Louis Huard - Giant Suttung and the Dwarfs

Nordic mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

, Fjalar ( non, Fjalarr ) and his brother Galar ( non, Galarr ), were wicked dwarfs who killed

Kvasir In Norse mythology, Kvasir (Old Norse: ) was a being born of the saliva of the Æsir and the Vanir, two groups of gods. Extremely wise, Kvasir traveled far and wide, teaching and spreading knowledge. This continued until the dwarfs Fjalar and Galar ...

and turned his blood into the

mead of poetry In Norse mythology, the Poetic Mead or Mead of Poetry, also known as Mead of Suttungr, is a mythical beverage that whoever "drinks becomes a skald or scholar" able to recite any information and solve any question. This myth was reported by Snorri ...

, which inspired poets. They appear in ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, in ...

''.

Myth

Fjalar and Galar murdered a

jötunn A (also jotun; in the normalised scholarly spelling of Old Norse, ; ; plural / ) or, in Old English, (plural ) is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, they are often contrasted with gods (Æsir and Vanir) ...

named

Gilling Gillingr (Old Norse: ; also Gilling) is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Suttungr. Gillingr and, later, his wife are murdered by the dwarfs Fjalar and Galar. In revenge, his son Suttungr tortures the dwarfs into giving him the mea ...

, along with his wife. Their son, Suttungr, searched for his parents and threatened the dwarven brothers, who offered him the magical mead in exchange for sparing their lives. Suttungr took it and hid it in the center of a mountain, with his daughter,

Gunnlöð Gunnlǫð (Old Norse: ; also Gunnlöd) is a jötunn in Norse mythology. She is the daughter of Suttungr, for whom she guards the mead of poetry. Saturn's moon Gunnlod is named after her. Name The Old Norse name has been translated as 'war ...

, standing guard.

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

eventually decided to obtain the mead. He worked for

Baugi Baugi (Old Norse: ; "ring-shaped") is a jötunn in Norse mythology. He is brother of Suttungr, the giant from whom Odin obtained the mead of poetry. Name The Old Norse name ''Baugi'' has been translated as 'ring-shaped'. Attestations The n ...

, Suttungr's brother, for an entire summer, then asked for a small sip of the mead. Baugi drilled into the mountain, whereupon Odin changed into a

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

and slithered inside. Inside, Gunnlöð was guarding the mead, but he seduced her and persuaded her to give him three sips; Odin proceeded to drink all the mead, change into an

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

and escape.

Sources

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

, ''

Edda "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poem ...

'', translated and edited by Anthony Faulkes, London: Everyman, 1995, . {{Norse mythology Norse dwarves Mythological duos Brother duos