Fáfnir
In Germanic heroic legend and folklore, Fáfnir is a worm or dragon slain by a member of the Völsung family, typically Sigurð.
In Nordic mythology, he is the son of Hreiðmarr, and brother of Regin and Ótr and is attested throughout the Völsung Cycle, where, Fáfnir slays his father out of greed, taking the ring and hoard of the dwarf Andvari and becoming a worm or dragon.
Fáfnir and his killing by Sigurð are further represented in numerous medieval carvings from the British Isles and Scandinavia, and a single axe head in a Scandinavian style found in Russia.
[3] While in the form of a worm in Fáfnismál, Fáfnir is described as flightless and snake-like while at the same point in the narrative of the later Völsunga saga, he has shoulders, suggesting legs, wings or both.
[4] This change is consistent with the wider trend in Germanic portrayals of dragons, and likely results from influence from continental Europe that was facilitated by Christianisation and the increased availability of translated romances.
In the prose of the first, Reginsmál, the eponymous figure Regin tells Sigurð that once Odin, Loki, and Hœnir went to the foss of the dwarf Andvari who lived there in the form of a pike.
[7] In the second poem, Fáfnismál, the prose prologue describes Sigurð and Regin going to Gnitaheath, where they find the track Fáfnir made as he crawled to the water to drink.
While cooking it on a spit, Sigurð tests to see if it is done but accidentally burns his finger in the process and sucks it, putting the heart's blood into his mouth.
Inside, Sigurð finds among the hoard the ægishjálmr, a golden mail coat and the sword Hrotti, and loads all of it onto his horse Grani's back.
[12] Völsunga saga presents the most cohesive and extensive account of the Sigurð tradition and its author likely had access to the Poetic Edda as a source.
[13] Within it, Fáfnir's brother Regin recounts to his foster son Sigurð a story closely following the version in the Poetic and Prose Eddas, in which Odin, Loki, and Hœnir had to pay a large amount of gold as weregild for the killing of Ótr, who in this account is described as having the likeness of an otter by day.
Sigurð, waiting in the hole below, stabbed Fáfnir in the left shoulder as he crawled over the ditch, mortally wounding the worm who thrashed about with his head and tail.
[15] After Fáfnir's death, Sigurð cut the worm's heart out with the sword Riðill and Regin returns, drinking his brother's blood.
The author integrates into the journey accounts of Germanic lore, including locating Gnita-heath between Paderborn and Mainz and stating that this is where Sigurð killed Fáfnir.
The first refers to the killing by Sigurð:[21] The second describes the cooking of Fáfnir's heart: In a fragmentary stanza in Háttalykill, a reference is made to a worm being stabbed in the heart, which has been interpreted as Fáfnir:[21] The earliest known account of the Völsung tradition is the Sigemund episode in Beowulf, in which a thegn recalls the Wælsing (Old Norse: Völsung) Sigemund killing, with a sword, an unnamed worm that was guarding a hoard of treasure.
[26] This worm is typically identified with, or seen as the English form of, Fáfnir however the Sigemund episode differs from later Old Norse accounts that attribute to Sigurð the killing.
Carrying the dragon head back to Mymmer, who offered gifts to make up for his ill deed, including armour made for King Herding in Nogard, the horse Grane and the sword Gram.
[33] Fáfnir's killing is depicted in a large number of carvings in Northern Europe, although some identifications are not agreed on by scholars, with the principal distinction from other dragon slayers typically being the stab from below, sometimes from a pit.
In the case of the Ramsund and Gök stones, images of the wider story are present, such as the cooking of Fáfnir's heart, the speaking birds and the killing of Regin (who is identified by the nearby tools, referencing his role as a smith).
[37] In Telemark in Norway, Fáfnir is depicted being stabbed from below by Sigurð on a 12th-century capital from Lunde and the base of a pillar from Nes church, dating to the second half of the 12th century.
[1] One example survives from Denmark, from Låsby and outside of the British Isles and Scadinavia, an axe of Scandinavian style found in Vladimir Oblast in Russia likely shows the death of Fáfnir.
[39][40][41] Scholars have debated the reception and presentation of the tale of Fáfnir and how this relates to its continued popularity after the establishment of the church in Scandinavia, despite its heathen origin.
It has thus been suggested that Sigurð was presented by Christian authorities as a soldier of Christ who triumphs over evil in the form of Fáfnir, rather than the earlier narrative components of gold, a curse and revenge.
[42] In some cases, he was likely identified with Jesus or Michael, in a form of adaptation of Christianity to local traditions to facilitate conversion from Old Nordic religion.
[44] Fáfnir appears with the spelling "Fafner" in Richard Wagner's epic opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1848–1874), although he began life as a giant rather than a dwarf.
Escaping to Earth, he uses the Tarnhelm to transform himself into a dragon and guards the treasure in a cave for many years before being ultimately killed by Wotan's mortal grandson Siegfried as depicted in the opera of the same name.
In Tolkien's The Book of Lost Tales, Glaurung is described as a flightless dragon that hoards gold, breathes poison, and has "Great cunning and wisdom".
[citation needed] Fáfnir's downfall due to obsessive greed is also mirrored in Tolkien's character Gollum, who appears in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Both characters are seen devolving into wicked creatures, living only to guard the treasures that have consumed their minds, until that which is so valuable to them finally leads to their own destruction.
