Arngrim is a heroic ancestor in Norse folklore, from Scandinavia. Arngrim is a legendary Old Norse human warrior and war-leader attested in Hervarar saga, Saxo's Gesta Danorum, the Lay of Hyndla and related Scandinavian ballads. He is portrayed as an exceptionally fierce berserker-type champion and progenitor of twelve violent sons; he acquires the magic sword Tyrfing in the narrative but is not described as a supernatural being himself.
Accounts vary by source and recension. In Hervarar saga (recensions H and U) Arngrim goes raiding in Gardariki, fights King Svafrlami, seizes the magic sword Tyrfing after cutting off Svafrlami's hand and slaying him, and captures Svafrlami's daughter Eyfura, forcing her to marry him; by her he fathers twelve berserker sons. In the R-recension of the saga and in Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum Arngrim appears as a successful war-chief or Swedish champion who wins status through service to kings (Erik, Frodi) and is given Eyfura and the position/rewards that secure his lineage. The Lay of Hyndla and Faroese ballads also mention Arngrim and Eyfura as parents of twelve ravaging berserkers. These variant strands present competing models (violent seizure vs. reward for service) for how Arngrim acquired status, spouse, and the sword; the sources consistently situate him in the saga-era human world rather than as a supernatural originator.
The medieval texts and summaries emphasize Arngrim's actions and martial role rather than a sustained physical description. No consistent details of height, hair, facial features, or distinctive armor are provided in the supplied sources; extant passages describe him in terms of behavior—pillaging, single combat, war-leadership—and note incidents such as Tyrfing cleaving his shield and the violent taking of Svafrlami's hand and sword. Thus Arngrim's 'appearance' in the tradition is narrative and functional (a feared berserker and raider) rather than corporeally specified.
Arngrim is portrayed as an exceptionally formidable human warrior and military leader. Hervarar saga recounts him pillaging in Gardariki and seizing the sword Tyrfing in violent single combat; he beheads or slays opponents and fathers a line of berserker sons who inherit his violent reputation. Saxo's Gesta Danorum presents him as a Swedish champion who kills notable opponents (e.g., Skalk the Scanian), undertakes campaigns in Bjarmaland and Finnmark, crushes the Sámi, forces tribute (described as reindeer hides or hides in accounts), and survives opponents' enchanted tricks until they are defeated. The texts link him to the magical sword Tyrfing—he takes possession of it by violence—but none of the provided sources attributes intrinsic supernatural powers to Arngrim himself; his potency is martial and social rather than magical.
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
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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.
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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
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Alcis
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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]Arngrim — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors, 'Arngrim,' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arngrimwiki
- [2]Arngrim — Wikidata. Wikidata entry Q68518267, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q68518267other