The Lay of Helgi Hjörvarðsson

Summary

A

Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar tells of an earlier Helgi, son of King Hjörvarðr and Sigrlinn. The boy is born and sits silent and nameless on a burial mound until the valkyrie Sváva rides past and gives him the name Helgi and a sword.

Helgi begins his heroic career with Atli as his companion. The poem's most celebrated passage is the flyting between Atli and the giantess Hrímgerðr (stanzas 12-30). She demands man-price for her father whom Helgi slew. Atli and Hrímgerðr exchange insults through the night until dawn turns her to stone.

Helgi and Sváva are united in love. Yet his half-brother Heðinn swears an ill-fated oath to possess Sváva. Helgi is mortally wounded by Álfr in battle. Dying, he sends for Sváva and asks her to love Heðinn in his stead. Sváva refuses: she has sworn never to love another.

The poem ends with a prose note: Helgi and Sváva were said to be reborn as Helgi Hundingsbani and Sigrún. This rebirth motif binds the three Helgi poems together in a cycle.

The story

Key concepts

• flyting , the Atli-Hrímgerðr flyting (stanzas 12-30) is one of the most developed verbal duels in Eddic poetry
• valkyrja , Sváva gives Helgi name and sword and protects him in battle; the valkyrie as lover
• ergi , the Hrímgerðr flyting contains accusations of ergi and sexual shame
• nornir , fate-determination and rebirth are central themes of the poem

Interpretive traditions

A What we know

Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar is preserved in Codex Regius, placed between the two Helgi Hundingsbani lays.

The poem mixes prose and verse to a greater extent than most Eddic poems. The prose introduction and prose interludes are textually established as integral parts of the composition.

The Hrímgerðr flyting (stanzas 12-30) follows the genre's established pattern: insult, counter-insult, escalation, and resolution through an external factor (here sunrise).

The rebirth motif in the prose epilogue ('Helgi ok Sváva er sagt at væri endrborin') ties the poem to the Helgi Hundingsbani cycle.

B What we think we know

Whether the poem was originally an independent composition or was always intended as part of a Helgi cycle is debated.

The flyting's scope and detail have led scholars to discuss whether it was originally a freestanding poem incorporated into the Helgi narrative.

The rebirth motif lacks a clear parallel in the broader Old Norse tradition. Whether it reflects Celtic influence, native heroic tradition, or a literary innovation is discussed.

C What we do not know

The historical basis for Helgi Hjörvarðsson, if any exists, is entirely unknown.

Whether Sváva's naming of Helgi reflects an actual naming ritual linked to valkyrie worship is speculative.

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

• Neckel, Gustav, och Hans Kuhn. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 5. uppl. Heidelberg: Winter.

Translations

• Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. The Poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. (PD)
• Larrington, Carolyne (trans.). 2014. The Poetic Edda. Rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Scholarly works

• Lindow, John. 2001. Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
• de Vries, Jan. 1956–1957. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 2 vols. Berlin: de Gruyter.
• Turville-Petre, E. O. G. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
• Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1994–1998. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society, vols. I–II. Odense: Odense University Press.
• McKinnell, John. 2014. Essays on Eddic Poetry. Ed. Donata Kick and John D. Shafer. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.