Bödvar Bjarki

Bödvar Bjarki (Old Norse: Bǫðvarr Bjarki [ˈbɔðˌvɑrː ˈbjɑrki]), meaning 'Warlike Little-Bear',[1] is the hero appearing in tales of Hrólfr Kraki in the Hrólfs saga kraka, in the Latin epitome to the lost Skjöldunga saga, and as Biarco in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum.

Bjarki's father, Björn (which means "bear"), was the son of Hring, a King in Norway.

After Björn's mother died, Hring married a much younger Sámi woman called Hvit.

At the age of twelve, Frodi got into trouble for fights in which he injured people and killed one of the king's men, and he left to become a robber.

On Frodi's advice, Bjarki visited Thorir in Gautland and then went to King Hrolf Kraki's court at Lejre in Denmark.

As a reward the king gave him his gold-hilted sword and changed his name to Hjalti (meaning "hilt").

When Hrolf's half-sister and her husband rebelled and attacked Lejre, Bjarki stayed in the hall in a trance.

[4] The Old Norse poem Bjarkamál (of which only a few stanzas are preserved but which Saxo Grammaticus presents in the form of a florid Latin paraphrase) is understood as a dialogue between Bödvar Bjarki and Hjalti which begins with Hjalti again and again urging Bödvar to awake and fight for King Hrólf in this last battle in which they are doomed to defeat.

Like Beowulf, Bödvar Bjarki has been linked to the folktales categorized as the Bear's Son Tale.

[10][11][12] Tom Shippey has said that the character of Beorn in The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, has "a very close analogue" in Bödvar Bjarki.

Name spellings are derived from Oliver Elton's 1905 translation, The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, via Wikisource.