Wiglaf

Wiglaf (Proto-Norse: *Wīgalaibaz, meaning "battle remainder";[1] Old English: Wīġlāf [ˈwiːjlɑːf]) is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf.

He is the son of Weohstan, a Swede of the Wægmunding clan who had entered the service of Beowulf, king of the Geats.

While in the service of the Scylfing Onela, king of the Swedes, Weohstan killed the rebel prince Eanmund and took his sword as a trophy;[B 1] Wiglaf later inherited it.

Scholars have proposed various interpretations of Wiglaf's role in the poem, but agree that he is important, and that he was Beowulf's nephew, a key relationship in heroic tales of the period.

Wiglaf has a counterpart in Scandinavian sources named Hjalti who serves as a side-kick to Beowulf's counterpart Bödvar Bjarki, and in Bjarkamál, Hjalti makes speeches comparable to those made by Wiglaf in Beowulf.

"[B 19] The other eleven men that came with Beowulf[a] gather around the body, and Wiglaf condemns them for their failure of duty and declares that he will order them exiled.

[B 22] Wiglaf's last appearance is at line 3120, where he chooses seven thanes to help him push the dragon's corpse over the cliff into the sea, loot the lair, and lay the treasure on Beowulf's funeral pyre.

Eliason however disagrees with the widespread scholarly interpretation that Beowulf, too, was a Waegmunding, finding the suggestion that he was half-Swedish "unthinkable or even ridiculous".

[7] When Wiglaf first enters battle alongside his lord, the poem is structured to reflect greater significance on his name.