Humans and heroes
Sigurðr Fáfnisbani, Guðrún, Völundr, and the other heroes of Eddic poetry.
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Sigurðr Fáfnisbani
The greatest hero of Norse legend, the dragon-slayer who won the cursed treasure of Andvari and woke the valkyrie Brynhildr from her enchanted sleep.
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Guðrún Gjúkadóttir
Daughter of the Gjukungar, wife of Sigurðr, and one of the most tragic figures in Eddic poetry, driven by grief and vengeance through three marriages.
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Gunnarr Gjúkason
King of the Burgundians and Gudrun's brother, who rode through a wall of fire to win Brynhildr, then died in Atli's snake pit without revealing where the gold was hidden.
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Högni Gjúkason
Gunnarr's brother and the unyielding warrior whose heart was cut out by Atli, yet whose courage remained unbroken to the last.
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Atli Buðlason
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.
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Völundr
Prince of smiths, lord of the elves, and the greatest craftsman in Old Norse poetry, captured and avenged against the cruel command of King Níðuðr.
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Askr and Embla
The first human pair in Norse mythology, fashioned from ash and elm by the gods Óðinn, Hœnir, and Lóðurr, who gave them breath, senses, and the colour of life.
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Helgi Hundingsbani
The radiant princely hero who slew Hundingr and won the love of the valkyrie Sigrún, but fell young and returned as a guest from the realm of the dead for a single night.
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Sigmundr Völsungason
Hero of heroes, the only man able to draw Óðinn's sword from the Barnstokkr tree, and Sigurðr's father whose broken sword was reforged into Gramr.
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Svanhildr
Daughter of Sigurðr and Guðrún, loveliest of all women, trampled to death by horses on Jörmunrekr's order after being falsely accused of infidelity.
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Jörmunrekr
Mighty king of the Goths whose treacherous counsellor Bikki drove him to kill his own son and trample his young wife Svanhildr.
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Hamðir and Sörli
Guðrún's sons with Jónakr, who set out on a doomed revenge expedition against Jörmunrekr to avenge their half-sister Svanhildr's death by trampling.
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Níðuðr
The king who had the smith Völundr captured, cut his hamstrings, and set him on an island to exploit his craft, only to suffer his brutal revenge.
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Búri
The primordial ancestor of the gods, freed from the ice of the earliest age by the cow Auðhumla, whose son Borr fathered Óðinn, Vili, and Véi.
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Borr
Son of Búri and father of Óðinn, who married the giantess Bestla and with her produced the three gods who shaped the world.