Daughter of Sigurðr and Guðrún, loveliest of all women, trampled to death by horses on Jörmunrekr's order after being falsely accused of infidelity.
Svanhildr was the daughter of Sigurðr Fáfnisbani and Guðrún Gjúkadóttir, and her eyes were said to have such a powerful light that horses shied from her gaze. She married the Gothic king Jörmunrekr but was falsely accused by Bikki of having an affair with the king's son Randver. Randver was hanged and Svanhildr was condemned to be trampled by horses.
The horses' hooves shied from Svanhildr's gaze until Bikki advised the king to throw a sack over her head, whereupon they trampled her to death. Guðrún's sons Hamðir and Sörli were sent by their mother to avenge Svanhildr's death, a vengeance that cost them their own lives and closes the great Gjukungar cycle.
Sources in the Eddas
- Guðrúnarhvöt
- Guðrún's incitement of her sons to avenge Svanhildr. Own translation.
- Hamðismál
- Hamðir and Sörli's revenge expedition and Svanhildr's fate. Own translation.
Interpretive traditions
A What we know
Svanhildr's death by trampling and her connection to Jörmunrekr are attested in the Eddic poems and reflect historical events surrounding the Gothic king Ermanaric in the fourth century.
B What we think we know
The motif of the eyes whose light protects her is connected by scholars to conceptions of the feminine-sacred gaze in Germanic culture.