Mighty king of the Huns and Gudrun's second husband, whose greed for the Nibelung treasure drove him to lure the Gjukungar into a trap and ended in his own destruction.
Atli Buðlason is the Eddic figure of Attila, king of the Huns, who died in 453. He married Guðrún Gjúkadóttir after Sigurðr's death and ruled a powerful realm. His desire for the Gjukungar's gold hoard led him to send false messengers of peace to Gunnarr and Högni.
Atli had Gunnarr and Högni killed but never obtained the gold, for Gunnarr died without revealing the secret. Guðrún took brutal revenge: she slew Atli's sons and served them to him cooked, then revealed what she had done and burned the entire hall with everyone sleeping inside. Atli is portrayed in the poems as greedy and treacherous, yet also as a king of enormous stature.
Sources in the Eddas
- Atlakviða
- The oldest and most terse version of the Atli legend. Own translation.
- Atlamál
- The Greenlandic, more detailed version. Own translation.
- Guðrúnarkviða III
- Guðrún's ordeal and her relationship with Atli. Own translation.
Interpretive traditions
A What we know
Atli's historical model in Attila is well established in scholarship, and the poems' Atli shares the Hun king's name and geographical homeland.
B What we think we know
Atli's stark characterization in the poems diverges sharply from Attila in the Latin sources, pointing to an independent North Germanic narrative tradition.