[3] The House of the Wolfings is a romantically reconstructed portrait of the lives of the Germanic Gothic tribes, written in an archaic style and incorporating a large amount of poetry.

The Wolfing war leader is Thiodolf, a man of mysterious and perhaps divine antecedents, whose ability to lead is threatened by his possession of a magnificent dwarf-made mail-shirt which, unknown to him, is cursed.

[7] The Atlantic Monthly, reviewing the book in 1890, wrote that in it Morris "employs a very perfect art", commenting that the "saga" has a "varied character" and is "a story after the poet's own heart, and that in it wide scope is given for the special traits of his genius".

The reviewer adds that "the work itself is one of extraordinary beauty in detail, and rich both in minute and broad effects", illustrating this with "Each of his chapters becomes, sooner or later, a picture, admirably grouped, lovely or grand in its unit, but with that care for light and shade and posture, even for costume and framework, which discloses the artist: ... now the scene is under the sunshine of the clearings, often in the shadow of moonlight or the thicket; here a stormy dawn, there a midsummer afternoon; but throughout there is the pencil of the artist.

After an extensive quotation from the text, Wilde concludes that "In days of uncouth realism and unimaginative imitation, it is a high pleasure to welcome work of this kind.

"[12] The scholar of English literature Anna Vaninskaya argues that in House of the Wolfings and Roots of the Mountains, Morris reveals his socialism by portraying "ancient war leaders who battle on behalf of their communities rather than for personal glory.

"[2] Among the numerous parallels with The Lord of the Rings, Morris has Old English-style placenames such as Mirkwood and the Mark,[14] Germanic personal names such as Thiodolf,[15] and dwarves as skilled smiths (e.g. "How the Dwarf-wrought Hauberk was Brought away from the Hall of the Daylings").