Angantyr is a hero in Norse folklore, from Scandinavia. Angantyr is a personal name borne by several related male figures in Old Norse heroic tradition. The bearers are human warriors and heirs whose lives are entangled with the cursed sword Tyrfing and with themes of fate, inheritance, and blood-feud across saga prose, skaldic catalogues, and Faroese ballads.
Angantyr is not a single mythic origin figure but a name borne by three principal male characters in a single line within the Hervarar saga cycle and related traditions. One Angantyr is one of the twelve berserker sons of Arngrim who receives the magic sword Tyrfing from his father; later Angantyrs are descendants involved in inheritance disputes (including the conflict between Angantyr Heidreksson and his half-brother Hlöd). The name also appears in the older catalogue poem Widsith (as Incgentheow), and the characters recur in adaptations such as Saxo’s Gesta Danorum and Faroese ballads, indicating layered transmission rather than a single origin myth.
Descriptions in the sources are situational and genealogical rather than portraitic. In saga narrative one Angantyr is described as the tallest of Arngrim’s twelve sons. The brothers are depicted performing berserker behaviors (e.g., biting shields, screaming) in combat scenes. Other Angantyrs are presented in kingly or genealogical terms with little physical detail.
The Angantyrs are human warriors whose notable traits are martial prowess, berserker fury (for the sons of Arngrim), and recurring entanglement with the cursed sword Tyrfing. The sword itself is described in the sources as cutting through anything "as if through cloth" and as bringing death whenever it is unsheathed; these properties belong to Tyrfing and shape the fates of Angantyr figures rather than constituting innate supernatural powers of the men who bear the name.
Weaknesses
- ritualInterment of Tyrfing in barrow
Wards
- ritualBurying the cursed sword with the dead (Orvar-Odd’s interment on Samsø)
Abraun
Abraun is an attested name in German-language plant-legend scholarship (Der abraun, ein beitrag zur pflanzensagenkunde, 1916) and a short database entry (Wikidata) labels it as a spirit from German mythology. Surviving accessible documentation is extremely limited: the principal academic treatment is a 1916 contribution to pflanzensagenkunde (plant-saga studies), but the excerpts available here contain only bibliographic metadata and do not record tales, descriptions, or rituals.
Adils
Adils (Old Norse Aðils; also Eadgils, Adillus, Athisl, Adhel) is a semi‑legendary sixth‑century Swedish king attested in Old Norse saga material and later medieval traditions. He appears in saga episodes as a storied royal figure involved in warfare, court acts, and marriage suits rather than as a supernatural being.
Agilaz (Egil)
Agilaz (reconstructed Proto-Germanic) — commonly recorded in medieval sources as Egil or Ægil — is a legendary archer attested in Germanic heroic tradition. He appears as the brother of Völund (Wayland/Weland) in the Old Norse poem Völundarkviða and in the Thidreks saga, and his name is also inscribed on early medieval objects (Franks Casket, Pforzen buckle). The attested material presents him as a named heroic human archer within saga and inscriptional contexts rather than as a recurrent supernatural species.
Agnarr Geirröðsson
Agnarr Geirröðsson is a mortal prince attested only in the Poetic Edda poem Grímnismál; he aids Odin (disguised as Grímnir) during Geirröðr's torture and, after Odin reveals himself and King Geirröðr dies, Agnarr succeeds as king.
Agne
Agne (also attested Agni, Hogne, Agni Skjálfarbondi) is a semi-legendary king of Sweden in Old Norse saga tradition, preserved in the Ynglingatal corpus and prose expansions such as Snorri Sturluson's Ynglinga saga. He is portrayed as a mighty and famous warrior-king whose campaign in Finland, marriage to Skjalf, and death by hanging form a remembered episode connected to local place-names and a burial mound.
Alaisiagae
A group of Germanic female deities attested in Roman Britain, worshipped by continental auxiliary troops at a shrine near Vercovicium (Housesteads) on Hadrian's Wall. Epigraphic evidence records dedications to named members (Beda, Fimmilena, and in other lists Baudihillia and Friagabis) alongside Mars Thincsus and the numen of the emperor; modern scholarship interprets them variously as war/victory goddesses, as goddesses associated with assembly/justice, or as part of Matronae‑type fertility/ancestor cults.
Alberich
In Germanic heroic legend, Alberich is a dwarf associated with elven qualities and power. (Note: 1. Power tier: Reduce to Ancient as Alberich's abilities are not described beyond being a dwarf with elven qualities. 2. Origin story: Clarify that Alberich is mentioned in multiple Germanic texts, bu)
Alcis
A pair of youthful brother-deities worshipped by the Naharvali, attested only in Tacitus' Germania (c. 98 CE). They were venerated in a sacred grove under the care of a priest in female attire and are compared by Roman ethnography to the Graeco‑Roman Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux).
Ale the Strong
Ale the Strong (Old Norse: Áli hinn frækni; Latin: Olo Vegetus) is a legendary human king in medieval Scandinavian saga and chronicle tradition. Portrayed as a vigorous and fearsome warrior-king, he appears in Heimskringla, Gesta Danorum and the Codex Runicus cycle and is consistently slain by the hero Starkad.
Alf and Alfhild
Alf and Alfhild are legendary human figures from Old Norse/early Scandinavian narrative tradition preserved principally in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum. The tale presents Alf as a Danish prince and Alfhild as a Geatish princess who becomes a shieldmaiden and leader of a fleet of female raiders; their story includes combat, recognition, marriage, and later dynastic conflict.
Algaut
Algaut (also rendered Algöt or Algaut Gautreksson) is a semi-legendary Geatish king of West Götaland recorded in Scandinavian saga and genealogical tradition. Saga summaries (via Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla as reported in later compilations) record that he was the father of Gauthild and was burnt to death by his son-in-law, the Swedish king Ingjald Ill-ruler.
Allerleirauh
Allerleirauh is the eponymous heroine of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale (Grimm no. 65; ATU 510B) who flees an enforced-marriage crisis by disguising herself in a mantle of many furs, takes menial service in another court, and later reveals her identity through three magnificent dresses and token objects to secure recognition and marriage.
Community Record
- [1]Angantyr. Wikipedia article 'Angantyr' (summary of saga episodes, Tyrfing, attestations in Hervarar saga, Gesta Danorum, Faroese ballads, and Widsith).wiki
- [2]Angantýr (Wikidata). Wikidata entry for Angantýr (name classification and forms).other
- [3]Stories and Ballads of the Far Past (table of contents listing Hervör and related ballads). Archive listing indicating presence of 'The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek' and related Faroese ballads that transmit Angantyr episodes.literary