The eddic poem Hyndluljód states in verses 14–16: Of old the noblest of all was Áli, Before him Halfdan, foremost of Skjöldungs [Skjǫldungar]; Famed were the battles the hero fought, To the corners of heaven his deeds were carried.
Hence come the Skjöldungs, hence the Skilfings, Hence the Ödlings [Ǫðlingar], hence the Ynglings, Hence come the free-born, hence the high-born, The noblest of men that in Midgard dwell: And all are thy kinsmen, Óttar, thou fool!
He made a great sacrificial feast at mid-winter, and sacrificed to this end, that he might live three hundred years in his kingdom; but he received these answers: he should not live more than the full life of a man, but for three hundred years there should be in his line no woman and no man who was not of great repute.
He was a great warrior, and went on forays far and wide in the Eastern Regions: there he slew in single combat the king who was called Sigtrygg.
Then he took in marriage that woman named Alvig the Wise, daughter of King Eymund of Hólmgard [Hólmgarðr]: they had eighteen sons, nine born at one birth.
The promise of three hundred years of no women among Halfdan's descendants is paralleled in the story of Ríg-Jarl who has sons only but no daughters.
Snorri continues: Halfdan and his wife had nine other sons also; these were: Hildir, from whom the Hildings are come; Nefir, from whom the Niflungs sprang; Audi [Auði], from whom the Ödlings [Ǫðlingar] are come; Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended; Dag [Dagr], from whom come the Döglings [Dǫglingar]; Bragi, from whom the Bragnings are sprung (that is the race of Halfdan the Generous (Hálfdanr inn mildi); Budli [Buðli], from whom the Budlungs [Buðlungar] are come (from the house of the Budlungs Atli and Brynhild [Brynhildr] descended); the eighth was Lofdi [Lofði], who was a great war-king (that host who were called Lofdar [Lofðar] followed him; his kindred are called Lofdungs [Lofðungar], whence sprang Eylimi, Sigurd Fáfnir's-bane's mother's sire); the ninth, Sigar [Sigarr], whence come the Siklings: that is the house of Siggeir [Siggeirr], who was son-in-law of Völsung [Vǫlsungr],—and the house of Sigar, who hanged Hagbard [Hagbarðr].
The Ættartolur, the genealogies appended to the Hversu Noregr byggdist in the Flatey Book introduce Halfdan the Old as the ruler of Ringiríki (a territory including modern Ringerike and Valdres in Oppland).
Halfdan is here the son of King Hring (eponym of Ringeríki) by the daughter of a sea-king named Vífil (Vífill).
Hring was son of Raum the Old (eponym of Raumaríki) by Hild (Hildr) the daughter Gudröd the Old (Guðrǫðr inn gamli).
The order of the names is the same and it is explained that Hildir, Sigar, and Lofdi were war-kings; Audi, Budli, and Næfil were sea-kings, while Dag, Skelfir, and Bragi remained on their lands.
Stanza 18 of the Hyndluljód reads: The mate of Dag was a mother of heroes [drengja móður], Thóra, who bore him the bravest of fighters, Fradmar [Fraðmarr] and Gyrd [Gyrðr] and the Frekis [Frekar] twain, Ám and Jöfurmar [Jǫfurmar], Álf the Old; It is much to know,— wilt thou hear yet more?
Sigmund son of Sigar married Hild, daughter of King Grjótgard (Grjótgarðr) of Mœr.
There are places all over Scandinavia, associated with this legend such as Asige in the former Danish (presently Swedish) province of Halland, which borders Götaland, where there are two large menhirs called Hagbard's gallows.
Hagbard and his brother Haki are mentioned as great sea-kings in the Ynglinga saga where Haki wrests the Swedish throne from king Hugleik (this event also appears in Gesta Danorum where Haco kills the Irish king Huglethus) only to be killed later in battle with Hugleik's cousin Jorund.
Ölrún, daughter of King Kjár of Valland, appears in the prose introduction to the Völundarkvida, as a Valkyrie swan-maiden who became the wife of Völund's brother Egil.
But in the eddic poem Atlamál hin grœnlenzku (stanza 50), Atli declares that he was one of four living brothers when his father Budli died and that half of them are now dead, slain by his wife Gudrún.
In the German Nibelungenlied Attila is called Etzel and said to be son of Botelung, obviously Budlung interpreted as a name.
Oddrún is also mentioned in Sigurðarkviða hin skamma (stanza 57), in the prose introduction to Dráp Niflunga, and in the Völsunga saga.
The Orkneying saga does not speak at all of Nór's descendants, but introduces instead a figure named Halfdan the Old as the son of Sveidi (Sveiði) the Sea-king, who is called Svadi (Svaði) in the Ættartolur.