The Völsunga saga (, often referred to in English as the Volsunga Saga or Saga of the Völsungs) is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century prose rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story of Sigurd and Brunhild and the destruction of the Burgundians). It is one of the most famous legendary sagas and an example of a "heroic saga" that deals with Germanic heroic legend.
The saga covers topics including the quarrel between Sigi and Skaði, a huge family tree of great kings and powerful conquerors, the quest led by Sigmund and Sinfjǫtli to save princess Signý from the evil king Siggeir, and, most famously, Sigurd killing the serpent/dragon Fáfnir and obtaining the cursed ring Andvaranaut that Fáfnir guarded.
Context and overview The saga is largely based on the epic poetry of the historic Elder Edda. The earliest known pictorial representation of this tradition is the Ramsund carving in Sweden, which was created .
The origins of the material are considerably older, however, and it in part echoes real events in Central Europe during the Migration Period, chiefly the destruction of the Kingdom of the Burgundians by the Huns in the fifth century. Some of the poems contained in the Elder Edda relate episodes from the Vǫlsung legend. On the other hand, the only surviving medieval manuscript of the saga, Ny kgl. Saml. 1824 b 4to, which is held by the Royal Library of Denmark, dates to about 1400. In this manuscript, the saga leads straight in to Ragnars saga loðbrókar.
Characters
Contents The saga can be divided into five phases: the preliminary generations, Sigurd and his foster family, Sigurd and the Gjukingar, Gudrun and the Budlingar, and Gudrun's last marriage.
Vǫlsung's ancestors
The Vǫlsunga saga begins with Sigi, the ancestor of the Vǫlsung lineage, and Skaði. Sigi was more important since he was richer and more powerful and was said to be a son of Odin. In the saga, Skaði owns a thrall named Breði whom Sigi takes on a hunting trip all day and evening. When they compare their skills, Breði's outshine Sigi's. Enraged, Sigi murders Breði and hides his body in a snowdrift. When Sigi returns, he lies to Skaði that Breði rode away into the forest. But Skaði, suspecting something amiss, goes off with his men in search of Breði and discovers his body in the snowdrift. Skaði declares the drift "Breði's drift", and soon every large drift comes to be called "Breði's drift" in his honor. Skaði casts Sigi out, leaving him "a wolf in hallowed places".
After much adventuring, Odin leads Sigi to a land where some longships lay. He and his troops (that his unnamed father gave him) take up raiding. Sigi becomes a successful raider and warlord before seizing a kingdom called Hunaland to rule. His wife's brothers eventually become envious of Sigi's power and wealth and raise an army against him. In the following battle, Sigi is killed and his enemies take over the kingdom. Later, Sigi's son Rerir avenges his father's death, killing his uncles and taking his father's throne. However, he and his wife have no heir, so they turn to Odin and Frigg to pray for one. In response, Odin and Frigg send one of their wish maidens to take the form of a crow and place a magical apple on Rerir's lap. When Rerir shares it with the queen, she conceives and endures an extraordinarily long pregnancy. While awaiting the birth of his heir, Rerir goes on a campaign to pacify the land, but he catches sick and dies before returning. Since the queen knows that she has not long left before the pregnancy kills her, she orders her baby to be cut from her. She dies in the process, but the male child survives and is named Vǫlsung.
The life of king Vǫlsung
Vǫlsung marries Hljod, the daughter of a jötunn and the maiden who gave the queen the golden apple. Vǫlsung and Hljod have ten sons and one daughter, the two eldest and strongest being the boy and girl twins Sigmund and Signý. King Vǫlsung has a grand palace built for him, with the great hall built around a massive tree known as Barnstokkr () to stand proudly over Vǫlsung's guests. One day, Siggeir, the king of Gautland, comes to visit Vǫlsung and ask for Signý's hand in marriage. Vǫlsung is pleased at the idea of Signý marrying Siggeir, but Signý despises him. King Vǫlsung arranges the marriage anyway. On the wedding day, as everyone is celebrating, a hooded man with one eye comes into the hall, draws a sword, and thrusts it into Barnstokkr. The mysterious figure says that whoever can pull the sword from Barnstokkr will receive it as a gift, then abruptly leaves. Although the saga does not explicitly say who the man is, his hood and missing eye suggest he is Odin. Indeed, later in the saga it is made clear that such a man could be no one but the All-father, as the figure returns to set more formidable challenges, and the sword later demonstrates its divine powers. Many people attempt to draw the sword from the tree, but no one can make it budge until Sigmund Vǫlsungson comes and pulls the sword out with ease. King Siggeir offers to buy the sword, but Sigmund refuses. That night Siggeir and Signý sleep together, and by the next day she is pressuring King Vǫlsung to allow them to divorce. Although his daughter is in distress, he reluctantly refuses, so as to maintain their alliance with Gautland.
But when Signý travels to Gautland, she finds out that Siggeir is plotting to overthrow Vǫlsung and add Hunaland to his empire. Signý returns to Hunaland to gather Vǫlsung, Sigmund, and their most powerful men, telling them that they must raise an army and invade Gautland if they do not want Hunaland to fall. Vǫlsung agrees to the invasion, sending his army to the shore of Gautland to overthrow and kill Siggeir. After a long, grim, and intense battle, the Vǫlsungs are forced to concede defeat after the deaths of the king and one of his sons.
The war against Siggeir
Signý goes to speak with King Siggeir as his wife, begging him to tie her brothers up instead of killing them. Siggeir agrees, thinking a slower death more suitable for them, so the brothers are tied up by their feet and hands and thrown into the woods to die. Signý, hoping for this outcome, sends one of her most trusted men to find her brothers. When he finds them, they tell him that one has been killed and eaten by a she-wolf. For some reason, however, he is unable to untie them, and the she-wolf continues to come every night until only Sigmund is left alive. On the day before he would die, Signý's scout returns to the forest and gives him honey, instructing Sigmund to put some in his mouth and smear it on his face. When the she-wolf comes she begins to lick Sigmund's face, and intrigued by the sweetness, she puts her tongue in his mouth to lick the honey out. As soon as she does so, Sigmund bites down on her tongue, ripping it out as the beast struggles and thereby killing the she-wolf. The sage mentions that this wolf may have been Siggeir's mother who took the shape of a she-wolf through "witchcraft and sorcery". Sigmund stays where he is so that Signý's scouts can find him again. They do, informing Signý of what happened. She visits him and helps him dig an underground base, bringing him enough supplies to survive in secret while they plot revenge against Siggeir.
One night, while Signý is sitting in her chamber, a völva comes and asks her to exchange forms. They do, and the seeress sleeps with Siggeir that night without the king's notice. Meanwhile, Signý travels to Sigmund's base in the form of the völva, telling him that she had gotten lost in the woods. Sigmund accepts her in, and they have incestuous sexual intercourse. After changing back, Signý discovers she is pregnant. She gives birth to Sinfjǫtli.
When Sinfjǫtli is ten, Signý puts him and her other sons through a painful test to see who is worthy of serving Sigmund. Although the others cry out in pain, Sinfjǫtli does not flinch. Together, Sigmund and Sinfjǫtli plot revenge against King Siggeir. One night, they sneak into Siggeir's dwelling and try to assassinate him, but one of Siggeir's children catch them and have them seized. The two are thrown in a mound but escape with the power of Sigmund's sword that Signý returns to him. They kill Siggeir by making him walk into a bonfire. Signý walks in with him, wanting to die with her husband. Sigmund takes the throne, becoming a great and powerful ruler. He marries Borghild and by her has a son named Helgi.
As an adult, Helgi meets Sigrún, daughter of King Högne, and wishes to marry her. She tells him that her father has promised her to Hothbrodd, so Helgi and Sinfjǫtli raise an army and invade Hothbrodd's realm. Helgi kills Hothbrodd, marries Sigrún, and usurps Hothbrodd's kingship. Sinfjǫtli also meets a woman he wishes to marry, and to win her he fights and kills another man, who happens to be Borghild's brother. In revenge, Borghild kills Sinfjǫtli by poison. A grieving Sigmund rejects Borghild and drives her out of his kingdom.
As an old man, Sigmund marries Hjördís, daughter of King Eylimi. The suitor she rejected in Sigmund's favor brings an army against him, and Sigmund is mortally wounded in the battle. Hjördís finds her wounded husband, who entrusts to her the shards of his sword, prophesying that they will be reforged someday for their yet unborn son. He dies, and Hjördís is taken in by Alf, son of Hjalprek, king of Denmark. Shortly thereafter she gives birth to Sigurd, her son by Sigmund. Sigurd is fostered in Hjalprek's court by Reginn, his tutor, and grows to manhood there.
Sigurd and his foster family Sigurd grows up to be strong, brave, and very popular. One day, he enters the forest looking for a horse and meets Odin, who gives him Grani, who is descended from Odin's own Sleipnir and better than any other horse. With Grani, Reginn believes Sigurd capable of a heroic quest and decides to tell him the story of Fáfnir the dragon.
Reginn's father Hreiðmarr had three sons: himself, Ótr, and Fáfnir. Ótr was able to shapeshift into an otter-like fisherman, Fáfnir was large and fierce, and Reginn was skilled with ironwork. One day, Odin, Loki, and Hœnir were fishing and killed Ótr in his otter shape, then skinned and ate him. King Hreiðmarr found out and demanded that they fill and cover the skin with gold. Loki took the dwarf Andvari's gold and the debt was paid. But out of Andvari's treasure, he cursed a ring called Andvaranaut ("Andvari's gift"), warning that it would bring death to anyone who owned it. Later, Fáfnir killed his father, hid the body, and took all the treasure, including the Advaranaut, to his hoard. There, he turned into an evil dragon. Reginn, meanwhile, became a smith for King Hjalprek.
Reginn convinces Sigurd to slay Fáfnir and take the treasure. In preparation, he smiths two swords one after another for Sigurd, but they break when he tests them. Sigurd's mother gives him the pieces of his father's broken sword and Reginn reforges them into a legendary sword called Gram. When Sigurd tests it, it splits the iron anvil down to its base. Before going to kill Fáfnir, he goes to the soothsayer Grípir to ask about his fate. Grípir tells him after some hesitation, and Sigurd returns to Reginn, saying he must avenge his father Sigmund before he can kill the dragon. Sigurd sails to Hunding's kingdom and kills many and burns settlements. A brutal battle ensues between him and King Lyngvi and Hunding's sons, but Sigurd kills them all with Gram. He returns to Reginn to prepare to meet Fáfnir.