back.
Hrolf, the son of Helgi and Yrsa, is raised in the household of Hroar, becoming his adherent and supporter. After Hroar's death Hrolf eventually becomes his successor. He builds up the realm and assembles a band of famous warriors, most notably Hjalti and Bodvar Bjarki
, a were-bear and one of a trio remarkable brothers, the others being Elk-Frodhi and Thorir Houndsfoot. The story goes on to relate the personal tales of these champions.
After a reign notable for prosperity at home and successful war abroad, Hrolf visits the court of Adhils to see his mother and attain recompense for his father's death. Feigning hospitality, Adhils does his best to destroy his unwanted visitors through rigged tests of their prowess, while Yrsa warns Hrolf of his treachery. At length the animosity is brought into the open and the Danes fight their way out of Adhil's stronghold, taking his treasure with them. Pursued by the Swedes, they scatter the treasure along the ground to delay them and successfully escape. This "sowing" of the field of Fyrisvellir
later becomes a famous incident in Norse legend. But during this adventure Hrolf has managed to offend the treacherous god Odin
, giver of victory. He returns to Denmark knowing he must henceforth avoid war, as his luck in battle has left him.
The end comes through treachery from Hrolf's half-elven
half-sister Skuld
, a witch married to Hjorvard
, one of his sub-kings. Inciting her husband to revolt, they secretly raise an army and rise suddenly, besieging Hrolf in his hall. Hrolf's champions are roused from sleep and rallied by the chanting the Bjarkamál
, a famous Old Norse poem whose origins supposedly lie in this event; it has been largely lost, but Anderson presents a partial reconstruction as part of his story. Hrolf's warriors fight valiantly, but the witchcraft of Skuld prevails, and after a long, terrible battle the defenders fall.
Hjorvard does not last long as king, being killed by Vogg
, a weakling Hrolf had befriended who in consequence had sworn to avenge him. Skuld herself is soon overthrown by an army led by Elk-Frodhi and Thorir Houndsfoot, come to avenge their brother Bodvar Bjarki. The realm goes to pieces, to be eventually pulled back together in part by a remote kinsman of Hrolf's.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
. It was first published by Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...
as the sixty-second volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of Ballantine Books. Launched in 1969 , the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature, which were out of print or dispersed in back issues of pulp magazines , in cheap paperback form—including works...
in October, 1973, and has been reprinted a number of times since. The novel was nominated for the British Fantasy Award in 1973.
The novel is a retelling of the story of the legendary 6th century Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
king Hrolf Kraki, pulling together and reconciling narrative strands from such diverse traditional sources as the Danish historical chronicle Chronicon Lethrense
Chronicon Lethrense
Chronicon Lethrense is a small Danish medieval work from the 12th century, written in Latin.-Themes:...
, Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...
's Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...
, Icelandic sagas Hrólfs saga kraka
Hrólfs saga kraka
Hrólfs saga kraka, the Saga of King Hrolf kraki, is a late legendary saga on the adventures of Hrólfr Kraki and his clan, the Skjöldungs. The events can be dated to the late 5th century and the 6th century. It is believed to have been written in the period c. 1230 - c. 1450...
, the Skjöldunga saga
Skjöldunga saga
The Skjöldunga saga was a Norse saga on the legendary Danish dynasty of the Skjöldungs, the same dynasty featured in the Old English poem Beowulf...
and the Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
, Norse mythological poems Skáldskaparmál
Skáldskaparmál
The second part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Skáldskaparmál or "language of poetry" is effectively a dialogue between the Norse god of the sea, Ægir and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both Norse mythology and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined...
and Gróttasöngr
Grottasöngr
Grottasöngr or the Song of Grótti is an Old Norse poem, sometimes counted among the poems of the Poetic Edda as it appears in manuscripts that are later than the Codex Regius...
, and Anglo-Saxon poems Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
and Widsith
Widsith
Widsith is an Old English poem of 144 lines that appears to date from the 9th century, drawing on earlier oral traditions of Anglo-Saxon tale singing. The only text of the fragment is copied in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century containing...
.
Plot summary
The story is presented as if related by a female story-teller in an Anglo-Saxon court, the author feeling it would have been about that time that the legend would have reached its fullest development, and such a teller would have been least likely to abbreviate it.The Danish king Halfdan is murdered and his position usurped by his brother Frodhi. Halfdan's young sons Helgi
Halga
Halga, Helgi, Helghe or Helgo was a legendary Danish king living in the early 6th century. His name would in his own language have been *Hailaga ....
and Hroar
Hroðgar
Hroðgar, King Hroþgar, "Hrothgar", Hróarr, Hroar, Roar, Roas or Ro was a legendary Danish king, living in the early 6th century....
go into hiding to escape his fate, successfully eluding Frodhi until they reach adulthood and can take vengeance on their father's killer. On attaining the kingship themselves they rule together. Helgi, a warrior and sea-rover, visits the equally warlike queen of the Saxons, whom he woos overbearingly. Sent packing, he later returns and rapes her, a union resulting in a daughter, Yrsa, who years later becomes an instrument of vengeance when Helgi encounters and marries her. Only after they are wed does her mother reveal Yrsa's parentage. Haunted, Yrsa leaves Denmark to wed Adhils
Eadgils
Eadgils, Adils, Aðils, Adillus, Aðísl at Uppsölum, Athisl, Athislus or Adhel was a semi-legendary king of Sweden, who is estimated to have lived during the 6th century....
, King of the Swedes, and Helgi is ultimately killed in battle attempting to win her back.
Hrolf, the son of Helgi and Yrsa, is raised in the household of Hroar, becoming his adherent and supporter. After Hroar's death Hrolf eventually becomes his successor. He builds up the realm and assembles a band of famous warriors, most notably Hjalti and Bodvar Bjarki
Bödvar Bjarki
Bödvar Bjarki , meaning 'Warlike Little-Bear', is the hero appearing in tales of Hrólf Kraki in the Saga of Hrólf Kraki, in the Latin epitome to the lost Skjöldunga saga, and as Biarco in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum...
, a were-bear and one of a trio remarkable brothers, the others being Elk-Frodhi and Thorir Houndsfoot. The story goes on to relate the personal tales of these champions.
After a reign notable for prosperity at home and successful war abroad, Hrolf visits the court of Adhils to see his mother and attain recompense for his father's death. Feigning hospitality, Adhils does his best to destroy his unwanted visitors through rigged tests of their prowess, while Yrsa warns Hrolf of his treachery. At length the animosity is brought into the open and the Danes fight their way out of Adhil's stronghold, taking his treasure with them. Pursued by the Swedes, they scatter the treasure along the ground to delay them and successfully escape. This "sowing" of the field of Fyrisvellir
Fyrisvellir
Fyrisvellir, Fyris Wolds or Fyrisvallarna was the marshy plain south of Gamla Uppsala where travellers had to leave the ships and walk to the Temple at Uppsala and the hall of the Swedish king....
later becomes a famous incident in Norse legend. But during this adventure Hrolf has managed to offend the treacherous god Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, giver of victory. He returns to Denmark knowing he must henceforth avoid war, as his luck in battle has left him.
The end comes through treachery from Hrolf's half-elven
Half-elven
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Half-elven are the children of the union of Elves and Men. The Half-elven are not a distinct race from Elves and Men, and must ultimately choose to which race they belong...
half-sister Skuld
Skuld (princess)
Skuld was a princess of Scandinavian legend who married Heoroweard and encouraged him to kill Hroðulf . The accounts of her vary greatly from source to source.-Hrólfr Kraki's saga:...
, a witch married to Hjorvard
Heoroweard
Heoroweard is a character who appears in Beowulf and also in Norse legends, where he is named Hjörvarðr or Hiartuar. If he existed in real life, his name would have been Proto-Norse *Heruwarduz....
, one of his sub-kings. Inciting her husband to revolt, they secretly raise an army and rise suddenly, besieging Hrolf in his hall. Hrolf's champions are roused from sleep and rallied by the chanting the Bjarkamál
Bjarkamál
Bjarkamál is an Old Norse poem from around the year 1000. Only a few lines have survived in the Icelandic version, the rest is known from Saxo's version in Latin...
, a famous Old Norse poem whose origins supposedly lie in this event; it has been largely lost, but Anderson presents a partial reconstruction as part of his story. Hrolf's warriors fight valiantly, but the witchcraft of Skuld prevails, and after a long, terrible battle the defenders fall.
Hjorvard does not last long as king, being killed by Vogg
Vöggr
Vöggr, Vogg, Wigg or Wigge was a young 6th century man in Scandinavian legend notable for giving Hrólfr Kraki his cognomen kraki, and for avenging his death.-Skáldskaparmál:...
, a weakling Hrolf had befriended who in consequence had sworn to avenge him. Skuld herself is soon overthrown by an army led by Elk-Frodhi and Thorir Houndsfoot, come to avenge their brother Bodvar Bjarki. The realm goes to pieces, to be eventually pulled back together in part by a remote kinsman of Hrolf's.
Critical reception
The book was well received by many fantasy fans (receiving a nomination for the British Fantasy Award in 1973) though it has been criticized on the grounds that its frequent explanations, especially of the characters' feelings and motives, are incompatible with the saga traditions.External links
- Hrolf Kraki's Saga at Worlds Without End